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| A tornadic supercell thunderstorm approaches Idaho Falls, Idaho Saturday. Photo by Scott Tomlinson. |
But Idaho?
Tornado warnings did go up in southeastern Idaho Saturday as a powerful rotating supercell blossomed there.
Ultimately, there were no immediate reports of a tornado touch down, but people did spot funnel clouds. And there was a lot of damage from wind and hail. Some of the hail was almost as big as tennis balls.
Perhaps the strangest and saddest effect of the storm was the fact that about 50 geese fell from the sky in Idaho Falls, apparently killed in the air by lightning bolts.
Wind gusted as high as 70 mph in the storm.
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| Hail damage Saturday to siding in Idaho Falls, Idaho on Saturday. |
If necessary, the National Weather Service in Pocatello, Idaho will investigate whether any tornadoes touched down with this storm.
If you thought Idaho isn't the place that gets a lot of tornadoes, you're right. Tornadoes are relatively rare in Idaho, and certainly very out of the ordinary this early in the season. Idaho averages three tornadoes per year, and they're almost always quite weak.
Since 1950, only eight people have been injured by Idaho tornadoes and nobody has died. (That injury/death statistic from tornadoes is almost exactly the same for Vermont tornadoes since 1950)
Three tornadoes a year seems sort of big, but you have to remember what a huge area Idaho covers. Idaho is the nation's 14th largest state, covering about 85,000 square miles.
To give you an idea of how topsy-turvy the weather was on Saturday, we know that tornadoes are common in Oklahoma this time of year. There were certainly no tornadoes in Okie Saturday, but tehre was freezing rain - very rare for April - in parts of Oklahoma early Saturday morning.
Here's a video of a guy in Idaho who went out into the hail when it was still small, but got a bit stunned when the hail suddenly got big and intensified. You bet, he said Ouch:
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