Dangerous Tornadoes Are Also Beautiful, In A Way

A supercell thunderstorm appears ready to drop a tornado on Kansas
last night. Photo via Twitter @mwxhitaker -- McKinsey Whitaker

As expected, dangerous severe storms and tornadoes blossomed across mostly Kansas and Nebraska yesterday and last night.

The good news is that although some of the tornadoes appeared to be quite strong, they moved over open, rural land and did not enter any towns or cities.

That meant damage was relatively light, and we have no reports of serious injuries or deaths to talk about today.

That's pretty damn good, since there were at least 21 reports of tornadoes yesterday.

By the way, Oklahoma broke its tornado drought. Until Tuesday, there had been no tornadoes in Oklahoma this year. That's the longest period on record that Oklahoma has gone without a tornado. But on Tuesday, a tornado formed just south of the border with Kansas. The twister quickly moved into Kansas, but this still counts as Oklahoma's first tornado of 2018.

Close-range view of a dangerous tornado near Teacott, Kansas Tuesday.
Photo via twitter @BraydonMoreSo - Braydon Morisseau. 

As usual, hordes of storm chasers clustered around the storms to record their power and beauty.

Although I give you the caveat that I'm always nervous about so many chasers getting in the way of each other, local residents and first responders. It could cause traffic jams, which would mean getting out of the way of an approaching tornado would be difficult.

Tornadoes out in the Plains, in places like Kansas, tend to be more photogenic than in other places.

Unlike in the South or further east in the Midwest, there are no trees or hills to obscure views of the twisters.

Further east and south of places like Kansas, tornadoes can be particularly dangerous. You get a tornado warning, and human nature being what it is, people actually go looking for confirmation that there actually is a tornado. Instead of immediately seeking shelter, as they should do.

By the time they spot the tornado, it's marauding through the forest right behind their house, and it's too late to take cover. Death and injuries result.

Gorgeous supercell forming over Kansas Tuesday
Photo via Twitter, @TRAVELSnCHASES

That said, it can be very dangerous out in the Plains, too, if you get a tornado warning and go looking for it first. The tornado can be obscured by heavy rain and hail, and again, in that case, you wouldn't know it's there until it's right on top of you.

Even so, there were some spectacular images of the storms from yesterday. Judging from the photos and videos I saw today, this is one instance where the still photographs are almost better than the videos.

Now, danger lurks in the Plains again today. It's actually more dangerous than yesterday, because the area most under threat for severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes is somewhat more populated than the areas that were hit Tuesday.

A moderate risk zone today encompasses an area that includes Manhattan, Lawrence and Topeka, Kansas and St. Jospeh Missouri.

There is a slightly lesser but still real risk of severe weather and possible tornadoes today in bigger metropolitan areas like Kansas City, Missouri and Wichita, Kansas.

Still, there are open areas between all those cities, so here's hoping that if any tornadoes form today, they thread the needle and miss subdivisions and instead dance across farm fields, scrubland and prairie.

More Random, Really Cool Weather Images

Satellite view taken Monday of most of New England
shrouded in snow cover.

In my continuing hunt for cool weather media, I'll share a few more finds from recent weather events that I think are really cool.

In any of the photos you see in this post, click on them to make them bigger and easier to see.

The first one is a real color satellite image taken amid clear skies this past, of New England, eastern New York and a bit of southern Quebec after that big snowstorm we got a little over a week ago.

In it, all but southeastern New England is encased in snow. The warm March sun had caused the thinner snow cover in and around Cape Cod to begin retreating northward.]

You can see the large dark spot on the northwestern edge of Vermont. That's the still open, ice-free water of Lake Champlain.

The snow also allows you to see the land features and land uses better. Notice much of the Champlain Valley and southeastern Quebec look whiter than other areas.

That's because there's more open fields in these locations. The spine of the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks are darker, because of all the trees and lack of open spaces.

A dense March 14 snow squall over Lake Michigan and Chicago

Smaller, frozen lakes also show up as bright white.

It's a pretty stunning post-snowstorm image, isn't it?

The next photo was taken March 14 from downtown Chicago.

Chicago can get lake effect snows off of Lake Michigan, especially if the wind is coming from the northeast, off the water.

The photo, taken from a high rise, shows the waters of Lake Michigan abruptly being hidden by a thick curtain of snow from a squall.

After going through January and February with no snow on the ground, winter finally hit Chicago in mid-March with a series of snowy and cold days.

Spring is returning to Chicago, however. The forecast high temperature on Friday there is 74 degrees.

Next, we turn to Hutchinson, Kansas, scene of widespread wild fires earlier this month. The winter in the central and southern Plains was dry, and that region has been subjected to repeated bouts of record warmth, super dry air and high winds all winter and early spring.

Aerial view of home near
Hutchinson, Kanasas spared
from a huge wildfire 

The result was the worst wildfires on record. Kansasans are calling the wildfires "our Katrina," referencing the 2005 hurricane calamity in New Orleans.

The wild fires earlier this month killed seven people and thousands of cattle caught in the fast moving flames. Many other cows were badly injured in the fires and ranchers had the heartbreaking task of taking out their rifles and shooting them to put the animals out of their severe misery and pain.

The photo in this post depicts one of the lucky ones. It shows a house that survived the wildfires near Hutchinson, Kansas, even as everything for miles around burned to a crisp

After a break, the wildfire threat has returned this week. Hundreds of Boulder, Colorado residents had to be evacuated due to a wildfire Sunday, which was fortunately contained.

Today, there's an extreme risk of dangerous wildfires in eastern New Mexico, the Texas panhandle and southeastern Colorado.

Let's hope they get some rain soon.

Also, here in the United States, we're ramping up into tornado season, too. There've already been some deadly outbreaks over the winter, so things are not off to a good start.

March 9 tornado in Germany 

Starting today, and continuing daily for the next week or so in different parts of the Plains, Midwest and South, there will be a threat of severe storms as we've entered a weather pattern that features such weather.

Of course, tornadoes don't only happen in the United States. They can happen almost anywhere. On March 9, there was a particularly picturesque tornado in, of all places, Wurzburg, Bavaria, Germany.

The tornado damaged the roofs of up to 80 homes. 

Tornadoes do take place from time to time in Germany and other parts of Europe. It's quite unusual to get one this far north in Europe this early in the season, however.

The tornado, as you can see in the photo, was really striking, lit up white by the late afternoon sun against dark clouds, with a rainbow crossing above it.

Elsewhere, a small tornado passed through the Brisbane, Australia airport, causing a scare but not causing much damage.

Here's the video, below. Note the tail end of the video is not that exciting, just a local weather report. But the tornado is cool:

Wind-Driven Wildfires, Other Windstorms Cause Surprising Destruction Colorado to New York.

A wildfire in Kansas this week. Photo by Clem Gerard

I'm impressed by the amount of damage a bout of strong winds that crossed the nation from Colorado to the East Coast in the past couple of days.

The worst of it was in the Plains, where, sadly, at least six people died in wind-driven wildfires this week. 

In Kansas, at least 650,000 acres burned, 70 structures were destroyed and there was one reported death in the state, said the Kansas City Star. 

Winds have calmed down in the Plains today, but it is still gusty and dry enough in northeastern Colorado and adjacent portions of Kansas and Nebraska for dangerous wildfirest to start and spread. 

The high winds that caused Tuesday's fires in the Plains moved to the eastern United States Wednesday.

Damage from high winds in western New York
Wednesday. Photo from WROC. 

In western New York Wednesday, winds gusted as high as 82 mph in Rochester, and over 70 mph in several other spots.  There were many reports of wind damage across western New York. 

The wind was strong enough to blow 15 to 20 freight cars off train tracks near Batavia, New York, and knocked over several tractor trailer trucks on highways in New York, Michigan and Ohio.

In Michigan, two people died in a Mini Cooper when a large tree blew down on top of it as the driver made his way down a highway, MLive reported. Nearly 850,000 homes and businesses in Michigan were without power this morning.

Winds gusted to 68 mph in Detroit and Saginaw Wednesday.

It's still windy in the eastern United States today, but it's not as bad as Wednesday. However, gusty winds and dry weather has created an elevated brush fire risk in the Middle Atlantic states.

A high wind warning remains in effect in parts of Massachusetts today as winds could go as high as 60 mph. Winds gusted to 66 mph at Blue Hill Observatory in eastern Massachusetts this morning.

A squall that brought wind gusts to 50 mph and a sharp drop
in temperature approaches St. Albans, Vermont Wednesday.

The windy weather heralded the start of a long and unwelcome cold snap that will last well into next week from North Plains to the Northeastern United States.

Early-blooming crops and plants are at risk in some locations.

Additionally, at least three quick-moving snowstorms will affect parts of the Ohio Valley and East Coast tomorrow through Tuesday.

Some of the snow could fall as far south as North Carolina, which is already in the midst of spring from a toasty late winter.

There's already a winter storm warning for Cape Cod and the islands Friday as the first of the storms clips southern New England.

Up here in Vermont, the worst of the three snowstorms are expected to largely miss us, at least according to current forecasts.

Of course, it doesn't take much to cause havoc. Crashes and slide-offs amid snow squalls this morning shut down all southbound lanes of Interstate 89 between Williston and Richmond, Vermont for a time this morning.

A gusty snow squall at my house in St. Albans, Vermont
this morning.Winter's back.

However, it is going to be brutally cold, with some snow showers from time to time.

Nightime lows this weekend will drop to levels a few degrees either side of zero, with high temperatures only getting into the teens --- if we're lucky.

Temperatures are not expected to rise above freezing in northern New England for at least a week.

Matthew Slogs On, And Away From Matthew, Tornadoes, Snow And Frost

From television station WRAL: A man awaits rescue
on a North Carolina roof amid Hurricane Matthew's flooding

Hurricane Matthew, now a post-tropical storm, took one more deadly swipe, probably the worst yet, on its trip along the southeastern United States coast.

The storm dumped incredible amounts of rain on South Carolina and especially North Carolina Saturday and last night.

That, combined with brutal storm surges, caused another in a series of extreme floods the nation has suffered.

There's been hundreds of water rescues in North Carolina. (You'll see one at the bottom of this post.)

Television station WRAL in North Carolina said so far, four deaths have been reported in the state from Matthew. The television station has counted 574 people saved in 227 water rescues in Cumberland County alone, with more people still on roofs, awaiting rescue.

This sounds very much like the extreme Louisiana flood earlier this year.

According to a WRAL report last night: 

"'The city is under water,' the Raleigh Police Department said as night began to fall. 'Every officer in the city is on a weather-related call. Officers can't respond to anything else at this time. Please, please, please stay home. It is unsafe to be out.'"

Up to 15 inches of rain fell on North Carolina, and winds gusted to 80 mph along the coast. Storm surge flooding and flash floods were still ongoing in North Carolina and southeastern Virginia early Sunday morning.

OTHER WEATHER:

A tornado in Kansas Thursday, proof that Matthew wasn't
the only wild weather in the nation this week.  

While we were all glued to the antics and destruction of Hurricane Matthew, the weather sort of went off the rails in other parts of the country as well.

In Kansas Thursday, several tornadoes touched down ahead of a fairly strong cold front.

The Wichita Eagle reports three houses damaged east of Salina. Several outbuildings were also damaged, schools went on lockdown to protect students who would have gone out in threatening weather in the afternoon, and power was cut to some neighborhoods.

No injuries were reported.

The Storm Prediction Center received reports of 20 tornadoes in Kansas and western Iowa.

Meanwhile, behind the cold front, snow fell in places like northwestern Nebraska, parts of Colorado and Wyoming and northern Minnesota.

Frost and freezes were widespread across the northern Plains this morning, too.

It might be warm where you are, but winter is still coming.

The cold front that caused the weather in Plains is heading toward New England in weakened form. The Indian Summer weather we're now enjoying in Vermont is going by the wayside in favor of seasonably cool autumn weather Sunday and Monday.

That means highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s, with scattered frost. Very typical for this time of year.

Here's a clip of a tornado lumbering through Kansas two days ago:




 Here's a water rescue in North Carolina as workers save a baby and his mom from a flooded car:

 

Dodge City, Kansas Was Most Photogenic And Dangerous Place To Be On Tuesday

Two tornadoes on the ground simultaneously
near Dodge City, Kansas Tuesday.  

Dodge City, Kansas was ground zero for a massive supercell thunderstorm, tornadoes, at least one of which was enormous, and some incredible clouds.

It you're a weather geek that's into photography, Dodge City, Kansas was the best place in the world to be yesterday.

Unfortunately, it came with a price. NBC News reports two people critically injured in the Dodge City tornadoes, and some buildings destroyed.

On the bright side, Dodge City missed a major disaster. The big tornado just barely missed the city's downtown, which is a great thing.

Massive tornado on the ground near Dodge City,
Kansas Tuesday. From @TornadoGreg on Twitter.  

As an aside, the reminds me exactly of an old episode of "Gunsmoke" which was set in Dodge City. That episode had a tornado hitting some farms, but missing downtown Dodge City.

The tornadoes around Dodge City took many forms, including one that looked like a massive stovepipe.

There were tornadoes with multiple vorticies within them, and at one point, there were two, possibly even three tornadoes on the ground around Dodge City simultaneously.

After the tornadoes, the city was treated to the sight of mammatus clouds at sunset associated with the departing supercell thunderstorm.

Mammatus clouds over Dodge City after the tornadi
supercell storm passed Tuesday. Phot from @extremewinds
on Twitter.  

These clouds form from ice crystals way at the top of the thunderstorm. This area is known as the anvil, because it extends somewhat horizontally on top of the storm and is shaped something like an anvil.

The ice crystals sink and evaporate, forming the pouch-shaped clouds.

The Dodge City storms formed near what is known as a dry line, which is a sharp north to south line in which it's quite humid to the east and very dry to the west.

This time of year, supercell storms and tornadoes often form along dry lines, so this storm wasn't so unusual.

The dry line wavers back and forth across the Plains. In fact, the dry line briefly moved east of Dodge City after the storms, then quickly moved back to the west again, so it's humid there again

The wavering dry line that's still out there and will be much of this week sets the stage for possibly more severe storms and tornadoes today and especially tomorrow in the central Plains, including the area around Dodge City.

Here's video of the tornadoes from Dan Robinson:



Here's another video of the tornado from Val and Amy Castor:

Scary, Fiery Afternoon In North Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas

A huge wildfire burns in southern Kansas Wednesday.
Photo by Shardaa Gray/WSN  

The warnings came true.

Amid incredibly dry, windy conditions, destructive fires broke out in north Texas and other areas of the southern Plains Wednesday.

Television station KFDA in Amarillo said at least two homes were destroyed by fire in Randall County, Texas.

Parts of the northeastern sections of Amarillo were evacuated due to a wildfire, but people were allowed to return home.

The worst by late afternoon seemed to be around Pampa, where the city's hospital, some hotels, a Wal-Mart and several businesses were evacuated as a precaution.

Parts of Interstate 40 and other highways were also closed in the area due to the fires, KFDA reported.

Television station KFOR in Oklahoma City reported several wildfires burning across Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, television station KSN in Wichita, Kansas said a huge wildfire burned through 75 square miles along the Oklahoma/Kansas border.

Drier, cooler, more humid weather is expected Thursday in the region, which will reduce the fire risk then.

Massive, Dangerous Tornadoes Sweeping Texas, Kansas This Evening

Lightning illuminates a huge tornado southwest of Dodge City,
Kansas Tuesday evening. Add caption

As of 8 p.m. EDT some very scary photos and radar images are emerging from Texas and Kansas as what appear to be some massive, dangerous tornadoes are sweeping the region.

All the signatures of very damaging, deadly tornadoes are in the radar images.

Tight rotations, evidence of a lot of debris being flung into the air, and lightning illuminating what appear to be tornadoes up to a mile wide.

So far, the worst tornadoes were near Liberal, Kansas, near Pampa, Texas, and approaching Dodge City, Kansas. Early reports indicate the worst damage so far is south of Pampa, with major structural damage and gas leaks reported.

Some tornado activity has been reported in western Oklahoma and Nebraska, too. At around 8:45 p.m. EST, there were 15 simultaneous tornado warnings and seven confirmed tornadoes on the ground.

That's pretty incredible, as it's rare there's that many known tornadoes spinning at the same time. In that regard, this is one of the more intense tornado outbreaks in recent years.

Scary classic hook echo on radar of what was likely
a big tornado approaching Dodge City, Kanass Tuesday evening. 

Details are still sketchy as I write this at 8:45 p.m EST, but I'm sure there will be a lot of news about this tomorrow.

All the ingredients appear to have come together to produce the tornadoes: Especially strong, high speed jet stream winds, a powerful storm system, air moving in different directions with height, and a massive influx of humid air from the Gulf of Mexico.

Large tornadoes are especially dangerous after dark. You can't really seem them coming, often until they're right on top of you.

These tornadoes are moving fast, too, which can also reduce the time between the moment a warning is issued and the time it hits. That doesn't give much of an opportunity to take shelter.  Let's hope everybody in the region has their weather radios on.

Tornado outbreaks do occasionally hit parts of the nation in November, but these are further to the west than most November tornadoes. If you get a swarm of tornadoes this time of year, it's usually in the Gulf Coast, Tennessee Valley, or parts of the Midwest east of the Mississippi River.

Later tonight, the supercells producing the tornadoes will probably merge into a squall line. That would perhaps reduce the chances of more strong tornadoes, but would probably cause wide areas of damaging straight line winds.

Meanwhile, a blizzard is underway in parts of Colorado, and those blizzard conditions will spread east into western Kansas tonight. I find it incredible that as of 8:30 p.m. EST, there was a blizzard warning just 50 miles west of an active tornado warning.

I don't remember the last time I saw tornado and blizzard warnings in such close proximity. This storm system in the middle of the country is a monster to be respected, for sure.

To add insult to injury, a tornado caused damage in Denair, California yesterday as the same storm system as tonight moved through the west coast.

Tornado Drama Near Kansas City On Friday

Tornado in Hilldale, Kansas Friday. 

September isn't usually a big time of year for tornadoes, with the exception of the times a hurricane makes landfall and spins off twisters.

But tornadoes not related to tropical storms do hit in September from time to time and so it was near Kansas City, where a pretty dramatic one touched down Friday.

The storm damaged or destroyed several homes and caused minor injuries to a few people, the Kansas City Star reported.

Luckily, the area the storm hit wasn't really the most densely populated area around Kansas City, or the damage would have been worse.

The tornado did its most damage around the town of Hilldale, Kansas.

Here's a video of the tornado from StormChasingVideo.com. Check out the very end when the tornado, now narrow, crosses a bridge right near the videographer:

Hutchinson, Kansas Tornado Was An Awesome Thing

The giant Hutchinson, Kansas tornado
roping out and stirring up a big
 cloud of dust on Monday.  

As part of a massive severe weather outbreak in the nation Monday (more on that later) a large tornado touched down right near Hutchinson, Kansas.  

Luckily, the enormous storm did not go right through Hutchinson, but mostly stayed in rural areas just outside town. So damage wasn't all that great.

What was great was how photogenic the Hutchinson tornado was. And how far and wide you could see it. One of the videos below is from a drone that captured the tornado.

From the photos (click on them to embiggen them) one person took a photo of the tornado from a jetliner flying sort of nearby. Another great photo is the one when the tornado is "roping out" but still flinging up tons of dust.

The tornado came out of a what is known as a low precipitation supercell, obviously meaning there wasn't much in the way of rain to spoil the tornado show.

Roping out is what a tornado very often does when it's falling apart and dissipating. It gets narrower and narrower until it finally looks like a rope dangling from the sky. Then it falls apart and becomes pretty much nothing.

The Hutchinson tornado as seen from a passing jetliner.  

The tornado near Hutchinson surely wasn't nothing, though.  

For videos, let's start with that drone view. I love how sunny and pleasant it seems where the drone is, in contrast to where the tornado is swirling:



Here's another view of it:

More Incredibly Photogenic Supercells In Plains Yesterday

I know I just did this yesterday, but I can't resist posting another time lapse of a supercell storm.

This one is near Jetmore, Kansas last evening is absolutely beautiful, so I have to post it. So here you go:

Destructive Tornadoes Possible On Plains Today

Severe storm near Brule, Nebraska Friday.
Photo by Brett Wright on Twitter @WxMstr  

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has a moderate risk of tornadoes today, especially in much of Kansas and Oklahoma.

This could easily be one of the worst outbreaks of severe weather so far this spring, maybe even the worst.

It just depends upon whether the tornadoes cooperate, or mow through urban areas like around Wichita, Kansas or Oklahoma City.

The Storm Prediction Center says some of the tornadoes today could be "significant and long lived." so people in the areas under threat ought to keep an eye to the skies and have a path cleared to the tornado shelters, just in case.

Thunderstorms early this morning might have disrupted the potential for the big tornadoes a little bit later today, but the atmospheric energy entering the picture should be more than enough to stir up some really bad weather.

As a preview to today, there were nine reports of tornadoes on Friday, one of which caused three injuries in Texas.

 Here's a large tornado near Torrington, Wyoming yesterday:

Tornado, Flood Season Hit Hard Wednesday And It's Going To Get Worse

Brett Wright captured this tornado Wednesday
near Verden, Oklahoma.  

Oklahoma City and environs are a mess this morning, and things aren't going to get better anytime soon.

The city is used to severe weather, but the Oklahoma City was rocked to its core by several tornadoes, hail the size of baseballs in some spots, and record flooding.

See the tornado videos at the bottom of this post.

This all started Wednesday, and by this morning water rescues were still ongoing in parts of the city.

Oklahoma City had 7.1 inches of rain Wednesday. Hail fell for 67 consecutive minutes at Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City. The airport was shut down amid tornado warnings and flooding.

The Oklahoman newspaper reported no deaths from the tornadoes, but 12 people were injured, two critically in the area.

Tornado near Halstead, Kansas on Wednesday. 

One tornado destroyed a motel and a storage facility, and damaged other buildings near Interstate 35 in Oklahoma City, Rescuers had trouble reaching the area due to flooding and debris on the roads, says the Oklahoman. 

Major highways like Interstates 35 and 44 closed due to flooding and flying debris. There was quite a bit of tornado and flood damage in the Oklahoma City suburbs of Newcastle, Bridge Creek and Norman, all communities that have been devastated by major tornadoes in the past decade.

Wild animals, including tigers, escaped from an animal park in Tuttle, Oklahoma when a tornado struck, but the animals were later rounded up.

Extensive damage was also reported in Kansas and Nebraska, where the small town of Roseland was hit hard by a tornado. Flash flood warnings and alerts are scattered in areas from Nebraska to Texas this morning as heavy thunderstorms continue.

Torndo damage near Mount Hope, Kansas.  

Up to nine inches of rain fell near Lincoln, Nebraska.

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center this morning had 50 preliminary reports of tornadoes from Wednesday in Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Severe weather, tornadoes and flooding are expected to continue today, Friday and especially Saturday in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and some surrounding states.

Until now, it's been a quiet severe storm season. This week, clearly, it's not.

Severe thunderstorms, large hail, torrential downpours, and a few tornadoes are expected to repeatedly hit the central and southern Plains today and Friday.

Saturday looks awful. The ingredients seem to be coming together for a major severe weather outbreak, complete with strong tornadoes in from southern Nebraska into large parts of Texas. Once again, Oklahoma City appears as it it will be near the epicenter of Saturday's expected major storm outbreak.

Flooding will continue, too. Forecasters expect three to seven inches of rain, with locally higher amounts in the central and southern Plains over the next week.

From StormChasingVideos.com, heres a scary tornado, with multiple vortices,  near Lincoln, Kansas:


Here's a video inside a developing tornado circulation in Norman, Oklahoma on Wednesday:



Video of tornadoes, severe storms, and damage in Newcastle and Moore, Oklahoma:

(Somewhat) Rare December Tornadoes in Southern Plains Sunday

Small tornado in Oklahoma Sunday. Photo via
Twitter by @wxmstr24  

The same storm system that produced a somewhat rare tornado in Los Angeles Friday stayed true to form and produced somewhat rare, for December anyway, in Oklahoma and Kansas.

Those two states are routinely hammered by tornadoes in the spring and early summer.

But in December, tornadoes there are infrequent. Of course, tornadoes are fairly uncommon in the entire nation during the Christmas season anyway, but they do happen.

A tornado near Harper, Kansas Sunday marked only the eight time a twister has been seen anywhere in Kansas during December since 1950.

Television station KAKE reported no damage or injuries from the Harper tornado. It was the first December tornado to touch down in Kansas in 12 years.

Tornado sirens went off in the Oklahoma City metro area at one point Sunday, but nothing touched down in the city, though there was  a weak tornado on the ground briefly in northeastern Oklahoma.

The storm system is unlikely to spawn more tornadoes, but is spreading dangerous winter weather in the form of snow, sleet and freezing rain in the Dakotas, parts of Nebraska and in Minnesota.

Here's a video of the menacing looking Harper, Kansas, tornado:

Oklahoma Wildfires Kill 1 Person, Cause Chaos

This time of year, we associate Oklahoma with tornadoes, as it's pretty much the peak of the twister season out there.  

Flames consume homes and buildings near
Guthrie, Oklahoma Sunday, in a photo
from TornadoTitans. 

Yesterday, another type of weather disaster struck, a symptom of the heat and drought that have been affected the West for so long now.

Record heat, incredibly dry weather and strong winds fanned wildfires, especially near the town of Guthrie. One man who did not want to evacuate ahead of the fire died in the blaze, according to television station WOCO.

At least five or six occupied houses burned, as did other structures and outbuildings, WOCO reported.

The fire started as a controlled burn, which tells me somebody is in big trouble. Forecasts ahead of the blaze warned of extreme fire dangers.

Record heat hit the southern Plains yesterday, sending temperatures above 100 degrees, which is awfully early in the year for that. Wichita, Kansas got all the way up to 102 degrees on Sunday.

It was the earliest reading above 100 degrees on record.

An out of control wildfire near Guthrie, OK
Sunday, in this image from TornadoTitans.

Readings that hot in Kansas are fairly impressive for July, never mind early May.

The record heat, strong winds and desert dryness should continue during the first part of this week in the southern Plains, likely fanning more wildfires.

Rain and cooler temperatures should arrive toward the end of the week. That's the good news.

The bad news is parts of the wildfire area could end up with severe thunderstorms and tornadoes with that rain.

More Wild Photos Of The Nation's Week Of Extreme Weather

You name it. Tornadoes. Fires. Floods. Hail. Dust. Sandstorms. Snow.

From @basehunter via Twitter. A scary, spinning supercell
thunderstorm that was producing an EF-4 tornado in
Louisville, Miss. on Monday. Add caption

The nation has been clobbered by extreme weather this week, and photos and videos of the chaos are continuing to surface.

This post contains a few more of the disaster movie type scenes we've seen this week.

This post contains a few more examples of disaster movie type scenes we're seeing this week.

A collapsed garage in the Florida panhandle after
epic flooding early Wednesday.

From @bearlysoberrr on Twitter, flooding inside Pensacola
State College on Wedneday. 

The opposite extreme: The aftermath of high winds
and a dust storm in Kansas this week, via @kkqtopeka on Twitter.

Beautiful, Awesome Time Lapse Of Kansas Supercell Storm

Australian Sky and Weather posted this video on YouTube that is a time lapse of a supercell thunderstorm near Minneola, Kansas.

You can see the storm developing and rotating. Supercells often produce tornadoes, but not always. This storm did not drop a twister.

But it is mesmerizing to watch:

Photos, Videos Starting To Come From Severe Weather Outbreak

So far, the tornado and severe weather outbreak in the nation's midsection has produced a handfull of tornadoes and a many reports of huge, damaging hailstones, ranging in size from golf balls to softballs.

 

Add caption

As of 9 p.m. Wednesday, tornado warnings continued in parts of Texas and Arkansas, and the hreat of twisters continues into tonight.

Photos and videos of the mayhem have been streaming in since Monday evening.

You can see some examples in this post.

Monday evening, there was a dramatic supercell thunderstorm near Throckmorton, Texas that can THIS CLOSE, but not quite, to producing a tornado. There was baseball sized hail, however.

Check out the clouds in this sucker:

 


There was a LOT of hail in Fulton, Missouri Tuesday morning.





From near Mulvane, Kansas, we have this damaging dramatic hailstorm from Wednesday evening. Video by StormChasingVideo.com: