Amazing Heat Record Set In Burlington, Vermont

Just a brief update this morning because I do want to highlight an incredible new record temperature.

A thunderstorm passes over Highgate and Swanton, Vermont, as viewed
from St. Albans last evening If you look at the left edge of the rain shaft,
it looks like there's a bit of a downburst going on. I did see relatively strong
gusty winds with this storm in Highgate. I'd estimate peak winds at 40 mph,
with a few small branches down. The storm failed to break the heat.

The low temperature in Burlington, Vermont on Monday was 80 degrees.

That sets a new record for the lowest minimum temperature for any date, any time in the Queen City. The old record was 78 degrees on several occasions.

By the way, 80 degrees is the normal high temperature for this time of year.

What makes this all time record for highest minimum even more incredible is that it was set in the face of a major obstacle:

A thunderstorm passed near Burlington last evening. That would normally bring a gust front and rain-cooled air to drop the temperature. And it did. Just not enough to prevent this record from being set.

Another big record came on the top of Mount Mansfield. The high temperature there was 84 degrees, tying the all time record high for any date on the mountain summit.

Back down in Burlington, the high temperature of 97 degrees was good enough for a record high for the date.

The low temperature this Tuesday morning was 78 degrees, which would tie the old all time warmest minimum, but with vaguely lower humidity, I think temperatures will cool to the mid-70s or so by midnight tonight.

A so-called cold front came through early this morning to temper the heat, but you'll barely notice. The Excessive Heat Warning in the Champlain Valley has been downgraded to a heat advisory, as the heat index today will "only" make it feel like it's in the mid to upper 90s.

We're still looking at three more days of temperatures exceeding 90 degrees. The humidity is kind of high today and will be tomorrow, but not as high as it was yesterday. Thursday will be a bad day, as temperatures will increase a bit, and the humidity will go up again ahead of a cold front.

But that cold front! First of all, it looks like it's coming in sooner than first thought, which is great news. A couple of days ago it looked like it would come through Friday night. Now we're looking at Friday morning. Which means you'll notice a welcome change in the air Friday afternoon and evening, toward less humidity.

Saturday is still looking great with sunshine and low humidity. It'll warm up again by the start of next week, but not nearly to the levels we're seeing now. Maybe mid-80s will do it by Monday, which isn't all that bad.

Other than a slight chance of isolated thunderstorms in the afternoons, we'll get no more rain until later Thursday or Thursday night as that cold front approaches.

It's humid, but the hot sunshine is affecting your plants and gardens. Keep 'em watered. Keep yourself watered, too, and we all need to stay hydrated.

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:

Guy Swept Away In Texas Flood And Stuck In A Tree Gives Calm TV Interview

News anchors at television station KVUE are stunned
when they realize the person they're interviewing
is stranded 20 feet up a tree by floodwaters on Friday.  

At the end of yesterday's post I wrote about the Texas flood, I included a YouTube clip taken by a motorist inside a car being swept rapidly down a badly flooding creek. Scary stuff.

The guy, Kerry Packer, had emailed the video to his wife, who shared it with Austin, Texas television station KVUE.

Now we have an interview with this guy. It's one of the most incredible, strangest interviews I've heard.

The clip you'll see below starts with the anchors at KVUE, who were providing live coverage of the flood emergency, interviewing Packer.

Early in the interview, you can tell the reporters assumed, like all of us, that Packer had been rescued. After all, why would he be talking to the television station?  He seemed so calm as he talked.

It turns out Packer called KVUE to describe his experience.

One of the anchors asked Packer where he was now.

He said he was still 20 feet up a tree he'd climbed up in the flood waters. He'd grabbed the tree as his car floated by.

You'll see how stunned the reporters are: "Wait, wait, you're still up in the TREE?!?!?" one of them asks.

Kerry Packer looks pretty good, considering this photo
was taken a few minutes after he was rescued from a tree
after spending four hours there trapped by floodwaters.  

Packer remains totally calm, as if he's sitting at a desk in his high and dry office.

"Oh, no, I'm fine... Thankfully this is the nicest tree here. It's a little cold, but I did Boy Scouts for 20 years, so I know how to keep my energy up and keep warm, so I'm doing fine."

The news anchors don't look like they're doing fine. They're ashen with concern. They pump him politely but aggressively for information on precisely where he is, so that rescuers can find him.

All the while, Packer is chatting amiably with the two KVUE anchors.  He tells them he can't see any un-submerged land, and he's in large tree he believes is in the northeast corner of a country club.

Emergency responders later confirmed to KVUE that they'd rescued Packer after he'd been in the tree for four hours and he's fine.

The takeaway: If you need someone who would be totally, totally calm in an emergency, find Kerry Packer in the Austin, Texas area.

Another takeaway: This flood interview is even better than the one in which a South Carolina woman said in a recent flash flood at her house she took her dog and two Totinos pizzas as she fled.

Here's the amazing news clip of this Texss flood interview:

Tis The Season Of Spring Weather Porn Storms. VERY Dramatic Images

From @MattHinesTX via Twitter, a dramatic
view of the spinning supercell thunderstorm
in Texas that produced several tornadoes.  

The nation's severe weather season is in full swing, though fortunately it is so far not as intense as it is in many years.

Still, there has been some drama. Even the quietest years have some drama.

On Sunday, severe thunderstorms broke in Texas.

One supercell storm in particular created some startling images as it marched kind of slowly eastward through north central Texas from near Abilene to a little southwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.

A posse of storm chasers remained closely attached to the supercell as it repeatedly dropped tornadoes across the Texas prairie.

They got some great photos and videos of the storm.

Almost all of the 19 reports of tornadoes in the nation Sunday came from this supercell thunderstorm, though I'm sure some of these are duplicate reports.

Luckily, no individual tornado lasted too long with this supercell, and the twisters hit rural areas. That meant there wasn't all that much damage, which was a good thing.

A beautiful image of a giant supercell thunderstorm
that produced tornadoes in Texas Sunday
Photo from Kelly DeLay via Twitter.  

For part of its life, the supercell storm had one of the best cloud structures I've ever seen, and certainly the best and most dramatic I've seen this year so far.

The mesocyclone - that's the real spinning part of the storm that would produce tornadoes - produced a large rotating, black column rising high into the air.

The curved, spiral bands of this mesocyclone looked like something out of one of those bad alien invasion movies.

It's no surprise that this kind of storm structure is often referred to as a mothership.

As you can see, I've posted some photos of this beast taken by storm chasers.

It's too bad supercell thunderstorms and tornadoes cause so much damage, death and heartache. If not for that, they would be truly beautiful things, some of the most awe inspiring examples of nature at work.

From StormChasingVideo.com, we get this footage of the Texas supercell, complete with day and nighttime views of some of the tornadoes it spit out, giant hail cracking the video taker's windshield, a hailstone that measures four inches across - almost grapefruit size! - and lots of lightning:


Other severe storms broke over the weekend elsewhere.

Here's a wild video of straight line winds Saturday in Dothan, Alabama. Whoever installed the homeowner's fence did a good job. I would have thought the winds would have flattened it.



Near Jacksonville, Florida, some people driving down a busy suburban boulevard suddenly encountered a tornado.

The thunderstorm that caused the tornado pretty much had a tornado warning with it almost all the way across northern Florida as it moved west to east. The Jacksonville touchdown, and any others that might have occured, were relatively brief.

Still, pretty scary:

Those Amazing Supercell Scary "Alien Mothership" Clouds Photos Just Keep Coming

The photo and video I posted yesterday of the amazing supercell thunderstorm in Wyoming went viral yesterday and for good reason. It was the best cloud photo I think I've ever seen.  

This photo from @WeatherTours on Twitter, captured this supercell
Monday near Gurley, Nebraska. Add caption

It'll be almost impossible to top that, but people will keep trying.

The storm system that caused that incredible supercell Wyoming Sunday moved toward Nebraska Monday, causing another spectacular cloud display in the southwestern part of the state Monday.

The result was more awesome cloud photography.

Australian storm chaser Daniel Shaw got this image
of the supercell near Julesberg, Nebraska.  

More Totally Amazing Views of Dust Devils, Tumbleweeds, Tornadoes and Fires

I know I featured a couple posts in the past couple of weeks of dust devils,  tumbleweeds and other dry climate stuff doing amazing things, if only to give us a break from the endless discussions of winter weather.

But wait! There's more!

For fans of weather porn, (the viewing of photos and videos of severe, large or weird storms, no nudity!) we have more.

From Twitter, we got a photo,  originating from @KOB4, shows an enormous dust devil near Las Vegas, New Mexico recently.

(The New Mexico town is not to be confused with the glittery gambling Nevada city.)

This has to be the most humongous dust devil I've ever seen.

Most dust devils don't have strong enough winds to cause damage, but a few do. I bet if this huge
dust devil had hit any of the buildings in the foreground, there would have been damage.

Luckily, no structural damage was reported.

Next, we have a video of a controlled burn at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Colorado, to get rid of some brush.

Or, at least it WOULD have been a controlled burn had the big dust devil not come along to stir up a ton of tumbleweeds, set them aflame, and spread the blaze all over the place.

Luckily, the crew got things under control a little while later, and the so-called control burn didn't scorch THAT much more land than it should have.

The video is next but warning: The idiot who posted the video decided screaming death metal music would be the perfect accompanyment to the visuals. So turn the volume to mute before watching.

Your ears will thank you, and you'll still get your weather porn fix:




Finally, we have a spectacular tornado in Mexico that struck Saturday. Quite the spectacle:

"Kelvin Wave" Video Is Coolest Cloud You'll See In A Long Time

I have to show you the coolest cloud formation with the most boring of names.

Another example of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability
clouds, different from the ones in the video.  n

It's called Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.  A yawner of a scientific name, but the clouds the instability causes can be totally amazing.

Writing in About.com's weather page, Rachalle Oblack explained them this way:

"When two different layers of air are moving at different speeds in the atmospher, a wave structure will often form. The upper layers of air are moving at higher speeds and will often scoop the top of the cloud layer into these wave-like rolling structures. The clouds often form on windy days where there is a difference in densities of the air, such as a temperature inversion."

The video first appeared on Facebook, posted by Darren Springer.

Here's the video:

Tornadoes Continue To Amaze In Incredible Ways

It's been almost two weeks since a big outbreak of tornadoes smashed the nation's Midwest, and I'm still fascinated by the weird power of tornadoes, both in that outbreak and in general.

Curtrains trapped between the top of a wall and
the roof after November tornadoes in the Midwest.  

In the photo in this post, click on it to make it bigger and look closely.  The Washington, Illinois tornado smashed out a window, making curtains fly outside the house.

The the tornadic winds lifted the roof somewhat, allowing the curtains to fly up over the top of the wall. Then the roof slammed down, trapping the curtains between the top of the wall and the roof. Amazing.

And a video surfaced last week that documents one family's   experience with the tornado. The video strips away the entertainment value, if you will, of watching tornadoes and reveals what the trauma is like when people actually experience one.

In it, you see the tornado approaching and you hear Marc Wells, who is filming,   increasingly alarmed. The daughter, Josie, is already in the basement and Marc  joins her. (The notes on the video say the rest of the family was thankfully out of town)

The screen goes black and you hear them wondering if whatever they're using to protect themselves will save their lives.

Then you hear the tornado ripping apart the house as Josie screams. The tornado only takes a few seconds to do its awful work. Then you see them emerge, and the Josie is obviously completed traumatized as she sees her house is gone.

You get a glimpse of the living room. It had been a home, full of furnishings, decorations and such. Now you see walls missing, and all the contents of the room gone except for a battered ceiling fan and debris,

The man, still filming, is obviously shocked, and can't say anything to comfort Josie.  I mean, what can you say? He urges her to get out of what's left of the house, because it might collapse, and he pans to the rest of the neighborhood, also destroyed.

He's got to see if the neighbors survived. It's a heartrending video. And it shows, more than any tornado video I've seen, how these storms can be so emotionally as well as physically destructive.

 Here it is: