Idaho Was Strange Place For Tornado-Warned Supercell Storm On Saturday

A tornadic supercell thunderstorm approaches Idaho Falls,
Idaho Saturday. Photo by Scott Tomlinson.

Supercell thunderstorms and tornado threats are very common acrosss the Midwest and South this time of year.

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.

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:

No Severe Vermont Storms. Cool Videos From Elsewhere, Though

A non-severe storm over Milton, Vermont last evening

I'm not aware of any of Tuesday's thunderstorms becoming severe in Vermont yesterday, so that was kind of a fortunate bust.

There were locally heavy downpours and some wind gusts, but nothing extreme.

That's not to say there wasn't action elsewhere, though. I've got a couple of videos to show you:

This week, Stormlapse recorded a gorgeous, menacing supercell thunderstorm over the Badlands of South Dakota.

Quite an impressive storm, watch:


I'm not sure when the next video was taken, but it's an illustration of what happens when a thunderstorm rolls into Atlanta's Hartsfield airport, the world's busiest.

You see the planes trying to fly around the storms, go in circles, and just kinda hope this thing passes quick. I'm sure there were quite a few flight delays on this day:

Storm Chasers Gaga Over Texas Tornadoes, Supercell

A few times each spring and early summer, storm chasers converge on almost "perfect" supercell thunderstorms and tornadoes.   

An immense tornado near Dimmitt, Texas Friday evening
The supercell storm created at least six tornadoes.
This image via Twitter @Stasischasing

Each of thes supercells produce multiple tornadoes, plus giant hail, violent winds, flood-producing rains, vivid lightning and spectacular cloud features.

It obviously helps immensely when the tornadoes in question avoid towns and cities and stay out over open country.

Such was the case Friday evening, when a giant supercell fired up near the town of Dimmitt, population about 4,800 in the Texas panhandle southwest of Amarillo.

This supercell was almost stationary for several hours, meaning the tornadoes were slow moving, or even sat over the same spot for a long time - about three hours - which is also obviously dangerous.

This also must have kept the residents of Dimmitt alarmed for a a long time, because unlike most tornadoes and severe storms, this one wasn't moving on. Would a tornado break free and plow through the town?

One of Friday night's Dimmitt, Texas tornadoes via
stormchasing.com.au 

Dimmitt itself wasn't too badly damaged, even though the storm produced at least six significant tornadoes

The slow or non-existent movement of the supercell also meant incredible amounts of rain and hail fell, leading to serious flash flooding. Up to 12 inches of rain was reported in some areas around Dimmitt.

You'll see in the videos below how the tornadoes blossom, beome big, then "rope out" meaning they get skinnier and skinnier until they dissipate. Then a new one forms.

It was even fascinating for me to watch the tornadoes unfold on radar, viewing it on my laptop fromo the safety of Vermont, where the sky was clear and the wind was calm.  

You'd sometimes see three simultaneous tornado circulations on radar image, which is pretty impressive for a single storm.

As is the case most of the time in April, there's a threat of severe weather and possible tornadoes almost daily for the foreseeable future in various spots in the middle and southern parts of the United States.

This has so far been quite a year for severe weather. The Weather Channel says there have so far been more than 5,000 reports of tornadoes, thunderstorm wind damage and large hail in 2017, double the average.

There have even been unprecedented early tornadoes in February as far north as Massachusetts and Minnesota.

So far in 2017, only seven states, including Vermont, that have not reported any damage from severe thunderstorms.

We'll see if the trends continue.

Here's some video of the Dimmitt storms.

Through much of this video, one of the tornadoes near Dimmitt appears to want to "rope out" but maintains its strength, looking like a drill bit as it crosses the Texas prairie:


In this video, it looks like the storm chaser was a little too close to one of the Dimmitt tornadoes when it was a powerful wedged-shaped monster:





More video of the twisters:

Love This Colorado Supercell Time-lapse

Watch this mesmerizing time lapse video of a supercell thunderstorm spinning like a top in Colorado on Friday.

I'm not aware of it causing much in the way of damage, but way cool:

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:

Texas Supercell Was A Gorgeous Beauty

A different view of the Texas supercell than the one
in the video below. This photo is from a passing airliner.
 

Supercell thunderstorms erupted east of Lubbock, Texas on Saturday.

Supercells are pretty much always bad, unleasing large hail, damaging winds, torrential rains and sometimes tornadoes.  

This one was no different, containing all of the above, although the tornado appears to have been really just a funnel cloud that never quite touched down.

Luckily, this storm moved over sparsely populated terrain, so there weren't a whole lot of buildings for the supercell to wreck or people to hurt.

The storm was beautiful, as these often deadly storms are.

The National Weather Service in Lubbock captured a time lapse of the storm from their offices.

It looks like two storms formed, merged, and then blossomed over the Texas prairie. It really looks like some massive series of explosions.

You can see in the video, below, the fast erupting clouds, the anvil top of the storm spreading out, and if you look carefully, the whole storm rotating, which is one of the main reasons the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning on the storm.

Watch the vid:

Totally Awesome Timelapse Of Supercell Storm Over Barcelona

This video has it all. Scenic location, good production values, and best of all, a rotating supercell thunderstorm.

Video was taken in the past week in Barcelona, Spain. Totally amazing!!

Detailed Account Of Vermont Supercell Storm

The National Weather Service in South Burlington has just released a very, very detailed account of the supercell thunderstorm that hit Addison and Rutland counties, Vermont on May 27.

Via the Addison Independent: Morgan Huestis snapped this
photo of the May 27 supercell in Bridport, Vt. That lower
cloud near the mountain is not a tornado, but a scud cloud,
indicating moisture and heat feeding into the storm.  

Click here to see it.

The account and explanation is somewhat technical, but it's written in such a way a layman can follow it.

The fascinating part is how they compare photographs taken of the storm by people who witnessed it, then explained how the clouds reflected what was going on inside the storm.

The explanation also explains how a supercell got going along the boundary between warm, unstable, humid air ot the southwest, and cool, stable maritime air to the north and east.

It also proves how sometimes, huge storms aren't always predictable in advance, but can really be analyzed after the storm. (The warnings for the storm were excellent once it developed, but I don't think anyone anticipated the strength of it in the hours before it developed in the eastern Adirondacks.)

The rotating supercell prompted tornado warnings in Addison and Rutland counties, though no actual tornadoes touched down.

It was an unusual storm, and it's interesting to see how it developed in the explanation.

It's worth the read.

No Tornado In Vermont Tuesday, But Supercell Thunderstorm Was Super Impressive, Super Damaging

From the National Weather Service: Storm damage
in Addison County, Vermont. Add caption

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service in South Burlington, Vermont spent the day Wednesday exploring Addison and Rutland counties, Vermont, along the path of an intense supercell thunderstorm that prompted tornado warnings on Tuesday.

The scientists found no evidence of a tornado, but did find an impressively large area of wind and especially hail damage.

Judging from what the National Weather Service said, and eyewitness accounts, this might be one of the most damaging single thunderstorms Vermont has ever seen.

Squall lines with multiple thunderstorms have probably on occasion caused more damage in Vermont, but this single supercell, which formed in the New York Adirondacks around 2:30 p.m. and dissipated in far southeastern Vermont around 6 p.m. is one for the record books.  

Hail broke these windows on Merchants Row in downtown
Rutland, Vermont. Photo from mychamplainvalley.com 

According to the National Weather Service report on the storm issued Wednesday evening, a three mile wide, 20 mile long swath of wind damage was noted from Bridport to Sudbury.

Within that swath, there was 40 to 60 mph winds, but in some spots in this area, downbursts caused winds of 75 to 85 mph.

A barn was damaged, as were some silos, and a utility pole snapped. Many, many trees toppled.

As the storm marched southeastward in to Rutland County, the wind tapered off, but the hail really became intense.

The chaos in Rutland, Vermont during the supercell thunderstorm
Photo by Kell Giffin, via NECN.  

There's no way to know for sure, but it might have been one of the worst hail storms in Vermont history.  

The hail started in Bridport, and continued in an incredibly long 35-mile swath to south of Rutland.

In many places, the hail was quarter to golf balls sized. In Proctor, newly leafed out trees are bare again, since an incredible volume of falling hail took the leaves off the trees.

In Rutland, many, many cars were dented, windows are shattered and gardens ruined.

In Cornwall, so much hail fell during the storm that some was left on the ground 24 hours after the storm passed. Photographs and videos taken during the storm in Rutland showed the ground totally white with hail, and visibility near zero in thick falling hail and rain. The images looked as if they were taken in an intense winter blizzard.

Flash flooding for the intense hail and downpours caused flash flooding in Rutland, damaging cars, homes and buildings as basements flooded.  

The menacing supercell thunderstorm rolls
into Shoreham, Vermont Tuesday in this
image from WPTZ-TV.  

So yes, Vermont has gone without a tornado since May, 2012, but this storm in Addison and Rutland counties was one for the record books. And the insurance adjusters.

It will be interesting to see if anybody tallies the dollar amount of damage from the storm. I'm guessing it could go into the millions of dollars.

Here's a video of the storm and its aftermath in downtown Rutland, Vermont. Note the shredded leaves on the sidewalk from the hail, the accumulated hail, and especially the flash flooding:






Another video of the intense hail in Rutland, Vermont yesterday:

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.  

Amazing "Tree Trunk" Spinning Storm in Wyoming Sunday Is Tops In "Weather Porn"

Severe weather broke out in the High Plains of Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska Sunday.

The rough weather, which included a couple of small tornadoes, hit mostly remote, sparsely populated areas. The exception was Billings, Montana, which got some large hail.

But Sunday's biggest drama was the cloud you see in the photo. It was a spinning supercell in the middle of nowhere, basically, near Clareton, Wyoming.

I got it from Basehunters Chasing, who are storm chasers with a penchant for capturing beautiful, incredible Tornado Alley storms.

This is probably they're best shot yet. Find them: @basehunters via Twitter.

Also, click on their Facebook page for much more. 

The storm didn't produce a tornado, but it is surely one scary cloud. Like an alien mother ship ready to take over the world, or a giant elephant ready to stomp the hell out of us.

Basehunters were also kind enough to take this time lapse video of this supercell storm. Watch this incredible, high quality weather porn:





For good measure, here's a view of Sunday's hail storm in Billings, Montana:

Gorgeous Time Lapse Of Spinning Supercell Storm in Texas, Oklahoma

The team from VortexChasers.net captured this
gorgeous supercell thunderstorm this week.  

VortexChasers.Net captured this beautiful, awesome rotating supercell thunderstorm on the
Texas/Oklahoma border this week.

Bonus: It hit mostly rural areas, so the damage wasn't that bad, and if there was a tornado, it didn't last long.

Mesmerizing:

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: