WunderBlog Archive » Category 6™
Category 6 has moved! See the latest from Dr. Jeff Masters and Bob Henson here.Record January warmth and moisture fueling April-like severe weather
An April-like severe weather outbreak accompanied by record warmth and atmospheric moisture continues today over the Southeast U.S., where a powerful cold front is creating severe thunderstorms, damaging winds, and tornadoes over the Southeast. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center logged four preliminary reports of tornadoes along with 264 reports of damaging winds on Tuesday, and another 71 reports of damaging winds between 7 am and 12 pm EST so far this Wednesday. A powerful tornado hit Adairsville, Georgia at 11:19 am EST this morning, and there are reports of major structural damage in the downtown district, with cars overturned (see eyewitness video here, with swear words.) The spring-like surge of warm air accompanying the severe weather outbreak has broken numerous daily high temperature records. The most notable heat record set Tuesday was the 91°F high in Corpus Christi, Texas, which tied their record for all-time warmest January temperature, set on January 30, 1971. The 62°F measured at Rockford, Illinois on Tuesday was just 1° shy of that city's all-time January temperature record. Tornado watches are posted for a wide swath of the Southeast today, from Alabama to Virginia, and numerous tornado warnings have been issued this morning. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has placed most of the Southeast in their "Slight Risk" region for severe weather on Wednesday, a step down from the "Moderate Risk" potential issued on Tuesday for the Midwest.
Figure 1. A wild weather day in the Heartland: NOAA's Storm Prediction Center logged four preliminary reports of tornadoes on Tuesday, along with 264 reports of damaging winds.
Figure 2. Satellite image of the U.S. taken at 9:45 am EST January 30, 2013. Image credit: NASA/GSFC.
Figure 3. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has placed most of the Southeast in their "Slight Risk" region for severe weather on Wednesday.
Record moisture and rains
Accompanying the exceptional January warmth yesterday were record levels of January moisture, as a flow of unusually moist air rode northwards from the Gulf of Mexico, where water temperatures were about 0.5°F above average. Meteorologists use a term called "precipitable water" to discuss how much water vapor is in the atmosphere. Precipitable water is defined as how much rain would fall on the ground if one took a vertical slice of the atmosphere above a given location and condensed all the water vapor into rain. Precipitable water levels tend to be highest in the summer, since warm air holds more waver vapor, and can exceed two inches in the Midwest U.S. In winter, though, it is rare to see precipitable water values higher than one inch. However, Tuesday night, precipitable water was well over an inch well into Canada, and two upper air stations--Detroit, MI and Lincoln IL--set all-time records for January moisture. From the 00Z Wednesday January 30 upper air balloon soundings taken at the 73 radiosonde stations in the contiguous U.S., we observed these precipitable water values for January:
Detroit, MI: New Record: 1.21" Old record: 1.20" 1/11/75
Lincoln, IL: New record: 1.46" Old Record: 1.35" 1/12/60
Alpena, MI: 2nd place, 0.99". First place: 1.01", 1/5/97
Buffalo, NY: 2nd place, 1.21". First place: 1.34", 1/15/95
Green Bay (4th), Shreveport (6th), and Little Rock (3rd) all had top-ten January precipitable water values. Radiosonde data goes back to 1948.
The exceptional moisture led to record rains in many regions of the Midwest, with numerous locations setting daily precipitation records. Two airports recorded their wettest January day on record, including Madison, WI (1.84", previous record 1.80" on January 1, 1892) and Houghton Lake, MI (1.21", old record 1.08" on in 1938.) Top-five wettest January days in recorded history were also set at Muskegon, MI (2.48"), Marquette, MI (1.21"), and South Bend, IN (1.94".) Here where I live, in Southeast Michigan, being outside yesterday was like walking through a surreal white soup. Rains like nothing I've ever seen in January fitfully poured from the sky throughout the day, ponding up on the frozen ground. Eerie white fog swirled over the sodden snow drifts as thunder rumbled overhead in temperatures 25°F above average. What planet was this? The heavy rains of 1.60" that fell in 26 hours at the nearby Flint airport made this month our wettest January in recorded history, with 3.66" of precipitation.
Jeff Masters
Figure 1. A wild weather day in the Heartland: NOAA's Storm Prediction Center logged four preliminary reports of tornadoes on Tuesday, along with 264 reports of damaging winds.
Figure 2. Satellite image of the U.S. taken at 9:45 am EST January 30, 2013. Image credit: NASA/GSFC.
Figure 3. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has placed most of the Southeast in their "Slight Risk" region for severe weather on Wednesday.
Record moisture and rains
Accompanying the exceptional January warmth yesterday were record levels of January moisture, as a flow of unusually moist air rode northwards from the Gulf of Mexico, where water temperatures were about 0.5°F above average. Meteorologists use a term called "precipitable water" to discuss how much water vapor is in the atmosphere. Precipitable water is defined as how much rain would fall on the ground if one took a vertical slice of the atmosphere above a given location and condensed all the water vapor into rain. Precipitable water levels tend to be highest in the summer, since warm air holds more waver vapor, and can exceed two inches in the Midwest U.S. In winter, though, it is rare to see precipitable water values higher than one inch. However, Tuesday night, precipitable water was well over an inch well into Canada, and two upper air stations--Detroit, MI and Lincoln IL--set all-time records for January moisture. From the 00Z Wednesday January 30 upper air balloon soundings taken at the 73 radiosonde stations in the contiguous U.S., we observed these precipitable water values for January:
Detroit, MI: New Record: 1.21" Old record: 1.20" 1/11/75
Lincoln, IL: New record: 1.46" Old Record: 1.35" 1/12/60
Alpena, MI: 2nd place, 0.99". First place: 1.01", 1/5/97
Buffalo, NY: 2nd place, 1.21". First place: 1.34", 1/15/95
Green Bay (4th), Shreveport (6th), and Little Rock (3rd) all had top-ten January precipitable water values. Radiosonde data goes back to 1948.
The exceptional moisture led to record rains in many regions of the Midwest, with numerous locations setting daily precipitation records. Two airports recorded their wettest January day on record, including Madison, WI (1.84", previous record 1.80" on January 1, 1892) and Houghton Lake, MI (1.21", old record 1.08" on in 1938.) Top-five wettest January days in recorded history were also set at Muskegon, MI (2.48"), Marquette, MI (1.21"), and South Bend, IN (1.94".) Here where I live, in Southeast Michigan, being outside yesterday was like walking through a surreal white soup. Rains like nothing I've ever seen in January fitfully poured from the sky throughout the day, ponding up on the frozen ground. Eerie white fog swirled over the sodden snow drifts as thunder rumbled overhead in temperatures 25°F above average. What planet was this? The heavy rains of 1.60" that fell in 26 hours at the nearby Flint airport made this month our wettest January in recorded history, with 3.66" of precipitation.
Jeff Masters
Severe Weather Extreme Weather Heat
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