Week of June 9-15, 2013

Temperatures & Precipitation

A warm week last week across much of the country with the High Plains setting record highs and averaging nearly 10 degrees above normal for the week.  The Northeast and West Coast were slightly below normal while the Central and Southern Plains were slightly above normal in regards to high temperatures.  Low temperatures across the majority of the country were within a few degrees of normal with only the southwest being 5 or more degrees above normal.

A much more June-like pattern to the precipitation last week with showers and thunderstorms bringing soaking rains to the northern High Plains, the Great Lakes, Midwest and into the East Coast.  Additional storms over the Central Plains provided additional precipitation their while southern Texas also cashed in on slow-moving thunderstorms which brought more than 5 inches of rain to some locations.  The New England states were also the big winners when it came to precipitation amounts with many areas in the 2-4 inch range for last week alone.

  Records/Extremes (NCDC Preliminary Data)

Severe Weather

The post Week in Review: 2013 Week 24 appeared first on Tornado Titans.

I took this picture near Rush Springs last evening, it was simply an incredible display of the beauty of creation. I had Sara take the ‘storm path’ home because I wanted to maybe get some awesome sunset sky pictures, not only did the sky not disappoint — I think it might’ve went above and beyond what I expected! Oranges, blues, pinks, purples all over the place!

This picture is looking west at what used to be a supercell but now was just the final gasps. I honestly was hoping we’d catch this storm just as it died but still had some nice lightning to it. That was the only thing missing but I honestly didn’t mind. I shot this with the intention of getting the sky exposed and the foreground just exposed enough to bring out enough shadow detail to create a balanced look.

Mission accomplished!

The post Red Sky at Night – Beautiful Post Storm Oklahoma Sunset 6/16/13 appeared first on Tornado Titans.

One of the things I chase for are beautiful skies like this. Having started chasing in 2003, I have saw chasing go from a very niche sort of thing to something else entirely in just that short time. While chasing has tended to tilt more towards a social extreme sport of some type…the absolute best moments in storm chasing to me are still the ones where it’s just you and the storm which is safely a few miles away with you having plenty of options to navigate to stay comfortably away while viewing amazing skies.

The post “On the Kansas Prairie” – Severe Storm on the OK/KS Border 5/18/13 appeared first on Tornado Titans.

Supercell just east and northeast of Chickasha, Oklahoma (probably nearer to Blanchard at this time) on May 30, 2013. This storm threatened to produce tornadoes for about four hours before the cap won and the storm died.

The heavy rain area on the left is actually the RFD, it was extremely wet at this point as the storm had a brief transition into a pseudo-HP storm. The hail core is further back behind the tree line in the photo. This storm quickly came out of it’s HP stage, almost died as an LP but instead became tornadic. Interesting transition for sure.

The post “Blanchard Supercell” – Supercell Structure near Blanchard, OK on 5/30/13 appeared first on Tornado Titans.

Week of June 2-8, 2013

Temperatures & Precipitation

Two relative areas of extremes last week with the Northern Plains seeing average high temperatures more than 10 degrees below normal while the West was scorching with both high and low temperatures averaging more than 12 degrees above normal.  The remainder of the West was also above normal while the remainder of the Plains was generally near or below.  The East coast saw high temperatures below normal, but low temperatures near or above normal.  It is amazing that you can often pick out the general pattern of storms systems just by looking at an average temperature plot like the one below.

The West remained dry last week with the only significant precipitation occurring over Montana and adjacent areas where upwards of 1-2 inches fell due to showers and thunderstorms.  Elsewhere, showers and storms continued on the Plains with numerous tracks of 2+ inches of rainfall occurred.  The highest values on the Plains can actually be seen near the Red River where more than 4 inches was observed.  The hefty rainfall totals came from the first tropical storm system of the year that moved along the East Coast and led to numerous flooding concerns.  Many areas saw more than 5 inches from Florida all the way up through Massachusetts.

  Records/Extremes (NCDC Preliminary Data)

Severe Weather

The post Week in Review: 2013 Week 23 appeared first on Tornado Titans.

The Shawnee, Oklahoma EF4 tornado was one of the strongest tornadoes visually I have ever saw. As the tornado was moving just west and north of downtown Shawnee, it moved through several residences which unfortunately resulted in both deaths and injuries. The late May period was incredibly challenging for us on many levels. The Shawnee, Oklahoma tornado has been somewhat overshadowed by the two EF-5s that raked across the landscape in Oklahoma, even more forgotten was the Carney/Luther wedge tornado earlier in the day.

If you want to help disaster victims, including Oklahoma tornado victims, please consider a donation to the American Red Cross.

The post The Shawnee, Oklahoma EF4 Tornado – May 19, 2013 appeared first on Tornado Titans.