Weeralarm V.S. # 13 Extreem weer - Een vroeg begin van het seizoen

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Peuter overlijdt alsnog, dodental stijgt tot 39
Met de dood van een peuter is het dodental van de tornado's in de Verenigde Staten opgelopen tot 39. Het meisje, Angel Babcock, overleed in het ziekenhuis aan haar verwondingen.

Het 15 maanden oude meisje werd vrijdag levend gevonden in een akker vlak bij haar ouderlijk huis in Indiana. De stacaravan van de familie was door een tornado verwoest. Daarbij waren haar vader (21), moeder (20), broertje (2) en zusje (2 maanden) om het leven gekomen.

Elders in Indiana vonden nog acht mensen de dood door het extreme weer. De andere slachtoffers vielen in de staten Kentucky, Ohio, Georgia en Alabama. In Ohio is de noodtoestand uitgeroepen. President Obama heeft federale hulp toegezegd.

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Above normal tornado season expected
Following a near-record number of tornadoes in 2011, an active severe weather season with above-normal tornadoes is expected in 2012.

There were nearly 1,700 tornadoes in 2011, falling short of the record 1,817 tornadoes set in 2004. In comparison, the average number of tornadoes over the past decade is around 1,300.

Last year ranks as the fourth most deadly tornado year ever recorded in the United States.

In 2011, there was a very strong La Niña, a phenomenon where the sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific around the equator are below normal. As a result, there was a very strong jet stream, which is a key ingredient for severe weather.

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Warmest Spring in Years to Fuel Active Severe Weather
An active severe weather season is anticipated in the U.S. during spring of 2012 with the most widespread warmth since 2004.

"As far as the forecast for the spring of 2012, we do feel like it's going to be a mild spring for most of the nation from the eastern Rockies into the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes area," Paul Pastelok, expert long-range meteorologist and leader of the AccuWeather.com Long-Range Forecasting Team, said. "At least two-thirds of the nation could wind up with above-normal temperatures."

The Northeast will be mild to start, while the central Plains and western Texas will be a particularly warm zone this spring.

An exception to the mild weather will be the Pacific Northwest, where temperatures will be below normal.

Active Severe Weather Season Forecast
An above-normal number of tornadoes is forecast for this season with water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico running above normal for this time of year. The active severe weather season follows a deadly year with a near-record number of tornadoes in 2011.

Typically, 1,300 tornadoes strike the U.S. a year. There were nearly 1,700 tornadoes in 2011, falling short of the record 1,817 tornadoes set in 2004.

Rounds of wet weather with an active start to the severe weather season are in store for the Deep South, including eastern Texas and the Gulf states, during March.

The rain early in the season will be beneficial for drought-stricken areas, including southern portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, southern Alabama, southwestern Georgia and the western Florida Panhandle. Near-normal precipitation is expected in this zone for the entire spring.

"Areas that seemed to miss out on frequent severe weather last year may see an uptick this year," AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski said.

More frequent bouts of rain and severe weather will migrate northward to the mid-Mississippi and Ohio valleys, which were not hit as hard as the Deep South in 2011, mainly during April and May.

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A pair of tornadoes in the North Platte, Neb., area Sunday night injured two people, damaged homes and other buildings, knocked over a semi on Interstate 80 and flipped 15 train cars in a Union Pacific rail yard, authorities said.

None of the injuries appeared to be serious, said Dan Guenthner, Lincoln County's emergency management director.

Numerous homes were damaged, Guenthner said. The American Red Cross and the Salvation Army opened shelters for people who had been displaced.

Sheriff's deputies remained on the lookout early Monday for others who may have been injured. Power lines were down, making many roads impassable.

One of the injured persons had to be extricated from a house before being taken to a hospital, Guenthner said. The other was a semitrailer driver whose rig was toppled on I-80 between Sutherland and Hershey, Neb. The semi driver also was taken to a hospital.

The tornadoes were part of a strong storm that moved north through the county about 9 p.m. Sunday. Witnesses reported several twister sightings, leading authorities to believe at one point that they were dealing with as many as five tornadoes. But National Weather Service radar confirmed just two, Guenthner said.

Authorities were hoping to better survey damage during daylight hours Monday.

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Flooding, Rain, Tornado's target Texas and Oklahoma
An outbreak of violent severe thunderstorms is expected through tonight across the southern Plains.

Some of the storms will become violent enough to spawn tornadoes, while many others will unleash flooding, producing a situation that will be exasperated by additional storms through midweek.

The driving force behind this nasty weather was the same potent storm that brought a tornado to California, heavy snow to the Southwest and powerful winds to the western High Plains over the weekend.

On Sunday night, the energy from the storm resulted in several strong storms and even tornadoes from the Texas Panhandle to western Nebraska.

Today, the focus for severe storms will extend from Texas north through parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa.

While some storms will be ongoing early in the day from western Texas to Kansas, the worst of the weather will strike this afternoon and evening. Austin, San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth will be among the major metropolitan areas targeted by the storms later today.

Hailstones as large as golf balls and destructive wind gusts to 80 mph will be the greatest threat faced from any strong storm, in addition to heavy rain and always dangerous lightning.

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Op maandag 19 maart 2012 21:09 schreef Skylo het volgende:
Dat die mensen daar nog durven te wonen, ik zou elke dag huiverend in mijn bed liggen afwachtend of er niet weer een tornado langst raast die je mooie houten huisje kapot maakt...