mayhem in may, how baron tools saved the day: 21 & 22 may 2004
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John McLaughlin, KCCI-TV Daryl Herzmann, Iowa State University. Mayhem in May, How Baron Tools Saved the Day: 21 & 22 May 2004. KCCI's Umbrella of Protection. 60+ SchoolNet based real-time weather sensors 13 Live WebCameras 4 Stormchase vehicles Instant Messaging with NWS - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Mayhem in May, How Baron Tools Saved the Day:21 & 22 May 2004
John McLaughlin, KCCI-TVDaryl Herzmann, Iowa State University
KCCI's Umbrella of Protection
● 60+ SchoolNet based real-time weather sensors
● 13 Live WebCameras● 4 Stormchase vehicles● Instant Messaging
with NWS● Storm Spotter Hotline● Baron Fastrac/VIPIR
21 May 2004 Talking Points
● Severe convection the previous night produced an extremely strong outflow boundary over Northern Iowa.
● The warm sector cleared out and warmed nicely during the day
● The instability axis was lined up with the outflow boundary by 18z.
2 PM
2 PM view from Webster City
Looking NNW
Note the LCL
3 PM: Points to Ponder
● Will our current convective cluster NE of DSM weaken as it moves to the SE?
● Situational awareness: Where is the tornado threat?
4 PM : Convection fires in NW Iowa.
5 PM: View from Rockwell City
5-6 PM: Reports
● Numerous tornadoes in Jones, Linn, and Benton County. These tornadoes are with the cluster to the east of Des Moines.
● 5:19PM Softball hail 5 S Spencer (Clay County)
Begin Case Study at 5:47 PM
6 PM: Looks to be wall2wall weather!
6:10 PM: Tornado reported near Rolfe (Pocahontas County)
6:20 PM: Lights ripped off of sheriff's car (Pocahontas County)
6:22 PM: Tornado reported 2 E of Rolfe (Pocahontas County)
6:23 PM: Tornado reported in Bradgate (Humboldt County)
Damage at Bradgate
21 May Summary
22 May: talking points
● Massive amounts of convection blow up the evening of the 21rst and work SE over night.
● The combined warm front / outflow boundary was extremely strong.
● Onset of convection would probably be a bit later due to strengthening CAP and vort max still in Western NE
12z OAX (Omaha) Sounding
0z OAX: Danger, Danger
Instant Messaging with the NWS
(18:37:46) kcciwhite: we are still west of fontanelle(18:38:11) kcciwhite: check out our cam(18:38:37) nwsdmx2: rotating wall cloud near
woodward(18:40:08) kcciwhite: in fontanelle(18:45:19) kcciwhite: we are heading north on IA
25 out of Greenfield.... see a nice lowering that way
(18:51:43) nwsdmx2: plenty of rotation in the wall cloud, moving se toward madrid
Live Reports from the field
(18:55:15) kcciwx: rapid hook forming sw of stuart on lsd(18:55:15) kcciwhite: that's a 10-4. we are seeing lowering(18:55:15) kcciwhite: we are south of that on hwy. 5 about 5 mi. north
of greenfield(18:55:37) kcciwhite: cam pointed right at it(18:55:39) kcciwx: Seeing anything??(18:56:15) kcciwhite: just lowerings, just some upward motion(18:57:33) kcciwhite: some good scud(18:57:53) kcciwhite: we are on 180th street in adair county going
east(18:58:00) kcciwhite: turning north on orange road(18:58:21) nwsdmx2: baseball hail 2 n madrid
The Photogenic Stuart Tornado
(19:06:52) kcciwx: tornado south of menlo on the ground(19:06:56) nwsdmx2: tornado reported just sw of stuart(19:07:00) nwsdmx2: ham report
Another Shot of Stuart Tornado
Chaos Ensues
(19:44:27) kcciwx: tornado by maxwell..public(19:44:33) kcciwx: public report(19:45:03) nwsdmx2: 4ne dexter, tornado ham radio report(19:46:51) nwsdmx2: tornado just w of maxwell now!(19:47:38) kcciwx: 2 inch hail in camberage(19:50:43) nwsdmx2: tornado 3w of adel now!
NEXRAD + Warnings @ 8 PM
Still storm chasing at 2 AM !!!
(01:36 AM) john_mcweather: just got stopped by ankeny pd so they could look at the radar! young kid though it was cool
Event Tornado Warnings
Summary Stats
● Tornadoes by day for Iowa:– 15 (May 21rst)– 19 (May 22nd)
● 110 Tornadoes so far for 2004 (Record)