Storm chaser Eric Graham sent this picture in from Illinois yesterday. He did not find anything very dramatic which was certainly a relief after numerous tornadoes were reported in the deep South yesterday with some wind and hail damage as close to home as western Illinois. I named the storm Serena since I was expecting much quieter and more serene weather here at home compared to areas well to our south and west. Serena did live up to its name and we did not have major flooding, wind damage, or tornadoes. The reason Serena was kind to us was because we did break out into sunshine yesterday. This helped keep the atmosphere more stable and it was also a good thing that our cold front came through late at night. By losing the daytime heating that helped seal the deal of not having to worry about any nasty storms. But March still went out like a lion with Mary Anne in Remington reporting .32" of rain in just 17 minutes! Most rainfall amounts around the area were between .50" of rain and 1" of rain with .60" here at WLFI. We may have dodged the worst of the severe weather but brace yourselves today for an April Fools' Joke nature style today which will be full of wintry winds and wind chills remaining in the 30s. We could see some wind gusts as high as 40 mph so take it easy driving. At least we did not start off our new month with Blizzard Warnings like they saw in Marquette, Michigan. I did not officially call for snow today, but I cannot totally rule out a wet snowflake or two. But it could be a lot worse. I will check back here this afternoon and post some video from an April thunderstorm a few years ago that actually produced a tornado at Clinton Central. April is when our severe weather season really cranks up so we need to have that safety plan ready to go. If the video does not get your attention this certainly will.
INDIANA REMAINS THE MOST TORNADO-PRONE STATE DURING APRIL
As part of an ongoing company-funded research study of tornadic risk assessment, by means of the Site Assessment of Tornado Threat (SATT) software, VorTek has determined the rankings by month of the top twenty tornado-prone states, with Indiana remaining the most tornado-prone state for the month of April. The rankings, based on National Weather Service data from 1950 through 2006, are as follows:
RANK
STATE
ACF (%)
DISTURBED LAND
AREA (ACRES)
1 Indiana
.02169
4983
2 Oklahoma
.01401
6160
3 Tennessee
.01394
3676
4 Arkansas
.01176
3921
5 Iowa
.01052
3770
6 Mississippi
.00936
2827
7 Kansas
.00901
4717
8 Alabama
.00877
2851
9 Illinois
.00790
2811
10 Kentucky
.00723
1837
11 Michigan
.00545
1988
12 Louisiana
.00520
1481
13 Missouri
.00504
2222
14 Georgia
.00470
1748
15 Ohio
.00458
1202
16 Texas
.00422
7076
17 Nebraska
.00358
1755
18 Wisconsin
.00317
1104
19 North Carolina
.00235
734
20 Florida
.00187
649
The "ACF" (Annual Coverage Fraction) represents the average fraction of land area within the boundaries of the state disturbed by tornadoes during April for the 57-year period from 1950 through 2006. The "disturbed land area" represents the average number of acres of land within the boundaries of the state disturbed by tornadoes during April for the same 57-year period.
Our severe weather threat here in Indiana will likely be on the increase in the next couple weeks with our first chance of severe weather most likely coming during the second week of April. I still expect a more active than normal season and will have an April Outlook coming your way on the blog by tomorrow. Have a great day and remember to keep on smiling. We will have 60s on the way for the weekend!
5 comments:
What interesting facts on tornadoes - I knew IN was in the top 10 - but number 1? That is incredible. It is also good to be aware of these stats - as we start to ramp up for tornado weather.
We did get the rain - but it looks as if the Wabash will not bring us the flooding as it did in January and February. It sure would be nice for things to get a bit warmer and drier, so I can get my garden started.
Thanks for the great information and welcome back.
River Lover
West Lafayette
We did get enough rain to fill the large pot holes in our roads, On my way to work this morning, approx. 6:45am I drove through what I thought was ponding in the road, turns out it was a deep pot hole, as a result, I now have a muffler that is dragging, and stearing that is out of wack. I was driving less than the speed limit, I had to head back home to get my car in for repairs.
Be careful out there, even if you drive the same road every day and know where the pot holes are, they are hard to see due to all of the standing water! What a great April fools day! I was tricked!
Was it in April when a large tornadoe hit West Lafayette and did so much damage to the factory and distroyed many homes?
If I remember correctly, lives were lost with that storm.
I also remember bad ice storms in April. What a weird month for Weather facts.
Was it in April when a large tornadoe hit West Lafayette and did so much damage to the factory and distroyed many homes?
If I remember correctly, lives were lost with that storm.
I also remember bad ice storms in April. What a weird month for Weather facts.
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