Thursday, February 12, 2009

Midwest Mauler Moves East! Good Clean-Up Weather Today!


We see storms come and go all the time here in Indiana, but last night will be one storm that we will never forget! I spoke with many folks that cannot remember a storm like it. The only think I could compare it to was a tropical storm I covered while in Gainesville, Florida back in 1995. That storm broke my umbrella with gusts near 60 m
ph. Heck, the storm we had last night was way more impressive than Erin. We did have the remnants of Ike move through our area in September but remember we missed out on the damaging winds that hit the Indianapolis area and those gusts took place in short period of time. The only weather we really do not experience here in Indiana are hurricanes and tropical storms since we are so far from the ocean but last night nature had a mind of its own and we all got a taste of what it would be like to live through one. We had tropical storm force gusts begin around 4 p.m. and this relentless wind did not settle down until midnight. It was like a 6 to 8 hour severe thunderstorm that would not go away. Severe thunderstorms are issued with 58 mph winds or greater and we certainly met that criteria for several hours. The High Wind Warning did not seem to even begin to cover what we went through. All I can say is wow! This beast of a storm even sounded like a tropical storm with a roaring wind that sounded more like a 747 taking off in our backyards. On our satellite and radar composite it even looked like a tropical storm as you can see the eye of the storm above! The big question everybody had was how could it be so violently windy for so long?

The eye you see on the picture above holds some clues. This low pressure really exploded over our area and intensified. Its pressure fell rapidly to 29.14" which is very impressive and is comparable to what you sometimes see with strong tropical storms or category one hurricanes. This is lower than the air pressure was over Lafayette with the Great Blizzard of 1978. We will go more in-depth on this comparison later on. The air flow in the atmosphere was severely disturbed and this big pressure drop created a suction effect that caused our damaging winds. Remember air flows from high pressure to low pressure and think of high pressure as a hill and low pressure as the bottom of a hill with air flow rolling down the hill from high pressure to low pressure. Last night our air flow was going down more of a mountain than a hill and like a skier on an expert course our wind had no trouble clocking hurricane force speeds. Take another look at those incredible gusts!

Today as high pressure moves in this freakish low pressure moves East things will quickly stabilize! We will enjoy some nice sunshine with a light west wind near 10 mph by this afternoon and more importantly I see no big storms our heavy precipitation producers in the near future. This will not keep the Wabash River from seeing a moderate flood crest close to 20 feet on Friday. Be very careful and secure your property in these areas. The Oakdale and Norway Dam areas of Carroll and White Counties are breathing a sigh of relief as they have dodged the flooding this time around. They deserve a break after last year's historic and unprecedented flood. You can see what made the big difference below.


The highest rainfall totals fell mainly south of these areas. You are looking at what happened in Frankfort as backyards became lakes and there were actually reports of boat rescues. Frankfort high school let out school early at 11:30 a.m. due to extensive flooding on state road 28. Make sure you check our web-site this morning as I am anticipating some delays from all of the wild wind and rain from last night. When was the last time that happened. This winter is one for the books! But again things will settle down today and still be careful of a lot of debris on area roadways. The clean-up will certainly take at least a couple weeks. I will have more of your great pictures coming up and talk about what would have happened if this storm would have been all snow. Could it have been our worst blizzard ever? Something to think about today! It of course would not have been a real storm without Dena Flanagan's play by play account or should I say picture by picture. What a gift she has. Let's just soak it all in and enjoy her montage of pictures. I will try to salvage a little rest before my body pump class this morning! See you soon and thanks again for all your help!

Hey Mike, Well you called this "hurricane" correctly! My Goodness at the winds, I think we have lost about 30-40 shingles, and that is what we have picked up in the yard, who knows what the roof actually looks like. I have taken some pictures throughout the day and Wow, I wish we had more daylight because I think the pictures will be amazing tomorrow when the sun comes up. We ended up losing power around 7 this evening and it was off for about two hours, but we are all good right now, I sure hope everyone has had a safe day, but I have already heard of some trucks being blown over.....bummer. we did have some incredible gusts of wind that even threw a shingle into our bathroom window upstairs and destroyed the screen....at the our damage is minimal and we can thank God that we still have a house standing, things could be much worse.
Here are some pictures for you, I don't have an accurate amount for the rain because my rain gauge blew down and broke....oops!

Take Care and be Safe!!!!!!
Dena Flanagan
New Castle & Wyandotte Road

This is actually a field and not a lake......located on New Castle Road (1 pm)
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Wait a minute......this is the sun showing its shiny face this afternoon about 3:45pm
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The sun is about to disappear with the second round of thunderstorms moving in..3:45pm
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There goes the sun..................
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I have to admit.....it was a pretty sight................................
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Now I am heading into town........this is old Co. Rd 350 South....check out the rain!
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This was starting to get UGLY!!!!!!!!!...........about 4pm
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This was at 350 South and US 52..........looking HORRIBLE now.......about 4:03pm
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my son Kyle snapped this picture as we were turning onto US 52.....UGLY!
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This was pulling out of Fairfield Manufacturing about 4:10pm....UNREAL at the wind
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Another picture waiting to pull out of Fairfield MFG....the Rain and Wind is UNREAL at this time...
Really scary!!!!!!!

It was too dark when I got home to take anymore pictures......I'll see if there is anything but shingles laying around tomorrow......but my neighbors have called me tonight and they have lost shingles, basketball goals....you name it....and it was blown down or away......But don't worry Mike.........I listened to you and I put everything in the garage....so we had NO missles!!!!!! ;-)

Take Care!


You are amazing Dena. I am glad everybody is safe and sound. Our thoughts and prayers are with those that lost their lives in Oklahoma from this same storm that will never be forgotten. The power of nature always trumps everything else and always teaches many us many lessons if you look closely. Every storm is different. Even though we were helpless to all the wind and water here at home we all came together as a team to help keep people safe.

There are good people no matter where you live but this teamwork and genuine concern for others is what I call the "Midwest Way". This attitude is unique to this part of the country and of course there are good, caring people no matter where you live, but there is a different level of helping your neighbor I have rarely seen elsewhere. I am convinced this Midwest Way is handed down from generation to generation and came about from the necessity to survive and endure the incredible weather that is experienced in this part of the country that you can find nowhere else in the world. This indelible spirit and the Midwest Way of doing things is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life which is not bad for an East Coast guy from Maryland.

I was very smart when I married a beautiful girl from Wisconsin and I count my blessings every day. She embodies all of this and more. This is a special place and it starts with the people that live here. Thank you! I guess Mark Twain was wrong after all, when he said everybody complains about the weather, yet they can do nothing about it. Here in Indiana people are doing something about the weather with the Midwest Way that does make a huge difference no matter what nature throws at us. Just take some time to read through this weather blog. There is a whole lot more than just weather going on here.



32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Like I said....I measured winds closer to the bottom end of a CAT 1 hurricane than the lower end of Trop Storm. Yes, this is one event we won't soon forget.

Chris in Tipton

Anonymous said...

LOL it is 12:57am and i have weather bug on my computer. My location on it is Tri County Middle School in Wolcott Indiana. The temperature currently says 126 degrees !! LOL just had to share that with everyone!!

Anonymous said...

Wow this storm was so cool. The eye of storm was wild part. And yes, this will definitely be one that we will not forget anytime soon.

Anonymous said...

Jena...neat pictures! LOL Pam on 126 degrees...Wow! Can't see out to see what it looks like or any damange, the sun will rise soon. We did not lose power in Northern Carroll County. Hope all remained safe. Left last night before 7 as I was tired. So had to go back and read the past blogs...I missed alot. Teri....lol on the blurries and the bee in the belly button...to funny!
Jamie

Anonymous said...

Whew! Glad the storm and those winds are over! We survived, yea! :)

Anonymous said...

No damage at my house. A tree up around pond, a few limbs...but roof and shingles are great. Whew...glad we didn't have any probs. Hope everyone else weathered good.
Jamie

Anonymous said...

And so it is a new day! The creek is back in its bank, the sun is shining and all looks good. I have not been around town to check for trees, limbs down, etc.

MA in REM

Anonymous said...

We had flooding in our basement starting yesterday morning. It got pretty scary watching the water rise up over the water heater, furnace, washer and dryer...then we lost power just after 7pm, just as the sump pumps were catching up with the incoming water from the drain in the basement. Luckily, the water finally stopped coming in from the drain and the power came back on after 11pm. The water has been pumped out and now we have to see if all appliances work down there. Lots of cleaning up to do.

Lanna in Frankfort

Anonymous said...

This morning many TSC schools did not have power. Wonder if it's back on.

Anonymous said...

How much snow is expected this weekend? I know Mike was forcasting 3-6 Monday and then is dropped to 2-4. It looks like it might be to warm for any to stick...any thoughts?

Cheers

Anonymous said...

wow i didnt realize how strong the winds were except i knew that first burst was bad....my mom lives out in radnor and they lost power for about 1/2 hour yesterday. It looks so nice out here, maybe we will go out and see how it feels today.
Renee in laf

Richard said...

I was out today and really didnt see any damage. Just seeing the Wabash on the rise. I was told by an old timer "if the river rises fast it will go down fast". and I always watched that and how true it is.

Attica

Anonymous said...

We have flooding and limbs down....but nothing too terrible. I do believe that this storm this weekend is going to weaken before it gets here....that is why it isn't being hyped up.

Chris in Tipton

Anonymous said...

I see many limbs down but it is hard to tell if they are new or not. All of the debris (tree) from the ice storm are not cleaned up.

MA in REM

Anonymous said...

Nothing wes to bad here Like I toled Mike earlier just one good size tree limb andso far nothing eals! That is good with me!

Mary Anne glad to hear your creek did not flood to bad! ANd that is has gone back down!

Temperature is right at 48* degrees right now and after all my sleep I'M feeling MUCH BETTER! :D

Have a good one Fellow BLOGGERS!

Justin.

Anonymous said...

Went for a hike....man it is windy here. I mean not bad bad...but steady. When is the snow to start. Glad you got some rest Justin.

Jamie

Anonymous said...

Lots of flooded yards in Frankfort, but the water is gone from the high school parking lot and 28. It is really a beautiful day for cleaning up.

Barbie

Anonymous said...

Does anyone read this blog from middle or western Benton County> Would love to know rainfall from there. We get water from Benton Co which added to our rainfall causes flooding. For my own records I sure wish someone from that area would join CoCoRaHS.

MA in REM

Anonymous said...

Wow what I night! Today I have talked with many folks who lost power last night, me included. Some were still witout this morning..

The sunrise was BEAUTIFUL this morning, bright orange sun that left a glow on buildings and trees.

I Had to dodge limbs and branches that were in the road on the way to work..

Also I have shingles all over my yard from my neighbors home,, how sad for them..

The photos submitted are wonderful, great job!

Winds are still blowing here in Laf. not bad but still howling at times...

Mike your update was very nice. and Thank you for everything..

Teri in Laf

Anonymous said...

No, I was not talking to myself LOL

Anonymous said...

Hey Mike, in an older blog you said something like we all should be on Letterman soon, were you refering to the Joaquin Phoenix interview LOL LOL you know I am kidding..

Anonymous said...

All is quiet on the home front..resting up from last night?

Man, nobody is talking about the snow that comin..what up?

Anonymous said...

Maybe it isn't going to snow that much. We need this ground to dry out. I am a snow lover but after the last 24 hours I have had, we could use a break.

Lanna in Frankfort

Anonymous said...

Yeah, are we still supposed to get two inches of snow on Saturday?

Anonymous said...

Saturday looks like not a big snow at all.

Starting late Friday night or early Saturday morning which ever you like to say! Starting around 2am. We will stay between one maybe two inches. With some light snow flurries after Noon time. So not much snow this time but we may still have to scoop a little. ;)

I would like the ground to dry off more as well.

Not looking like gusty winds will be a problem with the snow as well only between 5 and 10 mph. Nice and Light!

Hope this helps.

Justin.

Anonymous said...

That's good news about the snowfall amounts.I am ready for sunshine and warm temps... recouping on some sleep after last nigts winds..took a long nap after work.

I finally fell a
sleep around 2:00 am then to get up at 5:00. The power was restored about 3:00 and woke me when every thing started running again.

Glad to hear all is safe..

Teri

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the good news, Justin. Need some good news after the day we had yesterday.

Lanna in Frankfort

Richard said...

I hope that we dont get much snow...Ready for the warm weather!!!

Anonymous said...

I am ready for more SNOW!!!! I am looking to next Thursday....

Waiting to hear from Mike on this one!

Chris in Tipton

Anonymous said...

Hey, Has anyone checked out the 7 day forcast on WLFI.com. It's showing highs in the 80's and lows in the 60's at 12:48 a.m. Wouldn't that be great!!Wonder how long it will take them to catch the error!

Anonymous said...

I was headed to work about the time that Ms. Flanagan took those pictures, I was going towards lafayette down 52 and right after 450 s. I saw this blue flash and waited for it to happen again, turned out it was the power line generating these huge flashes of blue light, I went around the power line but all southbound traffic on 52 was stopped right before the power line, it was a crazy sight.

Anonymous said...

Anyone heard that Prangley might move to Florida?