damaging wind Archives

Severe weather likely tonight, could become a derecho

July 7, 2014 By Mike Lear

Severe weather is expected in Missouri tonight, and now the National Weather Service is concerned storms could come together to form a derecho.

This graphic from the National Weather Service shows the potential threats from severe weather tonight.

A derecho is a long-lived, widespread, straight line wind storm. Such events have drawn national media attention including last week, when a derecho that swept across several midwestern states caused multiple tornadoes, heavy rain and widespread damage and has been blamed for five deaths and numerous injuries.

Meteorologist Mike July stresses that the formation of such a storm is possible and not definite. Whether a derecho forms or not, severe weather is likely, and he wants Missourians to be prepared.

“Continue to monitor your local media because storms haven’t formed yet, and once they begin to form we’ll kind of see how they evolve,” says July. “If they begin to show signs that we look for, then we’ll have to maybe ramp things up a little bit.”

If the system evolves as some computer models say it will, it could produce winds of 70 miles per hour or more.

“Right now we’re kind of thinking in excess of 75 miles an hour winds are certainly possible, and it’s highlighted from an area southeast of Nebraska all the way over to St. Louis, so it’s a fairly wide corridor,” says July.

The public can often be dismissive of straight-line winds as a threat, but a prolonged straight-line wind even can be as damaging or more so than a tornado.

“In a tornado, if you kind of think of it in real estate coverage, it’s a small area that it covers,” says July. “If you’re talking about a true derecho, it could very well be, from the north end to the south end, it could be 100 to 200 miles long, and along that entire length you’re getting damaging winds.”

There is also a threat of flash flooding.

“We’re talking about one to three inches of rain possibly, and even from a localized area, four inches of rain,” says July. “We have multiple hazards to be concerned about this evening.

For National Weather Service information for your area, visit these NWS pages.

In northwest and western Missouri: Kansas City (Pleasant Hill)

In northeast and eastern Missouri: St. Louis

In southwest Missouri: Springfield

In southeast Missouri: Paducah, KY

Scotland and Clark counties: Davenport, IA

Slight risk for severe weather Thursday and Friday in Missouri

May 7, 2014 By Mike Lear

The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center is warning of a slight risk for severe weather for much of Missouri Thursday and a smaller portion of the state on Friday. Missourians are encouraged to watch for weather updates and be aware of changing conditions.

This graphic from the National Weather Service’s St. Louis Office shows where the Storm Prediction Center says there is a slight chance of severe weather Thursday and Friday.

The National Weather Service says storms could move into southwest Missouri after midnight Thursday morning and begin impacting northwest Missouri by around daybreak. Storms the morning carry some risk for severe weather, primarily from hail.

Meteorologist Steve Lindenberg says later Thursday storms could become stronger if enough instability is present.

“During the afternoon and evening we could get additional strong to severe weather with large hail and damaging winds the primary severe weather risk,” says Lindenberg. The Weather Service does not rule out the possibility of isolated tornadoes Thursday.

The front that will produce these storms is expected to move slowly and linger in the state Friday and into the weekend, presenting the possibility of more rounds of thunderstorms Friday and perhaps Saturday and Sunday. A slight chance for severe weather remains for Friday in most of the southern half of the state.

The Storm Prediction Center says the predictability of severe weather for Saturday and Sunday is too low to offer an outlook.

Forecasters are also concerned about the possibility of minor flooding in the next few days, but major, widespread flooding is not anticipated.

For National Weather Service information for your area, visit these NWS pages.

In northwest and western Missouri: Kansas City (Pleasant Hill)

In northeast and eastern Missouri: St. Louis

In southwest Missouri: Springfield

In southeast Missouri: Paducah, KY

Scotland and Clark counties: Davenport, IA

Weather Service begins test of new warnings today

April 2, 2012 By Mike Lear

Beginning today and for the next few months, when weather turns severe the National Weather Service will be trying some new things with the warnings it issues in most of Missouri.

The National Weather Service will use new language to tell the public when events like this tornado near Bellflower on May 25, 2011 are happening. (photo courtesy, tNational Weather Service)

These warnings will include new hazard, impact, source information and updated Call to Action statements. The weather service hopes the new warnings will get members of the public to take potentially life-saving actions faster.

St. Louis Warning Coordination Meteorologist Jim Kramper says this is the beginning of a test. “We think the warning process and the result is going to be overhauled eventually in a bigger fashion, but we just can’t do it at once. We’re going to take steps, and this is probably the first step.”

The warnings are being tested in five weather service offices covering most of Missouri and parts of Illinois and Kansas. Kramper explains why the Weather Service chose these offices. “They wanted to try to get offices that have been effected by strong tornadoes recently, and try to get a variety as well. Kansas sometimes looks at their storms differently than a lot of people in St. Louis do. So we’ll have a lot of variety in terms of the people that are going to be exposed to this new type of warning.”

Those offices’ coverage areas do not include the Bootheel and Scotland and Clark counties in far northeast Missouri.

The updates are based on the findings of the Weather Service and social scientists, who have studied people’s behavior when severe weather hits in events like the May 22, 2011 Joplin tornado. Kramper says they’ve learned that most people, upon hearing a warning, will look for more information.

“They hear ‘tornado warning,’ in most cases they’re going to take a look outside, they’re going to see what’s going on. Is there anything right there in the vicinity or does it look clear? Maybe they can see the dark cloud off in the distance. Or, maybe all of a sudden they can see the wind howling outside. That’s what we have found people do. They don’t really take action just because they hear this warning. They’re going to assess the situation their situation and find out, ‘What do I really need to do?'”

See our earlier story on the new warning language.

Some things might not change, however. Kramper says for instance, the Weather Service has no say in what county and city officials do with local outdoor warning sirens.

“The local warning systems are controlled by local authorities. We’re hopeful that they will take this additional information that we’re going to try and make it easy for them to see the warnings and they’ll use that when they make their decisions … but what they decide in terms of turning them on or not is still going to be totally up to them.”

Much of the time, the public does not read these warnings with their own eyes. Rather, they get the information from media outlets. Kramper says how media outlets will pass it along is up to them. Then, it’s up to the public what they do with that information.

See examples of the warnings being tested, with the new language highlighted:

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