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In this blog, weather junkies on the Southeast Missourian staff talk about (what else?) the weather. Give us your observations, folk wisdom and Farmers Almanac tales -- it's a weather free for all.
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Another round of severe weather predicted for Wednesday

Posted Monday, May 11, 2009, at 2:13 PM

Update Tuesday @ 3 PM: The best chance for severe thunderstorms tomorrow has shifted north, from roughly Columbia, Missouri, northeast to Chicago. We're not out of the woods, but it doesn't look quite as bad now. The long range charts suggest we could see 4-5 inches of rain over the next week, however.

Original blog from Monday:

The Storm Prediction Center is already forecasting the possibility of more severe thunderstorms on Wednesday, particularly for the St. Louis area. Here's their outlook:

Southeast Missouri is only under a Slight Risk, but St. Louis falls within the Moderate Risk zone. It's somewhat unusual for them to project a Moderate Risk this far in advance.

Their bulletin says, "PARAMETERS ON FORECAST SOUNDINGS SUGGEST THE ENVIRONMENT WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR A SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER EVENT WITH A STRONGLY FORCED LINE OF INTENSE STORMS."

Just lovely.

"Inland Hurricane" roundup

  • The folks at Wikipedia have already classified last week's storm as part of the "May 2009 Derecho Series." Our storm came on the heels of another derecho system that struck the Deep South on May 3.

  • A blog from the University of Wisconsin has some cool satellite images showing the progress of the storm. The third image shows the system as it moved into Illinois. At that point, the satellite presentation looks like a spitting image of a real hurricane.

  • This radar image shows the storm a few minutes later as it was causing peak damage at Carbondale, Illinois. The "eye" and "spiral bands" are clearly visible. Again, it's the spitting image of a real tropical cyclone.

  • The forecasters at AccuWeather.com have been referring to the storm as the "Inland Hurricane." It's hard to argue with that.

  • The National Weather Service has been conducting damage surveys. Here are the reports so far from the Paducah, St. Louis, and Springfield offices.

  • Finally, I've put together an animation showing the storm as depicted by the Paducah radar. Notice how quickly the storm entered and exited the region:

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  • Thank you for this information and the animated radar. I find this "inland hurricane" derecho to be quite fascinating.

    -- Posted by Gretchen Probst on Mon, May 11, 2009, at 10:09 PM

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