March 30th - 1st Potential Severe Weather Outbreak and Snow Potential

[gosaints]

On the cold side what a wildcard setup.  The run to run changes on the HRRR are something

[Madtown]

Euro and GFS  now both showing a foot here...NAM went way south. HRRR south as well. Rap And RDPS showing a good hit here too...Let's get it on the ground...3.5" overnight

[Andie]

1 hour ago, BMT said:

SPC just expanded risks again

Interesting how the so called Tornado alley has moved east.  
Any opinions as to why?

[Phil]

Mesoscale guidance depicting one hell of a pressure surge with the cold front here tomorrow around sunset. Looks quick but if full mixing is realized that could produce 60-70mph gusts for an hour or two.

Which wouldn’t be long enough for a HHW, but some kind of headline would be needed. In 2017 when something like this happened the NWS issued severe thunderstorm warnings to cover it.

Edit: High Wind Watch posted just as a posted this.  

[Hawkeye]

[Iceresistance]

DOUBLE HIGH RISK

[Timmy Supercell]

[gabel23]

Holy smokes things are about to hit the fan. I don't think I have ever seen wording like this: Tornado Driven High Risk?! 

 

The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a

   * Tornado Watch for portions of 
     Central and Eastern Iowa
     Western Illinois
     Northern and Central Missouri
     Southwest Wisconsin

   * Effective this Friday morning and evening from 1145 AM until
     800 PM CDT.

   ...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION...

   * Primary threats include...
     Numerous tornadoes expected with a few intense tornadoes likely
     Widespread large hail and isolated very large hail events to 3
       inches in diameter likely
     Widespread damaging wind gusts to 70 mph likely

   SUMMARY...Intense supercell thunderstorms are expected to develop
   this afternoon and spread eastward across the watch area. 
   Tornadoes, large hail, and damaging winds are all possible with this
   activity.  Parameters are favorable for the potential for
   strong/violent tornadoes and very large hail.

[gabel23]

Yeah look at the individual cells already making their way up into a loaded gun area. Scary situation setting up for you folks in Iowa and Illinois. Sad part is this things are going to get going with school going on. 

[Cfweather]

17 minutes ago, gabel23 said:

Yeah look at the individual cells already making their way up into a loaded gun area. Scary situation setting up for you folks in Iowa and Illinois. Sad part is this things are going to get going with school going on. 

A lot of schools are letting out early.  I just hope it’s early enough. 

[Timmy Supercell]

Don't often look at TWC, but this was posted on their FB. 

[bud2380]

21 minutes ago, gabel23 said:

Yeah look at the individual cells already making their way up into a loaded gun area. Scary situation setting up for you folks in Iowa and Illinois. Sad part is this things are going to get going with school going on. 

Almost every school in eastern Iowa is letting out early.  My kids are getting out in an hour.  We are even sending employees home at 2pm here at work.  

[shakjen]

2 minutes ago, bud2380 said:

Almost every school in eastern Iowa is letting out early.  My kids are getting out in an hour.  We are even sending employees home at 2pm here at work.  

Same in central illinois

 

[gabel23]

Well I'm praying for you all!! I have a ton a family members who live in Des Moines too. Craziest set up day I have seen in a long time. Not even the tornadoes down south last week had this type of environmental setup. 

[CentralNebWeather]

We are heading down to KC, Shawnee KS western suburbs, after school today to see my brother and family for the weekend.  We are 40 degrees currently with winds gusting to 25 out of the NW and a dew of 30.  KC right now is mid 70's with dews in the low 60's.  Always amazing to me and my brother the differences between us weather/climate wise, with it only be a little over 5 hours from here.

[Iowawx]

1 hour ago, Hawkeye said:

How do you think things are looking for CR?

[Hawkeye]

We've hit 70º.  The cloud shield from the storms is overspreading eastern Iowa, so we are likely done with the sunshine and probably won't get much warmer.

[Clinton]

Nice warned cell moving overhead right now.  Stay safe up in east Iowa and Illinois, these storms are explosive and moving fast.

[Stormy]

1 hour ago, Hawkeye said:

We've hit 70º.  The cloud shield from the storms is overspreading eastern Iowa, so we are likely done with the sunshine and probably won't get much warmer.

Never had much sunshine here. Some peaks at times. 71° with dews in the 60⁰s. Definitely feels like tornado weather, and it's almost showtime though I wouldn't be surprised storms will be quite scattered in my area. 

[Hawkeye]

Look out Ottumwa.

[Stormy]

A tornado warned cell is going to be kind of close to my area so I'll probably be out watching soon! Speak at you later. 

[Iceresistance]

Little Rock has gotten hit by at least an EF-3 Tornado.

[Hawkeye]

No idea why, but the tornado sirens just sounded in Cedar Rapids.  There is no threat anywhere near us.

[Hawkeye]

It currently appears everything will be going around Cedar Rapids.... southeast and northwest.

[BMT]

16 minutes ago, Hawkeye said:

It currently appears everything will be going around Cedar Rapids.... southeast and northwest.

Just hoping for rain as I had some sod laid yesterday

[bud2380]

Tornado warning now for my backyard. 

[bud2380]

Large confirmed tornado just to my southwest. 

[Northland09]

Just got placed into a Blizzard Warning. I can't remember the last time we were in a Blizzard Warning. Antsy to see how this all plays out. Just spotty showers at the moment, but the wind has really picked up in the last hour. It's going to get very messy once it switches over.

[East Dubzz]

Seems like this tornado by Iowa City is heading more North than East?

[East Dubzz]

Lot of tornado warnings in E Iowa, but are the ones by Iowa City the only confirmed sightings?

[Grizzcoat]

Somewhere in SE IA. Not mine, but dang.

 

[Hawkeye]

22 minutes ago, East Dubzz said:

Lot of tornado warnings in E Iowa, but are the ones by Iowa City the only confirmed sightings?

The radar circulation near Vinton looked pretty good, but I didn't hear about any confirmed tornadoes.

[Stormy]

Yes guys I didn't think I'd see what I did, but there were two tornadoes there at one time as the storm was recycling just west of me!!. I'm out surveying the damage now and there's quite a bit. 

[Clinton]

2 hours ago, Iceresistance said:

Little Rock has gotten hit by at least an EF-3 Tornado.

Bad deal down there, looks like a powerful tornado.

 

[East Dubzz]

Sooooo many tornado warnings. 

[Hawkeye]

The final line of storms produced 50-60+ mph wind gusts here, but the line was crapping out as it moved through.  I barely got anything out of today's action.

[East Dubzz]

I’m more than happy to miss the real nasty stuff, but it looks like I’m gonna miss out on really most of it. That’s too bad, but I’ll take that over the tornados. 

[Madtown]

Hrr had the snow 150mi south earlier today now back north

[Madtown]

I think I miss out. Heavy band just south of me

[OttumwaSnomow]

2 hours ago, Grizzcoat said:

Somewhere in SE IA. Not mine, but dang.

 

That storm almost decimated Ottumwa.  Could have been Joplin like.  I literally  watched the rotation  over my house after passing  over Ottumwa  city. Then within  1.5 miles from my house it was on the ground!  The pics below are all within  a few miles  of my land. And a half  hour later the 2nd  cell dropped  huge hail, those pics from my yard. Havent heard of any deaths but sadly some injuries.  Epic day for a seasoned weather watcher!  Thanks to govt and models! Good job!

[shakjen]

Squall line looked bad but we lucked out here in LaSalle. Just a garden variety storm. 

[Iowawx]

CR reported a wind gust of 69mph from the line of storms. It would have been nice to get in on some of the heavier cells but at least we got something here. 

Tuesday looks like severe weather is possible again, but remains to be seen how strong the storms will get. 

[Stormy]

Here are two of the few photos I got with my phone and they're not the best. This was right when the second tornado was forming while the last one was still going about 1.5 miles due west of where I live. I have other better photos and videos from another camera which I can't share here, unfortunately. The first tornado was quite a bit larger just before these photos. While we were driving around looking at damage I stopped to help a person clean up for a while. Numerous buildings destroyed and a house lost its roof one and a half miles due West. There was continuous lightning thunder before the storm with heavy rain just west. I ended up with only 0.43" of rain and some 1/2" diameter hail. Top wind speed only 50 mph. 

I want to get myself an iPhone 14 Pro Max but I just haven't gotten that far yet

 

 

[Madtown]

Dumping right now

 

[Stormy]

 

 

 

 

[Timmy Supercell]

[Madtown]

1" an hour for w hrs so far. Let's goooooo!

[james1976]

Nightmare driving back from Lakers/Wolves game (Go Lakers!). Very heavy snow....cars spun out everywhere. Bout 25-30mph all the way home. What's usually a 20min drive took 50.....but we made it! I'd say 4-5 inches down so far.

[Clinton]

Active day Friday 65 tornado reports.  SPC imo did a fantastic job forecasting this outbreak.

[Tom]

10 hours ago, Sparky said:

Here are two of the few photos I got with my phone and they're not the best. This was right when the second tornado was forming while the last one was still going about 1.5 miles due west of where I live. I have other better photos and videos from another camera which I can't share here, unfortunately. The first tornado was quite a bit larger just before these photos. While we were driving around looking at damage I stopped to help a person clean up for a while. Numerous buildings destroyed and a house lost its roof one and a half miles due West. There was continuous lightning thunder before the storm with heavy rain just west. I ended up with only 0.43" of rain and some 1/2" diameter hail. Top wind speed only 50 mph. 

I want to get myself an iPhone 14 Pro Max but I just haven't gotten that far yet

 

 

Thanks for sharing the photos and intel Sparky...and also a shout out to @OttumwaSnomow for posting your photos.  You guys were pretty fortunate not to get any damage.  I was a bit worried yesterday watching the radar for all of you guys in  E IA.