February 2024 Observations and Discussion

[Hoosier]

Tornado watch

[Clinton]

I hit a record high of 80 today.  Cold front just rolled through, temps are dropping.  Snow possible in about 6 hrs or so lol.

[Andie]

High of 83 today.  We'll dip to 44, then up to 56 tomorrow

High of 56 Thursday with a 30-40% chance of rain. 

Looking a bit more normal, however, we do get freezes in February and early March. 

[Jayhawker85]

Went from 75 to 36 in about 3 hours and snow about 2 hours away. True Midwest weather living up to its title!

[Tom]

Back in Chi, my brother in law is near southern tip of the severe line near Aurora, IL.  My sister near ORD says the light show is insane!

[OttumwaSnomow]

Dare I say south  east Iowa takes the cake.

 

1:17 pm 77 degrees

5:30 pm 34 degrees

7:39 pm  29 degrees

Keep it mind, bright sun, not a cloud. No diurnal temp drop,  no evaporational cooling. Just good old fashion cold air advection  in the middle of a sunny  day. 

Went to hardware  store at 1pm had ac on. Went  back to hardware  store at 4pm and had heat on.. in bright sunshine!!

This freak show never ends!

[jaster220]

Evening commute with 67F on the dash thermo, whilst passing snow otg. Has to be one of my warmest days with snow around not just plowed piles. Also walked without a jacket on afternoon break and was very comfortable, then driving home I see the winter headline for the morning. I mean, it was warm the day before 11-22-15 storm, but like mid-40s not mid-60s. This may also be a personal warmest day prior to a winter event worthy of a headline. 

 

[Tom]

Just issue…sirens blaring back at old place…

 

[Tom]

Crazy looking bowed line with a hook, peaking right over NE IL…this is a wild line of storms…

 

[Clinton]

I have a thunderstorm moving through right now with a temperature of 39.  4 hours ago it was 80!

[Hoosier]

Line around Chicago has built southward.  Because of that, it will end up hitting here in a little while.

[Andie]

4 hours ago, Jayhawker85 said:

Went from 75 to 36 in about 3 hours and snow about 2 hours away. True Midwest weather living up to its title!

Down here in Texas we call that a Blue Norther.
Pretty good almost 40*!

_______________

Just found this………we need rain. 
CANADIAN, Texas (AP) — Rapidly moving Texas wildfires Tuesday prompted evacuation orders in small towns and shut down a nuclear facility as strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures fueled the blaze in the state’s rural Panhandle.

[jaster220]

Can't wait for morning, lol

[Hoosier]

Only got a bit of rain here.  Tornado warning just to my north a little while ago.  Not sure it produced anything but it had some rotation for a while before moving out over Lake Michigan.

[Clinton]

Thunder, lighting and snowing falling with a temp of 32.  This is a definitely a memorable weather day, I literally experienced all 4 seasons in about 12 hours. 

[Hoosier]

32 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

Only got a bit of rain here.  Tornado warning just to my north a little while ago.  Not sure it produced anything but it had some rotation for a while before moving out over Lake Michigan.

Saw a picture of a funnel cloud that was almost on the ground near Gary.  It definitely ended up touching down, so I think the question is whether it was still on land or already out over Lake Michigan.

[Hoosier]

Video of tornado around Gary, Indiana

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0cAhjyqXTBoJgs5w81HQszaajB4NEFdCRSQYt1whgLqa6sCTceNQPSuXj3DUn9hadl&id=100000592940072

[Hoosier]

Somebody sent this pic to me from Gary, but I don't know who took it.

[Jayhawker85]

36 minutes ago, Clinton said:

Thunder, lighting and snowing falling with a temp of 32.  This is a definitely a memorable weather day, I literally experienced all 4 seasons in about 12 hours. 

It’s 21 here with about a quarter inch of snow on the ground and snowing moderately. A second wave of snow is expected to come through around midnight. This has been a weather day to remember!

[Madtown]

62 at 2pm. 37 at 3:45pm. 32 at 5pm. 14 at 1015pm. 1" or so of snow after a gorgeous afternoon

[westMJim]

New record highs were set across Michigan yesterday. All major locations in Michigan set new record highs. The highs were not only the record for the date but also the new record for the month of February and new records for the warmest for any date in meteorological winter. All in all a very historic day.

The official H/L at Grand Rapids yesterday was 73/50 both were records for the day. There was 0.11” of rainfall the highest wind speed was 38MPH out of the S. The sun was out 71% of the time. For today the average H/L is 38/22 the record high of 60 was set in 2018 and the record low of -12 was set in 2014 the most rainfall of 1.30” fell in 1902 the most snowfall of 9.0” fell in 1900 the most snow on the ground was 18” in 2014. Last year the H/L was 43/33.

There were a few flashes of lightning last night but just 0.17” of rainfall. While most of the night was around 50 it has now fallen down to 28 here in MBY.

[Tom]

8 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Somebody sent this pic to me from Gary, but I don't know who took it.

That's a legit funnel!  Wow...what an incredible 24 hours of weather across the Heartland and the GL's...

Some pretty wild winds back home...

 

[Tom]

Here Blizzard, Blizzard, Blizzard....the models were locked in a week out for the Sierra Mtn's to get blasted...

 

Quote

Blizzard Warning

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Reno NV
1218 PM PST Tue Feb 27 2024

CAZ072-NVZ002-282330-
/O.UPG.KREV.WS.A.0007.240229T1200Z-240303T1800Z/
/O.NEW.KREV.BZ.W.0001.240229T1800Z-240303T1800Z/
Greater Lake Tahoe Area-
Including the cities of Glenbrook, Incline Village, Truckee,
Stateline, South Lake Tahoe, Markleeville, and Tahoe City
1218 PM PST Tue Feb 27 2024

...BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM THURSDAY TO 10 AM PST
SUNDAY...

* WHAT...Blizzard conditions likely, particularly from Friday
  evening through Saturday morning. Snow accumulations between 2 and
  4 feet for Lake Tahoe communities, with 4 to 8 feet above 7000
  feet. Winds gusting to 60 mph in lower elevations and above 100
  mph over Sierra ridges.

* WHERE...Greater Lake Tahoe Area.

* WHEN...From 10 AM Thursday to 10 AM PST Sunday.

* IMPACTS...Whiteout conditions with near zero visibility at times
  due to blowing snow. The strong winds and weight of snow on tree
  limbs may down power lines and could cause sporadic power outages.
  Whiteout conditions are expected and will make travel treacherous
  and potentially life-threatening.

 

[Andie]

42* this morning in DfW.  
The Tx Panhandle is experiencing high winds and dangerous wildfires.  
A disaster declaration for 60 counties has been declared which ordered the state to activate emergency response assistance.  
Area firefighters are responding and evacuations underway.  

My husband is Fleet Manager for Ft Worth and he’s assisted in sending crews and equipment to fight the fires yesterday. Other cities are doing likewise.  Everyone is praying for the wind to die down.  
edit:  A nuclear weapons facility is nearby but officials say it is secured  

 

[Hawkeye]

Models have backed off of the colder air next week.  The deep, slow-moving trough models had been showing is now flatter and it quickly lifts up into Canada.  The latest Euro keeps us in the 50s and 60s through day ten.

We really need a couple good soakers.  It is very dry.

[OttumwaSnomow]

77 to 10 degrees in 17 hours. Not 1 cloud, not 1 drop of rain, not 1 flake.   This place is twisted. Almost twice per month something  historic  is happening. 

[chescowxman]

0.15" of rain since yesterday so far here in East Nantmeal. We should see a couple rounds of heavy rain today. The first around the lunchtime hour and the 2nd with the cold frontal passage toward the 7pm hour. Some spots could see over 1/2 inch of rain today. Temps will again soar to near 60 degrees before the front passes. Behind the front winds will increase to near 40mph and temps will plunge from near 60 degrees at around 7pm to near freezing by 11pm. Tomorrow we will stay in the below normal 30's before our next warm up gets underway on Friday.

County wide records for today: High 73 Devault and Phoenixville (1997) / Low 16 below Phoenixville (1934) / Rain 1.82" Coatesville (1902) / Snow 7.5" Coatesville (2005)

[Clinton]

Some crazy stuff from yesterday. 

 

Follow

 

At Kansas City, the daily max temp was 73°. The daily low (recorded at 11:59 pm) was 19°. This daily temp range of 54° is tied for 4th largest on record. The other dates at the top? Nov 11, 1911 (65°) Jan 15, 1953 (57°) Nov 21, 1898 (56°) Mar 2, 1904 (54°) Dec 14, 2008 (54°)

 

St. Joseph recorded a max temp of 78° just before 1 pm yesterday (2/27). This broke the previous daily max temp record of 76° set in 1976. At 11:59 pm, it was 20°. This daily temp range (MaxT - MinT) of 58° is the largest on record (since 3/1/1908). That's a strong cold front!

[OttumwaSnomow]

1 hour ago, Clinton said:

Some crazy stuff from yesterday. 

 

Follow

 

At Kansas City, the daily max temp was 73°. The daily low (recorded at 11:59 pm) was 19°. This daily temp range of 54° is tied for 4th largest on record. The other dates at the top? Nov 11, 1911 (65°) Jan 15, 1953 (57°) Nov 21, 1898 (56°) Mar 2, 1904 (54°) Dec 14, 2008 (54°)

 

St. Joseph recorded a max temp of 78° just before 1 pm yesterday (2/27). This broke the previous daily max temp record of 76° set in 1976. At 11:59 pm, it was 20°. This daily temp range (MaxT - MinT) of 58° is the largest on record (since 3/1/1908). That's a strong cold front!

Very interesting.. so here in mby.. 

77 at 1:30 pm

19 at midnight

10 at 7 am

So  fell 58 degrees in same 24 day. But actually was 58 degrees in 10.5 hours and A 67 DEGREE FALL IN  17.5 HRS!!

I see KC had a dramatic  fall on Dec 14th 2008. I saw a 67 degree plunge in 18 hrs then.

[Hoosier]

3 hours ago, Tom said:

That's a legit funnel!  Wow...what an incredible 24 hours of weather across the Heartland and the GL's...

Some pretty wild winds back home...

 

Yesterday and today is quite the way to send off Tom Skilling into retirement.  Such a wide range in wx.

[Timmy Supercell]

Sorry for the delay in updates, didn't have a lot of sleep last night.

Had multiple rounds of thunderstorms hit my place from 3am to 10am. The first one was an isolated cell and contained hail (it didn't last long enough to find a piece and measure it), sounded like a few penny size. Then from 6-8am more organized lines were moving across I-64 from Morehead to Huntington. The bigger line seemed to not have hail in them but higher lightning frequency and a much more wetting rain. 

Very eventful morning, I was in a Tornado Watch but looks like the ones in Kentucky had a harder time verifying compared to the ones up north into IL/IN last night. Still, Boyd County had like 2 or 3 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings from different cells! They seemed like late Spring type storms for sure. Some of the lightning was every 10 seconds or less.

[Timmy Supercell]

One of those odd days too where the high temperature occurred at 4am at 70 degrees, now it's 45 and with chilly gusts of wind in the middle of the day. The front must be coming through now. 

[Timmy Supercell]

14 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Video of tornado around Gary, Indiana

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0cAhjyqXTBoJgs5w81HQszaajB4NEFdCRSQYt1whgLqa6sCTceNQPSuXj3DUn9hadl&id=100000592940072

I hope its also on youtube, because that link doesn't work. Maybe they changed the settings to friends only. 

[Andie]

Latest - and growing  
 

[Hoosier]

Based on what I've been able to piece together from pics/videos (granted it was dark and not always easy to see the ground surface), I think that Gary tornado was on land for a short time before crossing into Lake Michigan.  Have definitely seen more tornado pics/vids than actual damage pics so far.  The only damage pic that I've seen were some heavily leaning/snapped power poles from some industrial area... not sure exactly where and not entirely sure if that's tornado damage or perhaps straight line wind.  

This tornado is a good example to counter the myth amongst the public that the lake prevents tornadoes (of course it will probably be forgotten soon enough lol).  There's some situations when it can reduce the risk by introducing low level stability, but a blanket "lake prevents tornadoes" statement is of course not accurate.  In this case, there was offshore flow all the way up to the shore, which meant no lake cooling.  And then, this tornado had no problem crossing out onto 40 degree Lake Michigan because even though the water surface is cold, the storm was still ingesting the warmer air right above the lake surface.   

[Hoosier]

17 minutes ago, Timmy Supercell said:

I hope its also on youtube, because that link doesn't work. Maybe they changed the settings to friends only. 

Here's the same video

https://wgntv.com/northwest-indiana/video-shows-waterspout-near-steel-mill-in-gary/

[OttumwaSnomow]

Im going to finish  February  with a grand total of: 

.14" precip 

The driest month Ive ever seen in USA.

And back to January  26 just .15 total.

And honestly  no real precip in sight. Noaa can eat their 6 to 14 day outlooks for lunch!

Basically  because  no frozen ground  and  maybe 6 straight  weeks of sun and above normal  temps the Dec and Jan precip is  having little  affect. 

[CentralNebWeather]

 

[Andie]

40-45mph winds and very dry grassland are spreading the fires across the Panhandle.  
Currently the fires are 0% contained.  
 

 

Close to 1 million acres have burned. No data on number of homes or loss of cattle and wildlife.  
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/texas-smokehouse-creek-fire-02-27-24/index.html

 

[Hoosier]

3 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Based on what I've been able to piece together from pics/videos (granted it was dark and not always easy to see the ground surface), I think that Gary tornado was on land for a short time before crossing into Lake Michigan.  Have definitely seen more tornado pics/vids than actual damage pics so far.  The only damage pic that I've seen were some heavily leaning/snapped power poles from some industrial area... not sure exactly where and not entirely sure if that's tornado damage or perhaps straight line wind.  

This tornado is a good example to counter the myth amongst the public that the lake prevents tornadoes (of course it will probably be forgotten soon enough lol).  There's some situations when it can reduce the risk by introducing low level stability, but a blanket "lake prevents tornadoes" statement is of course not accurate.  In this case, there was offshore flow all the way up to the shore, which meant no lake cooling.  And then, this tornado had no problem crossing out onto 40 degree Lake Michigan because even though the water surface is cold, the storm was still ingesting the warmer air right above the lake surface.   

Haven't seen a statement from LOT yet, but the DAT has the Gary tornado as EF-1 with a path length of about 2 miles on land, before moving out over Lake Michigan.