11/11 - 11/12 Plains/Lakes Autumn Storm

[Geos]

Looks like the models missed seeing the snow further south in Nebraska. 

It is snowing down to the KS border south of Hastings.

[gabel23]

It's getting real in Iowa, confirmed tornadoes!!

 

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DES MOINES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
NORTHEASTERN MADISON COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA...
NORTHWESTERN WARREN COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA...

* UNTIL 330 PM CST

* AT 304 PM CST...A CONFIRMED TORNADO WAS LOCATED 5 MILES EAST OF
WINTERSET...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

[Geos]

I heard a debris ball detected on radar near the town of Princeton, IA.

 

 

From Smokeater on amwx.

 

[Geos]

Still waiting for my change over.......hoping for a little thunder and lightning too!! 

 

According to wunderground winter radar, Central City to your west has changed over to snow. Cold air will wrap in from the southwest.

[CentralNebWeather]

Snow just stopped here.  Boy that was a fast moving intense storm.

[Geos]

Winds are 9pm at 5000 ft.

 

[clintbeed1993]

Really sad that this storm is moving so fast.  Odd for a storm this powerful to be moving out so quickly.  Anyway has been snowing here in Aurora for the last 2 hours and still coming down.  Grass is completely covered and even the roads are starting to get covered.  Wind has been pretty light compared to what they were forecasting.  Here are a couple photos from out my front door.  No Thundersnow for me but oh well just happy to have the first flakes of the season!

[Tom]

Looks like everything is getting plastered out there!  Quick, but dynamic system.  I'd like to see this storm cycle through when there is more blocking around and jet stream energy.  

[Geos]

Wind gusts of 50mph right in back of the thunderstorm line in Iowa right now.

 

Dry slot packing a punch!

[Iowa2015]

Impressive line of Thunderstorms here now Already getting pretty darn windy in front of the line of severe warned storms 70 gusts possible in the Severe storms according to the local weather met.

[NEJeremy]

I was on this storm, unfortunately a bit late though. I left Omaha and went down I-29 to Nebraska City arriving about 1130. My plan was to head into Iowa, but nothing too exciting was happening yet so I grabbed a bite to eat at a truck stop. Ran inside to use the restroom and they had TWC on their TV's. Dr Forbes came on the air to talk about the first severe tstorm warning of the day and it was in Nebraska to my southwest. This was the storm that eventually triggered this tornado warning. It kind of had my eye for a while, but I didn't initially bite on it because it still wasn't doing too much. Plus I felt that I didn't want to get sucked back too far west when I knew I would want to go back east into southern Iowa. These storms also looked to be further away than I initially thought as well.

I went back out to my car and looked at the radar and this storm was starting to develop a nice couplet and a bit of a hook. It was also moving much slower than expected according to the warning text. Expected storm motions for todays storms were 50-60 mph but the warnings for this storm said between 25-35 mph. I looked up how far I was away from the town of Syracuse and was only 20 miles. This storm would pass very near this city. I figured it was worth it with how good the radar looked on this storm.

I drove west and for at least half of my drive it only got better looking. I finally had a view of the base and it looked pretty good and I could see the area of interest along the horizon. For a while there was quite the lowering. I couldn't tell if this was a funnel or wall cloud, but it looked promising!

The storm though started to slowly disorganize and began to move much faster. By the time I got up close to it, there wasn't much there for strong rotation although the motion in the clouds was pretty impressive. 

I pretty much gave up on it at that point and decided to head back east towards Iowa. Unfortunately I was on gravel roads at this point and my stupid Garmin kept trying to get me to take section lines and other unmanaged roads. I eventually made it back to Nebraska City.

At this point I started to head east into Iowa towards Clarinda. There was a line of storms starting to form but looked unimpressive on radar. I looked at the SPC page as well and instability was very low ahead of the line. I noticed some clearing though but figured with the storms already in a line and motions starting to move at 50-60 mph I should call the chase and head home. Of course as soon as I did, the line lit up with warnings and damage reports started coming in. Not sure if I ever would have caught up with the line or even saw anything with everything embedded in the line, but I guess it was still an ok chase for November.

Of note, while I was down south of Omaha, there was a pretty strong storm that moved through Omaha about 1200 with some small hail. Well apparently there was alot of hail at my house as 3 hours later there was still pea to marble sized hail in the grass and there were piles at the base of the gutters. One pile was about 6 inches deep and about 2 feet long extending out from the gutter!

Now waiting for the changeover to snow this evening....

 

Tornado warning....

 

A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1245 PM CST FOR

NORTHWESTERN OTOE COUNTY...

AT 1219 PM CST...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO
WAS LOCATED OVER UNADILLA...OR 25 MILES EAST OF LINCOLN...MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

HAZARD...TORNADO.

SOURCE...RADAR INDICATED ROTATION.

IMPACT...FLYING DEBRIS WILL BE DANGEROUS TO THOSE CAUGHT WITHOUT
SHELTER. MOBILE HOMES WILL BE DAMAGED OR DESTROYED. DAMAGE
TO ROOFS...WINDOWS AND VEHICLES WILL OCCUR. TREE DAMAGE IS
LIKELY.

[Geos]

Winds sustained at 20mph here now. Gusts to 31mph so far.

[OKwx2k4]

I guess we can add a 10000 acre wildfire near Tulsa to events caused by this weather system. High winds broke a power pole and lit it right up.

[Tom]

Severe Thunderstorm Watch issued for N IL...

 

Severe Thunderstorm Watch

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WS 536
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
615 PM CST WED NOV 11 2015

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 536 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1100 PM CST
FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS

ILC007-031-037-043-053-063-075-089-091-093-097-099-103-105-111-
141-197-201-120500-
/O.NEW.KWNS.SV.A.0536.151112T0015Z-151112T0500Z/

IL
. ILLINOIS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE

BOONE COOK DE KALB
DUPAGE FORD GRUNDY
IROQUOIS KANE KANKAKEE
KENDALL LAKE LA SALLE
LEE LIVINGSTON MCHENRY
OGLE WILL WINNEBAGO

[jcwxguy]

Switches to snow here in north Lincoln

[Geos]

According to the winter weather radar, it should be snowing in Omaha or darn close it now.

 

Found the story on the Oklahoma wildfires. http://www.newson6.com/story/30493900/wildfires-rage-across-oklahoma-in-heavy-winds

[gabel23]

Ended with .80" of rain and a trace of snow. Overall nws did a good job for my area with this forecast; I can wait to see this storm next time around with the LRC.

[Geos]

Winds rapidly increasing in the middle of IL. this evening. More storm firing out ahead of the cold front.

 

 

My bet is that these new storms will mix down some higher wind gusts.

[gabel23]

Winds rapidly increasing in the middle of IL. this evening. More storm firing out ahead of the cold front.

 

http://climate.cod.edu/data/nexrad/LOT/N0Q/LOT.N0Q.20151112.0102.gif

 

My bet is that these new storms will mix down some higher wind gusts.

Hell of a line of storms coming for you guys, enjoy! I was impressed with the severe weather today, will be interested in the official tornado count in Iowa.

[Geos]

Lighting a few candles just in case. haha.

Winds really ramped up now. Just had a gust around 45mph. Thundering outside too.

 

Power outages starting to increase. https://www.comed.co.../outagemap.aspx

[Hawkeye]

Kinda neat how the line is a series of arcing line segments.

 

A weaker part of the line moved over my yard.  I picked up 0.34" of rain and moderate wind, with a bit of lightning.  Areas just south and east got severe wind.

 

It's nice to see parts of the midwest getting some decent snow.

[Geos]

Tree came down a couple blocks from here due to winds between 40-50mph. Just had heavy rain and lightning. Little calmer atm.

[Iowa2015]

Wow. Pretty amazing intense strong winds several tree branches down think that was the best severe storm of the year in though it was short lived due to the storm's hauling azz.

[NEJeremy]

The winds on the backside of the system, at least up this way, have underperformed I would say. Was expecting a lot of 50+ mph gusts with potential for 60 mph winds and most max wind gusts I have seen have been around 45 mph and a lot of places haven't reached 40 mph(at least on the hourly or obs). High wind warnings have been cancelled early here too.

[Geos]

Should get a boost in wind when the main line blows through.

[Tom]

Should get a boost in wind when the main line blows through.

Yup, powerful gusts just hit my area right before the rains...leaves flying all over the place...

 

Edit: Seems like several downburst's are hitting once the rains started.  These storms more than likely tapping into those higher winds a little higher up in the atmosphere.

[Geos]

Pouring down in sheets here with gusty winds. No thunder this time around though.

Will be awhile before the cold air gets here. Still in the low 50s in eastern Iowa, while it is close to snowing in Des Moines.

 

Not many leaves to fly off the trees anymore, but the ones on the ground are going towards the north.

[OKwx2k4]

Not many leaves to fly off the trees anymore, but the ones on the ground are going towards the north.

Lol. I was just telling my dad earlier when talking about hunting during thanksgiving week that I had been worried about all the leaves still on the trees. He said "Well, I think we took care of that problem today didn't we!" We most definitely did!

[westMJim]

So far the wind here in Grand Rapids has been in the 30 to 35 MPH range with the highest gust so  far being recorded as 47MPH.  So far no where near the winds we had back in the November 10, 1998 storm. As of 8:30 AM there were about 11,000 with out power. The winds might pick up later this afternoon will see if that plays out later. Right now at my house the temp is 44 and the winds are out of the SW at 21MPH with rain.

[Tom]

Winds last night woke me up a few times.  This is the first time I have seen the SkyWay closed due to high winds/flying debris...

 

http://wgntv.com/2015/11/12/high-winds-close-chicago-skyway-in-both-directions/

 

I only can imagine if this storm hit Dec-Mar with all the wind we are experiencing today.  Blowing and drifting would be epic!  Multi-day Lake Effect set up would be insane on the MI side.  Gotta keep that in mind when this storm cycles through.

[jaster220]

So far the wind here in Grand Rapids has been in the 30 to 35 MPH range with the highest gust so  far being recorded as 47MPH.  So far no where near the winds we had back in the November 10, 1998 storm. As of 8:30 AM there were about 11,000 with out power. The winds might pick up later this afternoon will see if that plays out later. Right now at my house the temp is 44 and the winds are out of the SW at 21MPH with rain.

 

Or 11-11-40 when GR had gusts to 80mph.  I lived in S. Bend in '98. I remember shingles ripped off roofs was a common site. I knew this wasn't going to that level, so not too disappointed. Pretty damned windy at the lakeshore, but nothing close to the backside of the DEC 2012 Wisco bliz storm. That was nuts here. Constant howling and lots of mechanical stuff on the roof getting battered and creaking and slamming. Gotta leave early and get somewhere important. So picture stop not an option today - sorry

[jaster220]

Winds last night woke me up a few times.  This is the first time I have seen the SkyWay closed due to high winds/flying debris...

 

http://wgntv.com/2015/11/12/high-winds-close-chicago-skyway-in-both-directions/

 

I only can imagine if this storm hit Dec-Mar with all the wind we are experiencing today.  Blowing and drifting would be epic!  Multi-day Lake Effect set up would be insane on the MI side.  Gotta keep that in mind when this storm cycles through.

 

Trust me, it's been on my mind. Looks like at least the UP will get some snow OTG for gun deer season opening. My cousin has a place near L'anse and they're under a WSWarning this morning. Nothing massive like last year, but there's perhaps no snow to begin the season 50% of the time. Thinking we're not that far behind normal progression of the onset of winter. We just all got last year's super early start fresh on our minds. Last year's like a once in 50+ years kinda deal though.

[james1976]

This storm had a lot to offer thats for sure!
What were snowfall totals for the plains?

[westMJim]

For anyone who wants to see what lake Michigan looks like today here is a good web cam

 

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/michigan/grandhaven/lakemichigan/?cam=lakemichigan

 

You have to wait for a ad and then the live cam should start, I hope that is not a issue

[CentralNebWeather]

I haven't seen specific snowfall totals from NWS Hastings or North Platte.  What I saw on TV this morning was 1-3 inches in Central Nebraska (higher along I-80) than south of the interstate, and 3-5 inches in West Central and Southwest Nebraska.  Thought I saw Ogallala had 4.7 inches.  Of course it would have been more if not for the amount that melted.  Right now there is only small amounts left on the north side of buildings in my area.

[Geos]

Top gust here was about 45mph. At Waukegan Harbor however, the top gust was 66mph late last night!

Saw 4 power poles snapped off along a busy county road this evening. The spot is kind of a high point and exposed to the wind, so not entirely surprised by the sight.

[NEJeremy]

Ended up with 1.6" of rain and snow and hail! Snow mixed in at the end but didn't really accumulate at all. Still had piles of hail by the downspouts the next morning, 20 hours after the hail fell!! Of course temps in the 40's and then 30's helped keep the hail around longer. Top windgust was 47 mph