Thursday, February 07, 2008

2008: A whirlwind start

Luckily, the Carolinas were spared severe weather, outside of a few wind damage reports close to the TN border. It's not that unusual to see such a severe weather outbreak, especially at a time of year that can have both decidedly cold and warm air masses butting heads. Conditions east of the Blue Ridge greatly quelled the atmospheric energy once it arrived.

Thought you might find the following data of interest, preliminary as the numbers are as I write this post. These #s are from the NWS's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK, tallying data for the first 37 days of 2008:


# of tornado reports issued by the NWS
between 3p Tue. and 6am Wed.:
1,000+

Running totals for 2008:
Tornado reports: 204*
Hail reports: 409
Wind reports: 872
(*most # tornadoes in a month:
May 2003 had 543 tornadoes,
of which 354 occurred within the first 12 days)

Monthly breakdown of tornadoes:
January - 136
February - 68

3-year average for tornado formation:
January - 34
February - 25


Most tornado reports so far this year:
Missouri - 67
Tennessee - 32
Arkansas - 28
Mississippi - 27

Most active days (tornadoes):
01/07/08 - 75 tornadoes
02/05/08 - 67 tornadoes
01/10/08 - 36 tornadoes

(FYI: Super Outbreak of 1974
greatest tornado activity
with 147 funnels on April 3-4;
see map below)


Average annual # of tornadoes in U.S.
(3-year average):

1159


Most active days (total storm reports):
02/05/08 - 365 reports
01/07/08 - 333 reports
01/29/08 - 309 reports

All this data collection about "Stormy Weather" makes me suggest again renting that classic movie if for no other reason than to watch the phenomenal Nicholas Brothers dance to Cab Calloway's orchestra late in the movie...or click HERE to see that video clip I've posted about before.



No comments: