Here comes February 2011

[eyewall]

Where is everybody? We all know it will at least snow in the NC Mtns. before winter is over so come on lets talk some I see a little something on or around March 5th..

It is hard to get everyone excited about snow in the mountains if they are not up there themselves. Anyway there was smoke in the air this morning from the Cumberland County fire from FAY up into where I live in Southern Pines. It was not thick but you could smell it and see a bit of a haze.

[Cold Rain]

It is hard to get everyone excited about snow in the mountains if they are not up there themselves. Anyway there was smoke in the air this morning from the Cumberland County fire from FAY up into where I live in Southern Pines. It was not thick but you could smell it and see a bit of a haze.

I'm not excited. This is the worst kind of weather (not accounting for temps)...another early Spring of dry and windy weather. Boring! The NWS is talking about more "rain" on Monday, but it will turn out like this one, where we get a thin band of light showers moving through, followed by dry and windy, with another mirage of a rain event on the horizon.

[SnoJoe]

HOw were the south seas? Throw any bread fruit trees overboard ? T

LOL, it was the eastern caribbean, St. Lucia. We had a blast! But I think I caught some weird disease because for some reason my sweat smelled like tequila and rum for a week after we got back.

Nice period of rain this morning for a few hours, .57 inches in the bucket. Cool and gray since with a high of 43.3.

[Master of Disaster]

Interesting to note the first tornado warning of todays outbreak is for.... Jackson TN. Imagine that.

[Tacoma]

yep I was in Southern Pines Jan 21 when we were expecting the other big snow and as you know it was a flop. they were calling for an ice event down there and up here a pretty good snow and if you remember it was a flop of a storm. as the event got closer the storm kinda wilted.

It is hard to get everyone excited about snow in the mountains if they are not up there themselves. Anyway there was smoke in the air this morning from the Cumberland County fire from FAY up into where I live in Southern Pines. It was not thick but you could smell it and see a bit of a haze.

[audioguy3107]

Interesting to note the first tornado warning of todays outbreak is for.... Jackson TN. Imagine that.

You have to wonder how much of it coincidence over there! They seem to get blasted every few years. That's one of the few places outside the main tornado alley I'd seriously consider getting a storm cellar.

[LithiaWx]

Anyone care to take a stab at explaining this map to me? How can there be such an increased amount of tornadoes near metro atlanta? Is it due to the population?

[ATL_Militarypolice]

Hopefully I can get some storms tonight.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/fxc/ffc/graphicast/image_full2.gif

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

[Amos83]

Wife is currently driving to Illinois and is just south of Paducah and she is getting smoked by a severe storm. She has had to pull over and said the car is just rocking by strong winds. Almost constant lighting bolts as well! She was freaking out while I was telling her I was jealous, lol

[wx4life]

Wife is currently driving to Illinois and is just south of Paducah and she is getting smoked by a severe storm. She has had to pull over and said the car is just rocking by strong winds. Almost constant lighting bolts as well! She was freaking out while I was telling her I was jealous, lol

I'm actually kinda jealous too.I am so ready for something whether its drizzle,rain,severe storms even just a high wind gust right now I will take anything for some excitement!!

[jburns]

Anyone care to take a stab at explaining this map to me? How can there be such an increased amount of tornadoes near metro atlanta? Is it due to the population?

That looks like the result of a drunk trying to make a picture on a Light Bright.

[EmersonGA]

Hawksfan, Id be willing to bet it has to do with storms forming on wegde fronts much like the March 2008 downtown tornado. Another thing is if you take a macro look at the terrain the tornados seem to round the southern tip of the mountains/foothills. Emerson sits in the last tip and we have a long history of tornadoes including one when my house was being built. No damage for us thankfully.

[Snowless in Carrollton]

Where are all the Georgia folks ? Severe Thunderstorm Watch for North GA. Wake up folks. If this were a winter weather situation this place would be going crazy. I guess this forum doesn't care much about severe weather ?

[Gastonwxman]

Where are all the Georgia folks ? Severe Thunderstorm Watch for North GA. Wake up folks. If this were a winter weather situation this place would be going crazy. I guess this forum doesn't care much about severe weather ?

I'm quite surprised myself for the folks in northern GA as well. There is a rather potent line of storms crossing northern AL as of now and it has been extremely ugly for areas that just went through it. A few tornadoes were reported earlier in the evening associated with that line so if I were anyone down there right now, I would be paying some attention about this. It could make for an action-packed night period.

[FoothillsNC]

I hope the line can survive long enough east of the mountains in a few hours to give us some rain, but now the models are way down. Both GFS and NAM have dropped totals even more here in the skipped zone, so we'll see if this is the usual fall apart and reform type of line, esp. where I am in the heart of the worst of worst. I'm expecting between a tenth and quarter, after adjusting my expectations down from an inch a few days ago.

[POWERSTROKE]

heavy rain here

[EmersonGA]

The difference between thunderstorms and snow is that thunderstorms will wake you up. There is no reason to stay up and ride out a severe thunderstorm watch. Last night I woke up to the storm and watched what was mostly a wind event. I did end up with .5" in the bucket so that overachieved for me.

[wx4life]

finally some rain here.Good thing it isn't too heavy b/c I don't think the ground could keep up with it.The mountains pretty much took care of the severe weather,but very happy to have the rain.

[BullCityWx]

0.03 here

[dsaur]

LOL, it was the eastern caribbean, St. Lucia. We had a blast! But I think I caught some weird disease because for some reason my sweat smelled like tequila and rum for a week after we got back.

Nice period of rain this morning for a few hours, .57 inches in the bucket. Cool and gray since with a high of 43.3.

Glad you had a grand time of it! Sorry about the disease...and here I was thinking St. Lucia was the patron saint of teatotalers

Wish I had your 43.3, all this heat is getting old in a hurry. Last night I got .7 in much needed rain, but if the wind blew, or the storm raged, I didn't hear it. Most likely was a nice gentle rain...just like I like it.

Looks that the 5th/6th might be a nice time to come visit Joe! If you are moving, I hope it is into a bigger house. I'm tired of always having to stay in the tool shed. T

[Snowless in Carrollton]

I got .55 last night/this morning, way more than I expected. 3.22" of rain for the month.

[dsaur]

Hawksfan, Id be willing to bet it has to do with storms forming on wegde fronts much like the March 2008 downtown tornado. Another thing is if you take a macro look at the terrain the tornados seem to round the southern tip of the mountains/foothills. Emerson sits in the last tip and we have a long history of tornadoes including one when my house was being built. No damage for us thankfully.

Ches...what is interesting to me is Douglas and Paulding with a 2/3rds to half less than the surrounding counties. That has to be a terrain thing, I would guess. I'd need to look at a top map, but I'd guess the mtns are funneling the storms up toward Atl.

And I wonder how the Hooch plays into this scattering, if at all.

I can see Carroll county getting the brunt of storms out of Ala. and them dying as they move across the line, so up stream the worst is over by the time it goes past Atl. So often Coweta, and Merriwether get storms that die out as they get near here, so I think distance from the line must play a part in storms losing steam as they move farther into Ga. So many times we have more stable air. T

[Local Yokel Wx]

Picked up 0.50" last night.

Winds are amazing today; finally something to get excited about. Been so boring this past few weeks.

[GaWx]

Ches...what is interesting to me is Douglas and Paulding with a 2/3rds to half less than the surrounding counties. That has to be a terrain thing, I would guess. I'd need to look at a top map, but I'd guess the mtns are funneling the storms up toward Atl.

And I wonder how the Hooch plays into this scattering, if at all.

I can see Carroll county getting the brunt of storms out of Ala. and them dying as they move across the line, so up stream the worst is over by the time it goes past Atl. So often Coweta, and Merriwether get storms that die out as they get near here, so I think distance from the line must play a part in storms losing steam as they move farther into Ga. So many times we have more stable air. T

I agree with you about the importance of terrain.

Another consideration: Douglas' relatively small number may be partially explained by its small geographic size relative to surrounding counties. Actually, I do think that argument (along with shape in relation to the typical SW to NE track) can be used for a portion of other neighboring county variances throughout the state. Another factor in some cases may be that higher pop. densities may allow for a slightly higher chance for a funnel to be seen/reported. OTOH, geog. size of county doesn't explain Paulding's relatively small #.

I think that one reason Chatham is higher than neighboring counties is the higher number from more often being in the NE sector of tropical systems since it sticks out further east than others and is on the coast. This makes it relatively conducive to isolated tornadoes coming NW off the Atlantic. Also, note that the two counties just south (Bryan and Liberty) have a good bit narrower exposure to the water/narrower exposure to tropical related NW moving tornadoes. Also, Chatham has a much higher pop.

Screven being in red is hard to explain.

The variety of factors makes analyzing the possible reasons for the patterns interesting.

[Snowless in Carrollton]

I'm trying to figure out why rural counties such as Hall, Bartow, and Carroll have reported so many more tornadoes than Gwinnett. You would think that the more populated a county is, the more tornadoes that would be reported.

[GaWx]

I'm trying to figure out why rural counties such as Hall, Bartow, and Carroll have reported so many more tornadoes than Gwinnett. You would think that the more populated a county is, the more tornadoes that would be reported.

My wild guess is that Gwinnett being in wedge-cooled/lower TD air more often than Bartow and Carroll as well as being east of the ridge that may tend to weaken them as they cross it may have something to do with it. However, Hall is such an anomaly that I don't know where to go to try to explain it.

If I lived in Gwinnett, I'd consider myself lucky as I wouldn't want a tornado anywhere near where I live.

[Cheeznado]

.54" here last night (no thunder of course), 4.13" for the month. Maybe after the Monday rain I can get close to 5".

[EmersonGA]

Ches...what is interesting to me is Douglas and Paulding with a 2/3rds to half less than the surrounding counties. That has to be a terrain thing, I would guess. I'd need to look at a top map, but I'd guess the mtns are funneling the storms up toward Atl.

And I wonder how the Hooch plays into this scattering, if at all.

I can see Carroll county getting the brunt of storms out of Ala. and them dying as they move across the line, so up stream the worst is over by the time it goes past Atl. So often Coweta, and Merriwether get storms that die out as they get near here, so I think distance from the line must play a part in storms losing steam as they move farther into Ga. So many times we have more stable air. T

I grew up where Cobb, Cherokee, and Bartow touch. Growing up it seemed like we got under a warning every 2 or 3 years with a few actual touchdowns. My grandfather actually watched one jump the store my dad fled to one time but that's another story. There is a rather large ridge that runs just to our south that runs south-southwest. You crest it on 75north just past wade green. We always seem to get storms following the north side of that ridge. The palm sunday tornado out break had one follow the top of the ridge.

[LithiaWx]

Interesting disco on the map I posted. thanks guys!

[dsaur]

I grew up where Cobb, Cherokee, and Bartow touch. Growing up it seemed like we got under a warning every 2 or 3 years with a few actual touchdowns. My grandfather actually watched one jump the store my dad fled to one time but that's another story. There is a rather large ridge that runs just to our south that runs south-southwest. You crest it on 75north just past wade green. We always seem to get storms following the north side of that ridge. The palm sunday tornado out break had one follow the top of the ridge.

The Governers tornado back in the 70's came by my place in Buckhead, or at least the storm did, and put a huge oak down into the bedroom across the hall from where I was asleep. Never heard a thing Completely destroyed the roof over that room, and part of the back wall. I've always been a good sleeper, lol.

But one of the ones I mention below made me and my pup jump two feet in the air, out of a deep sleep, still in a prone position. I'm pretty sure I was levetating, lol.

I agree with you about the importance of terrain.

Another consideration: Douglas' relatively small number may be partially explained by its small geographic size relative to surrounding counties. Actually, I do think that argument (along with shape in relation to the typical SW to NE track) can be used for a portion of other neighboring county variances throughout the state. Another factor in some cases may be that higher pop. densities may allow for a slightly higher chance for a funnel to be seen/reported. OTOH, geog. size of county doesn't explain Paulding's relatively small #.

I think that one reason Chatham is higher than neighboring counties is the higher number from more often being in the NE sector of tropical systems since it sticks out further east than others and is on the coast. This makes it relatively conducive to isolated tornadoes coming NW off the Atlantic. Also, note that the two counties just south (Bryan and Liberty) have a good bit narrower exposure to the water/narrower exposure to tropical related NW moving tornadoes. Also, Chatham has a much higher pop.

Screven being in red is hard to explain.

The variety of factors makes analyzing the possible reasons for the patterns interesting.

Yep, Larry, I've learned from you the importance of how the statistics are collected, and using what criteria. I've had two what I would call f 0's come by my house but I didn't report them as it was only tree damage. One was during Ivan, and tropical storm tornadoes are a different beast. That one came right up from the south and eventually hit the race track like it was tracking 19/41. Took two huge lelands on the south side of the houses, and broke a pine off about 200' further on, taking down the power lines and taking out the power for miles around. No one official looked at the damage, and I doubt the power crew reported it, but it gets heaped in with the Atl. Raceway tornado I'd guess, and, yet, I figure it to have been a separate rotation. I bet that line had many separated rotations as it come through Spalding Co.

The worst damage path storm was in the woods behind me. That storm came from the sw corner of our square shaped acreage, and exited out the ne corner. It took ten trees down along that line including an oak in one corner and a pine in the other. I followed the path of destruction and found a huge broken oak limb around the corner, and another about 2 miles away..and that was it. I figure it was a cloud hopper and I should have gotten the nws out to tell me if it was straight line winds or an f0, but, alas, I was slack.

And I bet a lot go unreported the same way because they are small. T