May 8th, 2009 Derecho

[Chicago Storm]

SPC write-up: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/casepages/may82009page.htm#memphis

[JoMo]

Yeah, that was probably the weirdest severe event I have ever been in. 80 MPH wind gust 50 mins after the squall line had passed. Continuous high winds between when the squall line hit until about an hour after. Knocked the local NBC TV tower down.

Springfield, MO write up:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=sgf&storyid=27308&source=2

[A-L-E-K]

one of my favorite wx events that wasn't imby

[Helicity]

This was the best Severe Event I have ever experienced, I live outside of El Dorado, a city listed in that write-up, and I was awoken to the sound of Rain. However, it was not rain it was the wind howling so bad that it sounded like rain. I walked out into my house and looked out the back door and there was a tree in which the top of the tree was touching the ground, I then ran over to my Davis Vantage and it was reading 96 MPH then it stopped reading. Then came the rain, we had to run three sump pumps that night because it had been so incredibly wet already that year. One main sump pump and two auxillary sump pumps.

I remember driving through El Dorado that day and it was one of the most unbelievable thing I had seen at that point. Though I was in Haysville May 4, 1999 and in Greensburg around a week after it hit but I was too young to get the full experience of what was happening. Trees were on top of cars in El Dorado, power poles were competely flattened and probably the most interesting thing I saw was around my house: barbed wire fences completely flattened on to the ground. That's ridiculous.

School was canceled for two days because roofs were taken off of a part of an Elementary school in El Dorado.

I've seen 6 tors in my life around SC KS but this even tops em all so far.

[Helicity]

PDS SVR Watch in KS tonight just reminds me of this amazing event.