Three severe wx. outbreaks of May/June 1997 St. Louis plus a question

[HalloweenGale]

First post in the central/western forum.

 

I moved to St. Louis in 1996 from Nantucket,MA.

 

Close to a year after we moved to STL there were three severe outbreaks in very close proximity to another.

 

The first one was the weekend before Memorial Day, 1997. I remember Ben Abel on KMOX 1120 telling us to "Watch the skies" after midnight, Saturday night, which was the 17th.

 

How right he was. I remember watching the storm from my grandparents living room. Looking at the historical RADAR imagery there was a lot more to it than previously thought. Thunderstorms blossomed across western and central MO and moved east.

 

Memorial Day Weekend, 1997 was the more severe of the three. Saturday as I seem to recall featured light rain that lasted into the night. Sunday was the real "action" day. We went to Tower Tee on Heegee Road in Affton. Storms were rolling in about the time we got done and the drive back to Clayton was in pouring rain. I seem to recall there was small hail too. There was another round early Memorial Day. After the storms, it was downright chilly, with highs in the upper 50's.

 

Two weeks later there was a pretty large HOTD severe wx. event. Heaviest rain I'd ever experienced.

 

To any other STL/Former STL posters do any of you remember this high wind event that either was in April or May 1997? It knocked out the power to some areas of Clayton. I don't remember if there were thunderstorms that preceded it or came afterwards.

[Chinook]

perhaps this storm on the night of the 17th (morning of the 18th)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HalloweenGale]

perhaps this storm on the night of the 17th (morning of the 18th)

 

1997 radar 3a.jpg

That was part of the outbreak.

 

I found the answer to the wind question. It was the last day of April, 1997. We also had snow in April that year too.

[HalloweenGale]

A couple of more:

 

I remember once in 1998, I was in third grade. I think it was in April or May that we had either an MCS or a Bow come through that darkened the sky to the point where streetlights were needed. I remember very vivid lightning with it too.

 

Another had to deal with a squall line. The squall line was unusual in that it was presented as very narrow on the radar, perhaps only about 2-3 miles wide, with an "echo free" area. Behind the "echo free" area was  stratiform rain. I remember watching TWC and they were even talking about how narrow it was. I don't recall if there were any watches in conjunction with it though. I believe this was either 1998 or 1999. I'm leaning more towards 1999 on the second event.

 

Chinook,

 

What program are you using to look up old doppler images?

[HalloweenGale]

A couple of more:

 

I remember once in 1998, I was in third grade. I think it was in April or May that we had either an MCS or a Bow come through that darkened the sky to the point where streetlights were needed. I remember very vivid lightning with it too.

 

Another had to deal with a squall line. The squall line was unusual in that it was presented as very narrow on the radar, perhaps only about 2-3 miles wide, with an "echo free" area. Behind the "echo free" area was  stratiform rain. I remember watching TWC and they were even talking about how narrow it was. I don't recall if there were any watches in conjunction with it though. I believe this was either 1998 or 1999. I'm leaning more towards 1999 on the second event.

 

Chinook,

 

What program are you using to look up old doppler images?

#1 has been solved. It was a Thursday event, May 21st, 1998. Compact MCS.

[Chinook]

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/radar-data

 

click on Historical reflectivity mosaics

 

also you might try http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/

 

they have archived radar, you just have to pick the date/time with the calendar button on the bottom.

 

If you want to mess with GRLevel3 (or level2) archived information, you will have to do some more work to download the right files, but it can be done for 1997 data.