News DetailSevere thunderstorms continuing in AB/SK
Posted At: July 19, 2007 @ 10:23 PM
Posted By: Reed Timmer
Related Categories: General
Severe thunderstorms are continuing in central and eastern Alberta, but Edmonton and Calgary have been spared today. A dryline/Pacific cold front swept east of the Foothills today, with storms developing from southeast AB NNW to east of Edmonton, and also west and northwest of Edmonton. Several of the storms exhibited classic supercell structure, but were mainly in remote areas where reports were lacking. However, the storms in southeast AB and also west and northwest of Edmonton easily could have produced tornadoes. Thankfully, the major urban corridor was spared today, and the extreme shear and instability for the most part was not realized as a dryline/front pushed well east of the foothills. Displayed above is the radar as of 9:10 MDT, showing the weakening severe storms as they move into extreme western SK. Here is a graphical summary of the warnings as of 9:00 pm MDT:
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Too bad edmontons out of the watch. Oh well there's still more of july to come.
despite my best efforts reed...im not drunk lmao. in fact i wont even start. so many things right yet nothing. thats exactly what its like here. as for the wainright storms i was too late for those. nicola said there wasnt anything in those... problem was there was no anviling at all...they wouldnt grow. maybe some rotaion but notjhing i could see man. what you see coming ahead?...i want to borrow that camera again lol.
sorry..i didnt say that right reed... the storms to the north west wernt big at all...wouldnt grow and were so far away... the ones north in athabasca wouldnt anvil...the rottation was in the wainwrite storms. in alberta its kinda weird but late minute instinct..as weird as it sounds, works well for this place.
Edmonton is in the middle of a tropical airmass.
there is a reason tornadoes don't hit the tropics.
Edmonton shows why. The tropics are too stagnant to produce severe storms
Reed: the 36hr and 48hr outlooks look good to me for central SK early sat through sat night but up at north end of the lakes in manitoba mostly bush country up there be tough chasin unless somethin shapes up further south of there or in sask. which is more developed land
heres the thing mike...the cap looked strong wouldnt budge you could see them whisp out at the top..it was silly.im guessing this is just the strat of this year going wild.
If anyone wansts to add me to MSN it is:
manitobamonster@hotmail.com
first things first...we need a chat sight here lol. now ive got nicola from global on board...shes not happy about today either. and we should form an alberta team somehow. whos up for it?
looks like some tropical style thunderstorms near red deer.
time to break out the coronas and bongos. wheres my dreadlock wig? lol
Something comin in from southwest into edmonton right now.
Hi everyone,
Just got back an hour or so ago from work, so I missed all the action (well, chasing from my computer...)
I will see what I can do about attempting to gather some reports... did everyone keep track of where the best looking cells went? (...and what at what times?) I've seen reports pop up a few weeks to over a year after an event, and if storms are as good as they appear to have been (based on all the blog entries), there was definitely some significant stuff going on at the ground.
The northern cells may have generated blowdowns, and if the hail was big enough, it may have left noticeable damage to trees and vegetation, both of which will be documented by the forestry department if they get detected. I've heard of hail storms here in Ontario stripping 50% to 95% of the foliage off trees, killing them or stunting their growth. (Sorry Albertans, I know you don't like it when the Weather Network focuses on the east, but I'm just giving examples from past research here...)
The southern cells are a little trickier, because they really did have to damage *something* or be seen by someone before getting reliable reports (tornadoes over open pasture, if they weren't seen by anyone, are next to impossible to confirm unless they were strong enough to scour vegetation or something...)
Think of this as a fun little exercise in detective work!
Simon E.
p.s. Reed and Dave H. both have my e-mail, so if you guys had some favorite spots I should check out...
Heres a picture i just recently took of one of the svr storms moving in northeast of edmonton at about 30 minutes ago. http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8523/0stormdu8.jpg
[img]http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8523/0stormdu8.jpg[/img] Sorry lol.
Kenny:
That storm went and is still a little over us, is it considered severe? No lightening, thunder, just windy!
Hey guys I know this has nothing to do with AB, but here in SK we had tornado weather in Tuesday that was unwarned..and was only reported as far as the extreme hail (piled up so much looked like snowstorm!) that ranged from pea sized to quarter and the 2" of rain..it wasn't realized tornado until the last couple days: at lake just north of where I was large trees fell on campers, swathed grain was picked up and found on the opposite field, and trees snapped--all in about a mile radius...thought some of you might find this interesting
Shouldn't the occluded warm front in todays synoptic setup be treated as if it were a cold front, being more conducive to line lifting than point lifting. It seemed that several discreet cells formed in Alberta today, but they were clustered and lined up too close together to monopolize on the available heat and moisture. Also, the best upper level dynamics were too far west to be in sync with the best SFC thermal dynamics to circumvent todays storms from becoming outflow dominant and contributing to their early demise before the could achieve the necessary time and intensity to become tornadic.
Could see the anvils out by Coronation from 125 miles away.
Even with all the smoke. Pretty impressive.
UofManitoba chase team was it Stettler this aft and College of Dupage team was also in Alberta.
Hopefully they got a good show.
Saw a cell pop up sw of Olds so went out west of Innisfail for a look. It tried so hard to get going, rebulding at least a half dozen times before getting squashed just east of QE2.
Sad
Perhaps a line from bulding up from the US border now?
Great points Lenard. With the temperatures warming behind the boundary it definitely had the characteristics of a dryline as well. The upper level flow was definitely very parallel to the boundary...but since it wasn't mixing too fast to the east it seemed that storms shouldn't have too much trouble moving off the boundary.
The best upper dynamics were definitely west of this area...I'm surprised the dryline/Pacific front mixed that far east today.
The lack of directional shear between 700 and 300 likely had a negative impact as well.
PB...let us know if you hear any updates from the Umanitoba team or COD. Hopefully they were in southeast AB!
Dale...it would have been almost impossible for you to catch those storms in SE AB from Edmonton...I'm surprised the cells northwest of you didn't go insane!
This "unpredictability" is what makes this field so exciting!
University of Manitoba Weather Central's storm chasing blog:
http://wxcentral.blogspot.com/
COD Blog:
http://weathermind.blogspot.com/
That was one of the storms that was severe earlier. Thats what i meant. Also Kelly, what part of the city is it on? I know its windy because i'ts windy here but no storm hit me :P
I saw those UofM Chasers last year on 75.. I seem to remember they were in a couple of white 15 passenger vans.. wouldn't want to be in there with them after a week.. ok I lie I would.. but I'd want a large amount of febreze.
Hey everyone,
Today started out great with some amazing cloud structure, but it passed to far east so i missed it. However met service says there may be more tomorrow. So i will have to wait and see.
Hope everyone is safe and well.
Reed...it really is a small world!!
exactly...in alberta..its always been that unpredictable lol.
It was the first time I seen a cap so powerful. simaler to the ones over the parched African Rainforest.
Strange year.
In my area we had 17 storms in june but only one so far this month
I even remeber a severe thunderstorm in the middle of the winter.
Lightning, rain, hail 100km/h wind, and there was snow on the ground.
This was dec 20th 2004
Hey everyone, I slept like a baby last night which really shocked me! Oh well I'm up now... Looked at the surface features map and it shows a weak cool front up in central Kansas and a small disturbance with some sort of trough extending into the panhandle. Meanwhile Deep Gulf moisture is returning slowly northward over my region. This combined with the daytime heating could produce scattered T-storms over my region today. Not looking for any organized or widespread stuff, and severe weather seems to be limited. Did any tornadoes happen in Alberta last night??? Or did the cap held strong.
The cap was made of steel it was as strong as the one in trpoic during the dry season.
the dewpoints are still high but a few miles up. all that energy had gone to upper atmoshere.
The storms may now pop up in NWT and Nunavut as well as northen sask and man
So Mike R, your saying that nothing happened due to the stupid cap... I knew that was going to happen I was trying to tell everyone but sort of confused everyone by saying CAPE instead of CAP.
Now Since the trigger is still in B.C and yukon. There may a complete flop everywhere else.
Maybe some cool air will meet up with it in ontario as the jetstream turns south
I give you a lot of credit zack. you were the only one who saw it. I now turn to you for weather forecasts.
So when will the cap break and how will the cells behave.
Heck you are better at this than EC and TWN combined
Before I can do that I need to know where you live that way I can be accurate.
Bruce County(Ontario) had a touch down yesterday
http://www.achannel.ca/london/news_45494.aspx
Hey looking at the EC radar looks like there is quite a bit activity going on between Edson and the rocky mountain house in Alberta.
I'm not so sure the cap was too strong yesterday...Several supercells initiated along the entire length of the dryline/Pacific front by 7-8 pm, from northwest of Edmonton down to southeast AB.
The UManitoba team reported on their blog that they saw several beautiful cells in eastern AB.
The tornado threat seemed not to materialize, but many of the storms were undocumented, and exhibited textbook supercell structure on radar...despite being far from the site.
The boundary definitely mixed further east than the models were forecasting, especially in southern AB.
Still...not the outbreak we all anticipated.
Reed you are right, several supercells developed but none of them seemed to really get going. I also think the cap played a pretty big role in preventing widespread storms..... But again whatever the case was it was like you said not the outbreak all of us expected.
oh it happened...just 250 miles east lmao. that thing battered the sask ab border. could see the edge of it through the night sky.
Zack: In Wetaskiwin 50 km south of Edmonton
One of the places marked on the EC radar
We only got one storm for the month of july so far!!!!
But the one strom was severe.
Funny the highest dewpoints yesterday were under the cap.
Examaple.
The dewpoint in east AB were in the high teens and were in the low 20s in edmonton and red deer.
Thus the most juice was locked away and is now gone.
Only if the cap was much weaker there probaly would have been widespread storms.. another thing too is that the boundary mixed farther east than models anticipated. lookin at the latest radar image from EC nothing is happening currently even though a few storms were around early this morning.
Such conditions are rare and may not happen again for a few years.
Well we be ready to chase the 2010 season.
But the stuck jet streem may have a fire hose aimed at Alberta for the next week.
If the ridge rebuilds west at the right time.
We will have high west wind alft and southeast ground winds.
Translation... Tornadoes
It wil be a contrast between cold(15Chighs) in the northwest and Hot(35C) in the south .
and a boudery seperating the two airmasses with winds in opposite dirarctions on each side(around 30C).
and these conditions may form on saturday and last for a while.
And depoints will rise on the weekend
so what are you saying Mike R?????
Btw not very many people posting today.... Making me begining to wonder where in the hell is everyone?!?!?!?
Look at yesterday, do you really think anyone wants to talk about sunshine and farts!
If there is any severe storms again monday looks good.
Dewpoints in the high teens sunday and monday.
and all of these days will have a jetsream overhead out of
If you want to chase today you will need tire the size of small cars, the highest potentail is in the arctic and far north manitoba so it you like chasing on the tundra.
LOL get some photos of tornado in Nunavut, that will wake up the political guys.
I can't fid CAPE plot that far north do you know a site for that
Rofl man i can imagine a polar bear trying to fight a tornado in the tundra. Allthough it would be called a Snownado :P
You know there is no more snow up there
Dewpoints are 18-21C in southern Nunavut
Temps close to 30C
For a place that far north in the tundra. That doesn't make any sense...well for me that is.
the further you go up north the colder it gets.
Is that hole in the Ozone layer still there ?
man im bored, but it is a beautiful day in edmonton, but no storms, like you said earlier mike r, July has been pethetic for us, june was like crazy, although nothing overly big
urrrrrg!!! I here you loud and clear Mike I am bored too! Step outside at my house and the heat and humidity almost kill you!! We have a chance of storms here, but don't look too impressive.
storms can't form becuse the atmosphere reversed like in the tropics, this may be why not a hurricane in sight for the atlantic. But all bums gotta die and when they do w will be ready.
Chasers save your money. wait for August and September and beleive it or not October and November.
LOL The great Halloween tornado!
I think we will get severe weather untill the snow kills it.
That is how long the pattern may last.
Winter will sleep in Big time this year
wouldn't that be eriee to get a tornado on HALOWEEN!!!!
Sorry, spelled Halloween wrong.
There is an massive amount of heat over North Ameirica. S much it wil take and very long time to cool off.
In fact the south US may not even get a winter at all
Take that back Mike R!!!! I L-O-V-E winter lol!!
Hope we get a blizzard over here(probaly wont even happen though)
LOL maybe La nina get old man witer out of bed.
opps i mispelled winter
It is very hard to grasp in the heat
Zack trade ya spots...you can come shovel snow when its -40....lol
I would love to Amanda!! Where do you live??
LOL you have a great point Amanda, gotta love shoveling when its bitter cold
Actually I take that back Amanda, I love the snow but NOT the cold!! Besides I like it here in Oklahoma, get a little bit of everything!
Damn ....id switch ya in a min...lol...im in Manitoba...
its also like that here Zack but we just get a little bit colder then i would like :S, can get extreme hot in summer and extreme cold in winter
Mike where are u?
Very hot and humid at my place... Nice convection taking place as well. Hmmm I think a few storms might get going later this afternoon as the front aproaches.
Edmonton
Hey..Anyone, I'm going to go see the new movie transformers tomorrow and I was wondering if anyone has seen it... Was it a good movie???
Zack its an amazing movie you will enjoy it.
Well I've got to get going, gotta be somewhere this evening. I won't be posting again till Monday because I've got some BIG weekend plans. And yes one of them includes going to go see transformers!
Hope its good like u say Mike!!!
Looking at late next week's forecast for Southern Manitoba... if it holds (which, more then likely it won't simply because it actually is looking favourable). At the very least we're gonna be getting some record breaking temps here along with humidity. I'm getting cabin fever here.
I didnt know we had tornado sirens in Edmonton, sounds crepy check out the video
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7kGilO2IFYY
We were in the middle of some of the cells that went through the Medicine Hat area late last night and early this morning. We had an inch and 3/10 fo rain in 45min, amazing lightning, damaging winds (ripped apart 4 pivots, uprooted and damaged major swaths of trees) and hail. We lost sataletie and internet connection (the tower was fried) I am wondering were I can get access to some past radar images of this cell. I would really like to see what that bad boy looked like. (We are kind of adicted to watching radar images.....I guess it's a farmer thing :) Any help would be much appreciated.