Comment
Rate
Tornado alerts based on radar readings
|
||
| Advertisement |
By Bob Watson
bwatson@newstribune.com
An early morning storm generated thunder loud enough to wake some Mid-Missourians from their sleep - in time to hear the storm warning sirens sounding an alarm.
But it was a meteorologist reading on a radar screen during the thunderstorm that triggered the 4:10 a.m. tornado warnings for the Jefferson City area.
“If we see a cyclonic (motion) in a storm, where it's rotating counter-clockwise on the lowest-volume scan, that gives us an indication the winds are really wrapping really fast, in a cyclonic motion, in a tight fashion,” said Ben Sipprell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in St. Charles.
“That's where you get, ‘the Doppler radar indicated a tornado' warning.”
The weather service said it doesn't appear a funnel cloud touched down locally, and operators at the Jefferson City 911 Center said they had no reports of storm damage.
Police Capt. Doug Shoemaker said the decision to sound the storm-warning sirens is made at the center. Generally, he said, the sirens are activated when the center receives information from a credible source, such as the National Weather Service, that a storm may cause an immediate threat to the area.
In the case of Tuesday morning's storm, the decision was made to activate the sirens based on the weather service's warning and a request from the State Emergency Management Agency.
The storm system that raced through Missouri early Tuesday morning spawned several tornadoes in northern Missouri - near Spickard (north of Trenton) in Grundy County and near Winigan (northeast of Brookfield) in Linn County.
And the system still was on the move Tuesday morning.
“We're still seeing showers and thunderstorms developing along a frontal boundary that's being fed by a very moist, and unstable, air mass from the South-Southwest,” Sipprell explained.
The latest system moved into the Midwest from Canada, across the Great Lakes region, he said, allowing for a little energy and instability to move through our area, and to lift that moist, unstable air mass and give us these storms.
But Mid-Missourians should not associate Tuesday's storm system with Tropical Storm Dolly, expected to become a hurricane before hitting Texas on Wednesday.
“They are separate systems, with different sources,” Sipprell said. “Dolly is being fed more by a tropical air mass more so than a continental air mass.”
See also:
Forecast, radar, advisories
But it was a meteorologist reading on a radar screen during the thunderstorm that triggered the 4:10 a.m. tornado warnings for the Jefferson City area.
“If we see a cyclonic (motion) in a storm, where it's rotating counter-clockwise on the lowest-volume scan, that gives us an indication the winds are really wrapping really fast, in a cyclonic motion, in a tight fashion,” said Ben Sipprell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in St. Charles.
“That's where you get, ‘the Doppler radar indicated a tornado' warning.”
The weather service said it doesn't appear a funnel cloud touched down locally, and operators at the Jefferson City 911 Center said they had no reports of storm damage.
Police Capt. Doug Shoemaker said the decision to sound the storm-warning sirens is made at the center. Generally, he said, the sirens are activated when the center receives information from a credible source, such as the National Weather Service, that a storm may cause an immediate threat to the area.
In the case of Tuesday morning's storm, the decision was made to activate the sirens based on the weather service's warning and a request from the State Emergency Management Agency.
The storm system that raced through Missouri early Tuesday morning spawned several tornadoes in northern Missouri - near Spickard (north of Trenton) in Grundy County and near Winigan (northeast of Brookfield) in Linn County.
And the system still was on the move Tuesday morning.
“We're still seeing showers and thunderstorms developing along a frontal boundary that's being fed by a very moist, and unstable, air mass from the South-Southwest,” Sipprell explained.
The latest system moved into the Midwest from Canada, across the Great Lakes region, he said, allowing for a little energy and instability to move through our area, and to lift that moist, unstable air mass and give us these storms.
But Mid-Missourians should not associate Tuesday's storm system with Tropical Storm Dolly, expected to become a hurricane before hitting Texas on Wednesday.
“They are separate systems, with different sources,” Sipprell said. “Dolly is being fed more by a tropical air mass more so than a continental air mass.”
See also:
Forecast, radar, advisories
 |
 |
|
| Local man admits possessing steroids with intent to distribute | St. Elizabeth man hurt in wreck |
Article Rating |
|
Before commenting read the News Tribune Forum's policies and procedures.
Thanks.
RSS
boxergal wrote on Jul 24, 2008 11:21 AM: