• Weather

Severe Weather and Coronavirus: A Bad Combo

• Gulf of Mexico
• hurricane
• Hurricane Harvey
• severe weather
• tornado
• tornadoes

This year’s warm winter through most of the Lower 48 states has been great, right? Yes, but, but, but — the warm weather in the southeast was caused by the fact that the waters of the Gulf of Mexico are about 3 degrees warmer than usual, and that also increases the prospect for a very active spring tornado season and summer hurricane season.

Why This Matters:  It was less than a month ago that a deadly cluster of severe tornadoes hit Nashville.  What if the city had been battling the surge of the virus at the time?

• Weather

U.S. Midsection Stuck in “Spin” Cycle

• EF-1
• Flooding
• National Severe Storms Laboratory
• National Weather Service
• severe storms
• tornadoes

The Midwest and Great Plains have battled historic storms and flooding over the last few weeks seemingly “stuck” in a dangerous weather pattern — more than 250 tornadoes have struck since May 17, according to the Omaha World-Herald’s reporting from the National Weather Service, most happening in “swarms” of 25 or more at a time, including the latest deadly round in Dayton, Ohio yesterday.

• People

Heroes of the Week: Flood Rescuers

• severe weather
• storms
• tornadoes

Earlier this week, we described the severe weather outbreak in the midwest.  By Thursday, more than 60 tornadoes had touched down in Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa.  All the rain made swollen rivers even more flooded and left many people stranded in their cars and homes.  And the severe weather is not over yet.  According […]

• Weather

Davenport Flooded by Mississippi River, Tornadoes Rock Midwest

• Des Moines
• floods
• Mississippi River
• severe weather
• tornadoes

The Mississippi River broke through a barrier and water rushed into downtown Davenport, Iowa, flooding offices and shops unexpectedly on Tuesday and remained flooded into Wednesday.  CNN reported that the flooding occurred when HESCO flood restraints holding back the bloated river suddenly broke, sending water rushing into the streets creating a lake in the midst of the downtown area, forcing first responders to evacuate people by boat.

• Water

The Midwest Is The Latest Region To Experience Deadly Flooding

• air force
• Amtrak
• Corps of Engineers
• dams
• emergency
• Flooding
• floods
• levees
• Mississippi River
• Missouri River
• tornadoes

Flooding across the Midwest over the weekend caused residents to flee as levees were breached by the rising floodwaters and emergency workers had to use boats to rescue stranded residents of towns along the Platte, Missouri and Elkhorn Rivers, and at least two people have perished.  The rising floodwaters are the aftermath of the massive storm system that pushed through the nation’s midsection on Thursday and Friday, pushing rivers to record flood levels in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota, according to the Associated Press. 

• People

Heroes of the Week: Weather Forecasters Keeping Us Safe

• blizard
• bombogenisis
• Flooding
• National Weather Service
• severe weather
• storm
• tornadoes

These meteorologists gave local residents 30-40 minutes lead time and pinpoint locations of where two highly destructive tornadoes were heading.  So this week we salute the storm forecasters who warned the public and kept millions of people across the nation out of harm’s way. 

• Land

Tornados are survivable yet Americans are still dying

• Alabama
• natural disasters
• poverty
• tornadoes

Tornado warning technology has improved significantly in the past decades yet in states like Alabama, tornadoes still routinely claim human lives when they don’t have to. Just last week more than three dozen tornadoes wrought havoc in the Deep South, killing 23 and razing the ground bare in many areas and just yesterday two tornadoes […]