Wild Weather in Mid-Atlantic

Take everyone in the office and pull them together and watch some of the video links below the writing in this post... of the hail and severe weather. Downright awesome. . .

It has been tough to clear the overcast skies this morning. The satellite imagery is suggesting some breaks beginning to develop to our north and settling down into New Jersey. I suspect some peaks of sunshine to develop with clearing throughout the afternoon from northwest to southeast.

Meanwhile, I wanted to talk about a probable tornado yesterday in Western Pennsylvania in Westmoreland County. More than 30 homes were damaged, some severely. Some schools were even damaged in this incident. Tornadoes can cause severe damage and injury, even in the Middle-Atlantic States. I can’t stress enough the importance of school district officials practicing and implementing tornado safety drills. It should not be just a “mid-west thing”.





There were five injuries with this tornado according to media sources. The severe thunderstorm that prompted this likely tornado took the shape of a well-defined hook. The radar image clearly shows the hook shape. Thankfully, watches were issued well in advanced of this tornado with amble opportunity after a tornado warning was issued. More importantly, this incident demonstrates why tornado watches and severe thunderstorm watches should be taken seriously, before the warning phase. The watches imply conditions are favorable for the development of severe weather.
Some even get distressed when warnings require such emphasis on television with special interruptions into regular programming. Tornadoes can cause severe damage and injury, even in the Middle-Atlantic States. Be gracious that your television station puts safety first and take the suggestions actions.

Hail was appearing so likely across Pennsylvania and New Jersey yesterday by mid-morning, and I made mention of it before the afternoon began. The large hail though was out in Western Pennsylvania where greater instability developed where temperatures spiked to around 65 degrees. That also explains why the storms were able to rotate there to spin up funnels.

Videos of Hail:

http://www.wtae.com/weather/27303144/detail.html



More Tornado Video