2009 Iowa Tornado Statistics (NWS DMX)

[mikegeukes]

2009 Iowa Tornado Statistics (NWS DMX)
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/dmx/Iowa Tornado Statistics 2009 Graph.pdf

Mike

 

[Kevin Walters]

Wow...one tornado in May. We can officially throw the year 2009 on the trash heap of forgettable chase seasons. On the plus side I observed 16% of all tornadoes in Iowa this year!

 

[MatthewCarman]

Just because Iowa had a slow year for tornadoes does not mean 2009 was horrible. The month of May was the only horrible part of the year and even May had a few big events. Days listed are big events or had many reported tornadoes etc.

Feb 10: Tornadoes in southern states. Lone Grove OK hit by an EF4 tornado.
Feb 18: 13 confirmed tornadoes in the southeast including three EF3 tornadoes unless that has changed.
March 7-8: 32 tornadoes reported from KS to OH.
March 23: 17 tornadoes reported from OK to NE/IA.
March 25-28: 59 tornadoes reported from TX to the southeast.
April 2: 10 tornadoes reported from LA to TN to FL.
April 9-10: 112 tornadoes reported from TX/MO to the southeast.
April 16: 11 tornadoes reported in TX.
April 18: 10 tornadoes reported in TX.
April 19: 29 tornadoes reported from AL to GA.
April 25: 8 reported tornadoes from OK to MO with damage reports.
April 26: 11 reported tornadoes from OK to WI.
April 29: 9 tornadoes reported with chasers reporting two tornadoes on the ground at the same time near Cedar Hill TX according to reports.
May 2: 10 tornadoes reported from TX to AL.
May 3: 24 tornadoes reported with several confirmed and at least 3 people injured. Tornadoes occurred mostly in the southeast.
May 5: 9 tornadoes reported in NC with some damage reported.
May 8: 47 reported tornadoes with at least 13 injured and 4 people killed. Tornadoes mostly occurred in MO,KY and TN but tornadoes also occurred from TX to IA.
May 13: many tornadoes reported from TX/OK to IN. Kirks ville is hit by a massive rain wrapped tornado rated as an EF3.
May 15: A multi vortex tornado touches down near Pampa TX injuring 1 person.
May 24: 10 tornadoes reported in TX,CO,MO and TN with damage reports from TX and TN.
May 30: A tornado is reported in Tipton IN with reports of buildings down and people trapped.

Almost every single day in June had tornadoes reported with several opportunities for chasers to see big photogenic tornadoes. There was even some nice opportunities to see tornadoes in July. July 13 comes to mind with a large tornado in WY and a tornadic storm in SD/NE with multiple tornadoes.

I think every year we go through this. I remember in 2006 we went through this and a member posted many pictures of great tornadoes.If chasers have a bad year or May is not very good then they get depressed or upset because chasing is everything to them and so they say the year was horrible. 2009 was a descent year.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Where is anyone complaining about the year? It was a simple thread about IA tornadoes in 2009. If you actually chased you would realize that this year was a tough and challenging year for chasers. Every year will produced nice tornadoes SOMEWHERE in the country. This was one of those years...plus many of us had some hard busts in Iowa so we all have a right to complain about it [if such a thread ever came up.]

 

[James Hammett]

These tell the story:

2008

vs. 2009

Big difference - in areas I typically chase in anyway!

 

[Jeff Duda]

I suppose after last year's record 108 (or so) tornadoes in Iowa, we Iowans paid it back this year. I believe Iowa's long-term average tornado count per year is somewhere around 47. Funny how the longest-track tornado occurred 15 miles from my parent's house when I was chasing other storms 200+ miles away and saw absolutely jack.

 

[Jeff Passner]

Well, you can list all the tornadoes you wish, but it only tells a very small part of the story. For example, look at the Texas map... The biggest 2009 cluster is in the northeast corner of Texas. The question becomes: What time of day did the tornadoes occur? Were they all HP storms that made it impossible to see the tornadoes? I mean, tornado stats can be very deceptive. "Big days" can be useless if the tornadoes occur at 11:00 p.m. And of course, if you had a chase "vacation" in May 2009, you probably did not see much.

 

[Jared Farrer]

Yeah it was a hard year for IA, I chase there alot too. I had two busts there and one day that had managed a funnel and some rotation but thats it.
But its not always glory and easy picks anyway, over the years theres been alot of stout cap busts and some marginal days that went big time. Theres not alot of forcing in IA all the time. The dryline doesnt make it out there alot so its few and far between. But once in awile IA produces some amazing storms. Just ask the lucky few on the Parkersburg, Hazelton tornado! Jerry Funfsinn was one. That day was insane.
Yeah this year sucked though to many major cap days with no real forcing. You have to really pay attention to that sorta stuff

 

[Kevin Walters]

I don't find "forcing" to be the culprit, many times there is too much low level forcing with cold fronts. The dry line does push into Iowa on occasion (4-8-99) being one example. Several of my successful chases have been along warm fronts and boundary intersections. This year was a disappointment as far as number of tornadoes. There were two potentially "big" days that didn't happen. Wait till next year!

 

[Dan Rupnow]

One word= CINH!!!!!!

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

Yeah, Iowa has the reputation for being the 'cap state'. But that isn't exactly true - either. Last year -of course- Iowa was second in tornadoes only to Kansas. I believe that is what the stats from the previous year said. Seen some great storms there in '08 - though.

 

[Kevin Walters]

Some people seem to remember "cap busts" with great enthusiasm. It is very frustrating to sit and wait for something that never happens. Although there have been a few cap busts in Iowa recently I have a feeling it happens at about the same rate in other states.

 

[Bob Hartig]

I have no complaints against Iowa. Some of my better chases were there: Van Horne and Iowa City in April, 2006. Hazleton last year.

Of course, I've also had some of my most pathetic busts in Iowa as well, but even those have been profitable. I certainly learned something about iron-door 700 mb temperatures this year. In any event, I don't blame Iowa for my cap busts--I blame my lousy forecasting skills.

 

[Derek Weston]

I think part of the problem with Iowa and cap busts are the time they occur: usually as the season is slowing down. Late June and July. All eyes end up on the state and event. Usually the time of year when we get some absolutely ridiculous CAPE values... dews are absurdly high. (peak growing season) Everybody plays the "what if" scenario -- and some of course bite and end up chasing.

This only fuels the spectacle.

And so everyone remembers the bust that much better... not a may event where your next chase is only a few days away.

 

[Kevin Walters]

I think part of the problem with Iowa and cap busts are the time they occur: usually as the season is slowing down. Late June and July. All eyes end up on the state and event. Usually the time of year when we get some absolutely ridiculous CAPE values... dews are absurdly high. (peak growing season) Everybody plays the "what if" scenario -- and some of course bite and end up chasing.

This only fuels the spectacle.

And so everyone remembers the bust that much better... not a may event where your next chase is only a few days away.

I agree with Derek. Often in late June and early July upper level flow can still be Southwesterly. As the transition to NW flow begins to take over cooling aloft is more easily accomplished. Convection tends to be more linear in July. If you get a "tail end Charlie" storm interacting with extreme instability you're in business.