Marcus Diaz
EF5
Ok ok, once every year they get 1 decent chase. The other 20 chase days don't pan out.
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Todd Rector
EF4
It's all a matter of perspective. Since I live in central Iowa, I would much rather chase a dozen local busts than do a 12-hour-one-way drive heartbreaker bust in the Texas panhandle.
For me at least, it's Nebraska that has been giving me a migraine this year. I can't count how many times I made the drive to the Grand Island area only to find messy HP monsters, and the first Nebraska dance I sit out produces the Pilger twin tornadoes. DOH!
For me at least, it's Nebraska that has been giving me a migraine this year. I can't count how many times I made the drive to the Grand Island area only to find messy HP monsters, and the first Nebraska dance I sit out produces the Pilger twin tornadoes. DOH!
calvinkaskey
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Iowa I think has some of the most powerful tornadoes ever. Isn't it like second to Oklahoma and or Kansas?
calvinkaskey
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16 farms were blown away and the town of Grinnell was devastated. Debris was carried 100 mi (160 km). Caused 68 fatalities according to Grazulis.[9][10][18]
Well-built homes were swept away in four counties with F5 damage in the town of Pomeroy.[10][24] Grass was scoured from the ground, and a metal bridge was torn from its supports. A well pump and 40 feet (12 m) of pipe were pulled out of the ground.[25]
Homes were swept away.[6] This tornado was mentioned by Fujita as one of the most intense he surveyed. Well-built farms reportedly vanished without a trace.[131]
Late-May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence – The tornado swept away well-built homes, leaving a large swath of finely granulated debris. 17 homes were assessed to have sustained EF5 damage, two of which had no debris left within 200 yards of the foundations. Some homes had their anchor bolts pulled out of the foundation perimeter. A concrete walk-out basement wall was pushed over at one home, and the concrete floor was cracked. A large industrial building was completely destroyed, with metal girders twisted and snapped at their bases and the foundation pushed clean of debris.[174][175]
Well-built homes were swept away in four counties with F5 damage in the town of Pomeroy.[10][24] Grass was scoured from the ground, and a metal bridge was torn from its supports. A well pump and 40 feet (12 m) of pipe were pulled out of the ground.[25]
Homes were swept away.[6] This tornado was mentioned by Fujita as one of the most intense he surveyed. Well-built farms reportedly vanished without a trace.[131]
Late-May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence – The tornado swept away well-built homes, leaving a large swath of finely granulated debris. 17 homes were assessed to have sustained EF5 damage, two of which had no debris left within 200 yards of the foundations. Some homes had their anchor bolts pulled out of the foundation perimeter. A concrete walk-out basement wall was pushed over at one home, and the concrete floor was cracked. A large industrial building was completely destroyed, with metal girders twisted and snapped at their bases and the foundation pushed clean of debris.[174][175]
Marcus Diaz
EF5
Since 08, there's only been a handful of notable tornado days. There's what, Creston, Mapleton, that one Skip posted from a couple months ago. Nothing else comes to mind. All those notable events you just posted could basically account for any state in the Alley. Substitute "this town, OK" or "that town, IL" and all those damage reports wouldn't seem out of place. With that said, I'm sure 2015 will blow Iowa away in a literal sense.
Todd Rector
EF4
Here is a link to a National Weather Service pdf of Iowa Tornado Climatology data 1980 through 2013 if anyone is interested. Our average tornado count per year is 46.
I like Iowa because the state is mostly flat, we have decent cell coverage in 95 percent of the state, and a good backroad infrastructure due to agriculture needs. #CHASEIOWA
I like Iowa because the state is mostly flat, we have decent cell coverage in 95 percent of the state, and a good backroad infrastructure due to agriculture needs. #CHASEIOWA
Rob H
EF5
Minnesota is right up there with Iowa for average counts, but aside from 2010, does anyone really care about Minnesota beyond the chasers that live there? No one sees most of those 40-50 tornadoes. The storms that they come from are barely supercellular. 1250 MLCAPE, 100 SRH, 2% days are the norm here. The only reason I'd really give IA the edge over MN is because it occasionally has some big discrete cells and the road network is much nicer than anything in MN north of I-90.
Ultimately the dynamics of the CONUS landmass favor certain types of storms in certain areas, and MN/IA suffer from this. If you go one state west from IA, the quality and quantity of tornadoes jumps quite a bit, and you get even flatter land with fewer trees/urban areas. Hell, Nebraska's offerings from this year alone dominate Iowa's from the last 6 years.
Every place in the Plains/Midwest gets tornadoes and occasionally some are beasts, but you're deluding yourself if you think that IA hasn't been way behind the curve compared to its neighbors the last few years.
Ultimately the dynamics of the CONUS landmass favor certain types of storms in certain areas, and MN/IA suffer from this. If you go one state west from IA, the quality and quantity of tornadoes jumps quite a bit, and you get even flatter land with fewer trees/urban areas. Hell, Nebraska's offerings from this year alone dominate Iowa's from the last 6 years.
Every place in the Plains/Midwest gets tornadoes and occasionally some are beasts, but you're deluding yourself if you think that IA hasn't been way behind the curve compared to its neighbors the last few years.
Marcus Diaz
EF5
Rob sums it up nicely. That's why I'm planning on moving to North Platte within 5 years. The panhandle and the area around here has many surprise days and offers great chasing, but ultimately I kick myself for not being there for all the crazy NE days especially those rarely seen Cherry County beasts.
Skip Talbot
EF5
Marcus Diaz
EF5
I totally forgot that day even went into Iowa. My brain thought it was all in Nebraska.
Todd Rector
EF4
Oh yeah, I have to admit any time a nice chase in flat Eastern Nebraska has to cross the Missouri River into the Western Iowa bluffs area you can forget the nice grid-like backroads until you get 20+ miles or so into Iowa, away from the river. Limited bridge opportunities can totally ruin your day, too.
Marcus Diaz
EF5
I fixed that for ya :3
Todd Rector
EF4
Ha! Touche!
(plus the obligatory fodder to make this post more than 20 characters)
(plus the obligatory fodder to make this post more than 20 characters)
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Skip Talbot
EF5
Minnesota is just another ho-hum Midwestern state until pure magic happens there: June 17, 2010, June 17, 2009, August 7, 2010. The I-90 corridor also offers some of the best terrain of the plains with a sparsely traveled interstate, good quality grid, and mostly open farmland. It's almost a fair compromise to other places in the plains that do see more classic tornadic supercells, but don't have a quality grid or have other issues with terrain. I look forward to trips to southwest MN much more than I do a closer intercept in hilly Missouri or more tornado prone eastern Oklahoma.
I think what makes chasing further west so alluring is that it's a fun place to be even when there aren't tornadoes, and the visibility makes even generic weather look spectacular.
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Agreed. While, I can count the times I made the drive (three), I am no more pleased than you about Nebraska this year. I watched the twins on radar form my desk at work - all because I exhausted myself chasing every garbage setup in the weeks before and was focused on other things the days I should have been forecasting. I got some nice hail damage out of NE this year for being careless too close to an HP and getting a slight grazing from a hail core. A few frames without radar, one construction zone with a pilot car-one lane setup, and it was too late to get away from the monster going 70MPH. Stupid rookie mistake. Still, Nebraska is special to me as its where I saw my first tornado that I actually hunted down. I enjoy the state even without a good bad weather day.
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