Major Weather Events of 2008

[Matthew Harding]

As the year comes to a close, here is a question to ponder. In your opinion, what is the biggest weather story of 2008 either nationally or in your local area?

Some of the choices (in no particular order) are:

-> 6 consecutive U.S. tropical cyclone landfalls (strongest being Ike in TX)
-> Super Tuesday tornado outbreak in Mid-South
-> 3-4 day tornado outbreak in the heart of Tornado Alley
-> Continuing drought in the southeast and into S Appalachian Mtns.
-> Late Spring/early summer floods in Midwest
-> Parkersburg, IA EF-5 tornado

For me, my top 2 would be the 3-4 day tornado marathon in May. In that outbreak the GLD WFO recorded its first EF4 tornado in quite a few years (length of time escapes me). The sheer duration of the outbreak was in itself something that I have not seen in quite a while. The upper low that was responsible for the outbreak was parked until the last day of the outbreak, quite amazing.

My second major event would have to be the deluge that Wichita received on 9/12. On that day, Wichita recorded 10.31" of rain (most of it falling before 3 pm) which obliterated its 24-hour rainfall record by 2.32" . The event also made September 2008 the 4th wettest month in Wichita history and helped make 2008 the wettest year in Wichita history (so far 52.56"). The event produced the most widespread flooding in the Wichita area since the Halloween Flood of 1998.

Feel free to add your own event into the discussion as this is just a sampling.

(Mods--Feel free to move this thread if needed)

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

As far as the country is concerned I would say it's clearly the 7 consecutive U.S. tropical cyclone landfalls. As far as chasers are concerned its another no brainer IMO, the 3-4 day tornado outbreak in the heart of Tornado Alley provided me and many other chasers with so many tornadoes I lost count. While that outbreak was a big "story" for me, if you are asking about personal biggest weather story, I would probably rank the 29th JUST ahead of it, as the storms/tornadoes that day were slighltly cooler....

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

I think as far as impacts are concerned, I would have to agree with Dustin W.
Ike had an impact that will be felt for years, the short week in Kansas was astounding, but other short storms had great impacts. Remember the Boy Scouts that were killed in Bledcoe Iowa? That had a very big impact in the NW part of Iowa here, and it was a media event that carried on for weeks.

While on the side subject of the Scouts, I sure would like to see the Scouts adopt a program to teach them better forecasting skills - even to go as far to say they should/could learn storm chasing. After the event, it appears that they were not prepared and it is now a must that the merit badge for weather be expanded and re-qualified. The Boy Scouts Of America NEEDS to train them a bit better so that they can "Be Prepared" and mean it.

I'm not dissing the scouts - so don't get me wrong. I was a scout - too. I just want to see them be able to handle themselves in any situation - as this is one of the founding concepts of the scouts. It was a tragic story that needs a better outcome, and I know they are capable of doing it better.
Ramblings...

 

[Danny Neal]

From May 22nd to June 8th was a very active 2-3 weeks of severe weather throughout the plains, midwest, and great lakes region. As a chaser I would rate that time frame as most noteworthy.

For the record it was six tropical cyclones straight not seven. (I posted that in tropical sub-forum) But still that in itself should be the biggest meteorological story of 2008.

When I think of tornado outbreaks, the first thing to pop into my mind was January 7th and February 5th. The reason I say this is because you wouldn't normally expect events of this magnitude at this time of year. Of course you get outbreaks, but February 5th was comparable to a big plains outbreak in May in terms of strength and magnitude of the system. Couple that with poor terrain/fast moving/ night tornadoes, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Finally, the floods. Remnants of landfalling hurricanes in the fall spreading intense moisture up the Mid Mississippi Valley and devastating rains in the spring in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, and other regions.

Probably one of the most active years in terms of total events of different varieties..........

 

[Michael O'Keeffe]

2008 had its major events, but I would have to say the biggest most major event was the Super Tuesday Outbreak.

Now a lot of people say that seeing an outbreak in the South of this magnitude and in February is unheard of, but I would actually be surprised to see something like that in May in the South. This happened during a time when the south gets most of their tornadoes. I noticed on TWC the other night they mentioned "Dixie Alley" and how Nov-Mar is prime time for that area, so I get a bit tired of hearing that it was global warming and that it was SOOOO unusual. What makes it so horrific though was the high death toll, but also mentioned earlier fast moving tornadoes in trees after dark is a recipe for disaster.

The six consecutive tropical systems is crazy, but IMHO not the most major event of the year. Only two of those storms really did significant damage and those were Gustav and Ike. The four others did nothing more than flood a few areas, nothing like 2004-2005. Not saying that flooding is devastating because it is, but four weak tropical storms and two moderate hurricanes isn't making the cut when we had lots of other disasters of much greater magnitude.

The second highest on the list would have to be the Midwest floods of early summer. Many communities were affected sadly, with a huge blow to the agriculture industry.

I also think Parkersburg was one of the top 5 events as well as the May 10 Tornado Outbreak with multiple towns being destroyed (Picher, OK, Stuttgart,AR, Neosho, MO) and the January 7 tornado outbreak.

No doubt this was a rough year for America as well as the world weather wise, and it looks to me as though we may see another wild ride in 2009.

 

[Danny Neal]

Now a lot of people say that seeing an outbreak in the South of this magnitude and in February is unheard of, but I would actually be surprised to see something like that in May in the South.

Yes, it would be surprising to see an event like that in the South in May. I don't know if you were referring to my comments or not so I will explain further anyway.

It is rare as it is to get a tornado outbreak of that magnitude anywhere during any season, let alone February in the mid-south. Dixie Alley outbreaks typically are of the rainwrapped embedded fast moving variety while Super Tuesday outbreak took the look of a more classic Plains outbreak that you would see in May in the panhandles. Throw in the deep south terrain and lack of light and you get a bad situation.

While not unusual to get a tornado outbreak down there, it was quite unusual to have one with numerous strong noteworthy tornadoes. (Memphis, NE TN, Jackson TN, the AR record breaking one, etc) Global warming, like TWC and others have implied, had nothing to do with it.

 

[STurner]

I thought the Super Tuesday tornado outbreak was the most interesting weather phenomenas that occured this year. I was like a kid in a candy store following all the tornado warnings on SPC and TWC. The only sad thing was all the fatalities that happened. Also the last time an F4/EF4 tornado occured in the GLD NWS area office was the Hitchcock/Red Willow County Nebraska tornado on June 15, 1990.

 

[Paul Hadfield]

One that comes close despite not being within 2008 was the ice storm from mid December 2007 that thrashed KS, MO and IL. Then there was the January Outbreak which was pretty intense though I only got to watch it on teevee from out of state.

 

[Aaron Gerhardt]

The one that sticks out to me the most was Memorial Day weekend. I was in Delhi, IA at the lake there, and got to witness the whole Parkersburg system come through. I drove out to just west of Manchester, IA on HWY 20...and was so intimidated by it I just turned around at drove back to Lake Delhi to hunker down.

Was the really the first time I had went for a storm on my own, and it was a good thing I didn't commit to it. The system was just so huge...I was at least 10 miles from the ending place of the tornado itself (around Hazleton) and I was engulfed in it. Was also the first week I had my DSLR....and was dumb enough to have manual focus on and only caught a couple focused shots.

 

[John Wetter]

I would say (in order):
1. Super-Tuesday Outbreak
2. The numerous Landfalling hurricanes
3. May 22-25 including the EF-4's and EF-5 and numerous 3's.

 

[Greg Stumpf]

Remember the Boy Scouts that were killed in Bledcoe Iowa? That had a very big impact in the NW part of Iowa here, and it was a media event that carried on for weeks.

While on the side subject of the Scouts, I sure would like to see the Scouts adopt a program to teach them better forecasting skills - even to go as far to say they should/could learn storm chasing. After the event, it appears that they were not prepared and it is now a must that the merit badge for weather be expanded and re-qualified. The Boy Scouts Of America NEEDS to train them a bit better so that they can "Be Prepared" and mean it.

I'm not dissing the scouts - so don't get me wrong. I was a scout - too. I just want to see them be able to handle themselves in any situation - as this is one of the founding concepts of the scouts. It was a tragic story that needs a better outcome, and I know they are capable of doing it better.
Ramblings...

Have you read this account?

 

[Derek Weston]

Living in Eastern Iowa... the floods were probably the biggest. Even over the Parkersburg storm. The floods -- shattering records -- affected many more. Combined with the Parkersburg event, and you have a very memorable year of weather in Eastern Iowa.

Nationally... probably floods + super tuesday outbreak. Hurricanes in there too, I guess. I think we're all a little biased in this analysis, anyway...

 

[Randall Marable]

Personally for me, it would no doubt have to be the landfall of Hurricane Ike here in Southeast Texas. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hgx/hurricanes/Ike_loop.gif

http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/at20089.asp

 

[Heidi Farrar]

Nationally (in no order):

Biblical flooding in IA/WI, etc. in June
Biblical flooding in AR/MO, etc. in March AND April.
Super Tuesday
CA firestorms
hurricanes making landfall
late May tornadoes including Quinter, Parkersburg, Hugo MN & the "Pig Farm Video" from OK.
...the "forgotten outbreak": January 7th in southwest MO.

Locally...It was bam-bam-bam-bam for a few months, starting in late January:

January 29, high wind event with major wind damage across a lot of northeast AR. If there had been any instability that day, it could have been a daytime version of Feb 5th. Here is the outlook from that day. This also brought about 4" of snow behind it, leading up to...

Feb. 5th - Super Tuesday

Feb 11 - Severe Thunderstorm warning for Van Buren and Stone Co. during an ice storm; Mountain View and Clinton, both of which sustained very heavy damage in the Super Tuesday 122-mile EF-4, had accumulating large hail during an ice storm.

Feb 21st - another ice storm. Not crippling, but tornado damage coated in ice is a surreal site.

March 5-7 - Heavy snow -- Areas around Mountain View had up to 17" of snow on top of tornado damage.

March 17-19: Record flooding, Part 1. Here is a video made on the Izard/Stone Co. border showing the White River at Sylamore. Here is the White River on the Izard/Baxter Co. line, upstream from Sylamore.

April 8-10 - Record flooding, Part 2.

Then things calmed down in our "local" area for a while, but I should not leave out

May 2 with two EF-3 tornadoes, one just east of the Feb. 5th monster's path in Conway, Van Buren and Cleburn Co., and another at Earle.

...The last thing of significance was

Sept 13th/14th: Ike, which resulted in prolonged widespread power-outages across a large part of the state.

Our mets. in AR earned their pay this year, that is for sure.