Most bizarre/strange weather event you've ever seen

[Chuck Vlcek]

Joel Wright wrote:

Wow, that would have been awesome! I've heard of snowflakes being reported that big before. I still can't imagine actually seeing that happen though!

What was really awesome for me was that it happened in Norman, OK of all places. Winters are usually rather dry there and the first couple of winters I spent there the flakes were so small you could hardly see them -- when there was any snow at all. I grew up in Oregon and was accustomed to seeing nice fat dendritic flakes there. I also spent some time on the east coast and flakes tended to be more medium size, at least those I had seen up to that time.

My one regret about the Norman episode is that I didn't have my Super8 camera with me. It was at home, and I thought about going for it during lunch break but was concerned about the slick roads. If I'd had any idea something like that was going to happen, I would have walked, mushed, whatever to get that camera.

 

[Robert Dewey]

I, like Chuck, have seen those large flakes as well. The ones I seen were about 2-3 inches in diameter (obviously estimated), and lasted about 5 minutes. They wern't falling fast or numerous, but we did manage to accumulate a couple of inches. I had never seen anything like it before. I am not sure, but the world record is actually around 8-12 inches in diameter (but how could they measure it, wouldn't it break when it hit the ground?) - Though I don't have the book right here to check...

We had severe weather event on December 6, 1999 (or 1998). A very strong cold front plowed into the region, with very strong winds aloft. A narrow, thunderless line of convection developed along this cold front, and swept through the area. When the line came through around 11PM, it sounded like a jet plane. I decided to open the front door (the direction the wind came from), only to see our pines in the from yard bent straight over... Needless to say, I COULDN'T get the door closed until the wind stopped. It also managed to rip our flagpole out of the side of the house, and throw it up over the roof and into the swimming pool (it was bolted to the side of the house, it was so strong that I could hang on it). And again, there was absolutely no lightning! The odd thing is, the temperature was a staggering 45F! I am assuming that the most unstable parcel was actually lifted from only 1000FT or so, where the profile may have been MUCH warmer due to advection (before rapidly decreasing again), so that way the winds would still manage to penetrate the very thin stable layer. Damage from this event was pretty localized. Numerous trees were uprooted, houses were damaged... NWS reports indicate only 60-70MPH wind gusts, but I have never seen a 60MPH or 70MPH wind gust do this much damage to trees (let alone trees that DON'T have leaves). My weather station reported somewhere in the mid 90's MPH, which sounds more reasonable. Definately a localized microburst though.

It was a very interesting night, when your only expecting to get stratiform rain!

 

[Francesco]

The strongest and weirdest event I have ever witnessed would have to be the ice storm in 1998 that affected most of northeast Canada and the States. Believe me when I tell you that that storm paralyzed all of the city of Montreal. Fortunate for me it happend right after my winter holidays and got an extra 2 weeks off from school... thats how bad it was. It literally brought the entire southern part of the province to its knees, knocking huge powerlines down, depriving more than 1 million electricity users from electricity for almost 2 weeks. It was a huge infrastructure collapse caused by many inches of ice falling at an incredible rate.

Something more recently observed that I would consider weird happen June 3rd 2004 when I witnessed a landsprout. I was so freaked out because I had no idea what i was seeing. I was even lucky I was able to see it cause it was so light and blended in with the backgroud almost perfectly (perfect then i wouldnt of seen it )

 

[Michael Auker]

The weirdest event I ever saw happened on Feb 11, 1994 when I was a teen and living in Maryland. We got about 6 inches of sleet followed by an inch or two of freezing rain, which caked the sleet into an icy hard mass and allowed us to go downhill and cross-country ice-skating! Yes, ice-skating! Downhill ice-skating was one of the most thrilling things I've ever done; very fast and very maneuverable! Also memorable was playing hockey in an open field, but the rough sandy pebbly surface proved quite detrimental to one's health when taking a spill, resulting in torn clothing and extensive skinned epidermis. The freezing rain also brought down numerous trees and powerlines and left us without power for a couple of days.

 

[Travis Livengood]

hmmm, though not all that rare, I still say thundersnow...thats just weird to shovel snow with lightning over head.

 

[Michael Auker]

Yeah, I've never seen thundersnow. I would love to, but my chances are a bit limited of seeing it here in Central KY. But one never knows, which is why the weather is endlessly fascinating.

 

[Travis Livengood]

I've seen it twice that I can recall. Its weird, seeing snow and watching CC and CG lightning.

 

[nickgrillo]

Maybe Rob can answer this question ... One of the most intresting things I've ever seen was hail being reported throughout Southern Michigan, when there was barely a 15dbz on radar in some cases... It was sometime in May 2004 and the sizes were mostly smaller than pea, but I believe a .5" inch got reported.

..Nick..

 

[Travis Livengood]

I've seen that happen. I woke up because I thought I heard heavy rain, but my window was open and I wasn't getting wet. Went downstairs to look out the front porch and was greeted with about a 6" deep pile of graupel in a perfect cone where the roof had funneled it. The yard was covered with it too, just like a light dusting of snow. It had stormed earlier in the day, so I didn't think much of it until it ocured to me that everything outside was bone dry, including the cars.

 

[Michael Auker]

I've heard the High Plains sometimes get hailstorms so bad that they have to plow the roads, sometimes two feet or more. I can't even imagine it, I've never seen much hail and never larger than quarter-sized. Has any storm chaser on this forum seen a substantial fall of hail?

 

[Travis Livengood]

only enough to cover the road and make fields look very wintery.

biggest I've driven through is golf ball sized, and that was....enlightening

 

[Michael Auker]

Dare I guess it dinged your vehicle? That would be the major minus of experiencing a hailstorm. I see damaged vehicles quite a bit here in KY. It's not that KY doesn't get large hail, I've just never been in the right place at the right time. Three years ago, May 1, 2002, a huge HP supercell moved southeast through KY dropping baseball and softball-sized hail. Several people received broken bones and livestock was killed. The monetary damage was extreme. It missed us by 10 miles. Can't say I regret it. On April 16, 1998, Bowling Green received 550 million dollars in damage from a hailstorm.

 

[Travis Livengood]

oddly, nary a dent to be seen. No one can stop the Mighty Ranger.

Not a crack in the windshield either.

 

[Douglas Mitchell]

Definitely would have to be December 5th, 2001, Minneapolis, MN. I put on my winter jacket and hat to go to school only to have it be 63 degrees outside and humid. Very similar earlier this year, January 13th I believe, where it got up to 57 in Lansing, MI at 2am.

 

[Perry Williams]

Experiencing the blizzard of 1993....a northern style blizzard in metro Atlanta, Georgia; complete with 60 mph wind gusts, several hours of thundersnow, and blowing/ drifting snow several feet deep.

The most surreal aspect of that winter storm was the intense lightning and thunder occurring (setting several metro area homes on fire) while heavy snow fell with temperatures in the 25-27° range....definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience for residents of Atlanta.