Tornadoes - Earliest For Farthest North?

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

While many recover from some rather destructive storms on Jan 7, 2008 ... One may wonder about the setup.

A tornado in extreme northern Illinois / Southern Wisconsin ... Would this be the earliest tornado from so far north so early in the season?

Still shocked at seeing temperatures in N Illinois below zero and less than a week later 60's F and severe storms. Pretty wild!

I understand that the deep south often has such winter tornado outbreaks, but the US midwest in EARLY January is pretty interesting.

I understand that seasons do not matter ... Having the correct atmospheric ingredients does.

Any inputs on this thread would be appreciated (anyone who chased such early setups / historical accounts)...

 

[Michael O'Keeffe]

I agree with Chris as long as you have the right conditions you can see a tornado anytime of the year I realized that and now I have the equipment ready at all times.

 

[Laura Hedien]

and now I have the equipment ready at all times.

Isn't that the truth! I was scrambling for all my gear yesterday. I think at least when the temps get above 55, I'll be checking my batteries, etc to make sure everything's ready.
Kinda funny running around the house yesterday and thinking "It's January!"
Laura

 

[Forrest lambert]

It does seem weird for january tornadoes, the last outbreak in the month of january was back in 99?? did anyone chase those storms last night?

 

[Michael O'Keeffe]

It does seem weird for january tornadoes, the last outbreak in the month of january was back in 99?? did anyone chase those storms last night?

Yes January of 1999 saw 169 confirmed tornadoes in that month alone! That was a La Nina year which we are expierencing now which is projected to get stronger by March.

And to answer your other question there were quite a few chasers on the storms last night check out the reports thread.

 

[Forrest lambert]

thanks, i saw it. last night i went on the computer and i look at what was going and i was thinking, oh s*** for the month of january? i just wish i could have been there to chase.

 

[Shane Adams]

It does seem weird for january tornadoes, the last outbreak in the month of january was back in 99?? did anyone chase those storms last night?

We did. Saw a beautifully-spinning supercell storm (you could see the entire storm spinning all the way to canopy) which produced a small, brief tornado. Later into the night, as we had called off the chase and were heading home, we passed a Waffle House we'd seen earlier in the day...except it wasn't there anymore. This was also the first time I ever got stopped while chasing (verbal warning only). The dialogue between the officer and I went something like this:

COP: "When did you first see me behind you?"
ME: "Right before I pulled over. Why?"
COP: "Because I've been behind you for over a mile...I had to do 85 to catch up to you."
ME: "Oh...really?" (grimace)
COP: (Noticing the antennas) "What is all this for?"
ME: "We're chasing a tornado."
COP: (Weird look on face) "I can understand speeding to get away from one, but to go towards it??? Just keep it under 55."

 

[Jon Miller]

There was a midwest winter outbreak on Jan 24, 1967 - 32 tornadoes (7 deaths) in Ia / Il / Mo / Wi - most of them in Mo, Ia, and Illinois.

A moderately strong 1004 mb low pressure triple point was over western Iowa with a warm front over northern 1/3 of Iowa and a cold front over western Iowa into nw Mo and south. Noon temps in Des Moines was 62 F and only 19 F at Sioux Fallls and 24 F at Sioux City. Ample moisture was in place south of the fronts and the jet streams were quite strong - from the book : Tornado -Accounts of Tornados in Iowa by John L Stanford

Jon Miller
KT8NDO

 

[Danny Neal]

To answer whether this was the earliest tornado this far north (At least for LOT it is the earliest a tornado has ever occurred.) The only other January tornado on record for the LOT warning area was January 25th, 1950 where an F2 tornado hit the Momence, IL area on a day where Chicago set its all time record high temperature for the month of January at 67 degrees.

"The National Weather Service has tornado records dating back to 1950. In this 58 year period of record, only one other tornado has ever been documented anywhere in north central or northeast Illinois in the month of January. That tornado occurred on January 25, 1950 at Momence in Kankakee County. It was rated F2 on the Fujita scale. It was a day similar to Monday with temperatures in the middle 60s. In fact, Chicago set the all time record high for the month of January, with a temperature of 67 degrees, on that date."

As proof to what I just stated.

 

[Joel Wright]

What I find so interesting about this particular episode was the incredible turnaround in atmospheric conditions in a matter of a few days. Last wednesday temps were below zero, windchills were near -20, dewpoint readings in some cases were down in the -teens, with a widespread snowpack of 8-12". A completely arctic/canadian airmass. Crystal clear skies, and blowing snow. Some snowdrifts approached 8' in some of the open country. Spring seemed a million miles away.

Just a few days later we were sitting in deep tropical moisture, with dewpoints near 60, and record temps in the mid 60s. Usually if dewpoints can get into the 50s this time of year it's fairly shallow, but yesterday it was very deep. I think some of the moisture further north was from all of the melting snow.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Interestingly enough after the '67 outbreak Chicago was hit by its worst blizzard on record 5 days later. A whopping 23" of snow was dumped on the city when only 5" was forecasted. Snow is in our forecast in the next couple of days and Ive been wondering if history is going to repeat itself

There has been 1 other January tornado on record for Wisconsin and that was during the '67 outbreak.

I too found myself charging out the door un-prepared, my gear was barely charged and my anemometer was in pieces. It was nice to get out in January though.

 

[Stephen Levine]

I too feel fascinated by the Spring-like nature of this weather system. Lightning maps showed bolts all the way up into Canada the other night!
It will be interesting to see if as global computer models are predicting, that closely spaced intense weather extremes will become more the norm..