Wow, some unfortunately large hail fell over parts of southeast MN, northeast IA, and southwest WI this afternoon through the evening. I’ve got a bunch of hail photos here which were sent in by viewers through email and on facebook. This kind of hail is certain to cause a whole lot of crop, car, and roof damage. Send some pictures our way if you’ve got ‘em. For those affected, I recommend marking the date on your calendar in case you need to chat with your insurance agent.

Thanks for all the reports and photos during and after today’s storms! -Randy

Posted under hail, severe weather

It’s certainly been a miserable, yet interesting day so far as far as our local weather goes.  We started the day with a round of thunderstorms just aftermidnight that rumbled through the Rochester area at about 2:30, producing pea sized hail and heavy rainfall.  We picked up about 0.30 inches in northwest Rochester in that hour long shower and the landscape was thoroughly covered in small hail.  Some people in Rochester reported almost an inch of hail covering their yards before dawn from this event. 

Pea sized hail covered the parking lot at KTTC before dawn this morning and then again in the mid morning hours.

A second round of enhanced precipitation, possibly involving elevated thunderstorms, came through the area at about 8:30 am, and dropped anouht quarter of an inch ofrain and produced some small hail as well as some sleet, or ice pellets.  It’s a little difficult to say exactly if it was one or the other or both as surface temperatures cooled to 34 degrees during that round of moderate precipitation and temperatures aloft were close to freezing as well.  It’s possible that hail formed along a line of weak thunderstorms and then as the air became dynamically cooled, sleet followed. 

The second round of heavy rain and hail as seen on NEXRAD radar here at the station. The enhanced rain echoes of yellow to the east of Rochester were associated with what appeared to be hail and the purple echoes behind that line were associated with the sleet that passed through the area, lingering for several minutes.

We’ll have some more showers in the area today and this evening with a chance for some thunderstorms, some possibly producing soem small hail at times.  There will be an even better chance for some sleet mixing with that rain late tonight and tomorrow as colder air filters into the area behind this storm system as it moves to the east.  A little snow is expected tomorrow as well.  This is definitely quintessential March weather for southeastern Minnesota!

Posted under hail

Tonight is a big night in the eyes of the “weather geek”.  The 1st of  March marked the official start of severe weather season in the United States.  We all remember from last year the power mother nature can pack when it comes to this type of weather.  June 17th comes to mind with that massive tornado outbreak.  Last year Minnesota broke their record for most tornadoes in one year and beat out every single state for most tornado touchdowns last year with 113 tornado confirmations.

It is important to have skywarn spotters to help give advanced warnings of tornadoes and any other kind of severe weather such as hail, lightning, straight line winds, flooding, etc. The information provided to meteorologists by trained spotters in the field can greatly increase warning times and provide crucial information as we continue to learn about the dynamic atmosphere.

If you are a weather weenie and would like to learn about the weather and more about severe weather spotter training come on out to the Rochester Event Center in Olmsted County at 6:30 to be trained! If you do not live close to Rochester, but are still interested, here is the schedule for a spotter training near you.

Here are some frequently asked questions about skywarn that can help answer some questions before the session.

Tornado near Albert Lea, MN on June 17th

Picture from:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_yG2HbYQQYOw/TBt8aREJ5cI/AAAAAAAAJu0/zvPYK38Nwos/s1600/!0_2010_0617_AlbertLeaMN-NearAirport_LargeTornado_AlbertLeaTRIBUNE.jpg&imgrefurl=http://groucho-karl-marx.blogspot.com/2010/06/minnesota-tornadoes-kill-at-least-2.html&usg=__ePqnFEirLyhVlDfjtBfO9dM0DAk=&h=467&w=700&sz=36&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=kxIKHbzyuqCeXM:&tbnh=145&tbnw=193&ei=N1J-TaLBCobCqQGi5ZDgBg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dalbert%2Blea%2Btornado%2B2007%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D909%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=585&vpy=103&dur=1638&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=117&ty=92&oei=N1J-TaLBCobCqQGi5ZDgBg&page=1&ndsp=26&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0

Posted under Albert Lea, atmospheric phenomenon, climate, flooding, hail, history, June 17, just cool, KTTC, MN Tornado, Natural Disaster, rainfall, rainfall amounts, Rochester, severe weather, snowfall amounts, spring, Travel, Uncategorized, Viewer Pics, weather, winter weather

Earlier this month we blogged about a gigantic hailstone that fell in Vivian, South Dakota, and that it may have been the largest ever measured in world history.  Well, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has confirmed that it is indeed a record breaker!  Here’s the article:

South Dakota Storm Produces Record Hailstone
 
NOAA’s National Climate Extremes Committee, responsible for validating national weather records, has declared a hailstone found last week in Vivian, S.D., to be the largest in diameter and heaviest ever recovered in the United States.
 
Found after a July 23, 2010, severe thunderstorm by Vivian resident Les Scott, the hailstone is 8.0 inches in diameter and weighs 1.9375 pounds (1 pound, 15 ounces) with a circumference of 18.62 inches.
These measurements displace the previous hailstone record for weight, previously 1.67 pounds for a stone in Coffeyville, Kan., in 1970. They also surpass the record for diameter, which was 7 inches for a hailstone found in Aurora, Neb., in 2003. The Aurora hailstone still holds the record for circumference of 18.75 inches.
 
 “I’m just glad nobody got hurt and hope the town will recover soon,” Scott said.
 
David Hintz, warning coordination meteorologist at NOAA’s Aberdeen weather forecast office said a local power outage likely led to the hailstone melting some before it could be measured. “Mr. Scott told me the area was littered with large hailstones and the largest had a greater diameter when he first found it. He immediately stored it and several others in his freezer, but a power outage caused some melting.”
After getting Hintz’ notice of a possible record hailstone, personnel at National Weather Service Central Region headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., requested activation of the National Climatic Extremes Committee to examine and judge Scott’s hailstone. Personnel from the Aberdeen office traveled to Vivian to measure and weigh the hailstone, and then turned their findings over to the three-person committee. After a thorough review of the facts, committee members certified its record-breaking status.
 
Information about the National Climatic Extremes Committee and existing weather records may be found at http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremes/ncec.
 
NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources. Visit http://www.noaa.gov.

Largest Hailstone Ever Measured

Posted under hail

Holy Hail Hannah! Vivian, SD, July 23, 2010

Before I get to the rainfall amounts, check out this WHOPPER of a hailstone from Vivian, SD on Friday, July 23rd. Yes folks, this fell from the sky. Get why we tell you to seek shelter during severe weather? It’s not always tornadoes and stuff. This guy here is pushing 7″ in diameter and 18.5″ for a circumference.

The largest hailstone to land on the ground – if someone finds different, please correct me, but this is according to my research – was in 2003, in Aurora, Nebraska. It measured 7 inches in diameter and 18.75 inches was the circumference. (You may be saying, but Steph, what about the Coffeyville hailstone? Yes, that was big too, and held the previous top hailstone record: 5.7″ diameter and 17.5″ circumference from September 3rd, 1970).

Is a new record? That’s up to the National Climate Extreme’s Committee (but if we hear, we’ll let you know).

OK, so that storm that dumped that hail headed our way and merged with a line of wind and rain for us Friday night. Saturday evening I showed some of the 3-day reported rainfalls. Here’s a more extensive list of them from the NWS in La Crosse. These are from Wednesday 7 am – Saturday 7 am.

Posted under hail, rainfall, rainfall amounts