It has a been a year to remember, or forget when it comes to natural disasters.  Hurricane Irene could make 2011 a little harder to forget.  To date there have been 10 natural disasters in the United States that have topped the 1 Billion dollar mark in damages.  That ties a record and that does not include Hurricane Irene, which still has to be analyzed, but when its all said and done, the record will likely fall.  Can you name the ten to hit this year?  If you need help… they are listed below:

1.  Groundhog Day Blizzard: January 29 – February 3, 2011

This will forever be the iconic blizzard for years to come.  36 people were killed as a result of the storm.  Total losses were estimated at $2 dollars.  Remember the picture of the cars stranded on lake shore drive in Chicago?

 

2. Midwest/Southeast tornadoes April 4-5, 2011

This was pretty much the start of it all when it comes to the tornado outbreaks of this past year.  Strong cold air pushing south from Canada caught up with warm, humid air across the U.S. Southeast to produce severe weather and tornadoes in Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina.  Forty-six tornadoes were confirmed during this event, and nine lives were lost.  Insured losses were estimated around $1.6 billion with total losses of $2.3 billion.

 

3.  Southeast/Midwest tornadoes April 8-11, 2011

This one hit closest to home.  A Violent EF-4 tornado ripped through the town of Mapleton, IA, just outside of our viewing area.  This was part of an outbreak that hit Eastern and Central Wisconsin the next day.  Supercells were born in our area and quickly raced toward the east leveling towns.  Thankfully, there were no fatalities reported in this event.  Total losses were around 2.2 billion dollars.

 

4. Midwest/Southeast tornadoes April 14-16, 2011:

Approximately 160 tornadoes struck portions of the midwestern and southeastern United States, killing 38 people. Insured losses of $1.4 billion were recorded, with total losses over $2 billion.  The most memorable tornadoes hit in North Carolina.  Here’s a picture of a Lowes home improvement store that collapsed.  This was the biggest tornado outbreak of the year to that point.  Little did we know the biggest one in recorded history was 10 days away.

 

5. Southeast/Ohio Valley/Midwest tornado outbreak aka “Super Outbreak” – April 25-30, 2011

Up until this tornado outbreak, the 1974 “Super Outbreak” Was the benchmark of all tornado outbreaks.  This event has been called “Super Outbreak 2″ by some… and rightfully so.   305 confirmed tornadoes and 327 deaths. Losses were over $6.6 billion insured, over $9 billion total.  This event broke records some thought would never be broken from the outbreak of ’74.  Since the Enhanced Fujita Scale was created back in 2007, there have only been 2 Ef-5 Tornadoes.  After the dust settled with this event, there were 6.  Below is a radar image from the worst day of the event.

6.Midwest/Southeast tornadoes May 22-27, 2011

One city name and you will instantly be able to call this one.  Joplin, Missouri.  An EF-5 tornado demolished the city.  In its wake , 141 people were killed.  Losses were estimated over $7 billion.

7.  Southern Plains/Southwest drought, heatwave, and wildfires spring-summer 2011

As a result of a severe drought $5 billion dollars in direct losses to agriculture, cattle and structures.

8.  Mississippi River flooding spring-summer 2011

The snow melt from our area and points north from a very snowy winter filled the upper Mississippi and flowed down south.  This caused major flooding in the Tennessee river valley and other points in the southern United States. $2-$4 billion dollars in economic losses with two deaths were associated with the floods.

 

9. Upper Midwest flooding summer 2011

This was another event that happened close to home and was in local news because of the proximity to us and because of how severe the flooding was.  It is estimated that 11,000 people had to evacuate Minot, North Dakota due to rising waters in the Souris River.  Over $2 billion dollars in losses have occurred due to the extreme flooding in these areas.

 

And again, if we get 10, it will break the record.  Could Hurricane Irene be it?  We will keep you posted!

 

Posted under Natural Disaster, severe weather, Uncategorized, weather

Smoke spreading into the Great Lakes from Canada wildfires

We had a run-in with this about this time last month – wildfires burning in Canada and the smoke getting here. Remember that? A lot of you mentioned that the sky was looking exceptionally hazy, moreso than usual, and even stunk a little of fire.

Such was the case tonight for some of the area. But how is that possible?!?! you say. The winds high aloft in the jet stream pick up the fine particles and sweep them along. Where they end up depends on where the jetstream goes. Our winds at the jetstream level have been from the NW, so that’s why we’re seeing it here.
Some of us haven’t seen it – it’s confined to extreme southeast Minnesota and most of Wisconsin, central Minnesota, and Michican. Air quality in Rochester was good today, but will go up to moderate tomorrow. On the map above, the dark purple shading indicated that the smoke has been heavily seen on visible satellite, the green and yellow shading indicates visible, but lighter.

On to other things. We talked tonight at 6 about the massive heat wave that is plaguing Russia. This is the worst drought that country has seen since 1880, and on Thursday, Moscow set its all-time record high of 100°F. The second-highest record high of all-time was set only on Monday – 99°. For central portions of Russia, the mercury hasn’t left the 30°C mark (that’s about 90° F) since the middle of June. Wildfires are ongoing, smog is taking over, and there have been many deaths. It continues to be a dire situation for Russians.

Here at home, we have rain to talk about. There’s a good chance for rain overnight, especially after midnight, and that’ll take us through the bulk of Friday. Rainfall amounts will generally be .50″ to .75″, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see some places in south central Minn/northern Iowa peak around 1″+.

Posted under International, rainfall