The Planet's Weirdest Weather Ever

When you look out the window it is not very surprising to see things such as rain, clouds in the sky, or pure sunshine; seeing falling frogs, rains of blood, and tornadoes formed entirely out of bugs is a different story. These stories are told by Mark D. Kaufman in an article posted on Popular Science.

Covered in the article are the strange yet very real stories of waterspouts sucking up and dunking frogs all throughout the town of Odzaci, Serbia in a fashion mimicking rain, funnels of insects becoming the illusion of a tornado in Portugal, and even blood red rain dousing Kerala, India, leaving red algal puddles everywhere as if a massacre took place moments earlier.

All of these occurrences are proof that nature will forever be full of surprises.

Illustrations by Kagan McLeod
Original Article: http://www.popsci.com/weirdest-weather-ever#page-2

Belvidere '67 Tornado

On April 21st, at about 3:50 PM 1967 in Belvidere, Illinois, a deadly F4 tornado passed through the town. This storm passed through at a time when many children were boarding buses to leave school. There was hardly a warning for any of these people who were suddenly caught in a violent, and deadly conflict with a titan of nature.

This tornado was part of the system that spawned the Oak Lawn tornado, and Lake Zurich tornado. This system spawned  a total of 45 tornadoes that killed 58 people in Illinois. Multiple memorials have been erected to memorialize this terrible day.

 
 

 https://youtu.be/RXyVAHjsr6o


http://www.comportone.com/cpo/weather/tornado2.htm

Hurricane Andrew hit 25 years ago and joined ranks of historic U.S hurricanes

By any standard, Hurricane Andrew was historic. It was the third-strongest hurricane to make landfall in the United States since reliable records had been kept, with top wind speeds of 165 miles per hour.Andrew shocked a generation that had never experienced such a hurricane, engendering a deep respect for the power of these huge rotating storms.

Certainly there’s more to significance than just how strong they are,” he said. “Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was certainly not among the most intense in terms of wind speed. It was a Category 3. But that one became infamous because the water-retention mechanisms that were in place didn’t hold up. Galveston too, was deadliest but nowhere near strongest. Hurricane Andrew is way up there. Andrew was one of the very few that ever hit the United States as a Category 5 hurricane.”

The storm destroyed 28,000 homes. It forced insurance companies to pay more than $15.5 billion in claims. It accounted for 15 direct deaths, a toll many considered light, considering the vast area of destruction. Another 25 were counted as indirect deaths, and the Miami Herald reported another 43 deaths that could be linked to the storm, a figure now used by the National Hurricane Center.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/florida/fl-reg-hurricane-andrew-anniversary-20170823-story.html

Capron EF1 Tornado

 On the night of May 17th, a severe thunderstorm passed through Boone, Winnebago, and Mchenry counties. A tornado was produced, and touched down south of Poplar Grove, and traveled North East passing through Capron, and into rural Harvard. The storm produced large volumes of hail, and damaging winds. Two structures in Capron were collapsed.


This tornado passed through my subdivision while I was pulling up to my house on my way back from the gas station with my neighbor. The air was very still, and calm for about 10 minutes until I pulled onto my street, which is when the tornado moved through the small neighborhood. As soon as I turned onto my street the winds went from 0-100 mph with a torrential downpoor, and golfball sized hail. I felt my truck begin to be picked up, and nearly could not make it 100 yards to my house.


http://www.weather.gov/lot/SevereThunderstorms05182017

Mangum, Oklahoma, Goes from Nearly 100 degree wearther to Snowfall in 72 Hours

At a Glance

• Temperatures dropped more than 60 degrees from all-time February record highs.
• Snow fell across the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma three days after the record heat.

Some Oklahomans experienced a temperature drop from all-time February record highs to near freezing in three days earlier this week.
Temperatures dropped 66 degrees between Saturday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon after tying the state record for highest temperature recorded in February.
Many locations across the southern Plains had record high temperatures on Saturday as warm temperatures were funneled in from the south ahead of the strong cold front. Fire danger was high due to low humidity and gusty conditions before rain and cooler air moved in.

The initial burst of cooler air came Sunday, following a cold front that pushed through the southern Plains. The Valentine's Day snow came from a ripple on that cold front and upper-level system that sparked precipitation across the South.
Temperatures cooled even more, as much as five degrees, in Mangum as snow began to fall.
Snow did accumulate in portions of the Texas Panhandle and in southwestern Oklahoma, but did not stick around for long due to the warm ground and rain that followed as temperatures warmed up late Tuesday.


 https://weather.com/news/weather/news/mangum-oklahoma-record-heat-99-degrees-snow

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy - October 29, 2012

Summary: Hurricane Sandy was the 18th named tropical cyclone of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season (June 1 - November 30). Sandy formed in the central Caribbean on October 22nd and intensified into a hurricane as it tracked north across Jamaica, eastern Cuba and the Bahamas. Sandy moved northeast of the United States until turning west toward the mid Atlantic coast on the 28th. Sandy transitioned into a post-tropical cyclone just prior to moving onshore near Atlantic City, NJ. For a complete summary of Sandy, view the National Hurricane Center Sandy Tropical Cyclone Report

Track	500mb and Surface	Satellite and Radar	Storm Surge	Winds
Waves	NWS Products	Photos	Local Storm Reports	Other Links

Track

The track of Sandy resulted in a worse case scenario for storm surge for coastal regions from New Jersey north to Connecticut including New York City and Long Island. Unfortunately, the storm surge occurred near the time of high tide along the Atlantic Coast. This contributed to record tide levels. 

 

 https://www.weather.gov/okx/HurricaneSandy

Kentucky Fair Takes Control

The Kentucky State Fair is a decades old tradition that hosts millions of people each summer.  The fair stretches 520 acres and displays food, drink, agriculture, music, and more.  With the threat of the tropical storm Harvey, many fairgoers are wondering whether it is safe to enjoy the festivities.  With Harvey destroying thousands of homes, and the raised death toll to thirteen people, the fair management has made the severe weather their number one focus.

The team has an entire tent set up just for this purpose.  It is located right in the middle of the fairgrounds and has constant monitoring of the inclement weather.  "The National Weather Service alerts the fair’s operations staff if severe weather is coming — and if it’s bad enough, they come monitor it in person".  On the last day of the fair, Tuesday the 22nd, they did end up sending someone to take a closer look at the monitors.  With the damage that Harvey has caused already, it's no wonder why fairgoers and staff are on edge.

https://wfpl.org/fairly-curious-what-happens-when-theres-severe-weather-at-the-fair/

Tri-State Tornado, 1925

The Tri-State Tornado is the worst recorded tornado in U.S. history. It resulted in 695 deaths and traveled 219 miles across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. It tore through roughly nine towns and in such places as Annapolis, MO, 90% of the town was destroyed. In places like West Frankfort, IL, which was a mining town, the majority of the causalities were women and children, due to the fact that the men were all working in the mine at the time.

One strange thing about the tornado was that on the morning of March 16, 1925, many reported the skies as being "rainy and drizzly, with dark and gloomy skies". This was strange because the weather surrounding most other tornadoes is typically at least partly sunny. It turned out that the strange weather was because the tornado moved along a "triple point", which is the point between the warm front, cold front, and occluded (composite) front.

Despite the many casualties, the tornado also produced a few interesting stories, including one about a man who grabbed the front door handle on a house to hold onto and the rest of the house blew away, leaving him with just the door handle.











Picture: https://media1.britannica.com/eb-media/53/181053-004-104BD050.jpg
Article: http://www.ustornadoes.com/2014/03/18/the-tri-state-tornado-of-1925/