24 December 2015

Long Track Tornado In Mississippi in Late December!

Posted by Dan Satterfield

radr kmem
The image above shows intense rotation caused by a violent tornado near Holly Springs in Miss. this afternoon. Check out the YouTube video of this long track tornado below. December tornadoes happen but a long track violent tornado in late December is very rare.

 
Highs will climb into the 70’s, and break the record highs in most areas of the Mid-Atlantic and New England Thursday. Thunderstorms are possible as far north as Maryland, and perhaps Pennsylvania! The image below is raw numerical guidance for highs tomorrow. It will possibly be a few degrees warmer than indicated, with highs above 70 reaching New Hampshire! There are growing signs of a pattern change around New Year’s Day that will bring much colder weather to the eastern half of the U.S.

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Oh, and the reason that forecasters knew this storm was producing a tornado that was on the ground is due to the image below.

debris

Dual polarization radar can look at the shape of objects in the beam. The dark blue area shows an area with a large variety of sizes and shapes. It is caused by debris from the tornado being thrown several thousand feet above the surface. The velocity data above, and this signature, are an almost certain indication of a large tornado on the ground.