Tornado Outbreak for the Plains
By Sean Downey on April 13, 2012, 11:08am
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On Tuesday I wrote about the possibility of a tornado outbreak in the southern and central Plains. Above is the two day “Convective Outlook” issued by the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) in Norman, OK. Essentially this depicts the chance of thunderstorms (convection) anywhere in the United States. You can see that there is a high probability of thunderstorms. What is scarier is this blurb they wrote about in their discussion:
TORNADO OUTBREAK LIKELY ACROSS THE SRN AND CNTRL PLAINS NWD INTO THE
MID-MO VALLEY FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT
All the modeling parameters are pointing at a high probability for supercell thunderstorms capable of producing large hail (2 inches in diameter) and tornadoes. Sadly, I expect multiple tornado watches and warnings to go up Saturday, and even the possibility of the SPC issuing a PDS (Potentially Dangerous Situation) for Saturday. A PDS is issued by SPC when there is a considerable threat of a major tornado outbreak.
I’ve been following this all week, and while it’s always nice to see a forecast verify, the potential for loss of life and property with this is great, and my heart goes out to all the folks in the Plains who are in the this storm’s path.
You can see the full text of the forecast here (http://spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day2otlk.html)
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