Local print out (Myrtle Beach Herald out, horry indendent out, Carolina Forest Chronicle, Georgetown Times out.)
We’re nearing the peak time (click here) of year for tornadoes in Georgia, so we asked three tornado experts what we should know.
Here’s what University of Georgia faculty members Marshall Shepherd, John Knox and David Stooksbury said.
1. Tornadoes can happen at any time of the year. But there are some times when they’re more frequent than others in Georgia, particularly in March and April. There’s also a smaller uptick in tornado activity in November and December, and a third maximum between April and September, when tropical storms can spawn tornadoes in Georgia and the Southeast....
By Newsroom America Feeds
16 Mar 10:05
WW 31 Tornado Al Fl Ga CW 161400z - 162200z (click here)
Urgent - Immediate broadcast requested Tornado Watch Number 31 NWS storm predictino center Norman Ok 900 AM CDT March 16 2014.
The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a *Tornado Watch Number for portions of southeast Alabama, the Florida Panhandle, Southwest Georgia Coastal Waters * Effective this Sunday Morning and Afternoon from 900 AM until 5 PM CDT....
Six years ago a tornado caused widespread destruction in the Orangeburg County town of Branchville. (click here)
Columbia, SC (WLTX) -- Six years ago a tornado caused widespread destruction in the Orangeburg County town of Branchville.
The Ides of March tornado outbreak in 2008 is a storm residents of the town will never forget.
Last year in an interview with News 19, Branchville Mayor Glenn Miller said, "It was almost like a war zone."
Miller never expected the damage to be so bad in his town.
"I
can clearly remember because it was my birthday. We were out in the
yard and just walking around with friends. There was no warning," he
said.On March 15th of 2008, an EF-3 tornado ripped through the town causing $1.7 million in damage. Branchville's auditorium, town hall, and a couple of businesses were also leveled.
"It was just a mess here," said Miller....
It doesn't appear the tornado season is waiting in the south. The tornadoes are not dependent on any retreat of a polar vortex. They have been and are dependent on the mixing of warm and cold air in a violent matter that spawns vorticity.
March 14
The Wichita Eagle
The lingering “polar vortex” (click here) is getting tornado season off to a
quiet start, but weather officials say they expect a surge of violent
weather once the cold air finally retreats...
By Jon Erdman
Published: Feb 19, 2014, 4:36 PM EST
weather.com
...February Can Be Tornadic
As you can see in the bar graph at
right, the average U.S. tornado count in February is the third lowest of
any month, statistically a wash with both January and December.
No rocket science here, right? Winter's cold tends to dominate the central and eastern U.S., squashing warm, humid air into the southern Gulf of Mexico or even the Caribbean Sea.
But the average monthly tornado counts aren't zero, either.
In the winter months, when a vigorous jet-stream disturbance swings across the nation's South, Ohio Valley, or East, with cold air near the surface either in retreat or absent, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes can flare up....
No rocket science here, right? Winter's cold tends to dominate the central and eastern U.S., squashing warm, humid air into the southern Gulf of Mexico or even the Caribbean Sea.
But the average monthly tornado counts aren't zero, either.
In the winter months, when a vigorous jet-stream disturbance swings across the nation's South, Ohio Valley, or East, with cold air near the surface either in retreat or absent, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes can flare up....
