The proper name of these weather systems is an upper tropospheric heat transfer system.

Even after Americans achieve the American Dream there is no keeping it. That is a brick house? If that was a brick house that is an F5 tornado. Regardless, it is at least an F4.

Pam Russell, left, and Linda Hart rescued a cat from Ms. Russell's house in Rowlett, Tex., on Sunday. Credit Nathan Hunsinger/The Dallas Morning News, via Associated Press

December 28, 2015
By Katie Rogers and Christine Hauser

After spawning tornadoes (click here) in Texas and floods in the Midwest, deadly storm systems continued to drift across the United States on Monday. The severe weather has in the last week led to the deaths of at least 43 people and the injuries of dozens more, according to a count by The Associated Press.

The hazardous weather has been caused by several factors, including a stronger-than-average jet stream across the southern United States and the disruptive effects of the weather phenomenon El Niño, Rich Otto, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in College Park, Md., said on Monday.

The pattern is also expected to continue this week, Mr. Otto said, as meteorologists track a winter storm system that is moving from Texas and Oklahoma toward the Midwest and parts of the Great Lakes. Here’s a roundup of the hardest-hit areas of the country....

This is NOT a defined weather system. Call it El Nino if it makes one feel better in having control, but, this weather system has no definition.

 ...As residents attempted to clean up the rubble and assess the damage on Sunday, harsh weather, including quarter-size hail and enough rain to set a precipitation record, pummeled the area. Gov. Greg Abbott warned that the death toll could rise and declared a state of disaster in four counties — Dallas, Collin, Rockwall and Ellis — according to The Associated Press.

In the western part of the state, transportation crews in Lubbock cleared highways during blizzard conditions. On Monday, the National Weather Service reported on Twitter that snowfall in the Dallas area had given way to slush. Mr. Otto said that the worst of the snow was leaving Texas on Monday as a winter storm system moved toward the Midwest....

The picture to the right is from NOAA and an F4 site. The brick building in the background is an F3 damage because the walls are still standing. This was a tornado that crossed Moore, Oklahoma. This system exhibited mixed effect from F3 to F5.

"In order for this scene to be rated F5, the debris must have been swept away, leaving behind evidence that the house was well-attached to its slab. [The brick house in the left background suffered F3 damage, with a mixture of inner and outer walls removed.] This tornado caused an immense amount of F4 damage on its path through the southern portion of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, and several locales of F5 damage."

Empowered and brave children make for mentally healthy young people. It provides a way of having purpose beyond devastation. Children are about the future and this young man knows he is powerful and knows he is important and vital to minimizing the damage to the community. He is great. He is becoming a master of his future. When they want to help, say "Yes, work at my side."

Jayden Covert, 10, of Kimmswick, Mo., filled sandbags with other volunteers on Sunday as the Mississippi River rose south of St. Louis. Credit Cristina M. Fletes/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, via Associated Press