Tornadoes Confirmed by NWS

Below is a quick summary of 2 tornadoes that were confirmed by the NWS Survey team from the storms that were so violent Thursday evening:

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1221 AM EDT SAT MAY 28 2011

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0720 PM     TORNADO          HOGESTOWN               40.23N  77.04W
05/26/2011                   CUMBERLAND         PA   NWS STORM SURVEY

            A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR ROUTE 114 SOUTH OF WILLOW
            MILL PARK AROUND 720 PM EDT AND TRAVELED NORTHEAST FOR
            ABOUT 2.5 MILES...OCCASIONALLY LIFTING OFF THE GROUND
            DURING THE PATH. THE TORNADO CROSSED ROUTE 81...THEN
            ENDED NEAR SEARS RUN BEFORE REACHING ROUTE 944 AROUND
            724 PM EDT. THE TORNADO RESULTED IN ABOUT 100 TREES
            BEING UPROOTED OR SNAPPED ALONG ITS PATH. SOME MINOR
            DAMAGE TO HOMES WAS OBSERVED. A SMALL OUTBUILDING WAS
            SEVERELY DAMAGED ALONG LAMBS GAP ROAD NEAR THE END OF
            THE TORNADO PATH.


And the 2nd report:


PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1204 AM EDT SAT MAY 28 2011

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0715 PM     TORNADO          DAUPHIN                 40.37N  76.93W
05/26/2011                   DAUPHIN            PA   NWS STORM SURVEY

            A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN AROUND 715 PM EDT AROUND ONE
            QUARTER MILE EAST OF DAUPHIN BOROUGH ON RIVER ROAD. THE
            STORM LIFTED ABOUT 1.5 MILES EAST OF DAUPHIN BOROUGH ON
            SECOND MOUNTAIN. SIX HOMES SUFFERED MODERATE TO MAJOR
            DAMAGE...AND 150 TREES WERE DOWNED. STORM DAMAGE WAS
            CONSISTENT WITH MAXIMUM WIND GUSTS AROUND 90 MPH...WHICH
            RATES THE TORNADO AN EF1 ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE.
            IN ADDITION TO THE TORNADIC WIND DAMAGE...SOME DOWNBURST
            STRAIGHT LINE WIND DAMAGE OCCURRED ALONG THE RIVER.

Quite impressive, to be sure!  Here are some other notables on tornadoes for spring 2011 for the entire USA:
1) Preliminary, the most tornadoes ever counted in one day on 4/27 at more than 180 (188 is the current number). This total is still being finalized.
2) The Joplin, MO tornado was the single deadliest tornado since 1947 and is now #7 on the list of all-time deadliest tornadoes!  (#6, Woodward, OK, 1947)
3) Deadliest year overall since 1936, with the updated total of 520 mortalities.
4) Most individual tornadoes that caused 20+ deaths since 1920.  There are now 7 this year!

Below is a picture from NASA that shows the destruction of the Tuscaloosa, AL.  The bluish colored lines are the trails of total tornado destruction!

Al Gore blames this on global warming.  But I say that if we had quality data for the last 200,000,000 years for North America, this year would most likely be in the top 25 percentile or so........

Hope everyone's AC is working!

Smitty

AA:  Tornadoes confirmed in our area Thursday night and some other tidbits of tornado info.