2024 Weather Thread

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Fri May 24, 2024 2:02 am

I made it later than I thought. Lots of gustnado signatures on that leading edge as the tornado sirens just turned off. Buckle up.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Fri May 24, 2024 2:10 am

Be safe everyone, multiple tornado warnings along this line of damaging wind moving into Omaha.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Fri May 24, 2024 3:36 am

I was getting pretty scared near LaPlatte, sw of Offutt. The winds were definitely strong. Brought back memories of 2017.

My neighbors tree:

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Fri May 24, 2024 6:33 am

Noticed some downed branches around town on my way to work but where I was at anyway, the winds didn't end up being all that bad. I'm not sure it hit above 50 mph at my house in Millard but I know other places were hit harder.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Fri May 24, 2024 11:29 am

Still looking like the main severe threat tomorrow will stay south of Omaha (and mostly along the NE/KS border on south) where more strong tornadoes could occur in parts of KS/OK.

In Omaha itself, we may get a few isolated strong/severe storms but in general the risk is low and the main threat would probably be hail. Otherwise our main risk will be the potential for areas of heavy rain - especially if you happen to get one of the scattered storms that'll move through the area but that risk is higher into IA.

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Fri May 24, 2024 11:38 am

This was the most impressive gustnado signature in the area last night, though there were several others along the front. This one was on the south end of town, pretty much along the Platteview Road corridor as far as I could tell. Somebody I know in Gretna had a pretty mature tree knocked over. I believe this was a weak gust front tornado.

All in all, it wasn't bad in my neck of the woods. Maybe 50mph winds, and I ended up falling asleep once the initial front went through. Not too bad.

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Fri May 24, 2024 11:41 am

Also, after last night, were officially at 10.22". I forget what the record is, but we're climbing right on up the ladder.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Fri May 24, 2024 11:46 am

Busguy2010 wrote: Fri May 24, 2024 11:38 am This was the most impressive gustnado signature in the area last night, though there were several others along the front. This one was on the south end of town, pretty much along the Platteview Road corridor as far as I could tell. Somebody I know in Gretna had a pretty mature tree knocked over. I believe this was a weak gust front tornado.

All in all, it wasn't bad in my neck of the woods. Maybe 50mph winds, and I ended up falling asleep once the initial front went through. Not too bad.

Just to clarify, I know what you mean when you're saying "gustnado" - a tornado along a line of thunderstorms. However, just to avoid confusion with people who may see this - technically a "gustnado" is a non-tornadic feature typically caused by outflow from a wind-producing storm that kicks up dirt/dust and can rotate (fairly slowly usually) but is not connected to a storm and consequently isn't tornadic. They are frequently mistakenly reported by people as tornadoes because to the untrained eye, they see dirt spinning near a storm an immediately assume it's a tornado.

That isn't to say the tornado warnings last night weren't justified, they were with a meso/hook being depicted on radar. They just aren't technically gustnados though.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Fri May 24, 2024 11:54 am

Busguy2010 wrote: Fri May 24, 2024 11:38 am This was the most impressive gustnado signature in the area last night, though there were several others along the front. This one was on the south end of town, pretty much along the Platteview Road corridor as far as I could tell. Somebody I know in Gretna had a pretty mature tree knocked over. I believe this was a weak gust front tornado.

All in all, it wasn't bad in my neck of the woods. Maybe 50mph winds, and I ended up falling asleep once the initial front went through. Not too bad.

Yes, that is the part of the storm that I was concerned by. We live right off of Platteview Rd. The 2017 storm hit our area pretty hard and I was worried it was going to happen all over again. I saw on Jim Flowers' page it showed 86.1 mph but I don't know if that is the speed at the ground or not for the radar.

Either way, I am surprised that there is very little damage in our neighborhood with how strong the wind seemed to be. My neighbor's tree I posted above seems about the worst. I am sure that being a newer neighborhood without all the established trees and buried power lines helped.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Fri May 24, 2024 12:36 pm

Busguy2010 wrote: Fri May 24, 2024 11:41 am Also, after last night, were officially at 10.22". I forget what the record is, but we're climbing right on up the ladder.

Into 4th, but only .11 from 3rd.

Post by **Brad** » Fri May 24, 2024 3:44 pm

I saw on wowt that the NWS is classifying this line as a "derecho".

https://www.wowt.com/2024/05/24/friday- ... aha-metro/

wowt.com wrote:The National Weather Service declared the storms that hit the area early Friday morning a derecho. The line of storms started in Nebraska then blew all across Iowa and into Illinois.

The highest wind gust reported so far in the Omaha-metro area was 82 mph in Papillion at 2:41am.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri May 24, 2024 3:55 pm

Headline News - Nebraska May 24th, 2024
Record Breaking WEATHER 18 Tornados

Top stories across Nebraska and the Nation.

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Fri May 24, 2024 4:13 pm

skinzfan23 wrote: Fri May 24, 2024 11:54 am The 2017 storm hit our area pretty hard and I was worried it was going to happen all over again.

It definitely was reminiscent of that 2017 storm with the location and type of tornado. Luckily not as bad though. I wonder if they'll even be classified as tornadoes or even surveyed. There was a bunch of spinups along the line, this one was just the most impressive.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri May 24, 2024 6:45 pm

Brad wrote: Fri May 24, 2024 3:44 pm I saw on wowt that the NWS is classifying this line as a "derecho".

Derecho hits Washington County, causing power outages, damaging sidewalks, and uprooting trees

The National Weather Service said Friday's early morning storms do meet derecho qualifications, and Washington County was one of the hardest hit areas.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Sat May 25, 2024 11:48 am

This has been a tough week for many in Eastern Nebraska on into Iowa. If it wasn’t the flooding rains destroying property it was the winds. Fortunately our property had minimal water damage and no wind damage. But my neighbors just a block away had lots of both.
And talk about a weather whiplash, May 2023 saw virtually no rain, making it the driest on record. This May still has about 1 week left and it is already the all time wettest May on record.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Sat May 25, 2024 5:09 pm

Unfortunately some areas of heavy rain moving back into the area tonight with scattered strong/severe storms and at least some areas getting 1-2”+ of rain (though not everyone will see that much).

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Sun May 26, 2024 5:43 am

Thankfully all the rain stayed just north or just south of us last night.

Lots of branches down though around Millard - I’m assuming from outflow that pushed through even though the rain missed us.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Sun May 26, 2024 9:50 am

stormchaser wrote: Sun May 26, 2024 5:43 am Thankfully all the rain stayed just north or just south of us last night.

Lots of branches down though around Millard - I’m assuming from outflow that pushed through even though the rain missed us.

Did you get any rain in your part of town?

Post by **Brad** » Sun May 26, 2024 10:28 am

stormchaser wrote: Sun May 26, 2024 5:43 am Thankfully all the rain stayed just north or just south of us last night.

Lots of branches down though around Millard - I’m assuming from outflow that pushed through even though the rain missed us.

That wind was crazy. For a non-severe storm wind, it left more debris around my neighborhood than any of the other storms.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Sun May 26, 2024 10:29 am

Louie wrote: Sun May 26, 2024 9:50 am Did you get any rain in your part of town?

Not a drop…or at least nothing measurable.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Sun May 26, 2024 5:09 pm

In south Bellevue it rained really hard for maybe 20-30 min and continued to rain for a hr or two but I didn’t check the amount.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Mon May 27, 2024 7:58 am

I realize this isn’t from our area (it’s from a truck stop in Valley View, TX from Saturday night) but I’m posting it to show how insane and terrifying things can QUICKLY get - hence needing to pay attention to and take action when warnings are issued. Especially at night as you may not see the tornado until it’s almost too late.

This footage is from a storm chaser who had to take shelter at this truck stop to try to survive the storm.

Luckily everyone in the truck stop survived though a mass casualty event and several deaths unfortunately occurred in that area.

Terrifying stuff.

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Mon May 27, 2024 12:19 pm

It's official: The NWS declared 12 tornadoes along the derecho front, including of course, the one that was in Sarpy County, as well as the many others we screenshotted on radar here.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Tue May 28, 2024 8:45 am

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Tue May 28, 2024 8:51 am

With chances of rain Thursday and into Friday, this will be a buzzer beater if it gets there.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Tue May 28, 2024 9:43 am

Louie wrote: Tue May 28, 2024 8:51 am With chances of rain Thursday and into Friday, this will be a buzzer beater if it gets there.

Decent chance will get there but who knows. Based on 00z ECMWF, we will maybe break it relatively easily or we might not get there depending on exactly where the heavier rain ends up...

Depicted rain totals between now and the end of the month:

Cermak · Post by **Cermak** » Wed May 29, 2024 4:45 am

Today looks like a potential top 10 weather day. Tuesday evening was spectacular.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Wed May 29, 2024 8:47 am

Excited for the nice day. Going to put our above ground pool up tonight and the lighter winds definitely help. With the warm and humid weather coming up, it will be the perfect time.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Wed May 29, 2024 5:35 pm

Cermak wrote: Wed May 29, 2024 4:45 am Today looks like a potential top 10 weather day. Tuesday evening was spectacular.

Absolutely. We enjoyed dinner on the patio last night and both of us remarked how it could not have been a nicer evening. Today was also simply spectacular.

Post by **Brad** » Wed May 29, 2024 6:46 pm

Today is perfect. I photographed 5 properties for myself and 2 projects for the “real job”. Wish every day was like this…

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Wed May 29, 2024 7:42 pm

Brad wrote: Wed May 29, 2024 6:46 pm Today is perfect. I photographed 5 properties for myself and 2 projects for the “real job”. Wish every day was like this…

Bet you got perfect lighting and perfect foliage for it.

Post by **Brad** » Wed May 29, 2024 11:02 pm

Louie wrote: Wed May 29, 2024 7:42 pm
Brad wrote: Wed May 29, 2024 6:46 pm Today is perfect. I photographed 5 properties for myself and 2 projects for the “real job”. Wish every day was like this…
Bet you got perfect lighting and perfect foliage for it.

Yep, everything is so nice and green right now!

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Thu May 30, 2024 7:40 am

Brad wrote: Wed May 29, 2024 11:02 pm
Louie wrote: Wed May 29, 2024 7:42 pm
Brad wrote: Wed May 29, 2024 6:46 pm Today is perfect. I photographed 5 properties for myself and 2 projects for the “real job”. Wish every day was like this…
Bet you got perfect lighting and perfect foliage for it.
Yep, everything is so nice and green right now!

were you up in a helicopter yesterday? I saw one flying around downtown/by the river, wondered if that was you

Post by **Brad** » Thu May 30, 2024 8:50 am

thenewguy wrote: Thu May 30, 2024 7:40 am
Brad wrote: Wed May 29, 2024 11:02 pm
Louie wrote: Wed May 29, 2024 7:42 pm
Brad wrote: Wed May 29, 2024 6:46 pm Today is perfect. I photographed 5 properties for myself and 2 projects for the “real job”. Wish every day was like this…
Bet you got perfect lighting and perfect foliage for it.
Yep, everything is so nice and green right now!
were you up in a helicopter yesterday? I saw one flying around downtown/by the river, wondered if that was you

No, I wish!

Cermak · Post by **Cermak** » Thu May 30, 2024 4:09 pm

I’m up in NW Omaha approximately 100th st and West Maple around 4pm . They are getting dumped on up here easily a couple inches at least, some minor street flooding.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Thu May 30, 2024 4:45 pm

Yeah much of western Omaha radar estimates of 1"-2"...but we will see what Eppley ends up getting to see if we actually break the record.

Should be extremely close if we don't.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Thu May 30, 2024 7:14 pm

Severe weather potential returns to the area this coming Sunday and Tuesday.

Sunday all modes of severe storms will be possible including supercells and tornadoes. Tuesday currently looks more linear and primarily a damaging wind threat.

These are both based on the 12z ECMWF so plenty of uncertainty and time for things to change. That said, don’t be surprised if the SPC starts including parts of the area in upcoming outlooks.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Thu May 30, 2024 7:44 pm

Now that things have slowed down (until possibly Sunday anyway), I’d like to offer a better explanation about gustnados.

To clarify, please don’t take this as criticism or anything negative towards anyone at all. My intentions are 100% to just inform/help which has been and always will be my intention with posting here. I also want to stress I’m not trying to come across as a “know it all”. Trust me, there are TONS of things I don’t know/understand and I’m always trying to learn more and my forecasts are completely wrong plenty of times.

What happened in Omaha ~a week ago is what’s known as QLCS (Quasi-Linear Convective System) - aka squall line or arguably a line of storms with embedded supercells - eventually classified as a derecho since it caused widespread wind damage, especially north of Omaha and into Iowa. These storms DID produce confirmed tornadoes in our area (as I had indicated there was potential for due to the strong low level jet). Like normal with these types of tornadoes, they were very weak/brief though (EF0 in this case).

However, just to stress my point here, they are not “gustnados” (though I understand the confusion since they form along the leading edge of the storms) - often referred to as a “gust front”.

As I attempted to indicate in a previous post, a “gustnado” is non-tornadic. The circulation formed at the surface has no direct connection (aka meso or funnel) to the base of a storm - hence why it isn’t classified as a tornado. For reference, the official definition can be found here: https://forecast.weather.gov/glossary.php?word=gustnado.

So yes, what Busguy2010 (and others I believe) screenshotted was 100% correct and was tornadic, referring to them as a gustnado in this case is incorrect. They would simply be classified as tornadoes.

Also, I apologize for posting this again. I’m not trying to beat a dead horse here. i just re-read my reply that I made the other day and realized it wasn’t very clear in what I was trying to get across so I’m attempting to do a better job.

It’s important that people understand the difference in case anyone makes or reads reports and sees “gustnado”. ;)

Post by **Brad** » Thu May 30, 2024 7:46 pm

stormchaser wrote: Thu May 30, 2024 4:45 pm Yeah much of western Omaha radar estimates of 1"-2"...but we will see what Eppley ends up getting to see if we actually break the record.

Should be extremely close if we don't.

As of 7pm, Eppley was only at 0.23" of rain...

My math says that 10.92" as of 7pm tonight.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Thu May 30, 2024 7:48 pm

Brad wrote: Thu May 30, 2024 7:46 pm
stormchaser wrote: Thu May 30, 2024 4:45 pm Yeah much of western Omaha radar estimates of 1"-2"...but we will see what Eppley ends up getting to see if we actually break the record.

Should be extremely close if we don't.
As of 7pm, Eppley was only at 0.23" of rain...

My math says that 10.92" as of 7pm tonight.

I wondered, the storms were starting to fall apart some as they pushed more into that area…