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I think the building I'm in (10th floor) was just in a tornado.
ok maybe not... but winds were consistently 50-100mph for a few minutes and very turbulent going in every direction, with thick sheets of rain and lots of lightning. It looked pretty crazy. Precipitation might have peaked at around 200mm/hr for the most intense few minutes.
The pink part North of Kitchener was me.
Conditions at 5:30.
Temperature: 20.3C
Humidex: 27.9C
Precipitation (1hr/24hr): 12.9mm/12.9mm
Humidity: 100%
Wind Speed and Direction: 13.4km/h SE (it was definitely stronger than that though)
Barometric Pressure: 100.9 kPa Rising
Incoming Radiation: 6.5 W/m2
The temperature dropped 9.5C in 15 minutes... or roughly, since that's the smallest increment at which temperatures are recorded at the local weather station.
It's a downburst/downdraft rather than a tornado. Straight line winds. They do spread out in all directions when they hit the ground..
The wikipedia description does look like what I saw. Is it pretty common to get them in severe thunderstorms or is it possible that this is the first one I've seen living here in Southern Ontario. All the other severe thunderstorms I've experienced were from ground level, so maybe it just looks different from the 10th floor?
Anyways, I guess this is the end of the heat-wave, I can finally go home to my non-A/C house instead of hiding out in the library.
Our low temperature this morning was 86°F / 30°C, if the temperature remains warmer than that for the rest of the day, the record for the all-time highest minimum temperature will be tied (again).
It's currently in the upper 90's after a high in the 100's, 5 hours and 45 minutes until the day is over.
It's a downburst/downdraft rather than a tornado. Straight line winds. They do spread out in all directions when they hit the ground..
They spread but the winds at the surface are straight. If memph witnessed multi directional winds its possible there was some rotation but it doesnt mean a Tornado.
Some graphics to show the difference. Here's a typical Thunderstorm structure. A tornado is this little rotating thing forming underneath it. Gust fronts can be as light as 10mph or as strong as 60+mph but damage from a Tornado is going to be different than a gust.
This graphic doesnt show an actual "microburst" which is in between a gust and a Tornado
IN - all wind flows INTO a tornado. Debris is often laying at angles due to the curving of the inflow winds
OUT - all wind flows OUT from a downburst. Debris is often laying in straight lines (hence the term "straight line winds") parallel to the outward wind flow
They spread but the winds at the surface are straight. If memph witnessed multi directional winds its possible there was some rotation but it doesnt mean a Tornado.
Some graphics to show the difference. Here's a typical Thunderstorm structure. A tornado is this little rotating thing forming underneath it. Gust fronts can be as light as 10mph or as strong as 60+mph but damage from a Tornado is going to be different than a gust.
Yeah I know the difference. What he described sounded like a downdraft and hence not a tornado (in an updraft) which is why I said that. The point being that if he was under a downdraft like the one in the bottom left picture (microburst) as it passed straight over the winds would first seem to be coming from one direction, and then the other.
The point being that if he was under a downdraft like the one in the bottom left picture (microburst) as it passed straight over the winds would first seem to be coming from one direction, and then the other.
Uh oh the latest GFS is a complete and total train wreck for the UK's weather. A massive breakdown to cool temperatures now brought forwards all the way to tuesday, with loads of heavy rain, and cool temperatures thereafter. What a sad way to end this but it couldn't go on forever. Still I don't know why the GFS had to be so progressive. Seems very determined to screw the whole summer up.
Yeah I know the difference. What he described sounded like a downdraft and hence not a tornado (in an updraft) which is why I said that. The point being that if he was under a downdraft like the one in the bottom left picture (microburst) as it passed straight over the winds would first seem to be coming from one direction, and then the other.
It was hard to tell where the winds were coming from, but it seemed like the turbulence was greatest within about 10m of the ground (I was at 30m), maybe caused by buildings and large trees. The wind was definitely not going up either, so most likely a downdrawft/microburst. There were lots of broken branches, as well as an uprooted tree about 500m further on my way home. Power was knocked out for about 4 hours here too, so maybe I should've stayed at the library longer since it had power.
The temperature was all over the place with this storm.
2:45pm: 32.1C (daily max)
4:15pm: 29.9C
4:30pm: 20.3C
5:00pm: 19.5C
6:45pm: 24.9C (even though it was still mostly cloudy)
9:30pm: 23.8C
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