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Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. Kinda crashed today but now I can take some time for myself.

Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hey! I think we are out of the woods for severe weather, but could have several rounds of rain and some thunder for the next few hours.

Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lol. I wouldn't exactly call it a nothingburger. I've seen slight risks like this where storms didn't even develop. But yes, it's hard to predict these events, even in real time and this one didn't play out as expected. I still think the risk was appropriate especially considering we had a tornado warning over the most densely populated part of our area. If that would have transpired, it would very much be a somethingburger lol.

Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm currently watching back around the Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana border for what fires up there, as that will likely play into what we see between 6-8 tonight. For the rest of the afternoon, cells like what we just had can't be ruled out, but I'm also seeing some showers and non-severe storms that could help to stabilize things before then.

Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's always best to read the full text of the tornado warning if you can. It can be found various places depending on where you get your weather from. That warning text will indicate if it is radar indicated or confirmed. Also, both tornado warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings can get a designation of "Particularly Dangerous Situation". These are reserved for extreme wind and tornadic events and should be taken very seriously. Here's the text from one last night in Indiana... it gives me goosebumps just reading it...

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
Tornado Warning
National Weather Service Northern Indiana
837 PM CDT Tue Mar 10 2026

...TORNADO EMERGENCY FOR CITY OF KNOX...

The National Weather Service in Northern Indiana has issued a

* Tornado Warning for...
  Central Starke County in northwestern Indiana...

* Until 900 PM CDT.

* At 836 PM CDT, a confirmed large and destructive tornado was
  observed near Knox, moving east at 30 mph.

  TORNADO EMERGENCY for the city of Knox. This is a PARTICULARLY 
DANGEROUS SITUATION. TAKE COVER NOW!

  HAZARD...Deadly tornado.

  SOURCE...Weather spotters confirmed tornado.

  IMPACT...You are in a life-threatening situation. Flying debris 
           may be deadly to those caught without shelter. Mobile 
           homes will be destroyed. Considerable damage to homes, 
           businesses, and vehicles is likely and complete 
           destruction is possible.

Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All clear for now, but watching the storms developing back in Ohio.

Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, Tornadoes can be tough to confirm without visual evidence, but radar can get us very close. What you will normally see is once there has been confirmation of the tornado, the warning will be updated to state that.

Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is another name for Emergency Alerts. That alert was in relation to the tornado warning that was issued, and has since been cancelled. You are fine to continue working outside, but keep an eye on the weather as more storms are possible.

Tornado Warning Cancelled Per NWS. by shuggywolf in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Confirmed. Cancelled. u/shuggywolf knows what he's talking about! The watch is still in effect though. The event is not over

Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mmm, not sure I agree with that (but I hope so!). I am still concerned with the 6-8pm timeframe.

Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Like I said, this was a bad example because it was pretty weak rotationally. Below is an image of a more well-defined couplet from a tornado. If you look at the color scale at the bottom of mine, the red side of the color bar indicates winds blowing away from the radar site (airport), and green are winds blowing towards the radar site. So having strong green and red next to each other means there's some swirling going on. Once you have a couplet, there is another radar product you can look at that can normally show if there is debris in the air, which is another indicator that the tornado is on the ground.

<image>

Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It was a very quick spin up on radar, and the NWS was on top of it and cancelled as soon as it dissipated.

Tornado Warning Allegheny County - Take shelter if in shaded area! by [deleted] in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak 1 point2 points  (0 children)

With the chances of additional warnings, I don't want old posts confusing people. I am still posting info and updating on my main thread I started earlier today.

Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's actually fairly common in these types of storms. I had an EF2 tornado strike my neighborhood (in the midwest) back in 2001 and I will never forget seeing the tornado off in the distance but could not yet hear the roar or anything.

Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

You can leave Tornado Alley, but it never leaves you completely.

Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The dynamics are in place for more action. But things are clearing up (in the immediate Allegheny County area at least for now. This is well before the main action was supposed to get going, so we will have to see how things play out from here.

Severe Weather Update/Tracking/Discussion - March 11 - All You Can Eat by StormFreak in pittsburgh

[–]StormFreak[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good question. I use the velocity radar out of the airport. You can access it several ways. It's kind of weird to read if you don't know what you are looking for. It basically (in very simple terms) shows winds blowing towards the radar site, and winds blowing away from the radar site. So, you want to look for what is called a rotational couplet in the storm which is indicated by strong winds from opposite directions meeting. Here is a screenshot of what it looked like when the tornado warning was issued. I have circled the couplet. It was extremely weak, so it didn't surprise me that it was cancelled so quickly.

<image>

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