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Widespread severe weather outbreak

By Scott Bachmeier •

SPC preliminary storm reports [click map for complete listing]

SPC preliminary storm reports [click map for complete listing]

As shown above, a widespread outbreak of severe weather occurred on 23 December – 24 December 2015 (surface analysis maps), centered on the Mississippi Valley and Ohio Valley regions of the US. There were at least 14 fatalities in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas — and storm damage surveys (NWS Memphis PNS) showed that there were two long-track tornadoes in the Mid-South region: one EF3-rated that was on the ground for 63 miles in northwestern Mississippi, and another EF4-rated that was on the ground for 75 miles from northern Mississippi to far southwestern Tennessee (below).

Preliminary tornado damage paths [click to enlarge]

Preliminary tornado damage paths [click to enlarge]

Daytime GOES-13 (GOES-East) Visible (0.63 µm, 1-km resolution) images on 23 December (below) showed the development of several lines of severe thunderstorms — some with bowing segments earlier in the day — with many storms exhibiting signatures of well-defined Overshooting Tops and having strong Cloud-Top Cooling rates.

GOES-13 Visible (0.63 µm) images [click to play animation]

GOES-13 Visible (0.63 µm) images [click to play animation]

Longer animations of GOES-13 Infrared (10.7 µm, 4-km resolution) and Water Vapor (6.5 µm, 4-km resolution) images that extended into the nighttime hours of the severe weather outbreak are shown below.

GOES-13 Infrared (10.7 µm) images [click to play animation]

GOES-13 Infrared (10.7 µm) images [click to play animation]

GOES-13 Water Vapor (6.5 µm) images [click to play animation]

GOES-13 Water Vapor (6.5 µm) images [click to play animation]

Categories: Cloud-Top Cooling, GOES-13, MODIS, Severe convection