Midwest Storms

[larryinlc]

All I can say is it's very windy here. The temp has dropped from the low 60's to 45. Living right on the Mississippi river, the duck hunters are out in force. I think the ducks are winning today.

Larry

[cricky101]

I found my trash bin that I left on the curb this morning about a block away when I went home for lunch.

[Whee]

Possible tornado here...

http://kokomotribune.com/local/x1071...cross-the-area

[HK3-]

That was nuts! It was raining a heavy down pour in sheets with the wind. I could hear howling in the distance like one had touched down close but not close enough to do any damage here. Sunny and warm out now. Storms are better at night when you can see the sky light up.

[Emjaysmash]

Stay safe everyone!

[Commander Quan]

I talked to my mom who lives north of Pittsburgh at 5:15 she said the huge pine tree that was in the yard snapped off at the base and fell on my sisters 2003 Explorer she just bought 2 weeks ago.

[Starz26]

Was so ready for the winds and the storm, got about 4 minutes of heavy rain and that was it. impressive radar and low pressure but it was not anything memorable in any way!

[M1903A1]

Originally Posted by Starz26

Was so ready for the winds and the storm, got about 4 minutes of heavy rain and that was it. impressive radar and low pressure but it was not anything memorable in any way!

That's what I ran into when it came through Chicago at 7 a.m. All this doomsday run-up and I thought "that's it???".

[Eleven]

2 small tornadoes touched down up in my area. No one seriously hurt.

[shark]

From a blog entry on Weather Underground:


Tornadoes, violent thunderstorms, and torrential rains swept through a large portion of the nation's midsection yesterday, thanks to the strongest storm ever recorded in the Midwest. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center logged 24 tornado reports and 282 reports of damaging high winds from yesterday's spectacular storm, and the storm continues to produce a wide variety of wild weather, with tornado watches posted for Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, a blizzard warning for North Dakota, high wind warnings for most of the upper Midwest, and near-hurricane force winds on Lake Superior.

The mega-storm reached peak intensity late Tuesday afternoon over Minnesota, resulting in the lowest barometric pressure readings ever recorded in the continental United States, except for from hurricanes and nor'easters affecting the Atlantic seaboard. So far, it appears the lowest reading (not yet official) was a pressure of 28.20" (954.9 mb) reduced to sea level reported from Bigfork, Minnesota at 5:13pm CDT. Other extreme low pressures from Minnesota during yesterday's storm included 28.22" (956 mb) at Orr at 5:34pm CDT, 28.23" at International Falls (3:45pm), and 28.23" at Waskuh at 5:52pm. The 28.23" (956mb) reading from International Falls yesterday obliterated their previous record of 28.70" set on Nov. 11, 1949 by nearly one-half inch of mercury--a truly amazing anomaly. Duluth's 28.36" (961 mb) reading smashed their old record of 28.48" (964 mb) set on Nov. 11, 1998. Wisconsin also recorded its lowest barometric pressure in history yesterday, with a 28.36" (961 mb) reading at Superior. The old record was 28.45" (963.4 mb) at Green Bay on April 3, 1982. The previous state record for Minnesota was 28.43" (963 mb) at Albert Lea and Austin on Nov. 10, 1998.

The six most intense storms in history to affect the Great Lakes
According to the Chicago branch of the National Weather Service and Christopher C. Burt, our Weather Records blogger, the following are the six lowest pressures measured in the U.S. Great Lakes region:

1. Yesterday's October 26, 2010 Superstorm (955 mb/28.20")
2. Great Ohio Blizzard January 26, 1978 (958 mb/28.28")
3. Armistice Day Storm November 11, 1940 (967 mb/28.55")
4. November 10, 1998 storm (967 mb/ 28.55")
5. White Hurricane of November 7 - 9, 1913 (968 mb/28.60")
6. Edmund Fitzgerald Storm of November 10, 1975 (980 mb/28.95")

[larryinlc]

Will super low barometric pressure affect water level in my toilet?? I know what you're thinking...what the heck?? I'm just asking and this is a serious question.

Larry

Originally Posted by larryinlc

Will super low barometric pressure affect water level in my toilet?? I know what you're thinking...what the heck?? I'm just asking and this is a serious question.

Larry

OK then, serious answer.
It depends on the pressure in the sewer pipe. Most of the time it is vented, so the pressure would drop equally on the pipe side and the bowl side, the water level would be unaffected. If there is some back pressure then the level might rise a little but you would not be likely to notice. If you had back pressure the water level could be different every time you flush anyway.

You can make a barometer from a clear tube closed off at one end and a bowl of water. You fill the tube up with water, close the open end with your thumb and dunk it in the water. You may have to leave a little air in the tube. When you hang the sealed off end of the tube straight up the weight of the water in it will pull a vacuum. The air pressure on the bowl of water will determine the level of the water in the tube. They do this same thing with mercury and that's what the inches in the pressure readings mean. How high the air pressure will push the mercury up the tube. Vacuum can never pull a liquid up more than a certain limit. Pressure has no limit except power. That's why pumps go at the bottom of a deep well.

[gvarsity]

Heard this weird "I'll huff and I'll puff" rhyme and went out back and something my fence had been blown down. Seriously though this windstorm did blow down my privacy fence.

[NCRadioMan]

We had some strange weather here too! This week, we had about 20 tornado warnings with 4, maybe 5 that touched down.

[Commander Quan]

Originally Posted by Commander Quan

I talked to my mom who lives north of Pittsburgh at 5:15 she said the huge pine tree that was in the yard snapped off at the base and fell on my sisters 2003 Explorer she just bought 2 weeks ago.

If the damage had been a couple hundred dollars more they would have totaled it.