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Tracking Tropical Storm Ida

Tue Nov 10 2009 @ 00:04 EST

As of Monday November 9th at 11:14 PM EST, Tropical Storm Ida was located just south of Mobile, Alabama. However, the storm has been broken apart by strong wind shear, pushing most of the convection and rain bands onshore already. These are impacting locations along the Gulf Coast, from Louisiana eastward to the Northern Florida coast.

Rainfall totals in the Gulf states may reach 6-8 inches. If you live in the Gulf states, be on the lookout for rising rivers and flash flooding. Although Ida has weakened since yesterday when it was a hurricane, it is still capable of extreme rainfall and minor wind damage.

Hurricane Ike makes landfall

Sat Sep 13 2008 @ 05:06 EDT

Houston/Galveston, TX Doppler Radar

Railroad cam in Houston

Hurricane Ike made landfall as a strong Category 2 hurricane at 2:10 AM CDT near Galveston, Texas. A State of Disaster has been declared in coastal counties in Texas. FEMA is prepared to send 5 million meals and 5 million liters of water to the region, and generators are in place for hospitals and water plants.

In Galveston, the historical district is flooded and several buildings burned down after firefighters were unable to get to the buildings during the height of the storm. Over four million people are without power in the Galveston and Houston areas. Galveston City Manager Steve LeBlanc said about 40 percent of the city's residents — some 20,000 people — chose to stay even after evacuation orders.

In Houston, many windows were blown out of the 75-story JP Morgan Chase Tower. Localized flooding was occuring in suburbs.

The Coast Guard has rescued over 100 people so far from floodwaters and flooded homes.

The storm has caused three deaths in Texas.

Multimedia

Weather conditions

Houston area weather stations

Emergency information

Harris County Emergency Management — Houston area
Texas Governor's Division of Emergency Management — state-wide

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Hurricane Gustav making landfall; TD #9 forms in Atlantic

Mon Sep 1 2008 @ 11:47 EDT

New Orleans, LA Doppler Radar

The latest storm information is available in the Tropical Center.

Hurricane Gustav is making landfall along the coast of Louisiana. The center made landfall near Cocodrie, LA at 10:30 EDT (14:30 UTC) as a strong Category 2 hurricane. The storm was a Category 3, but has weakened recently due to interaction with land. This puts Gustav only west of the landfall location of Hurricane Katrina, but with weaker wind speeds, which will be a relief to many along the coast.

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Local information

Weather data

Observations from buoys near Gustav

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Latest information on Tropical Storm Fay

Wed Aug 20 2008 @ 06:08 EDT

Tuesday 5:00 PM Update: Tropical Storm Fay has not weakened after it moved onto land over Florida. Because of this, the storm may intensify into a hurricane as it moves out into the Atlantic Ocean later this evening. A Hurricane Watch is now in effect from Flagler Beach, Florida north to Altamaha Sound, Georgia. A Tropical Storm Watch is now in effect from Altamaha Sound to the Georgia/South Carolina border.

Tropical Storm Fay, the sixth tropical storm of the 2008 Atlantic season, is approaching the mainland of Florida as of 5:00 PM Monday. The storm has moved very slowly through the Caribbean and Cuba, and only recently has it picked up speed as it moves North into a ridge of high pressure over the Southeastern United States. The mountainous terrain of Haiti and the Dominican Republic kept the storm from intensifying. However, the storm is now over very warm waters near the Florida Keys and could intensify before making another landfall on the Western Florida coast.

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Long string of severe weather; Parkersburg tornado on video

Sun Jun 8 2008 @ 21:45 EDT

ATM surveillance camera captures Parkersburg EF-5 tornado as it destroys several homes across from the ATM.

Severe weather has been ongoing for a number of days across the United States. 2008 is on par to be a record year for tornadoes, with 1,191 as of May 29th. The current record for the most tornadoes in a year is 1,817 in 2004. The strongest tornado out of all of these was the Parkersburg, Iowa tornado on Sunday May 25th. The tornado, rated EF-5 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, is only the 2nd EF-5 since the scale went into use last year. The first EF-5 was the Greensburg, Kansas tornado of May 5, 2007.

The Parkersburg tornado was over 3/4 mile wide when it passed through Parkersburg. Seven people were killed in the tornado, and more than 288 homes were destroyed in Parkersburg, 88 in New Hartford, 15 in Hazelton and another 50 in Black Hawk County.

The Parkersburg tornado was caught on camera by several security cameras at a bank in the town. First State Bank released video footage from their ATM and indoor security cameras showing the tornado approaching and then passing over the bank. Trees and bushes can be seen blowing around as the tornado approaches. On one of the indoor cameras, debris then starts passing outside before the building's windows are blown out. The camera is then thrown around the room.

The National Weather Service office in Des Moines has more information on the Parkersburg tornado.

More recently, a stalled out front (stationary front) has been the focus of severe weather and flooding over the past week. Tornadoes and wind damage have been reported from Kansas all the way East to the Atlantic seaboard. Over 10 inches of rain fell in portions of Indiana, and over 8 inches of rain fell in Ohio.

On Saturday, seven tornadoes were reported from Odell, Illinois northeast to the Chicago suburb of Lansing.

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