The Perfect Storm Part 2??

         Now, I was alive for the the Perfect Storm  back in October of 1991, but I was only 1 year old so my recollection of the event is not very good.  As many of you may have heard, there is a possible storm that might be just like this that may impact much of the East Coast and New England in the next week.  This storm would be the what is now Tropical Storm Sandy.  This tropical storm could rapidly intensify as it moves up the East Coast.  A few of the computer models we Meteorologists use to forecast have conjured up quite the storm.  The ECMWF and Canadian models keep the storm close to shore which, if it verifies, could mean a lot of damage for the East Coast.  Another model, the GFS keep the storm a little off shore which could bring a little more damage to New England.  Either way, there are still a lot of variables which must come together for this next 'Perfect Storm'.  Everyone has their own opinion on which model does the best with forecasting these types of tropical events, but there are a lot of players in this game to get the storm to be a home run like the Perfect Storm from 21 years ago.  For instance there is a stalled cold front which will be a big player in this turn of events, there also needs to be enough energy and moisture distributed properly for this storm to happen. Depending upon where the cold air sets up there could even be snow, most likely wet snow in higher elevations and further inland in New England and the Mid-Atlantic, but again, we are still days out to know all of this for certain as it will all come down to the exact track of which the storm takes. 
          With that being said, what should people in the Mid-Atlantic and New England be doing right now?  Well, not much since this 'storm' is still days out, if it even happens.  If you live in any of the aforementioned regions I would be sure to continue to pay attention to the news and your local Meteorologist, if the storm does come to be it will bring a large amount of precipitation which could lead to flooding inland as well as coastal flooding, there will also be high winds, and if snow comes into play there could also be tree damage.  It will be exciting to see how strong this storm will be and which track it will take as it moves northward up the East Coast.  There will be much more known about this storm by the end of the week and this weekend, so keep an eye on the tropics this week and an eye to the sky this coming Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday!

Below is an Image of the ECMWF current model for Halloween on the left and the Canadian model for Monday on the right with GFS for Monday as well on the bottom:

 

An interesting article found in the Washington Post also futher explains the possibilities: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/monster-east-coast-storm-next-week-or-big-miss/2012/10/22/94bc2152-1c72-11e2-9cd5-b55c38388962_blog.html

...I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore...

          When we hear the word tornado we typically think of states in the Midwestern United States and not the islands of Hawaii, but on March 9th a tornadic waterspout touched down on the island of Oahu.  This tornado, which began as a waterspout, was rated an EF0 on the Enhanced Fujita scale (0 is the lowest, 5 highest) bringing winds of 60-70mph.  This is the first tornado to strike the islands since 2009.  Most tornadoes which affect the islands of Hawaii are rated EF0's although, there have been a few EF2's and some unrated ones (one's that may have been higher than EF2 strength).  For a complete list of the tornadoes that have struck Hawaii visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hawaii_tornadoes .
          Friday's tornado developed from a disorganized group of showers and thunderstorms (convection) which developed around the Hawaiian islands.  As stated before, this tornado was a waterspout (tornado that develops over water rather than land) which then moved over the island of Oahu traveling for a little more than a mile.  Waterspouts form through similar mechanisms as tornadoes, but when a waterspout forms you can first see a dark spot over the water where it begins its formation.  Then you will see the water begin to swirl around a vortex before you see the entire tube shape of the waterspout develop.  Another characteristic that made this storm particularly interesting was the large hail it brought with it, golf ball sized hail, and there were even some reports of larger hail.  All in all this was a very interesting event which has caught the eye of many meteorologists.

Radar image of the cell which dropped the tornado:

http://theweatherguru.com/

Image of some of the damage form the tornado:

http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/09/10628559-a-rare-tornado-touches-down-on-oahu

Sources:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/apx/science/waterspouts/waterspouts.php
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-weather-service-stormy-weather-brings-unprecedented-hail-storms-over-hawaii/2012/03/09/gIQAtxC01R_story.html