Tsunami impacts continue for portions of the Pacific basin. Wildfire smoke causes unhealthy air in Midwest to Great Lakes. Heat dome spans Mississippi Valley to Mid-Atlantic with excessive heat warnings and advisories. Critical fire weather in Great Basin to Pacific Northwest (dry thunderstorms). Cold front spawns severe storms/heavy rain in Central U.S. today, shifts to East Coast Thursday. Read More >
Weak Tornadoes On May 8, 2008, a weak cell of convection spawned a number of tornadoes and funnel clouds across Clinton, Greene, and Clark Counties in southwest Ohio. The cell was associated with an area of low pressure and an associated warm front; this disturbance was also responsible for dropping 0.5-1.5 inches of rain across most of the region. This event was certainly not a classic setup for tornadoes. It is notable that no cloud-to-ground lightning was occurring with this cell. In addition, the cell was only 10,000 to 12,000 feet tall. A typical tornado-producing supercell can reach heights of over 40,000 feet. However, two factors in particular helped the development of this situation. First, the interaction with the warm front allowed for winds that changed significantly in speed and direction in the low levels of the atmosphere. Second, the copious moisture near the surface allowed for very low cloud ceiling heights, especially near and north of the warm front. Two tornado warnings were issued for this event. The first was for northern Clinton and southeastern Greene Counties, from 5:20 PM to 5:45 PM. The second was for eastern Clark and northeastern Greene Counties, from 5:46 PM to 6:30 PM.
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