Savage storm blasts Midwest spurns up to 26 tornadoes
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Pastor Dale Morgan
Oct 27, 2010, 5:20:51 AM10/27/10
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Perilous Times and Climate Change
Savage storm blasts Midwest spurns up to 26 tornadoes
A barn was lifted off its foundation by a tornado Tuesday in Mount Pleasant, Wis.
By Judy Keen and Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
CHICAGO — One of the strongest storms in decades barreled across the Midwest on Tuesday, touching off up to 26 tornadoes, toppling trees and power lines and triggering potent winds that could cause damage and travel woes today.
The powerful system forced airport delays in Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee and Cincinnati. Chicago's Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower, closed its observatory and retracted its all-glass Ledge, which juts from the 103rd floor. Trucks hauling long-double and triple trailers were temporarily banned from the Indiana Toll Road.
"It's one of the strongest storms I've seen," said Sam Walker, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Bismarck, N.D., for 30 years. The storm's legacy in his state: up to 8 inches of snow.
The storm was the result of an unusually strong upper-level jet stream, which raced into the USA with 220-mph winds Monday, Weather Channel severe weather expert Greg Forbes said. East of the Rockies, the jet stream created barometric pressure readings Tuesday "lower than sometimes occurs in hurricanes."
All-time record-low pressures, which are measured in inches, were set in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
High winds will continue today, Weather Channel meteorologist Brian Fortier said.
Only minor injuries were linked to the storm by late Tuesday but it caused plenty of pain at Chicago airports. By late afternoon, more than 500 flights were canceled at O'Hare International Airport because of wind. Delays averaged 45 minutes, airport spokeswoman Karen Pride said. At Midway International Airport, there were some 60-minute delays and a small number of cancellations.
The delays affected Cleveland, Denver, Philadelphia, New York's Kennedy and Knoxville, Tenn., airports, David White of FlightStats said.
American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan expects canceled flights today along the East Coast.
A pre-dawn thunderstorm and intense wind doubled Marilyn Sandler's morning commute from suburban Bolingbrook to downtown Chicago. "It was hard to see and my little car was shimmying all over the place," said Sandler, an office manager.
Along the storm's path:
•Missouri. Storms caused the partial collapse of a building in St. Louis and thousands of customers were without power. By midmorning, about 350 Ameren Missouri linemen and 50 tree-removal workers were in the field. "We are hard at it," Ameren spokesman Tim Fox said. Overnight storms in Springfield left 500 people without electricity.
•Indiana. Officials at Indiana University in Bloomington used Twitter to tell people on campus that a tornado warning had been issued.
"Go indoors or find cover immediately," the tweet said.
In Wanatah, firefighter John Sullivan said he spotted a tornado in an area where a barn was destroyed and two homes severely damaged. No injuries were reported. There were reports of a tornado near Kokomo.
In Vigo County, which includes Terre Haute, storms snapped power poles and trees and caused power outages, sheriff's department dispatcher LeaAnn Funk said.
•Wisconsin. In Mount Pleasant, a suspected tornado damaged homes, destroyed a barn and knocked down power lines, said police Capt. Brian Smith. It also damaged a roof at a Case New Holland tractor plant, where two workers had minor injuries. Power was out across the area, and dealing with damage was "going to be an all-day deal," Smith said.
The Janesville School District sent students at Parker High School home after the storm tore off part of the roof.
•Ohio. In Van Wert County, a possible tornado ripped the roof from a house and flattened a barn. Homes in Cridersville also were damaged. An 81-mph wind gust was recorded in Butlerville.
Trenton recorded a 79-mph wind gust, but Becky Taggart, who works at Country Corner Floral & Gift Shop, wasn't alarmed. "Storms never did scare me," she said. The sun came out after the storm. "Right now it's pretty," she said. "We needed the rain to water our flowers."
Savage storm blasts Midwest spurns up to 26 tornadoes
A barn was lifted off its foundation by a tornado Tuesday in Mount Pleasant, Wis.
By Judy Keen and Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
CHICAGO — One of the strongest storms in decades barreled across the Midwest on Tuesday, touching off up to 26 tornadoes, toppling trees and power lines and triggering potent winds that could cause damage and travel woes today.
The powerful system forced airport delays in Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee and Cincinnati. Chicago's Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower, closed its observatory and retracted its all-glass Ledge, which juts from the 103rd floor. Trucks hauling long-double and triple trailers were temporarily banned from the Indiana Toll Road.
"It's one of the strongest storms I've seen," said Sam Walker, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Bismarck, N.D., for 30 years. The storm's legacy in his state: up to 8 inches of snow.
The storm was the result of an unusually strong upper-level jet stream, which raced into the USA with 220-mph winds Monday, Weather Channel severe weather expert Greg Forbes said. East of the Rockies, the jet stream created barometric pressure readings Tuesday "lower than sometimes occurs in hurricanes."
All-time record-low pressures, which are measured in inches, were set in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
High winds will continue today, Weather Channel meteorologist Brian Fortier said.
Only minor injuries were linked to the storm by late Tuesday but it caused plenty of pain at Chicago airports. By late afternoon, more than 500 flights were canceled at O'Hare International Airport because of wind. Delays averaged 45 minutes, airport spokeswoman Karen Pride said. At Midway International Airport, there were some 60-minute delays and a small number of cancellations.
The delays affected Cleveland, Denver, Philadelphia, New York's Kennedy and Knoxville, Tenn., airports, David White of FlightStats said.
American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan expects canceled flights today along the East Coast.
A pre-dawn thunderstorm and intense wind doubled Marilyn Sandler's morning commute from suburban Bolingbrook to downtown Chicago. "It was hard to see and my little car was shimmying all over the place," said Sandler, an office manager.
Along the storm's path:
•Missouri. Storms caused the partial collapse of a building in St. Louis and thousands of customers were without power. By midmorning, about 350 Ameren Missouri linemen and 50 tree-removal workers were in the field. "We are hard at it," Ameren spokesman Tim Fox said. Overnight storms in Springfield left 500 people without electricity.
•Indiana. Officials at Indiana University in Bloomington used Twitter to tell people on campus that a tornado warning had been issued.
"Go indoors or find cover immediately," the tweet said.
In Wanatah, firefighter John Sullivan said he spotted a tornado in an area where a barn was destroyed and two homes severely damaged. No injuries were reported. There were reports of a tornado near Kokomo.
In Vigo County, which includes Terre Haute, storms snapped power poles and trees and caused power outages, sheriff's department dispatcher LeaAnn Funk said.
•Wisconsin. In Mount Pleasant, a suspected tornado damaged homes, destroyed a barn and knocked down power lines, said police Capt. Brian Smith. It also damaged a roof at a Case New Holland tractor plant, where two workers had minor injuries. Power was out across the area, and dealing with damage was "going to be an all-day deal," Smith said.
The Janesville School District sent students at Parker High School home after the storm tore off part of the roof.
•Ohio. In Van Wert County, a possible tornado ripped the roof from a house and flattened a barn. Homes in Cridersville also were damaged. An 81-mph wind gust was recorded in Butlerville.
Trenton recorded a 79-mph wind gust, but Becky Taggart, who works at Country Corner Floral & Gift Shop, wasn't alarmed. "Storms never did scare me," she said. The sun came out after the storm. "Right now it's pretty," she said. "We needed the rain to water our flowers."
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