NATIONAL STORM SUMMARY

OCTOBER 2008

5th-11th…Storms flared up across the Central US today as a strong
trough of low pressure moved eastward over the Plains. Heavy rain
showers and strong thunderstorms were detected over central and
southeastern Kansas and northeastern Texas. Thunderstorms over these
regions were accompanied by strong winds and high gusts. These storms
have begun to push across eastern Oklahoma and into northwestern
Arkansas. To the south, scattered thunderstorms have developed across
central and southern Florida. The strongest thunderstorm activity has
occurred near Tampa, Carrollwood, Charlotte Park, Lake Manatee State
Park, and Polk City. These slow moving thunderstorms were accompanied
by heavy rainfall and strong wind gusts. Areas of central and
northeastern Florida have been placed under several flood warnings.
The Atlantic beaches remain at moderate risk of rip currents.

5th-11th…In the East, thunderstorms proved potent from the central
Gulf Coast northward into portions of the Tennessee Valley this
morning. Tornadoes were spawned with this activity with a twister just
after midnight occurring near Crestview, Florida causing minor damage
to a home, a mailbox and a fence along with downing trees. To the east
just after dawn, a tornado caused damage in Panama City with windows
blown out of some homes in a subdivision along with roof damage to a
business along with trees and power lines falling. Another tornado
occurred in Lower Alabama during the late morning near Red Oak with
twisted debris around power poles and roads being blocked.
Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees throughout Covington County,
which was where that tornado occurred. A funnel cloud around midday
was observed in Cloverport, Tennessee, along with pea-sized hail. This
severe weather was associated with a weak cold front spreading showers
and a few thunderstorms from the central Gulf Coast north to the Great
Lakes region. Rain was torrential early this morning in northern
Alabama with torrential downpours and unofficial reports of over 5
inches of rain. Thunderstorm winds in Huntsville downed a large tree,
which knocked over power lines and resulted in an electricity outage
affecting the medical district and several traffic lights.
In the East, a low pressure system across the far Southeast brought
showers and thunderstorms to the area, some of which were strong to
severe. Nickel to golfball size hail was reported across areas of
southern Georgia with hail damage done to cars in Rochelle, Georgia
where hail the size of baseballs fell. Moderate to heavy rain also
fell across areas of southern Georgia and northern Florida, with one
tornado reported as well in Clinch County Georgia where trees were
snapped. Showers and thunderstorms will continue to be possible across
the Southeast this afternoon with strong to severe storms possible.
In the West on Friday, a developing storm system has been bringing
some areas of heavy snow to eastern Idaho, Montana, western South
Dakota and Wyoming today. Amounts since midnight have ranged from 2 to
8 inches across the area with the heaviest amounts so far across
northeastern Wyoming into western South Dakota. Snow has made it as
far south as Truckee, California this afternoon. Winds have been
gusting 25 to 50 mph across large portions of the western U.S. as this
system digs into the region and ushers in some very cool temperatures
for this time of year.
In the West on Saturday, a strong low pressure system in the
Intermountain West caused the season's first wintry weather event.
This system not only produced moderate to locally heavy snow across
the Northern Rockies, Central Rockies and Northern High Plains, but
also strong winds 45 to 55 mph.

19th-25th…A low pressure system moved though the Central Plains on
Wednesday and brought active weather with rain accumulations of less
than a half of an inch. Light snow fell in parts of Nebraska, while
this system also brought strong winds, blowing snow was a driving
hazard in these areas. Sustained winds in Oberlin, Kansas were
reported at 45 mph with gusts up to 53 mph. Thus, blizzard conditions
threatened southern Nebraska and northern Kansas, while high wind
conditions persisted across eastern Colorado.
A low pressure system moved through the Plains on Thursday and brought
moderate to heavy rainfall to many areas. A cold front associated with
this system extended down the Mississippi River Valley and produced
embedded scattered showers. These storms have not yet turned severe,
but flooding threatened parts of the Central Plains with over a half
inch of rain reported in Galva, Iowa on Thursday morning.

16th-31st…The first big snowstorm of the season in the Northeast
closed sections of major highways Tuesday and blacked out thousands of
utility customers. The National Weather Service posted a winter storm
warning for parts of New York state, in effect until 8 a.m. Wednesday,
and issued winter storm advisories for parts of Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and Vermont. "It looked like a mini blizzard in October," said
Joe Orlando, spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. "We're
salting the roads and we haven't even gone trick-or-treating yet." Up
to 13 inches of snow had fallen by Tuesday afternoon in Pennsylvania's
Pocono Mountains.
Schools closed or delayed their openings in parts of Pennsylvania and
New York state. New York's Thruway Authority said Interstate 84 was
closed for part of the morning at the New York-Pennsylvania line in
the Port Jervis area. It was reopened by late morning. Stretches of
Interstate 80 in northeastern Pennsylvania were closed intermittently
because of multiple tractor-trailer wrecks, state agencies said. PPL
Corp. said about 39,000 of its customers in northeastern Pennsylvania
lost power when the heavy, wet snow brought down trees and power
lines. Utility companies in New Jersey said about 67,000 customers
lost power, mostly in the northern part of the state. Arrival delays
into New York's La Guardia Airport and Newark Liberty International
Airport were averaging more than two hours in the middle of the
afternoon because of wind. Low ceilings were delaying some flights out
of Philadelphia's airport more than four hours, the Federal Aviation
Administration reported. Elsewhere, light snow fell at higher
elevations of the southern Appalachians. National Park Service
spokesman Bob Miller said U.S. 441 through Great Smoky Mountains
National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina was closed for part of
the morning while crews spread sand.
Wednesday’s main weather occurred over the northeastern part of the
nation as a storm system continued to pull cold air into the region
and dumped significant precipitation. Moderate to heavy snow fell
across northern Vermont, eastern Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and
Maine. Some areas even received 4 to 8 inches total snowfall from this
storm. In addition, bands of lake effect snow showers continued
through southern shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and parts of
western Pennsylvania, but most of the accumulations remained less than
two inches.