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A large tree limb reclines on a sagging power line in the 400 block of East North Street in Marshall Wednesday evening, June 17, after a fierce storm roared through the area. (Eric Crump/Democrat-News) [Order this photo] |
A strong storm packing high winds, hail, lightning and torrential rain thundered through Saline County about 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, causing brief power outages and downed trees in places.
In Marshall, damage did not appear to be widespread, but two downed trees on East North Street apparently caused some damage.
A large limb in the 400 block landed on a power line and a tree in the 300 block landed on a vehicle.
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A large hackberry tree in the 300 block of East North Street lays across a vehicle, the result of a severe thunderstorm that moved through Saline County about 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 17. (Eric Crump/Democrat-News) [Order this photo] |
Three circuits went out in the central area of town, said Marshall Municipal Utilities Electric Distribution Manager Jeff Bergstrom said, but those were out for less than one hour. Two transformers failed due to lightning.
Several phases were wrapped up, due to the high wind, which also caused some tree limbs to fall on power lines, he added, and one pole on West Vest Street blew over.
The north side of town past Vest Street was the section primarily affected, said Bergstrom, though a call came from one home on South Redman Avenue reporting a power outage.
There were individual power lines affected, said MMU General Manager Kyle Gibbs, and there were crews working on those individual lines from 7 to 11:30 p.m.
"We concentrate on the majority of people first," Gibbs said.
"I think we had a little more wind on the north side," Bergstrom said, but added the storm's effect was "not too bad," considering its effect on surrounding communities.
Saline County Sheriff's Department and Marshall Police Department officials said they received few damage reports.
Connie Grisier, administrator of Van Meter State Park near Miami said there was very little damage to the park from Wednesday's storm.
She said Monday's torrential rains actually caused more problems.
The storm apparently was more severe to the northwest of Marshall.
According to Associated Press reports, straight-line winds from a thunderstorm reached more than 74 mph in Norborne, knocking down the walls of one building and damaging roofs and trees.
In Minnesota, an apparent tornado struck the town of Austin on Wednesday, uprooting trees, knocking down power lines.
At least one person was reported with minor injuries.
Abercrombie, a small town south of Fargo, N.D., has been overwhelmed by almost 8 inches of rain in 24 hours.
Contact Eric Crump at marshalleditor@socket.net
Contact Geoff Rands at marshallreporter@socket.net
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To quote Cosa:
"Rivers have no effect on storms, but now you are backing up on what you said and adding large bodies of water. You didn't say large bodies of water to start with. Getting cold feet? Large bodies of water do have an effect on storms, but a river is not a large body of water, thus has no effect on a storm.
Again, your "facts" are incorrect. There was walnut size hail reported south of the river, and many gusts well over half of 100...which is 50 in case you need help. Tornadoes are not "usually" found on the back side of a storm. They can be, but they are "usually" found on the backside of the wall cloud which precedes the storm. Again, your very loose interpretation of the facts amuses me."
I am a National Weather Service storm chaser. I've spent years studying weather. You are 100% right... tornadoes go anywhere they want. Water has little impact on them. Some even go from land to water and back to land. Winds over 58 m.p.h. are severe, which means they can damage things.
From KSHB's meteorologist Jeremy Nelson:
I have a weather question for any of the meteorologists if you would please.
Does a thunderstorm crossing over a major river such as the Missouri or Mississippi have any effect on it. Either weaken or strengthen it?
Thanks for your time.
*******************
Rivers have no effect. In the winter I did see river effect snow one time...it was crazy!
Jeremy Nelson
June 19, 2009 3:58 PM
Should I keep emailing more meteorologists Old School?
Just as I thought. You have no facts to back up your claims. I watch most storms in the area on several radars on the internet, including the last one. The river just doesn't do anything to them. That is an old wives' tale. I will be more than happy to email a meteorologist, ask the question and post the response here.
I see the whole problem now. You use KMMO for your weather information. As I have said before...it is amateur hour around here. Get yourself a weather radio and a reliable internet connection and stay alive.
Ok clearly we've heard different facts on the effects of the MO river on storms. I'll just say the next time a storm comes from the NE like this one just did, please monitor it and see if it gets weaker after it crosses it. Until then we will just agree to disagree!
One question I had and wondered if anyone noticed, did anyone else notice KMMOs completel lack of coverage during the storm? I mean my dish went out of course, so I figured I'd turn on the radio and listen to the coverage. I listened for 15 minutes and they only had about 2 minutes of weather updating yet 13 minutes of commercials. You would think the local station in town would at least try to keep commercials to aminimum to give the updates on the storm's track and damage reports. But no, they had commercial after commercial. That seemed odd to me, didn't know if anyone else caught that.
Old School, if it is a scientifically proven fact then show us the proof. I would love to know the facts before I speak, but you don't provide any. You just cite these random thrown out theories you have with no facts to back them up.
Rivers have no effect on storms, but now you are backing up on what you said and adding large bodies of water. You didn't say large bodies of water to start with. Getting cold feet? Large bodies of water do have an effect on storms, but a river is not a large body of water, thus has no effect on a storm.
Again, your "facts" are incorrect. There was walnut size hail reported south of the river, and many gusts well over half of 100...which is 50 in case you need help. Tornadoes are not "usually" found on the back side of a storm. They can be, but they are "usually" found on the backside of the wall cloud which precedes the storm. Again, your very loose interpretation of the facts amuses me.
I am glad you are not the person that decides to push the siren button. Hind sight is 20/20 and to base a decision or whether or not there actually was a tornado to justify not sounding it is again just ludicrous. You would get people killed that way.
First Costra, yes that is actually is a proven scientific fact that rivers and other large bodies of water do have major influence on storms. The pressure, temperature and amount of mositure in the air is all different from what occurs on land and what occurs over water. Do you think it was coincidence that north of the river they had 100 mph winds and ping pong size hail, yet just south of the river the winds were cut in half and hail was either non exsistant or down to pee size?? Before you challenge a supposed "theory" next time know your facts before you talk.
All I'm saying about the sirens is simply this, did we have a stinking tornado? Did a tornado touch down from this storm at any time either here or elsewhere? That would be a no to both of those, i think everyone is overreacting to what was simply our first big strong storm of the year. Oh, and just to add to the "what sirens are for", and quick TRUE weather fact, tornados are usually found in the back edge of a storm, meaning the storm goes over you first, then there is a lull, then the tornado hits. If your dumb enough to sit outside through high winds, major lightning, down poor rain, and large hail....do you really think your smart enough to listen to a bell???? Take responsibilty for your own lives, you want to go to the basement to be safe, than go to the stinking basement, you don't have to wait for a siren!!!!
Me I have a NOAA weather radio, so I was fully aware of the warning despite the fact I was watching a DVD at the time with a friend. But what about somebody working outside away from a radio, I my old community it was emphasized that the sirens were for people outside.
Some communities even blow their sirens for a T-Storm warning, I don't agree with that, but I do think with the rotation headed this way (I'm pretty sure I saw it from my house) we should have made use of the warning sirens, they are not scattered around Marshall for decoration, we might as well use them when needed.
We were in a Tornado Warning from the NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE!!! Who are we suppose to rely on when we're in a Tornado Warning? Do we rely on a decision from the Fire Chief to sound the alarm? I think when the National Weather Service says Saline County and Marshall, Slater, Ect. is in a warning, then whom ever is responsible to sound the alarm, should sound the alarm!! DUH! My sister lives at Slater and Slater didn't sound the alarm either! I'm just glad a Tornado didn't dip down and kill a lot of people. As for me,I would sound the alarm. Better to be safe then sorry!
I don't know where you get your "theory" Old School, but the river doesn't have any effect on a storm. That ridiculous. Your 1% chance statistic doesn't sound to scientific either. Good thing we don't depend on you for weather information.
As for the sirens. I would think that a tornado warning for your county with good expectation that the tornado's future direction is pointed straight at you is an "eminent threat". After all, it is a warning so you can take cover before it strikes, not a tornado is on top of you siren. Minutes save lives in tornados.
Marshall's "severe weather team" is lacking in several areas. They are usually at least 5 to 10 minutes behind getting a warning out when one is issued to their officers...sometimes not at all.
Take responsibility for your own life and don't depend on anyone in Marshall for weather help is my best advice. It is amateur hour around here, trust me.
The sirens go off when there is an eminant threat of a tornado. They can't be blowing the sirens every time there is a strong storm in town. If you were watching the news (which if you had dish i understand why that would be a no) you could tell that the river had knocked a lot of the force out of the storms and it was slowing down. There was no real chance (would say none but there is always that 1%) that a tornado was going to hit us. If they blow the sirens to often people start ignoring them, sirens should only be used when there is an eminant threat and you know now you duck and cover. Was it windy, yes. Did it hail, yeah (a very small amount), Did it rain a lot, yeah. But none of it warrented a siren.
It really says alot when the TV stations 90 miles away state take cover in basement due to rotation
and once again Marshall fails to deploy warning system. What are the procedures or protocol? Talked to deputy this a.m and he stated that a rotation was reported around shakleford heading toward marshall but no sirens. Guess authorities
will have to SEE a tornado before they activate
system.
It took a rather large limb from the tree in front of my house as well. My neighbor had his truck parked in his yard not an hour before the storm and ended up moving it to the street. The branch landed right where his truck had been and narrowly missed our powerlines. Thank goodness!