Good morning, Netizens...

This is a bit off the beaten track for most folks in Spokane, but KREM-2's Tom Sherry will simply have to eat his heart out.

This is a picture [photo removed due to DMCA] of a classic super-meso tornadic cloud formation, taken from the AP wire, of what was the beginning of a series of severe storms that afflicted the entire Midwest, beginning Thursday in the Kearney, Nebraska area, where it dropped multiple tornadoes in four counties. Over the evening, it moved through the Lincoln, Nebraska area with high flat winds and hail, and then the entire storm center stalled for awhile in the Heartland of Iowa before taking aim at parts of that state, as it continued moving east. Last night it dropped a series of dangerous late afternoon tornadoes near Springfield, Illinois where it drove the State Legislature, including the governor, into shelters beneath the State Capital Building.

You might think the life cycle of this storm would possibly end here, but no.

Very early this morning, after whomping parts of Indiana, this same storm complex moved rapidly into Ohio, where it spawned several severe thunderstorms just to the south of Columbus. According to the NEXRAD radar looking south from Columbus, this storm complex finally appears to be dissipating, although the echoes from the squall line still appears to be packing a punch with hail and high flat winds.

There has been a lot of instability throughout the Midwest weather pattern this week, with a complex low pressure center vying with a cooler air flow aloft, all which promises more severe weather for the area.

We rarely see this kind of cloud formations here in the Inland Northwest, although we do occasionally have tornadoes and funnel clouds sighted in the area. Even then, we seldom see the kinds of intensive storm cycles, such as this classic type of severe weather which can travel through parts of several states, all without losing its punch. Thus, when area weather forecasters prattled on about severe thunderstorms in parts of the North Spokane area two nights ago, they didn't know what they were talking about.

We drove up to North Spokane county, just to keep track of the storm moving East-West through Spokane and Stevens Counties, and upon observing the weather conditions at that time, which according to the TV weather reports, were severe thunderstorms, we both laughed. Here, then, is the face of a truly severe thunderstorm.

Dave

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