Rare Japanese tornado kills 1, injures 48
A rare strong tornado ripped through Ibaraki Prefecture in eastern Japan 30 miles northeast of Tokyo on Sunday, killing a teenage boy, injuring 48 people, and damaging or destroying 890 buildings. The tornado carved a path of destruction 15 km long and 500 meters wide, said the Japan Meteorological Agency. The tornado was given a preliminary rating of F-2, with winds of 113 - 157 mph (Japan uses the traditional "F" scale to rate tornadoes, not the "EF" scale used in the U.S.) The tornado also damaged homes in a housing complex in Tsukuba where 20 people from seven families from Fukushima Prefecture had evacuated following the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, caused by the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011. I bet those families are feeling disaster-prone!
Video 1. A rare tornado in Japan hits approximately 30 miles northeast of Tokyo on May 6, 2012.
Japan's tornado climatology
Tornadoes are rare in Japan, due to the fact the nation is surrounded by ocean, which tends to stabilize the air. Between 1961 - 2010, an average of 15 tornadoes per year hit Japan, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Only four F-3 tornadoes have hit Japan. The most recent F-3 hit on November 7, 2006, in the Wakasa area of Saroma, Hokkaido. Nine people died and 26 were injured. Over 30 buildings, including a dwelling, warehouses and temporary structures were damaged or destroyed. No violent F-4 or F-5 tornadoes have been recorded in Japan, according the Japan Meteorological Agency, though other sources list a December, 1990 tornado as having been an F-4. Wunderground's weather historian Christopher C. Burt has more details in his latest post, Deadliest Tornadoes. Only one F-2 tornado hit Japan in both 2010 and 2011. A 1997 study published in the Journal of Climate found that Japanese tornadoes occurred most frequently in September and least frequently in March, and that typhoons were responsible for about 20% of all the tornadoes. A list of Asian tornado outbreaks maintained at Wikipedia lists the deadliest Japanese tornado as one on 6 September, 1881, which killed 16 people.
Figure 1. Distribution of tornadoes in Japan, 1961 - 2010. Image credit: Japan Meteorological Agency.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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Are you near Austin or San Antonio or further south?
Buckle up, rains are coming for ya
He's in Buda, just south of Austin
Hopefully that holds itself together to make it into SE Texas. I am thinking it will!
Are you well south of San Antonio? Looks as if this is building south and eastward.
Thinking a Meso will push past San Antonio, and drive a line of storms eastward towards the coast later today/evening. Skies are sunny here in SE TX, atmosphere will be destabilizing and heating of day, and gulf inflow will fuel this system as it moves eastbound. Expect a gigantic line of storms on radar late today.
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Falling apart
Check post 510
The northern area is weakening probably due to a lack of instability, but I imagine that will change by later this afternoon.
If we can keep it clear till 1-2PM, watch out, that line getting ready to be south of San Antonio is gonna explode and plow all the way to the coast
Don't know if it'll make it this far over. But clear skies we got. :)
I agree
Yeah, Texas! Bring on the rain. We love El Nino, except for the whole reduction of tropical activity thing.
Yeah I know it's great I picked up 3.54" yesterday here north of Orlando and storm clouds are starting to build again. Our only dry days over the next 14 are only Friday & Saturday as the TX system moves into FL Sunday afternoon thru next week so those 3" to 5" should expand further east as the system gets into HPC's 5 day timeframe.
National Weather Service New Orleans la
859 am CDT Tuesday may 8 2012
Sounding discussion...
no problems with the flight this morning. Sounding is relatively
drier than yesterday with p.W. Down to 1.35 inches. Moderately
moist up to 700mb then dry above 700mb conducive for wet
microbursts once a convective process gets underway. North winds
near the surface switches to southerly around 2800ft...essentially
cloud base level...easterly 6800-11kft...then west-northwest aloft. This
wind profile...though non-descript looking at first...is favorable
for downburst as initial convection GOES essentially vertical
before becoming influenced by anvil blow-off towards the southeast
over time this afternoon. Low level north flow will enhance
convergence once lake and sea breezes become established.
Ran chap program for convective integrity using maximum surface based
lift of 344k with a forecast maximum temperature of 89f yields Ricks
index 124...marginally severe with a 95% pop...precipitation
4... 7.85" for temperatures below 74f...probability severe
14%...gust potential 45kt/52 miles per hour...pea hail with a 65
vil...quarter hail at 71 vil...waterspout potential. These values
seem reasonable given the syoptic situation and will be the basis
for any advisory and warning issuances today. 24/rr
Long Term NOLA
Heading into tonight and tomorrow...the chance for more significant thunderstorm activity will go up dramatically...as a strong long wave trough axis and associated cold front move into the region.
A broad area of increased Omega values aloft in
advance of the approaching trough axis should support continued shower activity through the overnight hours. Heading into tomorrow...the surface front will begin to pull through the region. Ample deep layer moisture and noted by precipitable water values of around
1.75 inches and a continued unstable airmass along with weak shear values will allow for deep and slow moving convective cells to impact the region.
The biggest threat from any thunderstorm activity on Wednesday will be the potential for some locally heavy
rainfall which could lead to flooding issues. The cold front and associated heavy rain threat will finally begin to pull to the east by late Wednesday night.
A much drier airmass will quickly advect in behind the passing front and upper level trough axis for Thursday and Thursday night.
Some weak cold air advection will also take hold...allowing temperatures to fall back to more normal readings for this time of
year on Thursday.
There was a funnel in West Boca last evening. I saw it on the news.
It's been raining steadily, and gently, in Kerr County (60 mile NW of San Antonio) all morning. Looks like it might continue most of the day. We need to get the aquifers replenished after what the drought did to us last year.
I regret not having weeded the garden or mowed the lawn yesterday before this all began.
The guy is enthusiastic about the weather. Give him a break. At least he's not constantly talking about off-topic things such as religion where Admin has to step in and axe it. I just don't see any reason to attack the guy over talking about weather. Sorry if it seems this came out of nowhere. You aren't the first to bash him for it and I finally got annoyed. If you don't like his posts, you can always ignore. Just saying. :-)
Yeah, that's' got to be frustrating. I feel your pain. The entire central part of our state nearly picked up 2 inches in the last week except for me, our county was about the only one on the map that stayed dry. That complex to your southwest will be key for you today. It's going to take a while before it gets into Austin if it does, if it can clear out any where your at, it will be a big bonus to seeing something later.
and that is a good thing. :)
Similar to how when it rains, it is wet outside.
When it's wet, it floods
I think it's the same person and I agree it's getting old already.
A
LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO THE EASTERN GULF OF MEXICO ON
MONDAY AND WILL LIKELY AFFECT THE REGION EARLY NEXT WEEK AS IT
APPEARS TO TRANSITION TO A POSITION OFF THE SOUTHEAST COAST WITHIN
AN AREA OF INCREASED BAROCLINICITY.
That's what I was mentioning in an earlier post as a low (non-tropical) is forecast to slide across the Gulf and then across N FL and up the eastern seaboard. Looks as if a very wet pattern will move in again across the SE US late Sunday into Monday.
You can see the track of the is low on the GFS 8 day precip accum.
While there are some things that some bloggers do that irritate me, calling them out and needling them constantly isn't the way to get things done. All it does is make you look like a bully, and get you ignored. If you have a problem with a person, talk to them about it via WUmail.
...."Do you remember, when we met?,...."
Uploaded by: jtrainman — Tuesday May 1, 2012 — Newport News, VA
www.wunderground.com/worldview
Very similar to what happened in Jamaica. The present government, the opposition at the time, won 42 of the 63 seats in parliment
Viewing: 501 - 551
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