The forecast path of the center of Hilary has shifted a bit to the west. This increases the threat to the Southland, especially in terms of flooding. Rainfall Note the heavy rains are forecast for Los Angeles County. Serious flash flooding may result. Because the forecast path has shifted to the west, that increases the threat of serious flooding in Los Angeles County north into Yosemite and the southern Sierra. It lessens the threat in Utah and western Arizona. While the threat of widespread flooding in Utah and Arizona lessens, note that some thunderstorms with localized heavy rain show up on the map. In Nevada, the more western path increases the risk of serious flooding around Mt Charleston and into the central part of the state. Here is the updated (9am PDT) flash flood risk map. Wind There are already about 40,000 people without power in California, mostly in the center of the state. The maps above are the peak gusts forecasted with the storm. The highest winds, in general,
hey mike,
ReplyDeletethanks for writing this blog! i read it often and enjoy your insightful commentary.
however, i wanted to make a comment regarding the post you made a couple days ago about storm chaser traffic. i think the recent events in the oklahoma city area show the dangers of having too many storm chasers out there, especially if the streets are already congested due to rush hour traffic. it seems to me like the added traffic from a glut of storm chasers can clog up roads and make it harder for people to reach safety when a storm is approaching.
it's true that the situation yesterday was exacerbated by people trying to outrun the storms instead of staying where they were and taking cover. however, it's also fair to ask whether storm chaser traffic contributed to the congestion, especially when at least seven of the nine fatalities occurred on the roads.
i understand that many storm chasers are collecting valuable data for scientific research and warning people about developing storms. but i also have a hunch that a number of them are chasing storms just in order to capture video and/or seek thrills. in my opinion, the thrill-seekers, video chasers and attention seekers should stay home.
Certainly a fair comment. As I understand it, there were three chaser cars hit by the tornado. Two were on uncongested rural roads. The third (TWC) was on I-40 and was, apparently, speeding toward the tornado. The road did not appear congested but there were people pulled to the side.
ReplyDeleteIf you go back and read my original post plus comments: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2013/05/more-storm-chase-silliness.html
You see that I call out media chasers as the worst offenders. Two of the three were media chasers yesterday.
I'm not saying there aren't storm chasers behaving badly. There are sometimes. But, that wasn't the case May 19 near Clearwater and the idea that a drive should never be "impeded" is nonsense.
There are a LOT of storm chasers soul-searching today -- as well they should.