Second major severe weather and tornado outbreak of 2007...

...developed on Wednesday, March 28 over portions of the Texas/Oklahoma panhandles, western Kansas and Nebraska, and eastern Colorado. Major March outbreaks are not unheard of (a la March 1 this year, March 12 last year, March 27, 1994 and March 13, 1990 to name a few) but what was unusual was for it to take place so far west. The other outbreaks listed all happened in either the Southeast, the Mississippi Valley, or the eastern Plains.

Wednesday marked the first highly sucessful chase day for a lot of Plains chasers, and unfortunately resulted in four deaths, numerous injuries and quite a bit of property damage. At least two tornadoes have been rated EF3, and that number will probably grow. However, it wasn't as bad as it could have been due to the relatively sparse population of the region. There were many reports of large tornadoes in open country that would have caused major disasters had they hit towns or cities.

NWS Surveys and Write-Ups
Pueblo, CO
Dodge City, KS
Goodland, KS
North Platte, NE (1)
North Platte, NE (2)
Amarillo, TX
Lubbock, TX

Storm Chaser Reports
Scott Blair
Jason Boggs
Simon Brewer
Jason Brock
Verne Carlson
Brian Emfinger
George Flickinger
J.R. Hehnly
Mike Hollingshead
Caleb Kimbrough
Amos Magliocco
Gene Moore
Eric Nguyen
Michael O'Keeffe
Russel Parsons
Putnam Reiter
Brett Roberts
Chris Rozoff
Dean Schoeneck
Jeff Snyder
Bill Tabor
Skip Talbot
Justin Walker
Dustin Wilcox

A smaller outbreak hit eastern New Mexico on March 23, and isolated tornadoes occurred on the days preceding and following March 28. Wisconsin got its first tornadoes of the year today (March 31) in the far southwestern part of the state. Links related to those events coming later...

The Winter That "Roared"

Here it is March 7, and 2007 has already seen nine tornadoes rated F3 (or EF3, with the transition to the new, improved "Enhanced Fujita Scale" on February 1) and one rated EF4. More than 40 people have been killed by these tornadoes. And we thought 2006 got off to a busy start! Of course, we all know what happened then. The active pattern dried up just in time for the start of most chaser's Plains vacations.

Here are the NWS write-ups and chaser accounts on this years most significant tornado events thus far:

January 04:
Lake Charles, LA

January 07:
Birmingham, AL
Peachtree City, GA

February 02:
Melbourne, FL

February 13:
Birmingham, AL
New Orleans, LA

February 23:
Chase Report by Verne Carlson
Chase Report by Brian Emfinger
Chase Report by Roger Hill
Chase Report by Tony Laubach
Dodge City, KS

February 24:
Little Rock, AR
Shreveport, LA
Kansas City, MO
Jackson, MS

February 28:
Chase Report by Andrew Fischer
Chase Report by Michael O' Keeffe
Chase Report by Reed Timmer
Topeka, KS
Wichita, KS
Kansas City, MO (1)
Kansas City, MO (2)

March 01: (high risk day)
Birmingham, AL
Mobile, AL
Tallahassee, FL
Peachtree City, GA
Lincoln, IL
Paducah, KY
Springfield, MO
Columbia, SC

Phoenix Connexion 04-03

This week, Ben Krumholtz, regular co-host (with Tim Meylander) of Channel 20's sports talk show "On The Ball" filled in for Josh Brewer (who had taken an "early spring break") on the PC sports segment.

In this week's "Maintenance Tip of The Week", Dan (left) saved Brian's walls from certain destruction, as he stopped him from using either nails, or residue-leaving tape to hang his picture. Students are to always use tacks or poster putty.

This edition of "Phoenix Connexion" introduced a new segment, "Dining in Green Bay", to explore potential off-campus dining options for students. This week, Kristen and some guy I don't know went to Brett Favre's Steakhouse, interviewed the manager, got a tour of the restaurant and sampled the food.

Paul Harris, owner of Harris' Karate Academy, put on a self-defense seminar at UWGB. In the second screenshot, he demonstrates on a quite levelheaded assistant.

The studio guest was Sgt. Jeff Gros of the campus Public Safety department, who gave some tips on how students can stay safe over spring break.

Coming next week: A tour of the almost-complete Kress Center (new athletic facility at UWGB) and an interview (conducted and filmed by me!) with Jeff Last, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Green Bay.

First Severe Weather Events of 2007

The 2007 severe weather season is well and truly under way with the first high risk of the year issued by the Storm Prediction Center earlier today. It's already been a rough start to the year with approximately 30 fatalities caused by tornadoes to date, mostly in the Gulf Coast states. The synoptic storms that are producing these severe storms are also producing wintry weather further north. This was the scene in Green Bay last Sunday:















We are looking at more of the same overnight, a winter storm warning is in effect with around 7" of heavy wet snow expected when all is said and done. My high risk archive has been updated to reflect today's events, and page-jump links are being added to make navigation easier.

Phoenix Connexion 04_02

Here are a few screenshots from this semester's second episode of "Phoenix Connexion", which premiered this past Tuesday. It's the second episode of the fourth semester it has been on Channel 20, hence the production code 04_02.















Drew & Kristen introduce this episode.
















A scene from the intro video that plays during the beginning of every PC episode, a black-and-white shot of the entrance to UWGB.















Resident Assisstant Brian introduces the "Maintenance Tip of The Week".















This week it was "Better Love Your Room", and instructed students to always clean up spills and how to do it.

















The guest this week was Hannah Johnson, the chief editor of the campus newspaper, "The Fourth Estate".
















Credits got to roll again...