Nov 17, 2013 Toledo area weather notes

11:54 a.m. - Airport run today. Left home at 9:25 a.m. Shopped at The Andersons on way home. Arrived home at 11:40 a.m. This morning has been partly to mostly sunny, breezy, occasional light rain. All cloud types at all heights. Temps around 60 degrees.

11:56 a.m. - Currently, the only issues up for Lucas County are a Wind Advisory. A High Wind Warning exists for Fulton and Henry counties from 1:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. A High Wind Warning exists for Lenawee and Monroe counties from 5:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. A Tornado Watch exists for Lenawee, Monroe, Fulton, and Henry counties until 8:00 p.m.

12:03 p.m. - JustaSooner comment at TT made at 9:38 a.m. today: "First wave of storms will be in the I-75 Corridor by 4PM. Main squall line will be moving through 7-8PM."

12:04 p.m. - The Tornado Watch for areas west and north of Toledo is a PDS watch - Particularly Dangerous Situation. It's a rare type of tornado watch issued by the SPC. http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/watch/ww0562.html

12:11 p.m. Another JustaSooner comment from earlier today: "Storm motions today are looking to be as expected. Moving generally NE at 55 mph." posted by JustaSooner on Nov 17, 2013 at 09:52:46 am

12:12 p.m. Culling more comments from the TT thread: "First tornado warning of the day to the east of Rockford, IL." - posted by JustaSooner on Nov 17, 2013 at 10:37:29 am

12:14 p.m. - For the severe storms in Illinois this morning, it's possible that the winds aloft are so strong that the winds are shearing the storms and preventing the storms from getting stronger.

12:16 p.m. - I want to clean the first story gutters of the oak leaves that have recently fallen. It's dry out right now. The Noon-time radar shows the closest strong storms in northeast Illinois.

1:34 p.m. - Ravens at Bears game has just now been suspended because of severe weather approaching Chicago. For some moronic reason, the CBS channel is not broadcasting the Browns-Bengals game. I'm guessing it's an asinine NFL rule about a team within the Lions division playing on the AFC channel. But I thought that the local CBS channel was the Browns station.

1:37 p.m. - Players leaving the field in Chicago. Fans instructed to seek shelter. Really dark there for 12:37 p.m. CST. TV crew is showing the sky. Very fast moving clouds. Low, ugly-looking clouds. Maybe they should switch to the Browns game.

1:40 p.m. - so the game switched back to studio. And now they switched to the Jets-Bills game!??? WTF??

1:48 p.m. - The 1:00 p.m. Toledo area airport temps were in the mid 60s. Winds were South at 18 to 28 mph with gusts to 31 to 39 mph. Sky is variable. The sun pops out once in a while, but it's mostly cloudy. Feels like a late March or early April spring day.

1:51 p.m. - Tornado warning for Chicago area.

1:56 p.m. - Tornado warning now for a portion of northwest Indiana. Storms are rapidly moving. Numerous tornado warnings stretch the entire north-south length of Illinois. At least 16 Illinois counties are completely or partially under a tornado warning. And another 16 Illinois counties are completely or partially under a severe thunderstorm warning. Wow. It's definitely a tornado outbreak in Illinois. If the storms are supercells, then Indiana will get walloped too.

2:00 p.m. The wind gusts around our home are howling through the leafless oak trees. Sky is cloudy. A small, isolated cell exists in extreme northwest Ohio. Otherwise, the main line of severe weather is in eastern Illinois near the the border with Indiana.

2:08 p.m. I'm listening to Browns game on AM 850. Occasional static can be heard on the radio. Static began a short while ago.

2:28 p.m. South Bend area under a severe thunderstorm warning. Tornado warnings exist along central part of the border of IL-IN. The northern cells are producing severe thunderstorm warnings now and not tornado warnings like in northern IL.

2:30 p.m. Cells are moving hard to the northeast. The small cell that was in Williams County, Ohio is now located in the Adrian, Michigan area.

2:32 p.m. It appears that southern Michigan and northern Indiana will get hit hard by severe thunderstorms later this afternoon.

2:38 p.m. Sky is cloudy with low clouds and low light in the Toledo area. More like an overcast. Nothing ominous. Storms are well west of Ohio still. The wind does not seem as strong as around 2:00 p.m.

2:00 p.m. Toledo Express temp was 65 degrees.

2:43 p.m. The cells along the IL-IN border from the central part of the border to southern IL are more isolated, and that's where the tornado warnings are up now. Only severe thunderstorm warnings are up now for northern IN and northeast IL.

2:46 p.m. If the cells hold together, then I think the ones currently along the middle of the IL-IN border will move northeast and impact the Toledo area. Right now, these cells are causing tornado warnings in west central IN.

2:49 p.m. A lot of tornado warnings are now up for western IN along the IL border and from the middle of the border south to near the Ohio River.

2:55 p.m. More tornado warnings now in the northern half of IN.

2:56 p.m. Small cell in northeast IN well ahead of the main line. Will it develop into something?

2:58 p.m. A couple tornado warnings in west central Michigan.

3:10 p.m. Toledo Express Airport conditions at 2:52 p.m.: Mostly Cloudy, 66 degrees, S 20 mph - Gust 30 mph, dew point temp is 57.

3:11 p.m. Even more tornado warnings have been issued in the northern half of Indiana. Storms must be cycling back up.

3:26 p.m. - Numerous tornado warned counties or partial counties in northern half of Indiana now. Maybe the cells are cycling up and down. They seemed weaker when they first entered Indiana. Now they are strong again. Maybe they will cycle back down as then move into northeast IN, southern MI, and northwest OH. If any energy is left, then maybe the storms will cycle back up east and south of Toledo, say Findlay to Cleveland.

3:31 p.m. - Small cell in extreme northwest Ohio, located in Paulding County. It's isolated, but small. Contains some mod-hvy rain. Nothing warned with it.

3:33 p.m. - new mesoscale discussion concerns all of Ohio, basically east of I-75, the areas not under a tornado watch. A tornado watch is likely.

3:35 p.m. - so I'm expecting the weather radio alarm to go off soon, indicating the tornado watch for counties east of Lucas County. It will probably include Lucas County too. Will it be a PDS = Particularly Dangerous Situation tornado watch like the current one issued for southern Michigan, extreme western Ohio, and most of Indiana?

3:48 p.m. - Howling, growling wind gust right now around home.

3:53 p.m. More severe thunderstorm warnings are replacing the tornado warnings in northern Indiana. Could be that the cells are cycling down again. If so, will they cycle back up at some point in Ohio?

4:06 p.m. - Now it's only severe thunderstorm warnings in northeast Indiana. Storms weakening or cycling down. Kind of expected.

4:12 p.m. - Severe Thunderstorm Warnings for northwest Ohio counties: Defiance, Paulding, and Van Wert.

4:13 p.m. - Severe thunderstorm warnings for southern MI, northern IN, and extreme northwest OH. Tornado warnings still issued for central IN and southern IN.

4:21 p.m. The number of warnings in northeast IN continue to decrease. The line must be weakening. But some small, scattered, isolated cells are forming in the Toledo area.

4:23 p.m. - Interesting that no tornado watch was issued for areas east of I-75. Wait. There's the alarm. Yep. Tornado watch issued for the areas east of Toledo.

4:37 p.m. - pea-sized hail falling in west toledo now along with heavy rain.

4:41 p.m. - hail only lasted a minute or two. rain intensity has decreased too. Now only light rain.

4:44 p.m. - West Ohio counties under a tornado warning: Paulding, Van Wert, Putnam, and Allen.

4:48 p.m. - A second small cell briefly dropped some mod-hvy rain.

4:50 p.m. - I emptied rain gauge and took backyard air temp. Gauge contained 0.30 in of rain. That included rain from this morning and whenever. It probably rained 0.10 this afternoon. The air temp was 62 degrees. Dark out.

4:52 p.m. the cell(s) that caused the tornado warned counties in western ohio are moving northeast and may impact Wood, Seneca, and Ottawa counties later.

5:02 p.m. mod-hvy rain falling. now maybe hvy rain. yep, heavy rain falling at least.

5:03 p.m. The immediate Toledo area should be concerned about the cell(s) that have caused the tornado warnings in western Ohio.

5:03 p.m. cont - weather radio alarm sounding ... Cle - svr tstorm warning for Hancock, Lucas, and Wood counties.

5:09 p.m. - weather alarm sounds - n. in nws - tornado warning for parts of defiance, henry, and putnum counties.

5:10 p.m. - weather alarm sounds - should be busy for a while this evening between the 3 nws offices that cover the toledo area. this severe thunderstorm warning was issued by the pontiac, mi office for southern michigan counties.

5:20 p.m. - another heavy rain cell in west toledo.

5:22 p.m. - weather alarm sounding ... - nws cle - tornado warning for wood county. That's the cell that tornado-warned in western ohio near the IN border. This cell may impact Seneca and/or Ottawa counties too.

5:24 p.m. - weather alarm sounding again ... - det/pontiac - severe thunderstorm warning for monroe county.

5:28 p.m. the cell that's causing the tornado warnings may move northeast through the northern half of wood county, sort of along the maumee river. the top part of the cell will move through lucas county along the river. the stronger part of the cell will move through lucas county.

5:37 p.m. lights dimmed briefly and the weather radio alarm is sounding ... lucas county - tornado warning for eastern lucas county.

5:39 p.m. I can barely hear the siren. I have weather radio up pretty good and the tv on wtol. The siren is sounding though. It's raining pretty good.

5:40 p.m. forward speed of some storms in northwest ohio was 75 mph. the current cell moving along the maumee river is moving at 60 mph. does the slowing forward motion indicate anything, such as weakening?

5:41 p.m. I think siren is still sounding. yep. the siren is just now winding down.

5:42 p.m. it seems the lights are dimming slightly a couple more times.

5:42 p.m. cont - weather radio alarm is sounding again ... cle ... severe thunderstorm warning for ottawa and sandusky counties.

5:44 p.m. - wtol broadcast - 64 mph wind gust reported in haskin, ohio earlier. some structural damage in sylvania.

5:51 p.m. the concerned cell is now located in eastern lucas county and western ottawa county.

5:54 p.m. weather radio alarm sounding ... cle - severe thunderstorm warning for seneca county.

5:58 p.m. weather radio alarm sounding ... cle ... severe thunderstorm warning for hancock county.

6:00 p.m. weather radio alarm sounding ... det/pontiac ... severe thunderstorm warning for parts of monroe county.

6:01. p.m. cell is moving through hancock county.

6:02 p.m. the tornado warning for eastern lucas county was allowed to expire at 6:00 p.m. the cell is now out in the magee marsh and oak harbor areas.

6:09 p.m. storms/cells in the northwest ohio area have weakened considerably recently. strong storms still exist from fidlay to cincinnati.

6:14 p.m. another area of at least heavy rain cells exists in southeast wisconsin and northern illinois. this large area of rain appears to be moving east, and it may stay mostly north of toledo. michigan may get a good bit of rain later.

6:30 p.m. weather radio alarm sounding - severe thunderstorm warning for parts of erie and sandusky counties.

7:09 p.m. severe thunderstorm warnings extend from the lakeshore in north central ohio all the way to cincinnati. one tornado warning, located in southwest ohio. around 30 ohio counties are completely or partially under a severe thunderstorm warning.

7:54 p.m. winds have increased outside recently. big gust just now. lights went off and on quickly. Much more than the dimming earlier today.

8:00 p.m. lights dimming again. i've got small flashlight nearby.

8:15 p.m. winds are howling. big gusts. can hear small debris falling and hitting the house. biggest winds of the day and prob biggest winds of the fall.

8:37 p.m. sky looked to be mostly clear. winds still howling.

9:19 p.m. Toledo area temps are still in the mid 50s. Winds are gusting to at least 35 mph.

10:02 p.m. all storms are now out of Ohio. The lines are located in western PA and western WV.

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