November Severe Weather Outbreaks

Some severe weather outbreaks have occurred in November recently.  The Mid-Atlantic Region could actually use some rain as November has had a very dry first half of the month.  Rain without severe weather would be particularly beneficial.

October 31 - November 1, 2013:

A two-day severe weather outbreak produced a total of 355 reported cases.  "Severe weather" is a thunderstorm that produces any of the following: 1" hail, wind gusts of 58 mph/+ or a tornado.  The strongest thunderstorms, known as “supercells,” often possess more than one type of severe weather.  Fortunately, no fatalities were reported, but over 40 tornadoes touched down from Louisiana to Ohio during this outbreak.

November 16, 2010:

This event was concentrated on the east coast from South Carolina to New York.  The dominant type of severe weather on this day were severe wind gusts.  There was, however, a confirmed EF-1 tornado in Baltimore, Maryland.  Three injuries were reported from the tornado, which had wind speeds between 86-110 mph. 

The Fujita Scale, originally created in the 1970s, was updated and became the "Enhanced Fujita Scale" or “EF Scale” starting in 2007.  The National Weather Service also changed the criteria for severe hail in January 2010.  Prior to this, hail 0.75"/+ (penny-sized) in diameter was considered severe.  However, in order to reduce confusion and the number of severe thunderstorm warnings, the criteria for severe hail was raised to 1”/+ (quarter-sized). 

November 14-16, 2006:

There were over 200 reported cases of severe weather, including 40 tornadoes from November 14 - 16.  The impact ranged from Louisiana to upstate New York.  Although 168 of the 217 severe weather reports were for wind, one of the tornadoes was especially deadly.  On November 15, the town of Riegelwood, North Carolina suffered eight fatalities during a tornado that destroyed several homes.

November 5-6, 2005:

Similar to the November 2010 outbreak, the overwhelming majority of severe weather reports during this outbreak were for high winds.  This event covered a large area from Arkansas to New York.  On November 5, a killer tornado in the town of Evansville, Indiana claimed 22 lives and caused over 200 injuries.  It was rated an F3 tornado on the original Fujita Scale with estimated wind speeds of 158-206 mph.