Stormy Day Ahead From Plains To Southeast
Summer storms slammed several states again Tuesday, with almost 100 reports of large hail and damaging winds sent to the National Weather Service (NWS) from more than a dozen states.
A wind gust of 87 mph a few miles outside of Bismarck, North Dakota blew a camper across a driveway, rolled a trailer into a ditch, and scattered other debris throughout the area.
Barns were blown apart near Turtle Lake, North Dakota, the pieces scattered „a good distance away” from their original location, according to the NWS report.
Winds up to 60 mph were recorded in other states, knocking down trees and power lines which damaged homes and cut off electricity.
Hail the size of ping pong balls was reported near San Angelo, Texas.
Today’s storms could be almost as rough in some spots, but severe weather won’t be as widespread. Still, truckers will have to be on their toes, especially if they’re hauling loads through the Plains and Southeast.
A slow-moving cold front in the Plains and a stationary front stretching across the Tennessee and middle Mississippi valleys are the primary features that will trigger additional storms, as well as heavy rainfall and flooding.
Severe storms today could hit anywhere across a large region, from Nebraska and Iowa all the way to Alabama. However, they will likely be isolated, meaning drivers may have dozens or hundreds of miles between severe storms where the weather would be relatively quiet. But where the worst storms do strike, conditions could be nasty for a while.
Some of the cities at risk will be Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska; Des Moines, Iowa; Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Paducah, Kentucky; Memphis, Jackson, and Nashville, Tennessee; Tupelo, Mississippi; as well as Huntsville and Birmingham, Alabama.
The main threats will be dangerous wind gusts and large hail. But periods of torrential rainfall will reduce visibility in some areas, leading to flash flooding and potential road or ramp closures.
The NWS issued warnings Tuesday in some of these areas as flash flooding became imminent, or after it received reports of the flooding. Flash flood watches — a „watch” means hazardous weather is possible — will remain posted today from northeastern Missouri to the St. Louis metropolitan area, central and southern Illinois, and western Kentucky. Another 1 to 2 inches of rainfall may accumulate in the rain gauges there.
Isolated severe thunderstorms may also pop up in the Northern Rockies, from eastern Idaho into Montana, in addition to portions of the mid-Atlantic.
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Cyclone kills 9, causes floods and damage in southern Brazil
RÍO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A cyclone has hit the southern region of Brazil, killing nine people and causing floods.
The nine died Tuesday in the state of Santa Catarina, while two people were missing, according to civil defense officials. Three of the deaths occurred in Tijucas, a coastal city on the outskirts of Florianópolis, capital of Santa Catarina. Xanxerê and Chapecó, two cities in the west of the state, were the most affected by damage after rain and strong winds.
In Rio Grande do Sul, another affected state, there were more than 1,100 evacuees.
The storm knocked down trees and power poles, and caused landslides. In Santa Catarina, more than 700 thousand people were without electricity on Wednesday morning.
Authorities warned that strong winds will persist on Wednesday and said flooding could occur in southern coastal regions.
NASA Awards NOAA’s Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) Solar Wind Plasma Sensor (SWiPS)
PR Newswire
GREENBELT, Md., July 1, 2020
GREENBELT, Md., July 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — On behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA has awarded the Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) Solar Wind Plasma Sensor (SWiPS) contract to South West Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, Texas.
This is a cost plus fixed-fee contract with a total value of $15,579,930. The performance period begins on July 1 and runs for 76 months. The work will be performed at SwRI’s facility in San Antonio, Texas.
The principal purpose of this requirement within the Space Weather Follow On (SWFO) Project is to design, analyze, develop, fabricate, integrate, test, calibrate, evaluate, and support launch and on-orbit check-out of the Solar Wind Plasma Sensor (SWiPS) instrument as part of the SWFO-L1 Observatory. SWFO-L1 will provide NOAA with the continuity of solar wind data and coronal mass ejection imagery, the National Weather Service’s highest priority for space weather observations.
The SWFO-L1 satellite, which is planned to launch in 2024 as a rideshare with the NASA Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, will collect upstream solar wind data and coronal imagery to support NOAA’s mission to monitor and forecast space weather events.
NOAA is responsible for the Space Weather Follow-On project. NASA is the program’s flight system procurement agent, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is the lead for this acquisition.
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov
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SOURCE NASA
