The Nation's Weather

National Weather Summary for Tuesday, July 29, 2008

NATIONAL WEATHER SUMMARY:

In the East, scattered showers and thunderstorms developed once again during the afternoon and evening across the eastern Tennessee Valley, the Gulf Coast, and much of the Southeast. A complex of strong to severe storms pushed across eastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee, and into the southern Appalachians during the afternoon and early evening. The main impacts were damaging wind gusts, although a couple isolated hail reports were embedded. Several Trees and limbs were blown down across these places. Multiple trees were blown down in Providence, Kentucky. Isolated strong storms occurred across South Carolina and southern Georgia during the late afternoon. Trees were blown down by gusty winds and shingles were blown off a roof near Lexington, South Carolina. To the north, widely scattered showers and thunderstorms pushed across northern New York and much of New England during the afternoon and evening. A few isolated storms became severe in this region. Penny sized hail fell in Victory, New York and golf ball sized hail occurred in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Elsewhere, dry weather occurred across the northern Ohio Valley and the western Great Lakes.

In the central United States, the remnants of Hurricane Dolly pushed out into the central and southern High Plains. This brought muggy weather, along with scattered showers and thunderstorms. The main impact was locally heavy rainfall, although a few severe storms developed. Rainfall totals in excess of 1 to 2 inches occurred across far eastern portions of Colorado with storms that pushed through in the evening hours. Winds gusted to 70 miles-per-hour just east of Amarillo, Texas during the afternoon. Straight line winds and large hail combined to cause extensive damage to outbuildings on a couple of homesteads near Caldwell, Kansas. Meanwhile, showers and thunderstorms developed across the eastern Dakotas during the late afternoon and evening hours. A few of these storms were strong to severe. One storm produced a tornado estimated to be 300 feet wide in a rural area near Hamill, South Dakota. Golf Ball sized hail fell near Dupree, South Dakota. Also, wind gusts of up to 60 miles-per-hour ripped a door off of a shed west of Platte, South Dakota. Finally, very hot weather occurred across much of Oklahoma and eastern Texas. Wichita Falls, Texas saw the mercury soar to 110 degrees, besting the old record of 109 degrees, set back in 1946. This also marked the warmest day in Wichita Falls since August 7, 2003.

In the West, widely scattered showers and thunderstorms developed across the eastern Great Basin, along with the central and southern Rockies. The coverage was far less than in recent days as most of the moisture has departed into the Plains. Nonetheless, locally heavy rainfall led to isolated areas of flash flooding across portions of the southern Rockies. To the west, warm and dry weather was common across the Desert Southwest, the western Great Basin, the northern Rockies, and California.

WEATHER EXTREMES FOR YESTERDAY:

HIGHEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)............119 Death Valley, CA

HIGHEST HEAT INDEX (DEGREES F).............119 Death Valley, CA

LOWEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)..............34 Truckee, CA

LOWEST WIND CHILL (DEGREES F)...............13 Hoopa, CA

HIGHEST WIND GUST (MPH).....................70 Hamill, SD

HIGHEST PRECIPITATION (INCHES)............2.56 Savannah, GA

In 1905, heavy rain in southwestern Connecticut caused a dam break. The resulting flood caused a quarter of a million dollars in damage in Bridgeport, Connecticut. As much as eleven inches of rain fell prior to the flood.

In 1981, fifty cattle, each weighing 800 pounds, were killed by lightning near Vance, Alabama. The lightning struck a tree and spread along the ground, killing all the cattle.

In 1987, thunderstorms produced severe weather from Minnesota to Indiana. A thunderstorm in Janesville, Wisconsin produced wind gusts to 104 miles-per-hour, which flipped over two airplanes and blew another plane 300 feet down the runway.

DTN-Meteorlogix/N Hamblin

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