Midwest under high storm threat; tornado hits Ill.

CHICAGO (AP) — Intense thunderstorms and tornados swept across a number of Midwestern states Sunday, and officials were raising the alarm to warn people — including fans heading to some NFL games — might be caught off guard by such severe weather at this time of year.

The National Weather Service confirmed tornados have touched down in several Illinois communities by early afternoon. Meanwhile in Chicago, fans at Soldier Field watching the Chicago Bears host the Baltimore Ravens were cleared from the stands and players and coaches left the field around 12:30 p.m. as wind and rain moved in.

“Our primary message is this is a dangerous weathers system that has the potential to be extremely deadly and destructive,” said Laura Furgione, deputy director of the National Weather Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Get ready now.”

Weather service officials confirmed that a tornado touched down just before 11 a.m. near the central Illinois community of East Peoria, but authorities did not immediately have damage or injury reports. Weather officials said it was moving northeast about 60 mph; East Peoria is about 150 miles southwest of Chicago.

“This is a very dangerous situation,” said Russell Schneider, director of the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center. “Approximately 53 million in 10 states are at significant risk for thunderstorms and tornados.”

Schneider noted that the storms are moving at 60 mph, which he said will not give people enough time to seek shelter if they’re relying on watching the sky alone.

The potential severity of the storm this late in the season also carries the risk of surprise.

“People can fall into complacency because they don’t see severe weather and tornados, but we do stress that they should keep a vigilant eye on the weather and have a means to hear a tornado warning because things can change very quickly,” said Matt Friedlein, a weather service meteorologist.

According to agency officials, parts of Illinois, Indiana, southern Michigan and western Ohio are at the greatest risk of seeing tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds throughout the day Sunday. Strong winds and atmospheric instability were expected to sweep across the central Plains during the day before pushing into the mid-Atlantic states and northeast by evening. Many of the storms were expected to become supercells, with the potential to produce tornadoes, large hail and destructive winds.

In Chicago, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications issued a warning to fans attending making their way to Soldier Field to watch the Bears-Ravens game. It urged fans “to take extra precautions and … appropriate measures to ensure their personal safety.”

And in McHenry County, northwest of Chicago, funnel clouds were spotted late Sunday morning, dropping out of the clouds and then retreating again, said Bob Ellsworth, the assistant director of the county’s emergency management agency. Ellsworth added that none had touched the ground or caused any damage.

Around the same time, the weather service issued a tornado warning for parts of Kenosha, Racine and Walworth counties in Wisconsin.

Friedlein said that such strong storms are rare this late in the year because there usually isn’t enough heat from the sun to sustain the thunderstorms. But he said temperatures Sunday are expected to reach into the 60s and 70s, which he said is warm enough to help produce severe weather when it is coupled with winds, which are typically stronger this time of year than in the summer.

“You don’t need temperatures in the 80s and 90s to produce severe weather (because) the strong winds compensate for the lack of heating,” he said. “That sets the stage for what we call wind shear, which may produce tornadoes.”

He also said that the tornadoes this time a year happen more often than people might realize, pointing to a twister that hit the Rockford, Ill., area in November 2010.

Friedlein said that the storm will move across northern Illinois from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., meaning Chicago could see the brunt of it about the time the Bears-Ravens gets underway.

NFL games in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh also could be affected by the rough weather.

___

Associated Press writer Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.

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Midwest under high storm threat; tornado hits Ill.

Tornado Tech: How Drones Can Help With Twister Science

Tornado researchers want to use small drones, like this one called the Noctura, to study the storms.

Andy Arena/Oklahoma State University

Oklahoma was hit particularly hard by two massive outbreaks this year in what’s been another deadly season of tornadoes in the U.S. Despite technology and forecasting improvements, scientists still have plenty to learn about how and why tornadoes form.

Currently, one of the best ways for researchers to understand how tornadoes form is to chase them. So off they go with mobile science laboratories, rushing toward storms armed with research equipment and weather-sensing probes.

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It’s dangerous work. Three chasers died in one of Oklahoma’s May tornadoes because the storm unexpectedly changed directions. And there’s also a lot left to chance — only 20 percent of supercell thunderstorms produce tornadoes.

“It’s a loaded gun,” says Jamey Jacob, an aerospace engineering professor at Oklahoma State University, of the big weather systems. “It’s ready to go off, but when and where does it fire?”

One of the downsides of the current tornado research method is that it’s passive, Jacob says. “You throw [probes] out there [and] you hope something gets caught up [in the storm] somewhere,” he says.

So he and dozens of other scientists and engineers are remaking tornado technology. They’re looking to small drone aircraft loaded with sensors that can be launched from the trunk of a car, far from a potential tornado.

“With unmanned aircraft,” Jacob says, “you fly it where you want it to go.”

If you open up these drones, the contents could have come from a middle school science project. But the Kevlar shell and the tiny sensors are fit for a high-tech military plane.

Brian Argrow directs the research and engineering center for unmanned aerial vehicles at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

“Being able to sample the pressure, temperature, humidity, wind velocity — that you can’t do remotely,” he says. “Radar can only do so much at this point.”

Scientists think these drones can help them increase warning time from the current 14-minute average to as much as an hour. Argrow says the technology exists, and the planes are ready to go, but many of them are stuck in university laboratories, frustrating researchers.

Drones can provide information about temperature, humidity and pressure that current radar systems can’t provide. Above, the Talos drone, which has a 15.5-foot wingspan.

Jamey Jacob/Oklahoma State University

“It’s often that technology gets ahead of policy, particularly in this country, and this is an instance where that essentially has happened,” he says. “Some of the technology — the capability, anyway — has gotten ahead of what the current air traffic system is able to accommodate directly.”

The Federal Aviation Administration declined to be interviewed for this story, but Argrow and his team started working with the agency in 2009 to integrate the new storm-chasing technology into the nation’s airspace. They were able to fly into a few storms back then. But it’s a very slow, bureaucratic process that doesn’t mesh well with fast-developing thunderstorms.

Scientists think if new policies are put in place, these aerial chasers could be widely operational in five years, allowing meteorologists to make more accurate tornado warnings.

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Tornado Tech: How Drones Can Help With Twister Science

Obama flies to Oklahoma to console tornado victims

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — President Barack Obama flew to tornado-stricken Oklahoma Sunday to offer both moral and monetary support to a community facing an enormous reconstruction challenge while still reeling from the loss of lives, property and neighborhoods.

The White House said Obama wanted a firsthand look at recovery from the monstrous EF5 tornado that barreled through last Monday afternoon. The president was visiting with affected families and thanking first responders in the devastated town of Moore, about 10 miles from Oklahoma City.

Obama’s motorcade passed past grassy fields strewn with scattered debris. He saw devastation so awesome that it appeared as if garbage had literally rained from the sky. The president’s first stop was the demolished site of the Plaza Towers Elementary School, where seven students were killed when the tornado turned the one-story building into a heap of bricks, broken concrete and twisted metal.

Obama flew from Washington into Tinker Air Force Base and shook hands with personnel whose homes off base were lost or damaged. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, the first to greet the president as he got off the plane, said Sunday that her message to Obama is that she appreciates the visit, but the state also needs quick action from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help the ravaged town of 41,000 people.

The Republican governor said so far, the agency has done a great job of speeding relief and cash assistance to affected families, but she’s concerned about the long run.

“There’s going to come a time when there’s going to be a tremendous amount of need once we begin the debris clearing, which we already have, but really get it cleared off to where we need to start rebuilding these homes, rebuilding these businesses,” she said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” ”And we know at different times in the past, money hasn’t come always as quickly as it should.”

Obama offered prayers for residents from the White House in recent days and has promised to support the rebuilding for as long as it takes. “They have suffered mightily this week,” Obama said Wednesday. “And while the road ahead will be long, their country will be with them every single step of the way.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest, speaking to reporters accompanying the presidential party on Air Force One, said Obama wanted to make the trip to offer condolences and reiterate his and the nation’s commitment to rebuild.

“This is the greatest nation on Earth, and we’re going to dedicate this nation’s time, attention, resources and expertise to help our people in their time of urgent crisis,” the spokesman said.

Earnest touted the federal contributions so far, including Obama’s signing of a disaster declaration within hours of the storm to speed aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Earnest said that 450 FEMA personnel were working on the ground in Oklahoma and have delivered 43,000 meals, 150,000 liters of water and thousands of cots, blankets and tarps. He said 4,200 people have applied for disaster assistance, and $ 3.4 million in payments have been approved.

Fallin said the money is particularly vital for the victims. “A lot of people lose their checkbooks, they lose their credit cards, they lose their driver’s license, their birth certificates, their insurance papers, they lose everything, and they have no cash. And some of the banks were even hit, the ATM machines, so people need cash to get immediate needs,” she said on CBS.

Earnest also said that forecasters from the National Weather Service had worked ahead of the storm to prepare communities that it threatened. He said they issued a warning 36 minutes before the tornado entered Moore, earlier than the 12-minute average warning. Twenty-four people perished in the tornado, including 10 children.

“These advancements, made by government scientists in the field of weather forecasting at these agencies are dramatic and they’re saving lives,” Earnest said. He said Sunday wasn’t a day for a partisan political debate, adding that “it is evident to any impartial observer here what an important role the federal government can play in providing assistance to our people at their time of urgent need.”

Among the tornado victims were 10 children, including two sisters pulled by the strong winds out of their mother’s grasp, an infant who died along with his mother trying to ride out the storm in a convenience store and seven students at Plaza Towers. Many students were pulled from the rubble after the school was destroyed.

Fallin noted that some 100 other schools in Oklahoma have safe rooms for children to seek shelter in tornados.

“Schools that have been lost in the past, many of them have rebuilt rooms of some sort as a safe room in their school, and we’re certainly going to encourage that,” she said.

“Any death is very unfortunate, but it’s truly incredible that we had only 24 deaths at this site, because if you look at all the debris field and how wide it is, I don’t know how anybody survived this tornado,” she said on CBS.

The White House said that FEMA has already provided $ 57 million in rebates and incentives to help build about 12,000 storm shelters in Oklahoma. “These storm shelters can be the difference between life and death,” Earnest said.

___

Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler

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Obama flies to Oklahoma to console tornado victims

Obama visits Oklahoma town digging out after tornado

U.S. President Barack Obama waves as he walks to Marine One to depart for a day trip from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington May 26, 2013.

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Obama visits Oklahoma town digging out after tornado

Obama flies to Oklahoma to console tornado victims

President Barack Obama walks across the tarmac to greet people as he arrives on Air Force One, Sunday, May 26, 2013, at Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City, Okla., en route to the Moore, Okla., to see the response to the severe tornadoes and weather that devastated the area. He will also visit with the families affected, and with first responders. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama walks across the tarmac to greet people as he arrives on Air Force One, Sunday, May 26, 2013, at Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City, Okla., en route to the Moore, Okla., to see the response to the severe tornadoes and weather that devastated the area. He will also visit with the families affected, and with first responders. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama greets people on the tarmac as he arrives Sunday, May 26, 2013, at Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City, Okla., en route to the Moore, Okla., to see the response to the severe tornadoes and weather that devastated the area. He will also visit with the families affected, and first responders. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama is greeted by Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin as he arrives Sunday, May 26, 2013, at Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City, Okla., en route to the Moore, Okla., to see the response to the severe tornadoes and weather that devastated the area. He will also visit with the families affected, and first responders. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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MOORE, Okla. (AP) — President Barack Obama flew to tornado-stricken Oklahoma Sunday to offer both moral and monetary support to a community facing an enormous reconstruction challenge while still reeling from the loss of lives, property and neighborhoods.

The White House said Obama wanted a firsthand look at recovery from the monstrous EF5 tornado that barreled through last Monday afternoon. The president was visiting with affected families and thanking first responders in the devastated town of Moore, about 10 miles from Oklahoma City.

Obama’s motorcade passed past grassy fields strewn with scattered debris. He saw devastation so awesome that it appeared as if garbage had literally rained from the sky. The president’s first stop was the demolished site of the Plaza Towers Elementary School, where seven students were killed when the tornado turned the one-story building into a heap of bricks, broken concrete and twisted metal.

Obama flew from Washington into Tinker Air Force Base and shook hands with personnel whose homes off base were lost or damaged. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, the first to greet the president as he got off the plane, said Sunday that her message to Obama is that she appreciates the visit, but the state also needs quick action from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help the ravaged town of 41,000 people.

The Republican governor said so far, the agency has done a great job of speeding relief and cash assistance to affected families, but she’s concerned about the long run.

“There’s going to come a time when there’s going to be a tremendous amount of need once we begin the debris clearing, which we already have, but really get it cleared off to where we need to start rebuilding these homes, rebuilding these businesses,” she said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” ”And we know at different times in the past, money hasn’t come always as quickly as it should.”

Obama offered prayers for residents from the White House in recent days and has promised to support the rebuilding for as long as it takes. “They have suffered mightily this week,” Obama said Wednesday. “And while the road ahead will be long, their country will be with them every single step of the way.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest, speaking to reporters accompanying the presidential party on Air Force One, said Obama wanted to make the trip to offer condolences and reiterate his and the nation’s commitment to rebuild.

“This is the greatest nation on Earth, and we’re going to dedicate this nation’s time, attention, resources and expertise to help our people in their time of urgent crisis,” the spokesman said.

Earnest touted the federal contributions so far, including Obama’s signing of a disaster declaration within hours of the storm to speed aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Earnest said that 450 FEMA personnel were working on the ground in Oklahoma and have delivered 43,000 meals, 150,000 liters of water and thousands of cots, blankets and tarps. He said 4,200 people have applied for disaster assistance, and $ 3.4 million in payments have been approved.

Fallin said the money is particularly vital for the victims. “A lot of people lose their checkbooks, they lose their credit cards, they lose their driver’s license, their birth certificates, their insurance papers, they lose everything, and they have no cash. And some of the banks were even hit, the ATM machines, so people need cash to get immediate needs,” she said on CBS.

Earnest also said that forecasters from the National Weather Service had worked ahead of the storm to prepare communities that it threatened. He said they issued a warning 36 minutes before the tornado entered Moore, earlier than the 12-minute average warning. Twenty-four people perished in the tornado, including 10 children.

“These advancements, made by government scientists in the field of weather forecasting at these agencies are dramatic and they’re saving lives,” Earnest said. He said Sunday wasn’t a day for a partisan political debate, adding that “it is evident to any impartial observer here what an important role the federal government can play in providing assistance to our people at their time of urgent need.”

Among the tornado victims were 10 children, including two sisters pulled by the strong winds out of their mother’s grasp, an infant who died along with his mother trying to ride out the storm in a convenience store and seven students at Plaza Towers. Many students were pulled from the rubble after the school was destroyed.

Fallin noted that some 100 other schools in Oklahoma have safe rooms for children to seek shelter in tornados.

“Schools that have been lost in the past, many of them have rebuilt rooms of some sort as a safe room in their school, and we’re certainly going to encourage that,” she said.

“Any death is very unfortunate, but it’s truly incredible that we had only 24 deaths at this site, because if you look at all the debris field and how wide it is, I don’t know how anybody survived this tornado,” she said on CBS.

The White House said that FEMA has already provided $ 57 million in rebates and incentives to help build about 12,000 storm shelters in Oklahoma. “These storm shelters can be the difference between life and death,” Earnest said.

___

Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler

Associated Press

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Obama flies to Oklahoma to console tornado victims

Four-state tornado outbreak kills 1

• A mix of ingredients could combine to spawn a severe weather outbreak


• Baseball-sized hail, wind gusts and tornadoes are possible


• CNN meteorologist: “It will ultimately depends on how warm the region gets”

(CNN) — Baseball-sized hail, wind gusts and tornadoes are threatening to pummel parts of the central Plains and Midwest on Sunday and Monday.

A mix of ingredients could combine to spawn a severe weather outbreak sweeping through parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa and Missouri, CNN meteorologist Melissa Le Fevre said.

“Overall, the threat is similar for the region: strong supercells that will have the capability to produce hail baseball-size or larger, strong wind gusts and tornadoes,” she said Sunday. “It will ultimately depends on how warm the region gets today.”

According to the National Weather Service, supercells are a special type of thunderstorm that can last for many hours. “They are responsible for nearly all of the significant tornadoes produced in the U.S. and for most of the hailstones larger than golf ball size,” the weather service says. “Supercells are also known to produce extreme winds and flash flooding.”

Warmer temperatures are an important factor, Le Fevre said.

“Warmer temperatures allow for the air in the atmosphere to mix, which causes it to be unstable,” she said. “Sunny days are essentially more unstable, which allows thunderstorms to develop and become strong to severe.”

Beyond the Midwest, other areas were already seeing severe weather on Sunday. In Atlanta, serious flooding was reported amid storms producing heavy rainfall.

Here’s a look at Le Fevre’s forecast for several states:

Kansas

Sunday: With Kansas temperatures 5 to 10 degrees above average for this time of year, supercells could develop. The storms could bring destructive hail and possible tornadoes for the afternoon, transitioning to damaging winds and heavy rain through the evening. Baseball-sized hail cannot be ruled out.

Monday: The surface front may stall on Monday, leading to showers and thunderstorms through the day. Localized heavy rainfall may lead to the need for flood watches and warnings.

Oklahoma

Sunday: Storms are expected to develop after 2 p.m. (3 p.m. ET). Again, the threat of discrete supercells capable of producing large hail and tornadoes is present.

Monday: There is a similar threat for strong storms in the late afternoon. With the heavy rain that will occur through the weekend, flooding could become a problem Monday night.

Iowa

Sunday: The greatest potential for severe weather will be in the late afternoon and into the early evening. Large hail could be the greatest threat. According to the National Weather Service office in Des Moines, the southern and western parts of the state could see the greatest chance for tornadoes. Overall, the main threat appears to be hail and wind. Rain is expected to decrease overnight.

Monday: Showers and storms are once again expected to develop on Monday afternoon. Large hail is possible and though the tornado threat looks low, it cannot be ruled out.

Missouri

Sunday: Strong supercells and squall lines are forecast to develop in the late afternoon and continue into the early evening. The discrete cells will develop first before transitioning into squall lines or lines of storms. As before, the threats include very large hail and damaging winds along with the potential for tornadoes. Some of these could be strong. In St. Louis, the potential for severe thunderstorms will be present through the afternoon on Sunday. Large hail is expected to be the primary threat. Heading into the evening hours, damaging wind should pose the greatest threat.

Monday: Flooding is expected to become an issue after localized heavy rainfall. The weather pattern will not change drastically from Sunday to Monday, which is why we are still seeing a potential for severe weather for the start to the week. Again, afternoon storms could produce large hail, damaging wind gusts and possible tornadoes. In St. Louis, storms will reorganize during the afternoon and evening hours. Threats include large hail, damaging winds and the possibility of tornadoes.

CNN’s Sean Morris and Alexandra Steele contributed to this report

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Four-state tornado outbreak kills 1