*Caption: Storm system over the United States as viewed at 13:30 UTC on May 20, 2019. This image was taken on the day of a Storm Prediction Center-issued High Risk; this is the highest possible risk available in the SPC's categorical outlooks. This day saw the outlining of a 45% tornado risk area for Oklahoma City and areas west. Later this same day, Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Tornado Watch 199 was issued; this was only the second time the Storm Prediction Center ever issued a watch with fully maxed-out (at >95%) severe hazard (tornado, wind, hail) probabilities, along with Watch 235 in Alabama during the 2011 Super Outbreak. Ultimately, despite the extremely favorable ingredients for severe weather in place, the outbreak did not turn out nearly as many tornadoes (including strong to violent and long-track tornadoes) as expected. This was no regular forecast "bust" though; had the unanticipated mitigating factors (including complications from a cap advected in from Mexico) been removed, this outbreak could have gone so far as to even eclipse the major outbreak that occurred on May 3, 1999. For these reasons, despite being a day that did not have outstanding activity, it was a historic day. *Image Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Environmental Visualization Laboratory, taken from GOES-16
I noticed your absolutely prolific editing. Thank you very much! Cheers and Thanks, L235-TalkPing when replying 15:37, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
The Special Barnstar
For being a tireless contributor, a great photographer (I love the photos, by the way :)), a consistent vandal-fighter, and for just being an awesome user in general. I award you this barnstar in light of your achievements, and to express my gratitude. LightandDark2000 (talk) 22:27, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
The Tropical Cyclone Barnstar
For your continuous contributions to the field of tropical cyclones. It's great to have a new editor help out with our ever-expanding (and often chaotic) archives of these dangerous storms. LightandDark2000 (talk) 23:01, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
Heres to four years on enwiki ⓏⓟⓟⓘⓧTalk 03:47, 25 February 2017 (UTC)
The Writer's Barnstar
For your tireless work on tornado outbreak articles, helping to make this year's outbreak articles some of the highest quality I've seen so soon after the outbreak. Ks0stm(T•C•G•E) 19:43, 9 March 2017 (UTC)
The strongest tornadoes are far stronger than the strongest tropical cyclones... depending on how one looks at it. Tropical cyclones contain more energy than tornadoes by far if only because of their sheer size, and tropical cyclones can even produce the right conditions under which tornadoes become capable of forming. However, on a local scale, the strongest tornadoes are the most violent storm-based phenomenon on Earth, with winds exceeding 300 mph. These tornadoes can be so powerful as to completely destroy even the most well-built of structures.
It is widely believed that a tornado in the Manikganj District in Bangladesh on April 26, 1989 killed around 1,300 people, making it the deadliest tornado in recorded history. Bangladesh is actually one of the most tornado prone countries of the world after the United States.
The May 2003 tornado outbreak sequence had even more tornadoes than the April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak. The 2011 outbreak had a total of 358 confirmed tornadoes, but the 2003 outbreak sequence had a total of 401 confirmed tornadoes, the most tornadoes known to have occurred during one continuous period of tornadic activity.
Under just the right conditions, tropical cyclones can develop or even intensify over land. Events such as these have been referred to as "tropical cyclone maintenance and intensification events" (TCMIs). Tropical cyclone maintenance and intensification events, while uncommon, have occurred on multiple occasions. One of the most notable examples occurred in 2007 after Tropical Storm Erin made landfall in Texas. The remnants of the storm made their way inland, but shortly after entering Oklahoma, the storm unexpectedly reintensified. The storm's sustained winds increased to tropical storm force, and a precipitation-free eye formed, with a clear hurricane-like signature on radar. At it's peak intensity over Oklahoma, Erin was more powerful than it had ever been over the ocean.
The tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31, 2013, while it was only rated an EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, is believed to have contained some of the highest winds ever recorded. The primary reasoning for which it was not rated an EF5 tornado was because there was no EF5 damage found in the area. A likely reason for this is the severe paucity of damage indicators in the area. Another important fact is that none of the subvortices known to contain these extremely intense winds impacted any structures that could be used in the damage survey. As a result of each of these factors, the rating has been greatly disputed among meteorologists.
Earthquakes
Graph of 3.0+ magnitude earthquakes on the moment magnitude scale known to have occurred annually in Oklahoma through July 4, 2017 – a drastic increase can be seen starting in about 2009.
The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami is the costliest natural disaster in world history at an estimated economic cost of US$235 billion as estimated by the World Bank. The earthquake was a powerful megathrust earthquake which occurs on a subduction zone.
Many earthquakes have been occurring in interior regions of the United States in recent years. Some of these earthquakes have been occurring in large "swarms". One of the most significant examples of these strange occurrences lies in the US State of Oklahoma; earthquakes in Oklahoma, especially in central and north-central areas of the state, have increased in frequency by an extreme amount. The annual total for earthquakes greater than or equal to moment magnitude 3.0 rapidly increased in number. The annual average for 1970 to 2008 was approximately 1.6, but starting in 2009, this number rapidly increased each year, with a brief decrease in 2012; the 2014 total of 3.0+ magnitude earthquakes through May 2 was higher than the entire yearly total for 2013, at over 140 earthquakes. This number is believed to be so high as to actually overcome the US State of California in terms of total earthquakes greater than or equal to moment magnitude 3.0. The number of earthquakes in Oklahoma increased by about 50% from October 2013 to May 2, 2014, prompting the United States Geological Survey to issue an uncommon "Earthquake Advisory" for Central Oklahoma warning of the elevated possibility of damaging, 5.5+ magnitude earthquakes. This was the first advisory in the United States ever issued east of the Rocky Mountains.
Additional information and graphics may be found in the following PDF file of the Town Hall Meeting on June 26 – "Recent Earthquakes: Town Hall Meeting, June 26, 2014"(PDF). Oklahoma Geological Survey. June 26, 2014.
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