Tornado Watch Issued for Parts of New York & New England

I think this is pretty unusual:

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 277
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1230 PM EDT WED MAY 16 2007

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

CONNECTICUT
WESTERN AND CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS
FAR SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE
FAR SOUTHERN NEW YORK
NORTHERN RHODE ISLAND

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 1230 PM UNTIL
600 PM EDT.

www.spc.noaa.gov...

It looks like I'm just to south of this in Manhattan. Looks like some big storms coming!

Is this the same storm system that passed through SW Ontario, last night? Possible Tornado touchdown in the town of Mitchell.

I dont know about NY but CT has tornado watches and warnings all the time.
Maybe one in a year will actually touch down but for the most part the warnings never amount to anything. We had part of BDL International destroyed by a tornado maybe 2 years ago I think. During the fall last year a tornado came down in the Northwest part of the state. Just tok out some trees.

As long as I can remember Ive seen that little warning and its respective color in the corner of my TV. Usually it doesnt amount to anything.

I'm south of the watch area in southern NJ. We are having a terrible forest fire since yesterday afternoon. It was the National Guard that dropped a flair from a F-16 that has been noted as starting this fire. I'm here breathing in the smoke, and we had ash falling like snow yesterday evening. The winds are just not allowing this fire to be controlled (30mph) The last thing we need from these storms is strong winds without heavy rain.

Back to the Tornado watch. I hope it rains here to help with this fire. As for the watches I would say it is very common in my area, and not as common in the area listed above. As the weather changes I wouldn't doubt that we start to see Tornado's of F3 or higher more often. We did have a F3 her in my area once (I believe it was in the 1970's) so it is possible.

Please use the power of prayer for it to rain here to put out this fire.

They just broke into programming and said that the storms are moving into the area at 60 miles per hour!

It's coming in about an hour over here. (edit) Actually it's starting to come down now.

Tornado watch, calling for thunderstorms, possible tornado, hail, 50 MPH winds and rain.

Should be a good one.

(Another Edit)

Ok, now it's pouring rain, the dog is running crazy because of the thunder, and the sky is turning white with lightning. And I think something just got hit with a ball of hail.

[edit on 16/5/2007 by enjoies05]

It's still just cloudy here in New York City, with a lot of sun piercing through the clouds. I imagine it'll be bad here soon though.

edit:

Ok, in about the last 15 minutes it's gone from pretty sunny to black ouside. I think the heavens are going to open up any time now.

[edit on 5/16/2007 by djohnsto77]

I'm just curious and have a couple of questions. What's it like being witness to a tornado (or funnel cloud)? Do you immediately take cover or just "rubberneck" and watch it for a few minutes? For some reason tornadoes fascinate me, yet terrify me.

I've never seen a funnel cloud or tornado, I don't think i've ever heard a tornado warning broadcast where I live (Fraser Valley area of BC).

Originally posted by the_headcrusher
'm just curious and have a couple of questions. What's it like being witness to a tornado (or funnel cloud)? Do you immediately take cover or just "rubberneck" and watch it for a few minutes?

I'll try to answer as best as possible having been witness to about 10 of them over the years including the one that destroyed half of my parents farm. In that instance we watched the funnel cloud form over my parents house (actually seeing the inside of the funnel cloud) and then watched it destroy the chicken coop, pig shed, grain buildings, and various other structures before dissipating. Being witness to a tornado does leave you in awe for a few minutes, especially if you have ever seen the actual tornado forming from start to finish, , but you quickly realize what a danger it is to stand a watch it. The sky will always have an off color yellowishness or green tinge to it just before a tornado is about to do it's damage, and this color often proceeds the events by a few hours. Funny thing, my grandparents (both in their 80's)...to this day...at certain times will sit out on their front porch and watch a tornado form with no fear that it will destroy their abode. It's almost like they have a "sense" of when and where the tornado is headed. Tornado's occur all the time where I live, and I know many people who do this exact same thing.

One of the most beautiful (and destructive) things to see is when a tornado forms and lands over water. The first "water tornado" I observed landed over Milford Lake (largest lake in Kansas), and the tornado stayed over the water long enough for about half of the tornado itself to turn almost transparent from the about of water it picked up. Awesome sight!

I'll admit I was worried about this when it was released, but it ended up being virtually nothing. just the weather service getting a little too amped up(kinda like how the news will make something seem worse than it is just to get you to watch)

i'm from central MA, and we've had a history of tornadoes in the past(an F4 in 1955, smaller ones here and there) so i was almost hoping there would be one so i could witness it first hand, but no such incident occurred