We had a very intense, VERY localized storm hit us today and do some damage to our house. It was one small cell , rectangular in shape when it formed,
and directly over our home and acreage. I captured a screen shot about 10 minutes before the 'twister' came thru the yard.
It is a very small cell. I had zoomed in over the top of our place. That Interstate symbol shows where I-20 exit is in our town, which is about 3
miles from our house.So this cell had to be very tiny.
Now, here is the damage that small cell inflicted:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7ee1d9c5a209.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f1754edc7be3.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/940ad78b6f5d.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a50478b0bf0c.jpg[/atsimg]
Thankfully it was only limited damage: a hole in our steel roofing, the back porch torn off, flowerbeds destroyed....
It could have been much worse. I was watching the rain move in to our area when this little pop-up started forming. It grew rapidly right over the top
of us and spawned a little twister that was loud and terrifying and hit with almost zero warning. In the 3-4 minutes before the tornado came thru, the
rectangle changed into an 'X' shape on the radar. My mother even said "Look, 'X' marks the spot when I showed it to her!
Just thought this was an odd little storm cell that I could post and share with anyone interested!
Well, we cut the tree from the house ourselves, and we have a few extra sheets of the roofing! The ceiling in the house leaked in a coupla places
directly beneath the hole and some of the trim from our main beam and post in the living room is knocked out of place, but we can handle the worst of
all that, thankfully!
None that I know of. I have a friend that's a dispatcher for Richland Parish Sheriff's Office and he said that had no reports of damage from
anywhere, except mine! I posted the pics on my FB (i know, don't say it) and noone else in my area had anything like this happen!
The big trees very often fall over during
a bad storm or twister. I had one just
miss my house by 2 feet a couple years
ago. I hope you are able to take care
of the damage. Good thing no one was
hurt as well. We have had storm cells
one after the other tonight, another on
the way as I type. Stay safe everyone!
Looks like It was only very interesting by the destruction it caused. I hope everyone at your house is ok. Bummer it might cost a little to fix the
roof.
Oh man, I'm very sorry to see what happened to your home. Weather can be so strange. Many years ago my dad told me a very odd intense storm of some
sort delivered a powerful burst of air straight down behind my parents' house and completely crushed some trees behind their fence. He had seen it
happen somewhat though it was dark from the storm and said it was like an invisible giant had set a foot down on those trees. I'm not sure what kind
of storm would do that. If it would have been just a few meters over in any one direction my parents or their neighbors might have been crushed.
I'm really glad you and your family were spared. Best wishes with rebuilding. Even with the damage it looks to be a warm inviting looking home. My
own house looks about as warm as an igloo, despite my best efforts.
Very strange formation indeed, although looking at the other radar images of the storms to the left of your location, the color groupings are all
elongated north-south, and have squarish, rounded off corners. I expect the shape of your small local cell is a radar anomoly;
But damn, there is a lot more damage than I was expecting to see. Did any of your neighbors get damage as well? Any lines down, or fallen trees close
to you? I would be interested in seeing the extent of the damage and see if that coincides with the 'football field' storm cell being shown on
radar.
No power lines down, thankfully. We don't have any close neighbors, but our 'closest' neighbors got a lot of wind and some limbs down. We actually
watched this storm develop right out the back door where the fallen porch is. That glass door looks out at the west/southwest. We noticed that as soon
as the wind started picking up that the leaves in our backyard were whirling around and around, wind switching from north to south every second. I
made the comment that it looked like a "leaf vortex" out there, and BOOM! loud and terrible and fast!
I wish I had had enough sense to get a pic of our fencerow that is to the northeast of the house. You can follow the trail of the little twister by
the downed trees there, too. It moved form SW to NE .
Hey,I use FB to get info out there,because it is so widely distributed thru there. People talk it down on here,but I tell ya,it works. And I can talk
to people I care about thru it,so,whatevs.
Keep us posted on any other odd weather happenings like the one above you all today..This whole shallow quake/weird storm occurrence out your way
can't be coincidence. Along with the leaky Gulf? Yea..no.