Top 10 Weather Events: 2012

[CrazyC83]

I do this every year, so I have decided again to list - for all of 2012 - the top 10 weather events. I try to keep a mixture, and it doesn't appear any event the rest of the way can make it, although one might have a slight shot based on models.

Here is my top 10:

1 - Hurricane Sandy: Record superstorm devastates the Northeast, affecting an incredibly large number of people with wind, rain, snow and a destructive storm surge to a highly populated area in NY, NJ and other states (October 25-31)

2 - Nationwide drought: Much of America wilts in an exceptional drought which severely impacted agriculture in many areas throughout 2012 (entire year 2012)

3 - March heat wave: Off the charts is more like it! Unprecedented warmth in the Midwest and Great Lakes in much of March destroys the record books, even if many loved it (most of March)

4 - Late winter tornado outbreaks: Two back-to-back tornado outbreaks primarily two days apart on February 29 and March 2, normally considered separate events, result in major devastation in the Ohio Valley (February 28-March 3)

5 - June 29 derecho: Long-lived, destructive derecho brings hurricane-like damage from the southern Great Lakes to the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic, knocking out power to millions (June 29-30)

6 - Summer heat wave: While not exceptional like the March warmth in terms of magnitude, the time of year - extreme heat in June, July and August well above normal - made it dangerous and deadly, not just a meteorological masterpiece (June to August)

7 - Hurricane Isaac: Although not the most intense storm, the slow movement and large size results in severe damage in Louisiana with massive flooding and wind damage on the Katrina anniversary (August 25-31)

8 - Colorado wildfires: Colorado Springs devastated by one of the worst wildfire seasons in state history in a populated area burning many homes and lives (June and July)

9 - Post-Sandy Nor'easter: Adding insult to injury, a sudden winter storm buries areas only a week after Sandy and brings more intense winds and power problems (November 7-9)

10 - Dallas tornadoes: Almost out of nowhere, widespread tornado outbreak and hail in a heavily populated area in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, somehow no one was killed! (April 3)

[CrazyC83]

Honorable mentions (in chronological order):

* While snow is missing elsewhere, Alaska buried and frozen in the winter

* Tornadoes hit in late January in several southern states recovering from the catastrophic 2011 outbreaks

* Widespread tornado outbreak on April 14 in the Plains, primarily over sparsely populated areas

* Massive hailstorms hit St. Louis on April 28 and Dallas on June 13 (again)

* Absence of tornadoes and outbreaks from May onward

* Tropical Storms Beryl and Debby break the Florida drought, but leave flooding in some areas, in some cases severe

* Major flooding in Minnesota in late June with Duluth hardest hit

* Series of storms on the west coast in mid to late fall with widespread flooding and extreme snow in the mountains

* After a slow start, major blizzard paralyzes the Midwest in late December just before Christmas

[CrazyC83]

As for globally, I would say Typhoon Bopha was the top weather event. Sandy would be in the top 5 at least globally...

[Cyclenall]

This year has been quite a ride like expected but maybe overall not as extreme as 2011 which was so off the wall I'm still processing it. This year did not disappoint in the extreme category and most of what I like took place in some form. This list includes a mix of general categories and specific events. So this post is my top 10 natural disasters going from the most incredible (1) to least incredible (10):

Top 10 Natural Disasters/Events of 2012

1. The Great March Heatwave in North America and Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy (Tied) - I could not figure out which one blew my mind more so these two once in a lifetime events are tied for first. Starting with the March Heatwave, this is something that I hold close to my heart and still think about regularly and frequently. This event sparked awe in me I've never felt before in any other weather event and was literally as much fun and engrossing as tracking a major hurricane threatening landmass. What really put this over the top was 1. It actually affected my backyard as much as everyone else unlike 90% of the extreme weather events I follow and 2. I wished this to happen and beforehand it was a wild dream. I tracked this start to finish and absorbed the maximum amount of information possible where I was literally spending everyday and all day following everything that was taking place. Its such a large event that I can only summarize it in a few short ways: It was the most extreme meteorological event in North American history (statistical and stated by one of the US's leading climatologists), it is estimated that such a heat wave with the kind of anomalies experienced only occurs once every 4000 or so years, countless number of records broken but I believe the number is around 7000 which doesn't include humidex or high lows which were even more impressive and numerous, Capped off the winter that wasn't, broke records often by more than 6ºC for numerous days in a row (in some cases over 15ºC), various times the record high was broken by the lowest temperature of the day, and set off ripple effects that were extraordinary across NA. What was the kick-off to the insanity was a severe thunderstorm line that roared through southern Ontario on March 15 that EC did not issue warnings for because they were caught off guard but this severe thunderstorm actually was the 2nd worst thunderstorm I experienced during the year!! It had lima-bean sized hail and knocked out the power very briefly...all this in mid-March!?! That has never happened and I couldn't believe it. Normally we're buried in 40 cm of snow and freezing still but got a storm that brought some of the largest hail I've seen since hail that size is uncommon in mid-western Ontario. By the way, that happened in the middle of the night without the daytime heating making it more absurd. After that it was so bizarre how the atmosphere "switched" to a summer mode where all the clouds had volume to them instead of the flat overcast nonsense we put up with for months. The heatwave easily crowned this as the "warmest Spring warm-spell" that occasionally happens like March 8, 2000 and early April 2010. All I can say is I couldn't have been happier.

To Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy, honestly this was something I never expected to see happen. This had many firsts for a superstorm and one of them was the fear that hardened meteorologists had for what the models were depicting with a doomsday scenario for New York City and surrounding communities. The tropical part was serious enough for the Caribbean that killed over 100 but then the phaser where it warm secluded was pretty darn special. The models (Euro) forecasted this with stunning precision and agreement, and this is why we all knew this was no joke. The size and low pressure though were just insane, 1000 miles wide and as strong as a category 4 hurricane (pressure) hitting the most densely populated area of the US. This was the most media-hyped and covered weather story in a very long time which was well deserved. Most media outlets did around the clock coverage which was great. What was incredible though was not just the storm itself, but the alignment of events of having a double high tide at the perfect time when the maximum storm surge would be inflicted at a perfect angle that has never occurred before. It was days before the US election. Then you have the unique track. It had many names, Sandy, Frankenstorm, The Storm of the Century, The Great Halloween Pumpkin (that's mine, lol), and more. This was also another event that affected me and it actually could have been the worst natural disaster I would have gone through if some of the GFS's wind projections were correct. It didn't pan out that bad but it got the Red Cross of Canada's attention. When it hit, us weather folk were glued to the utter destruction and storm surge unfolding right before the world, 8 million+ without power (some to the date of this post are still without power!!), High wind warnings covering tremendous areas in the eastern half of the country, massive blizzards in the mountains of West Virgina and eastern Ohio, very heavy rainfall, record storm surge into NYC, and very minor severe weather that didn't amount to much. It was the first to flood the NYC subway system, kill over 115 in the US, became the 2nd costliest disaster in US history at somewhere north of $62 billion, and even killed 2 people in Ontario with tens of millions of dollars in damage here as well. The surprise "daughter" disaster that some of these massive weather events bring was a fire that raged through a Brooklyn neighborhood that leveled over 100 homes and buildings and was like Hell from the onlookers. There were fires in Katrina but not like that. It devastated large areas of coastline in NJ and NY that will leave a permanent mark with Sandy living up to her name bringing tons of sand inland for a mile...effectively turning coastline communities into beaches. I consider this to be the North-East's Hurricane Katrina and NYC's worst natural disaster which I think most can agree on.

3. June - July 2012 North American Heatwave and Summer (includes the incredible drought) - This entered into the meat of the summer heat and basically delivered exactly what I hoped for months prior. Season after season of being in the top x warmest ever recorded most thought there wouldn't be a way to have a very hot summer again like the previous two years. I thought different, I had a good feeling that this was going to roast our butts off (the summer) and drought was inevitable because of how dry the Spring was. June actually started off on a cool note and wet one and I hated it but shrugged it off. Then near the end of June the models started showing insane heat for Ohio Valley with temperatures going well past 100ºF for days. It ended up becoming one of the most severe heatwaves in history and causing a lot damage in terms of roads buckling upwards amazingly and train derailments. This time coincided with the most extreme bi-week period of the year and what I consider to be the peak of interesting weather. This insane heatwave was more of a dry-type heat and appeared similar to the heat waves of the 1930s. I thought July was awesome and no rain meant no dreary days. Northern Canada was deep in this with shocking heat values in the far northern reaches on the Arctic Circle. 2012 marks the third summer in a row with amazing heat and overall a hot summer. The crowning achievement of the summer was July 2012 being declared as the hottest month ever recorded in the US and Canada. The drought as a result became the worst since the 50s and caused many billions in losses. August sucked as usual. 82 deaths.

4. Early March Major US Tornado Outbreak - 1 week before this occurred I had a feeling it would produce something big. I was right, and it sparked off a day I'll never forget that seemed to be chaos from 10:00 am in the morning until well after dark. It was almost like a carry-over from 2011 it was so bad. Over 40 people dead and billions in damage, this had two parts with one starting on Leap Day which was crazy in of itself and then the main show being March 2, 2012. It was a High Risk day and it just had that energy of a early season outbreak. Some amazing footage, amazing Supercell clusters, and stories of survival came from the day. The fact that strong tornadoes were hitting towns and communities just hit less than 48 hours eariler was another sign this day had legend written on it. I started seeing comparisons of this to April 27, 2011 for no reason but I had a premonition that something between the two events "lined up". I read the outlook that morning from the SPC and then the outlook the morning of April 27, 2011 and strangely they seemed similar. Just as I was about to go to sleep for a brief time before the outbreak really got going, a tornado warning popped up way too early and then all of a sudden started multiplying. Before we all knew it, the tornado warnings had the language of "A large and extremely dangerous tornado is on the ground confirmed". I ended up not being able to go to sleep and instead tracked it non-stop. A series of incredible events began unfolding that early afternoon with towns being wiped out, mainstream national TV going into breaking news mode with coverage, baseball hail hitting a destroyed town minutes after a EF4 tore through, Multiple tornadoes hitting the same town the same day, and non-stop tornado warnings that seemed to be over 15 for quite a number of hours. Twitter was extremely active with countless reports of towns being wiped off the map however I believe they greatly exaggerated. To have such a outbreak that early was startling and a day I'll not forget.

5. April 14 Major Tornado Outbreak - The largest number of tornadoes in Kansas history occurred on this day. This was the big show of the tornado season in terms of hype and chaser frenzy. This was foreseen long in advance as being a very dangerous setup in the great plains and for the most part delivered. It featured a rare situation (also on Leap Day) where the most intense phase of the outbreak would be closer to midnight than during peak heating and well into the overnight hours. The SPC assigned the ultra rare Day 2 High Risk and then on the day itself one of the largest High Risk areas based on tornado threat I've seen. Around the clock I followed how the atmosphere was setting up and discovered zones that to me seemed like "anything could happen within". A lot of fascinating elements came into play and this day really illustrated that. Something that sticks out to me is the pure energy the atmosphere had, in Nebraska early during the day (10:00 am EDT) there was baseball sized hail from a monster Supercell that I was tracking for hours...how often does baseball sized hail fall in the morning like that? Initiation started relativity early in western Kansas and that's close to when I took a nap to refresh for the night ahead. When I woke up around 7:40 pm EDT, I was surprised to find there were only around 7 active tornado warnings at once which stayed like that, never reaching crazy highs like over 20 or 30 TOR warnings at once. This concerned me at first but the reports of tornadoes kept growing so it turned out a high level was being produced. Over 3 or 4 threats to the city of Salina KS occurred that evening by tornadoes. Activity did not occur much in the northern sector or southern sector (OK) like what some were thinking would be the most intense area. As the cells made their way to central KS, it became dark as the tornadoes that were ongoing started to slowly intensify. One major Supercell started to stand out from the others that ended up becoming the main cell of the event. There was no doubt a violent tornado was on the ground as gate-to-gate values on GRlevel software started showing extreme values. At one point it got up to an insane 240 knots in which I believe it was likely an EF5 in a rural location. There were questions as to whether it would aim at Wichita but most thought it would miss. As the Supercell got closer, it became more likely to hit the city and then the alarms started going off. News media was calmly following it with a couple others and 20 minutes before striking time the tornado warning was issued for the city and those tracking got whipped up into 2011-style panic. This period in time produced one of the most exciting and intense 2012 weather moments. All of us watching the unfolding events started screaming for a tornado emergency for Wichita as it appeared a large and extremely dangerous tornado was heading for it. It finally was as we waited for the news and the debris ball to show up on radar. It ended up hitting the outskirts of the city and doing heavy damage to different buildings, some homes. It was extremely similar to the April 26, 1991 Andover F5 in path where it threatened the same air base. The NWS office in the city went for cover. There were also reports of a massive amount of rain falling in the city. Things slowly wound down around 1:30 am when a large squall line attempted to form but a very rare meteorological feature occurred where the line was trying to split up back into discrete activity. This is an indication of how favorable the atmosphere was for Supercells. One of the embedded cells produced the Woodward OK tornado that killed 5 and was captured by a news team. That was the only deadly tornado that occurred during the outbreak. Amazing footage was captured of all types of twisters and some ones that were memorable were a very rapidly spinning drill-press tornado in a field, twin tornadoes captured by many, and one that showed a farm narrowly missed by a EF4 with the strength of the winds displayed when zoomed.

6. Late June Ohio Valley Derecho - One of the worst derechos ever recorded in history. I didn't check the SPC that day but then noticed on US radar a very crazy looking bow structure race across Ohio and beyond. I knew that was something else because of its forward movement and how well organized the front part was. I have never tracked a derecho in real time so this was the first one. It was a multi-billion dollar disaster that left millions (3.7 million peak) without power for more than a week. The brutal heatwave that continued afterwords was horrific for those with no AC. Everyone in that situation vows never to go through such an experience it was so bad. The winds were so strong from the derecho that entire roofs were ripped off buildings and homes, small boats sent flying into the streets, and small fires starting all over some of the worst hit areas. 22 people died which is a very high death toll for such an event. It made national headlines.

7. Super Typhoon Bopha - The deadliest tropical cyclone (and weather event) of 2012 and the most destructive to one nation. It had some impressive statistics such as the 2nd lowest forming Super Typhoon and the strongest TC of 2012 worldwide. It devastated a part of the Philippines that doesn't normally get severe typhoons.

8. Hurricane Isaac - For some areas, it was worse than Hurricane Katrina. It did not impress with strength but with speed and its evolution. It had some strange characteristics and was the main feature for the heart of the season. One thing that is crazy is it hit on the exact day that Hurricane Katrina did and was very close the Katrina's LF spot. It slowly moved around New Orleans causing billions in damage.

9. Early April Texas Tornado Outbreak - A very unexpected and crazy event. This featured a handful of tornadoes that caused mayhem across heavily populated areas of east Texas. I remember finding out about the outbreak on CNN when tornado warnings were issued for Dallas out of nowhere...then I saw trailers lifted up and flung around the tornado live. Amazing radar sigs and a flood of amazing tornado footage because most were unaware and its been awhile since an event like that affected this part. A very severe hailstorm also pounded Dallas and caused tremendous damage.

10. Saskatchewan Record Tornado Season - All the tornado activity this summer occurred in the great plains of Canada in which I'm proud. I'm not certain on the exact number but it was around 40 I believe. None of these events caused large amounts of damage or loss of life but was heaven for the chasers. Many hailstorms associated caused a ton of damage this year. One of the most photogenic tornadoes captured this decade in Canada occurred when a large white stove-pipe tornado formed and threatened places like Moosejaw.

It turned out this year produced 11 billion dollar disasters in the US and 26 worldwide. Last year had 14 but I think Hurricane Sandy closed the gap or even surpassed last year's damage toll. Less people died overall. Some notable mentions include The mid-December winter storm for North America, Hurricane Bud, Cyclone Anais, June wildfires in Colorado, Jan-Feb Eurasian Continent Cold Wave, and the Alaska Record Cold and Snowy Winter (Beginning of year)...I expect more in 2013 as the atmosphere behaves erratically. Here are links to other Top 10 lists for Weather events from different sources:

Top 10 Global Weather Events List from Dr.Jeff Masters: http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=2326
Top 10 US Weather Events List from Dr.Jeff Masters: http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=2316
Top 10 US Weather/Climate Events from NOAA NCDC: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/2012/13
Top 10 Canadian Weather Stories from Environment Canada: http://www.ec.gc.ca/meteo-weather/defau ... 0B8D6A90-1
Top 10 Global Weather Stories from The Weather Network: http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/s ... 31_12_2012 <--- I believe they dropped the ball big time on this one, very skewed list with too many Canadian weather events for a list that is suppose to be global. Putting some of those in the top 4 were laughable. Not putting the Great March Heat Wave near the top 3 was an insult.

This took me quite awhile to put together with many interruptions. I wanted to have this done before January 1 but no cigar. It is also a pain to format the paragraphs when pasted into the field...every two lines is separated by a pointless space. I wanted to add my personal thoughts on 2012 instead of just a quick 10 top list this time. Anyways I hope this was a good read .

6 - Summer heat wave: While not exceptional like the March warmth in terms of magnitude, the time of year - extreme heat in June, July and August well above normal - made it dangerous and deadly, not just a meteorological masterpiece (June to August)

I think you summarized a lot of these events well. This one specifically...a masterpiece indeed.

* Tornadoes hit in late January in several southern states recovering from the catastrophic 2011 outbreaks

...

* Absence of tornadoes and outbreaks from May onward

I forgot about the first point but the 2nd, how is the absence of something, a mention with the concept of events at play?

As for globally, I would say Typhoon Bopha was the top weather event. Sandy would be in the top 5 at least globally...

Say what?

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

10. Saskatchewan Record Tornado Season - All the tornado activity this summer occurred in the great plains of Canada in which I'm proud. I'm not certain on the exact number but it was around 40 I believe. None of these events caused large amounts of damage or loss of life but was heaven for the chasers. Many hailstorms associated caused a ton of damage this year. One of the most photogenic tornadoes captured this decade in Canada occurred when a large white stove-pipe tornado formed and threatened places like Moosejaw.

Good lists folks but I do have a bone to pick with our pedantic Cyclenall! My city's name is two words....Moose Jaw.

I swear you do that deliberately though.

p.s. what do you think that tornado would have been rated at had it hit my city?

[Cyclenall]

10. Saskatchewan Record Tornado Season - All the tornado activity this summer occurred in the great plains of Canada in which I'm proud. I'm not certain on the exact number but it was around 40 I believe. None of these events caused large amounts of damage or loss of life but was heaven for the chasers. Many hailstorms associated caused a ton of damage this year. One of the most photogenic tornadoes captured this decade in Canada occurred when a large white stove-pipe tornado formed and threatened places like Moosejaw.

Good lists folks but I do have a bone to pick with our pedantic Cyclenall! My city's name is two words....Moose Jaw.

I swear you do that deliberately though.

p.s. what do you think that tornado would have been rated at had it hit my city?

Aw crap, another error! I even know someone who was born in Moose Jaw yet can't remember which way. I don't believe I typed the name of the city before however and its not deliberate since I see it both ways.

I don't know if Environment Canada rated the tornado but it looked to me like a F3 based on its appearance alone which is not the greatest way of figuring that out.

[Nicko999]

I agree Cyclenall, #1 weather event is the March heat wave.

[Cyclenall]

I agree Cyclenall, #1 weather event is the March heat wave.

Thanks man, I'm happy someone else agrees since all the other lists failed to include it in the Top 2.