TV Meteorologist Warns Viewers Of Tornadoes As Fire Burns In The Studio His Reporting From

Meterologist Noah Simmons was engulfed in smoke and
fire extinguisher discharge after a fire in the studio that
broke out when he was warning Fort Smith, Arkansas
area residents of impending tornadoes. At least the
green screen was clear, so you could see the radar images.

Have you ever seen that Gary Larson cartoon that shows a building that's on fire, floating down a river and about to go over a waterfall? The sign on that unlucky building says "Crisis Clinic."  

Meteorologist Noah Simmons must have felt like he was in that Crisis Clinic last Saturday.  He was tracking tornadoes that were menacing the Fort Smith, Arkansas area. Then a studio light caught fire.

Full video is at the bottom of this post, but we'll set you up with the run down. 

Since Simmons was dealing with two tornado warnings on Saturday night June 6. A studio light caught fire during this emergency, and producers worked to put the blaze out. 

"So we just had a fire in the studio, but we got two tornado warnings....So we got to keep tracking this and covering this live," as he covered his nose with a button down shirt as he was broadcasting. 

Most of the "smoke" viewers saw was discharge from fire extinguishers.

As People reported, Simmons first noticed some lights flickering in the studio "Five, 10 seconds later, I start to smell a bit of smoke....That's not normal.'

A few seconds later the light in the studio caught fire. 

Simmons was the only person in the studio when the fire started. That's why you see him sort of walk off camera a bit and say, "Guys, we have a fire happening in the studio right now." 

A producer came in armed with a fire extinguisher to douse the flames. The smoke and especially the stuff from the fire extinguisher made it hard to breathe, which is why you see in the video that he pulls his white button down shirt up over his mouth and nose. 

"When you're tracking two tornadoes at the time, I felt there was a need to keep going," Simmons told People .

The radar images showing the tornado-producing storms was clear as it was a green screen image not affected by the smoke. But Simmons, pointing out features on the radar screen,  appears to be in a thick haze.

Simmons said he had a tickle in his throat and watery eyes the day after the incident, but was OK. He said the station had been "gracious" in giving him medical attention.

As it turns out, three EF-1 tornadoes touched down around Fort Smith. EF-1 tornadoes have winds of between 86 and 110 mph. 

The television station in Fort Smith was not the only one dealing with very local disasters. On May 25, television station WDHN in Dothan, Alabama was hit by and EF-1 tornado that damaged the building as you can see in this video. 

Here's the video of meteorologist Noah Simmons dealing with tornadoes and in-studio smoke all at the same time.  Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 

Red States Learning How Callous Trump Can Be In Disasters

Wreckage left behind by one of the tornadoes that 
hit Arkansas in March. The Trump administration 
has turned down disaster assistance that 
would have helped with the tornado destruction. 

 The state of Arkansas has had a rough spring, beset by tornadoes, intense floods and severe weather. 

As is customary in these situations, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee has asked the federal government for help. For good reason. 

As Huffington Post reports:

"Last month, 14 tornadoes struck Arkansas over the course of two days, killing three people and leaving 32 more injured. The deadly outbreak damaged or destroyed 500 homes, cars and businesses, leaving behind more than $8.8 million in storm damage."

Customarily, U.S presidents respond to request like Huckabee's to issue a disaster declaration and that starts the process in which the Federal Emergency Management Agency to begin organizing funds to help the state with its emergency.

In this case it didn't happen. As HuffPost reports:

"But President Donald Trump said no. In a letter from April 11, the federal government said it had 'determined that the damage from this event was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the state, affected local governments, and voluntary agencies."

To be fair, as bad as the March storm was in Arkansas, it's possible it might not have risen to the level of  a declared disaster in any administration. It's honestly kind of borderline. For instance, half of the destroyed homes were insured, so that might have been a mitigating factor. 

Still, Trump has talked about punishing blue states where voters aren't all that enthusiastic about him. Arkansas is a deep red state, and Gov. Huckabee is Trump's former press secretary, so maybe some Arkansas thought they would get the federal aid. 

The Arkansas Congressional delegation is asking Trump to reconsider the denial of aid, but we'll see where that goes.

The Arkansas tornado aid denial might be the beginning of a harsh new policy from FEMA.

Trump has long said he thinks states should pretty much handle their own disasters, though in many cases they don't have the resources to do that. That shift in tone is starting to make its way into official policy. 

As CNN reports:

"A memo from acting FEMA administrator Cameron Hamilton, a Trump appointee, obtained by CNN, outlines a long list of recommendations for Trump to follow that could drastically reduce the number of emergency declarations the president approves and the amount of federal assistance doled out to cities and states hit by natural disasters."

CNN says the proposal dramatically raised the threshold for states to quality for public assistance, basically quadrupling the amount of damage a community must suffer to receive federal aid. 

The proposal also reduces the share of recovery costs the federal government will pay, limit the types of facilities eligible for assistance and denying all major disaster declarations for snowstorms. 

To us Vermonters, a snowstorm doesn't sound all that expensive, and they often do more good than harm, given our winter sports industry. 

But in other states, especially those in the South and with a lot of urban areas, large snowstorms can be extremely expensive and disruptive.  

Like so much in the Trump administration, it's next to impossible to figure out if they will follow through with these recommendations, abandon them or make them even worse. It'll change every day, I'm sure. 

Moving quickly on this will be particularly harmful to states, Michael Coen, a former FEMA chief of staff under the Obama and Biden administrations told CNN. "If they were given notice and they could work with their state legislatures, they could prepare and budget to be able to handle the risks they know they have. But doing this without giving states any advance notice would leave them in dire straights."

Even with advance notice, I'm not sure how states would cope.  Here in Vermont, we're already dealing with cutbacks in federal funding that are messing up the state budget.  Property taxes are sky high and getting worse, so increased state budgets would make that crisis worse. We have an aging population in Vermont, which also reduces tax revenue as the relative number of wage earners shrinks. 

If we get hit by another massive flood like we did in 2023 and 2024, and we're screwed.  

It's not just Vermont, of course. Every state that faces a disaster will have so much  more trouble recovering because of Trump.  

Disasters are bad enough. It'll be even worse if the federal government compounds those calamities. 

More Videos: Wildfires, Floods, Tornadoes Continue To Plague U.S.

Flooding in Omaha, Nebraska Thursday after 
severe thunderstorms swept through. 
Note the patches of hail floating in the water.

 Another week another, another period of weird, scary weather across the United States. Part of New Jersey burned in an enormous wildfire. Omaha, Nebraska, for the second time this month, endured intense thunderstorms and hail. 

And as usual for this time of year, Texas has been producing tornadoes. 

Those tornadoes on Thursday are setting the stage for what will probably be a big severe tornado and severe weather outbreak that will bubble along tonight and tomorrow, intensify some on Sunday, then really kick into high gear next Monday and Tuesday.

Here are some video highlights from our recent wild weather. 

Scenes from the New Jersey wildfire.  In terms of extreme wildfires, I swear New Jersey is the new California. They've had some nasty ones over the past six months. As always click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

The area around Omaha, Nebraska has not had a good time lately with severe storms and tornadoes. Last week, tornadoes swirled near the city, damaging and destroying houses in eastern Nebraska and Iowa. Those storms last week including that epic hailstorm in Fremont, Nebraska I posted about recently

Another round of intense storms struck Omaha Thursday, prompting tornado warnings, dumping a lot more hail, and flooding parts of the city.  Here's a video of a car being pushed down a hill be water and dumped into a hail-encrusted lake that formed  at the bottom of the hill. Again, click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that 

Earlier this month, intense flooding hit some Midwestern and southern states, including Arkansas. In this video, water tore through Spring River, Arkansas, ripping homes from their foundations and causing extreme destruction. Brian Emfinger documented the aftermath in the following stunning video. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.

This time of year, western and central Texas can be the scene of some powerful and picturesque tornadoes. This one occurred Thursday near Matador, Texas, which is northeast of Lubbock.  It looks powerful, but luckily passed over a sparsely populated area. As usual, click on this link to view the video from Texas Storm Chasers, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

As Sadly Expected, More Tornado Tragedies Saturday; 15 Dead So Far, More Tornadoes Now Spinning In Midwest

The Denton, Texas Fire Department released this
photo of tornado damage in their city. Major
damage and some deaths were reported from 
overnight tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas

UPDATE, 6:30 PM

Since this morning, the death toll from last night's tornado swarm rose to 15, making this easily the worst tornado outbreak in a very busy and tragic season.

Even worse, the developing tornado situation in the mid-Mississippi has gotten worse, as NOAA' Storm Prediction Center upgraded the storm risk this afternoon to moderate, the second highest level. 

Several strong to intense tornadoes are likely this evening in that region, says the Storm Prediction Center. 

Already, as of 6:30 p.m. several tornado warnings were in effect in Missouri.  Numerous severe thunderstorm warnings were also up for a zone from Arkansas to Ohio and western Pennsylvania.

A "particularly dangerous tornado watch is in effect for big chunks of Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee. A "particularly dangerous" watch means forecasters are confident there will be strong tornadoes, and perhaps many of them. 

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

Tornadoes again swept the southern and central Plains yesterday afternoon and night, unleashing more damage, deaths and destruction in a remarkably busy and heartbreaking tornado season.  

At least 24 tornadoes were reported Saturday and more are expected today. 

CNN was reporting five deaths from tornadoes in Texas overnight. 

At first, it began to look like the worst of the expected Saturday outbreak wouldn't come to pass. Only a few fitful tornadoes were reported during the day in the southern Plains. Then, after dark, supercells really exploded, unleashing the barrage of tornadoes.

Tornadoes are much more dangerous after dark as you can't really see them coming, and people are not as likely to be paying attention to warnings. 

Likely the worst incident came Saturday night when a  tornado smashed through a travel center housing a gas station and a few restaurants off a busy highway in Valley View, Texas, television station WFAA reported.

About 80 people were in there at the time, some of whom stopped there for shelter when they heard tornado warnings in their cars. Most of the people inside were injured, authorities said, but none of the injuries are life-threatening.

However, elsewhere around Valley View, at least two people, and possibly more died when the twister roared through neighborhoods, WFAA reported. The dark of night and power outages hindered search and rescue, and officials said they feared what they would see when dawn broke. 

Valley View is along Interstate 35 about 60 miles north of Dallas. Heavy damage was also reported in nearby Celina, Texas, probably from the same tornado. 

An intense supercell spun off a series of destructive tornadoes overnight and early this morning over 220 miles or so from Claremore, Oklahoma to Briarcliff, Arkansas. 

Details were still sketchy this morning, but at least two deaths were reported near Claremore, which suffered heavy damage. Possible tornadoes hit an outdoor wedding in Capron, Oklahoma and a KOA campground near Claremore. Initial reports indicate injures are minor at the campground 

Widespread damage is also reported in Rogers, Arkansas. 

I'm sure more sad details will emerge as we go through the morning

TODAY

Tornado warnings were still flying as dawn broke in northeastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri. 

A whole large area through the mid-Mississippi and Ohio valleys are under the gun for tornadoes, damaging straight line winds and large hail pretty much all day.

After tomorrow, the national tornado threat should wane, but not entirely go away, for at least a few days.  

For those here in Vermont wondering how that storm will affect us, we only need to deal with showers and non-severe thunderstorms Monday afternoon and night. 

Worst Tornado Outbreak So Far This Year In Midwest, South

Serious destruction in Indian Lake, Ohio. Photo from 
From Above Aerial LLC

Thursday and Thursday night's severe weather outbreak in the Midwest hit with unexpected fury, spinning off tornadoes that killed at least three  people and left dozens injured.  

The tornadoes on Thursday seemed to concentrate their fury on Indiana and Ohio, where several strong tornadoes were reported.

Logan County, Ohio was reportedly especially hard hit. 

Videos posted on social media showed intense looking tornadoes sweeping across the late winter landscape of Ohio. 

Another powerful tornado caused severe damage and perhaps dozens of injuries in the adjacent towns of Winchester and Selma, Indiana. 

Indiana and Ohio were not the only states hit. Suspected tornadoes also struck Arkansas and Texas. As of mid-afternoon, fifteen tornadoes had been confirmed. Officials with National Weather Service offices in damaged areas are still doing storm surveys to obtain a full count of the number of twisters. 

The tornado and tornado alerts extended a huge 1,000-mile distance from northern Texas to northern Ohio. And here's an oddity: The line of intense storms extended almost exactly along the path of the upcoming April 8 total solar eclipse. Except of course there was no dangerous weather along the eclipse path in New York, Vermont and beyond. 

Tornado activity as intense as Thursdays is rare for as far north as Ohio this early in the season.  

It's been that kind of early storm season so far. Wisconsin had its first February tornado on record.  Tornadoes in early March were reported as far north as Michigan and southwestern New York.  Ohio was also hit in late February as six tornadoes spread widespread damage in the middle of the state. 

Some tornadoes are possible in the South today, but the activity shouldn't be as intense and tragic as it was Thursday. 

After today and for the next week or so, tornado and severe weather should be fairly low key. However, long range forecasts seem to indicate a weather pattern more conducive toward tornadoes and hail toward the end of this month. 

That long range forecast is not cast in stone, but the U.S. is now in that dangerous season of tornadoes and giant hail. 

Another Dangerous Weather Day Today, Vermont Again Lucks Out With Fringe Effects

  Today's going to be another pretty awful day in terms of weather in the United States.

This is the severe storm and tornado forecast map for today 
with the orange and especially red areas the biggest risk areas...

We have another big tornado threat in a broad swath of the nation's middle, a blizzard is raging in the northern Plains, and there's even an ice storm in parts of the Upper Great Lakes. 

Tomorrow won't be much better with severe weather and tornadoes possible as far north as northern Michigan. 

Here in Vermont, once again, we're in for very changeable, inclement and occasionally downright stormy weather. But our lucky charms are holding. We shouldn't see anything extreme or super dangerous. 

.......And this is the severe weather map ahead of 
last Friday's tornadoes. See any similarities?

I'll get into details with Vermont further down (Spoiler: There's even ice in the forecast).  But the news today will focus on the middle of the nation.

I'm struck by how the big trouble spots today are exactly the same as Friday.

The first one is in Iowa and western Illinois, which were hit hard on Friday.  This time, supercells are again expected to develop this afternoon.  Some of them will produce gigantic hail and tornadoes. A couple tornadoes could be quite strong, as they were Friday. The threat will continue well into the evening. 

The second big trouble spot is in Arkansas and southern Missouri. Again, much of this area was hit hard by strong tornadoes on Friday. 

In one respect this new potential outbreak could be worse.  The strongest supercells and tornadoes are expected to roar to life overnight tonight. As I've said previously, late night tornadoes are often more deadly because they catch people unaware as they are sleeping, or it's too dark to see visual cues of oncoming trouble. 

Tomorrow looks bad, too.  The threat of tornadoes and intense thunderstorms will extend from near Memphis, all the way to central and northern Michigan, southern Ontario and western New York.

Some of this seems awfully far north and east for this early in the season. But it has happened before, most notably in the Super Outbreak of April 3-4, 1974.  That was easily among the worst tornado swarms in U.S .history. I don't think this one will be quite as bad as the 1974 storms, but you never know.

Also today and tonight, a blizzard will rage from northeastern Wyoming through the Dakotas into northwestern Minnesota.  Hot, dry winds gusting to 70 mph will hit areas from New Mexico to Kansas, raising the risk of dust storms and wildfires

VERMONT EFFECTS

The National Weather Service office in South Burlington
is actually forecasting a little freezing rain in some
parts of Vermont with the upcoming storm.
Yellow areas get just a little over a trace, orange areas
a tenth of an inch or more, and red areas at least a quarter inch.

I guess you could the effects of this vast storm on Vermont a little weird, and kind of unpredictable.

A weak cold front dropped through Vermont yesterday and stalled in southern parts of the state. This thing will turn into a warm front attached to the parent storm that will gradually work northward.  

Meantime, cold air is draining southward from high pressure way up in Quebec. Above that shallow layer of chilly air near the surface, the big storm will create a big punch of warm, very wet air high overhead. 

The result, at least near the Canadian border and eastern Vermont north of White River Junction is the risk of freezing rain. 

The risk will be highest in northern New York and maybe the northwestern tip of Vermont tomorrow morning. Then it will shift to the Northeast Kingdom late tomorrow and tomorrow night. 

Temperatures will be touch and go, so the freezing rain might be spotty. Most of any trouble on the roads would be rural stretches that are untreated, and bridges and overpasses. There won't be enough ice to damage trees, except possibly in the far northeastern corner of Vermont Wednesday night. 

The Champlain Valley and southern Vermont will just have mostly bouts of rain with this. There could be a hint of snow or sleet at the onset of all this tomorrow, And maybe even a rumble of thunder Wednesday or Wednesday night because the warm, humid air high above has quite an unstable layer. 

The storm's cold front will come through Thursday with more showers and maybe rumbles of thunder. We get another cold-ish shot Friday and Saturday, followed by a nice long breath of spring starting Sunday and continuing into next week. 

Tornado Outbreak Is, Sadly Very Bad, And It Isn't Over

Image from television station KATV shows a large,
destructive tornado today in the Little Rock, Arkansas area.

Just a quick evening update on the tornado situation in the Midwest and South. 

We're probably not even halfway done with this tornado outbreak as of 6 p.m. eastern time and already the news is bad. And it will get worse. 

So far, the worse news is from the Little Rock, Arkansas, area. The west and north side of the metro area was hit hard by a large tornado this afternoon.

Details are still sketchy, but there are reports of at least 600 injuries, and not enough ambulances to transport victims.  in Local hospitals declared a mass casualty event. Video emerging from Little Rock show badly damaged or destroyed houses and cars tossed about on highways. Commercial buildings appear to have also suffered a lot of damage.

More tornadoes remain across much of Arkansas. Little Rock might be hit again, as supercells with possible tornadoes look like they might be headed toward the southeastern side of Little Rock. 

Meanwhile, at least one large, long lasting tornado was marauding through Iowa. Video from Iowa shows a massive tornado chugging through farm country. At last report, the huge tornado was just west of Iowa City.  It appeared that Cedar Rapids could be endangered by this twister a little later on. 

Tornadoes, some violent and long-lasting, are forecast to last well into the evening in a broad area of the Midwest and South. 

Meanwhile, back here in Vermont, it snowed today. But they have increased the threat of severe thunderstorms. As of this morning, only a low, low marginal risk of severe storms was up for southern Vermont. It was level one on a five point alert scale.

Now, southern Vermont is  under a "slight" risk of severe storms, which is level 2 on the five point scale. The marginal risk has been extended north to just south of the Canadian border. There's also now a very, very low, but not zero chance of a tornado in a narrow band, from the Vermont/New Hampshire border near Brattleboro, through southwestern New England, the New York City area and on into New Jersey.

I'll have a much bigger update tomorrow.

Welcome To Spring! Oops!, It's Gone, Single Digit Cold And A Snowstorm On Our Doorstep.

A rapid snow and ice melt.  Part of my yard in St. Albans
Vermont looked like this late Tuesday afternoon......

 As expected, we awoke to springtime in Vermont this morning. Temperatures for most of us were in the 50s, the brooks were running full and strong and where did the snow that was in our yards yesterday go?  

This spring is very, very brief, as it will be in the 20s by this afternoon, single digits tonight, and -  the piece de resistance - all of Vermont is under a winter storm watch. 

As of 8 a.m. the sharp cold front was on our doorstep.  It was a balmy 56 degrees in Burlington and 59 in Montpelier and Rutland out of ahead of this front. These would be record highs except or the extreme, bizarre February heat wave we had back in 2017 that made today's record highs ridiculously high. 

Temperatures as of 8 a.m. were falling fast everywhere west of Plattsburgh, and we'll get into the crashing temperatures any minute.

There might be a few scattered rain showers as the front comes through, but if there are, they'll hardly amount to anything. In the unstable, cold air behind the front, a few snow showers might crop up but again, don't worry about it.

Flooding is still a threat today as ice jams continue to move about on swollen rivers.  Rainfall was actually a little less than forecast last night, but snow melt really took charge with the runoff into brooks and streams. Route 4 around Woodstock was occasionally under water because of an ice jam on the Ottaquechee River. At last report Route 4 remained open, but there's no guarantees with ice jams. 

After a quiet and cold Thursday we have our snowstorm to talk about.

Before we get into that, can we look at Arkansas and Kentucky again?  Hear me out. All winter, those two states have been buffeted by severe thunderstorms, destructive tornadoes, repeated, often serious flooding and damaging winter storms. 

The worst of seemingly every storm this winter has hit that area.

True to form, the storm that will eventually give us our Friday snowstorm will cause havoc in Arkansas and Kentucky first. Western Kentucky and much of Arkansas, especially the northeastern part of that state, are in for a destructive ice storm over the next couple of days. 

......The same spot in my yard at 7:30 a.m today. That ice
was slick underfoot. I'm glad a lot of it is gone! 

Ice might accumulate up to three quarters or even maybe an inch, which would cause a lot of damage to trees and power lines. Meanwhile, much of Kentucky faces a new round of flooding from this storm. 

The storm will lift northeastward, then jump to the coast south of New England Friday.

SNOWSTORM

Vermont looks as if it will be in the sweet spot for snow, especially southern Vermont.  There, up to a foot could fall.  Northern Vermont will probably see something closer to six inches. That's because the storm will have to overcome some dry air first to get the snow going, and the north will be a little further from the storm, so less moisture will be available.

One wild card: If upper level support is weaker than expected for rising air during the storm in northern Vermont, that would cut the expected accumulation by a lot.  If the storm whiffs anywhere in Vermont, it would be the north. But for now, it looks like areas north of Route 2 should still see a decent six inches or so. 

Generally speaking for most of the rest of Vermont,  expect 6 to 10 inches of snow. Forecasters don't think we'll deal with any freezing rain or sleet, which is a pleasant change considering how this winter has gone. The snow will be powdery, so it won't be all that hard to clean up. 

Snow is forecast to roll in before dawn in southern Vermont and start around the morning commute up north. It'll snow all day, so the trip home Friday evening will be a bit of a chore on the roads, too.

The weekend should be pleasant enough, with highs in the 20s Saturday and maybe low 30s Sunday ahead of an Arctic front.  So if you want to pick a weekend to play in the snow, this would be it. Even if there's just mud and bare ground outside your door today. 

 

Dozens Likely Dead In Tragic Overnight Christmas Season Tornado Swarm

Extreme tornado damage in Kentucky last night 

What is likely to be one of the worst, or the worst December tornado outbreak in U.S. history was ongoing early this morning. 

The death toll is certainly in the dozens from the late season storms, with some neighborhoods and towns completely decimated by large tornadoes  in Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said dozens have died in his state. "We believe our death toll from this event will exceed 50 Kentuckians and probably end up 70 to 100," told television station WLKY in Louisville. "This is likely to be the most severe tornado outbreak in our states history."

Though numerous tornadoes were reported, one powerful tornado appears to have started in Arkansas and traveled at least 250 miles through northeast Arkansas, the boot heel of Missouri and on into Tennessee and Kentucky. 

Radar showed debris in the air for at least 270 miles along the huge tornado's track.  If it is eventually confirmed a single tornado along this track stayed on the ground continuously, it will be the longest tracked tornado in U.S. history.  

Although that continuous track is not confirmed yet, it's already being dubbed the "Quad-State Tornado." That's a comparison to the Tri-State Tornado of 1925, which at least until now, had the longest continuous path - going 219 miles through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. That 1925 tornado killed 695 people, making it the worst single tornado in U.S. history.

As horrible as last night and this morning is, we can at least doubt the death toll is that bad.   

Still, what happened last night is beyond tragic. 

This main tornado or tornadoes was especially powerful.  Radar images showed debris being lofted 37,000 feet into the air, which is incredible for any tornado. The tornado first touched down at around 7 p.m. local time southwest of Jonesville, Arkansas and, incredibly, was still on the ground four and half hours later southwest of Louisville. 

Damage on the ground from this thing is extreme as it roared from town to town in the central Mississippi Valley. In Monette, Arkansas, it swept through a nursing home, with at least one fatality there.

The tornado was perhaps at its maximum strength in Mayfield, Kentucky, where, among other things it hit a candle factory while 110 workers were inside. The remains of the factory were being searched early this morning, and there is likely numerous fatalities there. Drone video taken above the scene shows the factory being an unrecognizable as a building. Just a mound of debris

Storm chasers who reached Mayfield said huge swaths of the city of 10,000 people were flattened.

Video from Leachville, Arkansas showed, among other things, a flattened Dollar General store, and more heartbreakingly, a destroyed, overturned home with a child's toy truck beneath it. 

There are also reports of extreme damage in and around Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Other tornadoes struck near St. Louis, Missouri. Just northeast of St. Louis, in Edwardsville, Illinois, a tornado collapsed much of an Amazon warehouse. At least 100 people were working inside at the time. Rescuers at last report were looking for survivors and bodies.

Other tornadoes also swept the St. Louis area. Meteorologists at the National Weather Service office near St. Louis had to take shelter for a time as an apparent tornado passed by very close to them. 

Tornado warnings were still going off this morning in and around Tennessee.  Chances of further tornadoes are lower today than they were last night, but still possible in a band from northern Alabama through Tennessee and Kentucky today. 

This is a breaking story and there probably be updates as we go along today.  Unfortunately, I believe any additional news will not be good. 

Amid Widespread Drought In U.S, Some Nasty Flash Floods

Flooding in Burlington, Vermont in the summer of 
2017. It is dry so far this year, but early summer
seems to be a peak season for flash floods
in much of the eastern United States

Droughts and heat waves are dominating the nation's weather headlines of late, but there's quite the opposite problem happening in some parts of the country: Flash floods. 

This is arguably peak season for flash floods in much of the United States. The severe storms season of the spring evolves into, yes, occasional bouts of high winds and tornadoes, but also heavier rain.  

Being into at least climatological summer, the atmosphere is warmer. Warmer air can hold more water than cooler conditions. Given the right weather set up, the result is torrential downpours in spots.  June becomes a month particularly prone to flash floods. 

Climatologist Brian Brettschneider  (@Climatologist49 on Twitter) figured out that June 8 is the climatologically wettest day of the year in the contiguous United States, at least based on averaging out data from 1991-2020. 

Climate change has brought the potential for even heavier downpours than in the past. The air, especially in the eastern half of the nation, can get warmer and more humid than it could decades ago, at least in general. The result is heavier flash floods. 

The worst of the flooding this week was in southern Arkansas and northern Mississippi, especially on that notorious June 8.  In the past few days 12 to 18 inches of rain has soaked this area, leading to widespread flooding.

The problem was ongoing this morning.  A particularly dangerous situation was declared early today in northern Mississippi for torrential rains and flash flooding ongoing as I write this.

In the East, torrential thunderstorms in the soupy, hot airmass this past week has brought damaging flash floods from Downeast Maine all the way down the coast into the Carolinas.  More than five inches of rain fell in parts of eastern Maine early Wednesday. Up to seven inches of rain drowned some areas of Pennsylvania. 

It IS that time of year, as noted.

Some of the most notorious, deadly historic floods in U.S. history have hit different areas of the nation in past decades in the end of May and in June. 

The famous Johnstown Flood in Pennsylvania on May 31, 1889 killed 2,209 people.  It was caused by a dam, poorly built, collapsing amid torrential rains. 

Ten years later, a historic flood along the Brazos River in Texas killed 289 on June 17,1899. In 1903 yet another flash flood in the mountains around Heppner, Oregon killed 324 people.

A flash flood in and around Rapid City, South Dakota, caused by up to 15 inches of rain from a thunderstorm parked over the Black Hills, killed 238 people on June 9, 1972.  

That same month, early season Hurricane Agnes caused immense flooding in Pennsylvania, New York State, and other parts of the Mid-Atlantic.  That flood killed 117 people and caused $3.1 billion in damage. 

More recently, Ellicott City Maryland was wrecked in a dramatic flash flood on May 27, 2018.

You get the picture. 

Here in Vermont, we can still get flash floods even in dry years like this one. That is, if it rains hard enough in a short enough period of time.  Part of far southeastern Vermont was under a flash flood warning for a time Tuesday, but no reports of anything serious came from that.

Going forward, the forecast for Vermont continues to feature too little rain - not too much  rain- in the next week or so.

Still, there have been some serious flash flood episodes in Vermont during June.  One of the worst floods in Vermont history hit on June 30, 1973.  Destructive flash flooding hit Vermont in June, 1998 and to a slightly lesser extent in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2013.