More - Major - Wind Damage
There is a radar picture to bring tears of joy to any meteorologist - it's absolutely classic, absolutely clear - and dangerous. The kind of storm where they truly save lives, by giving warning in time. This is known as a " bow echo " storm formation; because they resemble an archer's bow. See that little white plus sign, just to the right of the middle of the bow? That's Badgersett Farm; precisely. And that's absolutely the most dangerous place to be for one of these storms; and if you come this weekend for the Field Day - you'll see why. That's where the most violent winds are; trained observers in Preston reported gusts over 70 mph (hurricane) for this storm; as I watched it, I was guessing 70 to 80 mph. From that Wikipedia entry: "Bow echoes are capable of producing straight-line winds that are just as strong as many tornadoes. A strong bow echo will produce more widespread and intense damage than the majority of tornadoes. " Yup. ...