E-Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology

03/18/2025

TRI-STATE TORNADO: 18 March 1925

One hundred years ago today, the deadliest tornado in U.S. history traveled from southeastern Missouri across southern Illinois and into Indiana, killing around 695 people.

How long was its path and lifespan, to the best extent determinable? Where did it strike, when, and with what effects? What other tornadoes occurred from the same supercell and overall weather system? What were some of the last direct interview accounts of that disastrous day from people who survived it as youth? Perhaps most mysteriously, what was the meteorology of the event, to as much detail as could be surmised from limited data in the 1920s, forensic techniques and technology of this century?

A large team of university researchers and NOAA meteorologists (both still active and recently retired at the time) sought answers to these questions and more, and in 2013, published two extensive, seminal papers in EJSSM, loaded with their findings. These represent the most complete understanding still available of the Tri-State event:

1. Meteorological Analyses of the Tri-State Tornado Event of March 1925 by Maddox et al.

2. The 1925 Tri-State Tornado Damage Path and Associated Storm System by Johns et al.

Since this was a two-paper effort, please find the links to each one's EJSSM page, with a copy of the abstract, in the first two comments below.

02/11/2025

EJSSM mourns the passing of peerless severe-storms scientist Charles A. (Chuck) Doswell III, on 18 January.

Chuck's story as a scientist is rich, vast and deep, following his Bachelor of Science degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Masters and Ph. D. from the University of Oklahoma in the 1970s. Professionally, he worked at the National Severe Storms Forecast Center's Techniques Development Unit, NCAR in Boulder, NSSL, and CIMMS (now CIWRO), and was an adjunct professor at OU.

In the latter role, Chuck developed a challenging, long-running, graduate-level course, Advanced Forecast Techniques, to bridge the heretofore often detached worlds of theoretical understanding and operational forecasting. Perhaps more importantly, he taught his students and scientific peers how to think critically in the framework of scientific principles. This included by lectures, discussions and example, including through his rigorous reviews for EJSSM and many other journals. Chuck not only was a great scientist in his own right, but made those around him better.

With well over 100 peer-reviewed publications combined as lead- and co-author, editing of the AMS Meteorological Monograph on severe local storms, research collaborations with other scientists worldwide for decades, academic advisement and mentorship of countless many graduate students, and the friendships he nurtured with so many, Chuck's influence on meteorology is hard to overstate. Working with his longtime friend and scientific and storm-observing colleague Al Moller, he contributed his own excellent storm photography and deep understanding of supercell processes to spotter-training efforts of the NWS.

Chuck had a bluntly outspoken, larger-than-life personality, a powerful, plainspoken eloquence, and was in high demand as a speaker. He had a strong "BS filter" and could, by his own description, be a "curmudgeon." But in reality, Chuck had a heart of gold. He was a devoted husband, father and grandfather, a longtime Boy Scout leader and volunteer, and served civic causes throughout his adulthood.

Chuck was one of EJSSM's founders in 2006, and a continuous board member from then onward, laying a great deal of the scientific and idealistic foundation for the journal. Though Chuck is irreplaceable, his influence will live on in meteorology for generations to come.

08/17/2024

Following up on their 2022 work, the field-research team of Dean et al. (2024) document pressure changes and video clues near and within three EF2-rated tornadoes from 2016-2019. This sampling included the tornadic inflow, corner-flow and core regions. Design and specifications of the instrument packages are provided as well.

The journal link is given below; Abstract is in the first comment.

Pressure Measurements and Video Observations Near and Inside Three EF2 Tornadoes Authors Lanny Dean PACRITEX David Moran DTN, PACRITEX Randy Hicks PACRITEX Pat Winn DOI: https://doi.org/10.55599/ejssm.v19i2.91 Keywords: instrumentation, In-situ observations, vortex dynamics, tornadoes, mesocyclones,...

05/22/2024

In the latest EJSSM article, "A Mesonet-Based Climatology Of Severe Convective Winds in West Texas," Gunter and Long evaluate thunderstorm winds in terms of frequency and intensity across 15 years in the core part of the West Texas Mesonet domain, the Lubbock NWS County Warning Area, and compare nearby mesonet sites to a couple standard NWS (ASOS, AWOS) stations. The Caprock Escarpment appears to exert measurable influences on thunderstorm winds. More in the abstract (first comment below) and manuscript (available via this link):

A Mesonet-Based Climatology Of Severe Convective Winds in West Texas Authors William Scott Gunter University of Louisville Quint M. Long University of Louisville DOI: https://doi.org/10.55599/ejssm.v19i1.92 Keywords: Severe Storms, Wind Gust, Mesonet, Climatology, In-situ observations Abstract Multi...

11/22/2023

In the latest EJSSM article, "Observational Study of Two Norman, Oklahoma Storms with Very Large, Damaging Hail in Long-Hodograph Environments", Kanak and Straka compare radar and environmental characteristics of two quite different supercells in the same city, that both yielded destructive, significant hail. The Abstract appears in the first comment.

As a reminder, all EJSSM articles on the dot-com site have DOIs, for your referencing (and cross-referencing) convenience.

Observational Study of Two Norman, Oklahoma Storms with Very Large, Damaging Hail in Long-Hodograph Environments Authors Katharine M. Kanak Retired, University of Oklahoma https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3479-9669 Jerry M. Straka University of Oklahoma - Professor Emeritus https://orcid.org/0000-0003-36...

02/10/2023

We at EJSSM have lost a co-founder, colleague, and friend. James R. (Jim) Johnson, 78, passed away at his home in Dodge City, KS, where he lived after his retirement from his Lead Forecaster position the NWS Forecast Office there two decades earlier.

Jim began his meteorological career in the Air Force at Offutt AFB, and continued it in the NWS. He was an excellent operational meteorologist, keen scientific mind, and developer of the peer-reviewed Short-Fused Composite concept for diagnosing near-term environments favorable for tornadoes.

After he retired, Jim helped to organize and do behind the scenes paperwork for Electronic Journals of Meteorology, the nonprofit behind EJSSM, and served as our chairperson. He also was a man of many talents: a husband to his late wife Carolyn, stepdad, granddad, respected veteran, avid motorcyclist, musician and jug-band performer, thespian, civic-minded historian, dog lover, conference organizer, craft-beer enthusiast, youth-hockey coach, and eager dispenser of wisdom, whose tall stature and big personality were overshadowed only by his positive legacy. Rest in peace, Jim.

01/28/2023

Nine years ago today, a snow event that may have been considered ordinary by northern standards got disastrous in Alabama. Coleman et al. published a formal paper in EJSSM on that event, examining it both from meteorological and response perspectives.

The Birmingham, Alabama Snow “Disaster” of 28 January 2014

The Birmingham, Alabama Snow “Disaster” of 28 January 2014 Authors Timothy A. Coleman University of Alabama in Huntsville Kevin R. Knupp University of Alabama in Huntsville J. P. Dice WBRC-TV, Birmingham, AL Kevin Laws NOAA, National Weather Service Chris Darden NOAA, National Weather Service DO...

12/01/2022

Observationally sampling the inner workings of tornadoes is difficult -- doing so in a scientifically meaningful and publishable way, even more so. In the latest EJSSM article, Dean et al. document their in-situ tornado probes, with video cameras, and related findings from near and within the western of the two tornadoes near Pilger, NE, on 16 June 2014.

In Situ Video Observations and Analysis of the 16 June 2014 Pilger, Nebraska EF4 west Tornado Authors Lanny Dean PACRITEX David Moran DTN, PACRITEX Randy Hicks PACRITEX DOI: https://doi.org/10.55599/ejssm.v17i3.83 Keywords: In-situ observations, In-situ probe, Higher-order multiple vortices, Sub-vor...

11/17/2022

As a reminder, all EJSSM articles, from the very beginning in late 2006, now have Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs). This allows cross-referencing from any publishing platform or library service, and of course, all other journals worldwide that accommodate DOI.

Since we have had DOI, other journals overall have three times the resolution failure rate (failure to resolve the DOI) as EJSSM. According to our report from CrossRef: "The overall resolution failure rate (the percentage of DOI resolution attempts that failed) for all publishers is 3% and your failure rate is 1%."

We strive to improve upon even that, and to continue to be the lowest-cost, U.S.-based, reputable option for publishing original research related to severe local storms, fire weather and other hazardous weather. Access is immediately open and free to the world for all published papers, no paywall nor time delay, and our open review process encourages both fairness and rigor in reviews.

To find an EJSSM paper's DOI, go to the new site's archive:
https://ejssm.com/ojs/index.php/site/issue/archive

Find the listing for any manuscript you want, then click on the title to access the Abstract page. The hyperlink to the new DOI is on each paper's Abstract page, between the author names and keywords. The hyperlink takes you back to the same page, because that's the home page of the abstract. But you can use it for referencing in your own research submitted to *any* journal.

Using the Supercell Polarimetric Observation Research Kit (SPORK) to Examine a Large Sample of Pretornadic and Nontornadic SupercellsMatthew B. Wilson and Matthew S. Van Den Broeke

08/07/2022

In the latest EJSSM article, Wilson and Van Den Broeke introduce and document SPORK: an algorithm for quick operational and research analysis of dual-pol radar data. SPORK identifies ZDR arcs and columns -- valuable to efficient assessment and differentiation of pretornadic vs. nontornadic supercells, as well as inferring hailfall signatures.

The Abstract appears in the first comment.

As a (re)reminder, if you haven't registered with the new site (ejssm dot com) yet, please do. We especially encourage past and future EJSSM authors and reviewers to re-register at the new site, since the old site (ejssm dot org) now is a WordPress backup archive only, and no longer hosts our software: Open Journal Systems (OJS). The new site offers the latest full OJS capabilities.

Using the Supercell Polarimetric Observation Research Kit (SPORK) to Examine a Large Sample of Pretornadic and Nontornadic Supercells Authors Matthew B. Wilson University of Nebraska-Lincoln Matthew S. Van Den Broeke University of Nebraska-Lincoln DOI: https://doi.org/10.55599/ejssm.v17i2.85 Keyword...

07/12/2022

All published EJSSM articles now have Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs). Please see the "Archives" link at the new EJSSM Open Journal Systems website...

https://ejssm.com/ojs/index.php/site/issue/archive

Then go to the listing for each paper, and click on the title to access the Abstract page. The hyperlink to the new DOI is on each paper's Abstract page, between the author names and keywords (also a new feature). See attached screenshot for an example.

The link points back to the same page. But you can copy and save that link for your own records, CV use if an author, etc., and for any papers you may write in the future that reference them.

All DOIs for an EJSSM paper worldwide, in any journal or digital library, will go right back to its EJSSM abstract page with PDF link.

EJSSM also now welcomes hyperlinked DOIs in article references (optional, not mandatory).

05/15/2022

Latest EJSSM article by Straka & Kanak performs a deep climatology of long-tracked tornadoes. Please see the first comment for the abstract.

As a reminder, if you haven't registered with the new site (ejssm dot com) yet, please do. We especially encourage past EJSSM authors and reviewers to re-register at the new site, since the old site (ejssm dot org) now is a WordPress backup archive only, and no longer hosts OJS. The new site offers the latest full Open Journal Systems capabilities.

A Climatology of Long-Track Tornadoes Authors Jerry Straka Katherine Kanak Keywords: Tornadoes, Climatology, Damage Assessment, Quality Control, Supercells, Severe Storms, Meteorology, Weather Abstract A 40-year climatology (1979–2018) is presented for long-track tornadoes in the United States usi...