On Monday, July 18th, just as I was beginning my vacation outside of The County, inside The County, Mother Nature put on an amazing display, as a truly textbook supercell thunderstorm developed and subsequently produced a tornado. Maine averages about two tornados a year. Before I get into what I want to tell you about, here is the text summary from the National Weather Service damage survey team:
“The National Weather Service in Caribou ME has confirmed a tornado near Perham in Aroostook County Maine on July 18 2016. The tornado was a very short-lived, EF-0, touching down on the north side of Tangle Ridge Rd and traveling about 100 yards ENE into the woods.
Numerous trees were uprooted in this short path. The tornado may have touched down again briefly further to the ENE along its path, but NWS survey could not confirm any further damage other than the tree damage along Tangle Ridge Rd because of insufficient road network and predominant forest in the area.”
The winds in this tornado reached 75 mph according to the survey team.
But what I want to talk about is the tornado warning that was issued, because it was of a type that had not been issued for more than two decades here in The County.
First, though, you need to know that there are two types of tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service. One is doppler indicated. Doppler Radar can detect the spin of a tornado. In that type of tornado warning they will specify that it is indicated by doppler radar.
The other type of tornado warning is based on visual confirmation. This type of warning will include language like “A trained weather spotter reported a tornado on the ground in Perham”.
It is this second type of warning which had not been issued this century! In fact, none could be found by the very helpful staff at NWS Caribou going back to 1994. Now to be clear, I am not saying there had been no tornados since 1994, I am saying there have been no tornado warnings issued since then based on visual confirmation. Until this one.
Goes to show just how uncommon they are, way up here in our neck of the woods! Also, you may have realized that there’s another issue. Vast areas of Aroostook County are sparsely populated, which means that there might be a tornado on the ground, but no one to see it and report it! Or, and this is key, a person in a rural area might see something odd, but not know exactly what they are seeing. This is why trained weather spotters are so valuable. They provide the proverbial boots-on-the-ground reports, and are therefore an integral part of the warning process.
If you are interested in becoming a trained weather spotter, contact the National Weather Service Caribou office at 492-0180, Ext. 1.
Ted Shapiro holds the Broadcast Seal of Approval from both the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association. An Alexandria, Va. native, he has been chief meteorologist at WAGM-TV since 2006. Email him at tshapiro@wagmtv.com.
