STORM2K

Here are my top 10 weather events of 2010 in the US. This was a fairly tough list to sort out IMO. For the second straight year, the tropics are absent on land (but not at sea), but some interesting ones on here. Notice most of them happened in the springtime, with May and June holding 7 of the 10 events and only one event after July. The summer and fall were pretty quiet in comparison with only one real blockbuster event compared to the spring which was loaded with disasters (especially tornadoes and flooding)!

1 - May 1-3: Massive flood in the Mid-South, especially in and around Nashville (costliest weather event of 2010)

2 - February 5-11: Historic onslaught of blizzards in the Mid-Atlantic

3 - October 25-27: Enormous October storm with record pressures bring everything - snow, ice, wind, rain, tornadoes...

4 - April to July: Storms, including tropical cyclones, hamper the Deepwater Horizon cleanup

5 - May 10: Widespread tornado outbreak in Oklahoma

6 - June 11: Deadly flash flood in Arkansas (deadliest local weather event of 2010)

7 - June 17: Record tornado outbreak in Minnesota and North Dakota

8 - June and July: Major heat wave in the Northeast (deadliest large-scale weather event of 2010 I believe?)

9 - June 5-6: Deadly Midwest tornado outbreak

10 - December 25-28: Major hurricane-like Nor'easter with very significant snow in the Northeast

How about your Top 10 (or 20) for the decade? Since the decade is finally coming to a close (2001 - 2010).

brunota2003 wrote:How about your Top 10 (or 20) for the decade? Since the decade is finally coming to a close (2001 - 2010).

I made a list for 2000-09...

On this year's list: 3 were severe weather events (3 in 2009), 2 were flood events (1 in 2009), 2 were non-precipitation events (0 in 2009), 1 was an extreme seasonal pattern (2 in 2009), 1 was a winter weather event (3 in 2009) and 1 was an extratropical cyclone (0 in 2009). Tropical cyclones were absent for the second straight year.

Spring was just mean, with almost all the top events happening from late April to mid-June. It seems the late April tornado outbreak (which did not make my top 10) set the tone for the next couple months. Thankfully for the victims of all those spring disasters (i.e. the Nashville flood, the tornado outbreaks, etc.), they kept the spotlight at least in the US the rest of the year and didn't have to compete with funding for other areas, with the only late summer/fall event more of an amazing meteorological record than a disaster event (but still important enough for #3 IMO). Even still, Deepwater Horizon (the cleanup problems due to weather got #4 IMO) seemed to get a lot more time in the press than any of those weather events in the spring.

After all that has happened, this mega-blizzard will join an updated list at #10.

CrazyC83 wrote:After all that has happened, this mega-blizzard will join an updated list at #10.

I wholeheartedly agree with you, Crazy. Heh. That sounds funny.

No, seriously. This blizzard was insanely epic in every sense of the word. Weather I consider to be "epic" has to have a major impact on the environment (as a whole) and on the every day activities of the public. Needless to say, this blizzard has SOME impact.

I would have bumped the recent storm up a few notches since it was not only an impact as a blizzard to New England, but it brought extreme rains/mudslides to California, feet of snow to the rockies, widespread southern snows, and flooding conditions to the Boston Area.

After this tornado outbreak, I wonder if I made the list too soon? I might redo the entire list. Still, the Nashville flood remains #1 in my books. After a fairly quiet summer and fall, Mother Nature took some revenge in December!

Odd, nobody mentioned the record breaking Low pressures in CA/NV/AZ with high winds/floods/tornadoes/ dust storms/severe thunderstorms and blizzards in the mountains in January nor Arizona's record breaking severe weather event in October.

Steve

Here are my top 10 weather events of 2010 in the US.

That's an interesting list, but all those events are in the central and east part of the country.

Other than most hurricanes and most tornadoes, most weather extremes happen in the West.

To ask the same question Aslkahuna is asking, why would there be no western events at all?

For example, the big floods in California and the desert SW. Some cities/towns there had 1000% of normal precipitation for December. On the flip side, in some areas the drought is so bad that Lake Mead is the lowest it has been in many decades. Just one storm in December dropped up to 100 inches of snow in Utah, though I guess it didn't affect as many people as say the New England storm.

I know it's hard to pick 10 weather events for 2010, but it seems that the West should have at least one.

These are mine personally

1. The Entire Month of February: In my life I've never seen anything like it, I witnessed two storms, 20.5" and 16.4" of snow, within 5 days of each other. And another storm late in the month with blizzard conditions and 9.5". Just an amazing blitz of storms.

2. Hurricane Earl, September 3rd: Yes, it missed I know and many call it a bust because it didn't kill 15,000 people, but where I come from, seeing what I got to see that day was something special, 15-20 foot waves slamming into the coast line, destroying the beaches, just a sight to behold, and it was probably my most photographed/recorded event.

3. January cold snap in Florida: I got to be in Northern Florida in January of 2010, I never thought I'd see the Mercury fall to 9 degrees, or see Palms incased in ice. I went there to escape the cold, instead, it was colder than it was back north.

4. March 12-15: Depending on where you were in New Jersey, you saw 1-5 inches of rain, but more significantly, winds ranging from 40-75mph, luckily the storm hit over spring break.

5. July heatwave: July 6th was probably the hottest day I can remember, and the heatwave itself brought back memories of 1995. Topping out at a tad below 105 on that particular day, with one of two locations pegging 107.

6. December 26-27th snowstorm: I got only 10 inches, and my observing of it was hampered by a severely broken toe, but Blizzard conditions occurred, and sadly most of the snow was gone by New Years.

7. May 27: A small but intense squall line took an odd north to south track through New Jersey, it began dying as it reached me, but the visuals were absolutely stunning, I have many photos of it.

8. Severe Thunderstorm, July 19th: The storm was garden variety, the aftermath was not, the timing of its passing was just in time for sunset, and a full rainbow appeared with lightning going off inside of it, as well as amazing sunset pillars, visually amazing.

9. August 23rd: A nighttime thunderstorm hits while I'm in Florida, never seen so much lightning in my life, sadly, not many cloud to grounds.

10. October 11: A small but intense thunderstorm hits Piscataway, NJ, dropping small hail, meanwhile I'm to the south in New Brunswick, perfect view of its structure even at night, and witness to a spectacular lightning display.

Would be happy to share photos of these events, 1, 2, 7, 8, and 10 were extensively photographed, 1 and 2 I could make scrapbooks from, 2 I could make into a DVD.