National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Heavy Rain From the Central Plains to the Mid-Atlantic; Heat Wave Begins This Weekend

Strong to severe thunderstorms and heavy rain will impact portions of the central Plains into the Upper Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic through the weekend. A stretch of unusually hot and humid weather is expected across portions of the central U.S. and the Southeast beginning this weekend and continuing through next week. The heat may reach dangerous levels, particularly mid to late next week. Read More >

Paulding County

Reflectivity
The oranges and reds signify heavy rainfall and possible hail.

These radar reflectivity pictures show the storm moving out of Van Wert County and into southeast Paulding County.  Note that the storm never really displays a classic "hook echo", despite producing a tornado of F3 strength in this area.

reflectivity     reflectivity

Example of classic hook echo, courtesy WFO Norman

Velocity
The reds depict air moving away from the radar (outbound), the greens depict air moving inbound toward the radar (in these pictures, the radar is to the upper left, out of the picture).  Reds and greens right next to each other suggest circulation, since there are air currents flowing in opposite directions in close proximity to each other.

"Vr" is rotational velocity, which is simply the average of the maximum outbound wind speeds and maximum inbound wind speeds.  It can be used to give an idea of the strength of the circulation.  Note that the circulation peaks in intensity near Roselms, which is where F3 damage was found.

velocity     velocity

Back to Van Wert County...

Back to Adams County...

Back to Blackford County...