>5 Killed When Storms Tear Down Concert Stage at Indiana State Fair Saturday Night, Sunday Soaker for US East, Tropical Depression 7 Forms in Atlantic

Written by Mark Vogan on August 14, 2011 in Rest of Europe with 0 Comments

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In Today’s Blog

#BRITISH-ISLES-EUROPE
Little change to the unsettled UK pattern in the next 7-10 days, always drier and warmer towards London (includes 4-day European city forecast & video)

#USA
Sunday Soaker for East Coast, 3+ inches of rain expected between New York City & DC, Severe Storms possible, Houston to top 100 for 14th straight day

In Today’s News

BREAKING NEWS
PARTS OF NYC & LONG ISLAND IS UNDER WATER DUE TO EXCESSIVE RAINS, HOUSTON TIES 1980 FOR MOST CONSECUTIVE DAYS ON RECORD THIS AFTERNOON

RAIN TOTALS AS OF 4PM ET

Elmer, NJ 9.36″
JFK, NYC 7.72″ (highest 24-hour total on record)
Philadelphia, PA 4.90″ (4th highest total on record)

Flooding in New York City (Image Source: CBS)

NEW: Heavy Rains Flood Streets, Trap Cars In Parts Of NYC And Long Island
CBS NEW YORK

NEW: Houston hits 100 degrees, tying record, before the rain comes
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Strong Thunderstorms Illustrate Their Danger In Devastating Fashion at Indiana State Fair Saturday Night

5 Dead as Indiana State Fair Stage Collapses
THE WEATHER CHANNEL

It was a devastating sight just watching the video of the concert stage collapsing in Indianapolis last night. This was a result of winds blowing out from a thunderstorm cluster moving towards the State Fair site from the NW. An outflow boundary is when a powerful downward column of air, released from the storm hits the ground and then moves out and away from the storm, these winds are powerful and what we saw in the video from last night was a direct result of just how dangerous outflow boundaries can be if your in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Two Sides to Outflow Boundaries

The outflow boundary (marked by white line) is the very feature which caused havoc last night at Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis, IN (Image from Jesse Ferrell’s Blog)

Ironically, for Dallas just a few days ago, an outflow boundary was Dallas’ best friend, erasing the heat from 96 to 84 in less than an hour. It also stopped the city from challenging the 1980 heat record for most consecutive 100-degree days. As for last night, the exact same phenomenon created devastation, and showed in such a raw way the other side of the coin when it comes to outflow boundaries.