Tropical Storm Cosme forms in the Pacific; severe thunderstorms spawn weekend tornadoes
Tropical Storm Cosme forms in the Pacific; severe thunderstorms spawn weekend tornadoes
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NOAA, FEMA cuts will impact hurricane season, experts warn
The Trump administration's budget cuts at NOAA and FEMA will have an adverse affect on how the U.S. responds to hurricanes, experts warn.
All is quiet in the Atlantic hurricane basin as the second week of hurricane season begins, but the third storm of the season has formed in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, west of Mexico, and the fourth could form later this week.
In the Atlantic and Caribbean hurricane region, no tropical activity is expected within the next week, the National Hurricane Center said on June 8.
But things are busy in the eastern Pacific. Tropical Storm Cosme formed June 8, about 665 miles south of the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, the hurricane center said. Cosme could become a minimal hurricane, but is expected to dissipate by June 12.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Barbara lies between Cosme and Mexico, about 205 miles southwest of Zihuatanejo. It was expected to become a hurricane by the morning of June 9.
The hurricane center forecasts its outer rainfall bands could drop 2 to 4 inches of rain on the coastal states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Michoacan, Colima, and Jalisco through June 8, with the potential to cause localized flooding and landslides. Barbara could also bring life-threatening surf and rip currents along the coast of southwestern Mexico.
Further south in the Pacific, a third low-pressure area is forecast to develop south of southern Mexico later in the week. Environmental conditions appear favorable for development, and it could become a tropical depression by June 13 or 14, the center said. If that becomes a tropical storm, it would be named Dalila.
Severe thunderstorms spawn weekend tornadoes in the United States
In the United States from June 7 to June 8, a swath of storms produced at least half a dozen tornadoes from Texas to Virginia, according to the Storm Prediction Center and National Weather Service.
A tornado watch was in effect for the Washington D.C. area and parts of Virginia on June 8, where severe thunderstorms occurred. Two possible tornadoes were reported to the weather service in eastern Virginia near Chesapeake Bay on Sunday night, a touchdown that lasted less than a minute near Lerty, and a possible tornado in James City County.
The weather service said more than 20 million people were under a severe thunderstorm watch across the southern plains and northern Texas. A storm chaser told the weather service in Lubbock, Texas, that high winds in one storm had blown a steeple off a church in Cee Vee on the evening of June 8, the forecast office reported.
Elsewhere, a tornado was spotted in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, and one in Dallam County, Texas, where a barn was destroyed, the weather service said.
Hailstorms pummeled the region, with reports of hail in Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Illinois on Sunday. The weather service has received more than 200 reports of hail larger than one inch in size since June 1.
Just after midnight on June 9, more than 225,000 power outages were reported along the path of high winds and storms across the United States, including over 158,000 in Texas.
Operation ICECHIP chasing Plains hail
The Plains storms are proving fertile ground for a team of more than 100 researchers who are conducting field research for a groundbreaking project known as ICECHIP, supported by the National Science Foundation.
The first collaborative U.S.-focused hail project in more than 40 years, it's expected to make a "generational leap forward" in understanding hail, study co-leader Victor Gensini, a Northern Illinois University atmospheric science professor, stated earlier in the spring.
The team logged more than half a dozen reports to the weather service over the weekend.
Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for USA TODAY, covers climate change, weather, the environment, and other news. Reach her at dpulver@usatoday.com or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.
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