Talk:Tornado outbreak of December 16–17, 2019

Links to Each PNS (Public Information Statement)?
I don't know how these outbreak articles are typically structured, but as someone who has to use IEMBot to fish out the PNS's (Public Information Statements) to try to read the official synopsis of each tornado as the surveys are completed, and finds that task to be frankly a pain, it'd be great if we had a section somewhere in references or the main part of these articles linking to each tornado's PNS, or each damage survey which is released as a PNS, anyway. I'll help when/if I can. Any thoughts on this whole idea? Psx1337 (talk) 22:15, 17 December 2019 (UTC)

Alexanderia
Prelim ef3 but might be upgraded Redfishtwofish (talk) 02:51, 18 December 2019 (UTC)

Tornado count
This tornado outbreak article states that 3 EF3s have touched down on December 16 yet the Tornadoes of 2019 article states that 4 have touched down. Which one is right? Someone needs to update one of the articles so that they both say the same thing. Kade Ydstie45 (talk) 17:58, 18 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Fixed. One EF3 apparently got duplicated earlier. Also, one more tornado in Georgia was rated EF2. TornadoLGS (talk) 18:22, 18 December 2019 (UTC)
 * P.S. looks like NWS Jackson just rated another large EF3 tornado. TornadoLGS (talk) 18:25, 18 December 2019 (UTC)


 * Probably incorrectly formatted reply - Tornadoes by definition must 'touch down' and "tornado on the ground" is kind of a silly saying. Either way, nice job to all the contributers. Here's where you can check for the PNS's (Public Information Statements) with an example search for Memphis (KMEG) ranging from the start date of the outbreak through today's date... then just scroll down and find (if available) anything marked PNS - you can even get it in image format instead of having to copy/paste text or whatever. https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wx/afos/list.phtml?source=MEG&year=2019&month=12&day=16&drange=yes&year2=2019&month2=12&day2=18&view=grid&order=asc Psx1337 (talk) 20:17, 18 December 2019 (UTC)

Meteorologic Synopsis Suggestion(s?)
Again, I'm more a person who suggests things than actually writes them up. Hope that is OK. I'd like to suggest the meteorologic synopsis contain some information regarding the aggressive shortwaves. Not only did the pattern involve shortwaves, in the form of a shortwave trough, but it was an inverted shortwave trough. Perhaps something as well on the nature of the long-wave pattern. We appear to have been in, and are probably still in, a negative "Arctic Oscillation" as well, so teleconnection info as well? Last thing I can think of: the SPC's Day 1 Convective Outlook Discussion issued around 1 AM EST (0600Z), as I recall, mentioned a veer-back-veer wind profile, but they seemed to suddenly realize that there was the possibility for a veering wind profile instead right as the tornadoes began to form. I can't say what they did or didn't know or realize, but we can go back and analyze their own outlooks. Psx1337 (talk) 20:22, 18 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Could be worth mentioning, though we'd have to avoid WP:SYNTH. Also worth mentioning on the mesoscale, it appears that a fair portion of the tornadoes may have been the result of two long-track cyclic supercells, at least one of which was confirmed by NWS Birmingham. They have a page on this outbreak that should probably be archived. The Georgia tornadoes look like the formed on the north end of a squall line. TornadoLGS (talk) 20:37, 18 December 2019 (UTC)

Interesting points. I'll check out that WP:SYNTH page. and this again is just from recollection but I think that lake Charles Louisiana said something to the effect of they were not expecting tornadoes along the Squall line itself. Good observations! Psx1337 (talk) 21:08, 18 December 2019 (UTC)