WeatherNation Top 5 of the Week

2 Nov 2019, 1:26 pm

Our top 5 Videos of the Week capture an extreme week of weather.

The strongest wind event of the season so far this year combined with bone-dry conditions lead to the creation of a fast-moving wildfire in Sonoma County, so far the largest of 2019. WeatherNation’s Brandon Clement captures the fury of the Kincade Fire, burning since October 23. The blaze has destroyed hundreds of buildings including homes and even a winery.

In Southern California, an Extreme Red Flag Warning was issued for the first time in history as damaging winds helped spread and fuel destructive wildfires across the region. Thousands of acres are still burning as the forecast continues to remain dry in these areas.

The same system that created the powerful winds in California also dumped up to feet of snow across Colorado. This winter storm created a mess on the roads during multiple commutes during the workweek.

On the other side of the country, a powerful cold front pushed through the Great Lakes, generating wild winds and surf on Lake Ontario. Some of the highest wind gusts in the area were between 60-70 miles per hour and the biggest waves were between 18-20 feet!

And finally, lightning struck the ground in Fort Worth, Texas and left behind a 15 foot hole! This is a good reminder that when thunder roars, always go indoors!

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About the author

Meredith Garofalo

Meredith is a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist as designated by the American Meteorological Society. She was born and raised in Cleveland but has worked from coast to coast covering almost every type of weather. Meredith is a weather, space, and STEM journalist and has been live out in the field during destructive tropical storms on the Gulf Coast of Florida, raging wildfires in Southern Cali... Load Morefornia, and covered the wreckage from tornadoes in the Great Plains. In 2009, she reported on the damaging hail storm during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and in 2017, the historic California winter storms that produced record rain totals and devastating flash flooding. Prior to joining WeatherNation, Meredith worked at KEYT/KKFX in Santa Barbara, CA, KOTA-TV in Rapid City, SD, WWSB-TV in Sarasota, FL, and began her career as an intern at WGN-TV in Chicago. She was Santa Barbara's "Favorite Weathercaster of the Year" in 2016 and the Community Partner of the Year in 2017 for her volunteer work with Make-A-Wish Tri-Counties and awarded with the 2018 Valparaiso University Alumni Association First Decade Achievement Award. Meredith is the current chair of the American Meteorological Society's Station Scientist Committee, which focuses on raising greater awareness & outreach when it comes to science education for viewers. She's also an accomplished journalist, producing weather and science stories including rocket launches at Vandenberg Air Force Base and the new GOES-16 satellite and it's impacts on weather forecasting. Meredith was personally invited by NASA's Johnson Space Center to interview astronauts on the International Space Station and was the only meteorologist in the nation to do an exclusive report accompanying the GOES-West satellite from Colorado to Florida, reporting on and covering it's launch in 2018. Meredith's also worked on features that took her paragliding along the coast, white water rafting in Northern California, learning to surf in the Pacific Ocean, and how to be an aerial photographer while flying a single engine plane! Say hi on Facebook, Twitter, & LinkedIn!