Virtual Storm Chase 2

[Paul Sherman]

The next bad one is the Strong Tornado heading straight into Jackson (Heavily Populated) and if it keeps going expect TORNADO EMERGENCY'S To be issued in the next 15 minutes.

Night Potty!

We WILL nail every Target this year! :lol:

Paul S

[NL]

Aye, night Potty, I've had a c**p day too, just missed the last 40mins, i have serious sinus trouble...

[Paul Sherman]

2336 3 ENE WHITEHAVEN SHELBY TN 3503 8998 ROOF BLOWN OFF OF PINNACLE AIRLINE HANGER AT MEMPHIS PLANES WERE MOVED. AIRSTAIRS MOVED 100 YARDS. MOVED A 737 AIRPLANE A FOOT. (MEG)

:o :lol:

TORNADO EMERGENCY ISSUED FOR JACKSON Ugh Oh!

[Nick F]

The next bad one is the Strong Tornado heading straight into Jackson (Heavily Populated) and if it keeps going expect TORNADO EMERGENCY'S To be issued in the next 15 minutes.

Night Potty!

We WILL nail every Target this year! :lol:

Paul S

Lets hope so Paul, good practice these virtual chases.

This the TVS hook you were on about near NW Jackson?:

Anyway, time to hit the sack!

[Paul Sherman]

Yep thats the One Nick!

About to hit the Sack as well, may just brush the NW Side of Jackson, that place has been hit by notable Tornadoes 3 times in the last 5 years!

Paul S

[Gorky]

Apparently some people on stormtrack were watching a tower cam which just got hit by a tornado near the university in Jackson. I can't connect to it so either it's been destroyed or power is out.

Edit::

AT 704 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR AND STORM

SPOTTERS WERE TRACKING A LARGE AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TORNADO THIS

TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR NORTH HIGHLAND AND UNIVERSITY ROADS IN

JACKSON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH.

Edited February 6, 2008 by Gorky

[Gorky]

Early reports from Jackson do not sound good. 86 injuries and an unconfirmed possibility of fatalties at this point.

3 fatalities from the monster cell as it went through Atkins in Arkansas, and 3 more as the same storm passed throgh Hardy near the MO border. (nothing from Clinton where the radar showed it at it's strongest thankfully).

1 report of a fatality down in Fayette county plus people still reported to be trapped in the mall hit several hours ago.

There are 3 storms moving into Central TN which will be taking aim on Nashville in about an hour. The 2 Southern ones don't show any sign of weakening at the moment. It's going to be a long night... Take a look at the signiture on this cell and look at the track.

Reports of a half mile wide wedge with this storm now. It will be heading into the outer metro of Nashville in about 30 mins.

Edited February 6, 2008 by Gorky

[Gorky]

Updated Radar.... Still doesn't look good... Heading straight for the downtown

Classic Hook

Strong rotation

[Roger J Smith]

Reliable news reports are very slow to come in overnight but it seems clear that Clinton AR was heavily damaged by the tornado, and remains blocked off from the south by the national guard and state police. There's no telling what sort of death toll there could be here, the one thing is that the town is not in flat country like Greensburg KS so just that factor alone would tend to reduce the damage from a similar tornado, plus I doubt this tornado was quite that big. There may also be extensive damage in Highland and Mountain View as well as Mountain Home to the northeast. Atkins, the first town to be grazed by the storm, is southwest of Clinton. Most of the damage here seems to be near the Interstate highway (I-40).

However the death toll overall has risen gradually to 22 at this hour, including eight in Arkansas, most of the rest in TN, KY and MS. As I say, no telling what this figure will become after daylight comes (not until 15z).

News coverage is also reduced on the national scale by the election, but I was able to review the local TV websites which have some updates from the evening hours. News crews were dispatched to these towns north of Little Rock but have not really been able to survey all of the damage. A Walmart outside Clinton was apparently damaged but it sounded like the damage trail went more through the parking lot than the store.

[Nick F]

OMG!! 22 people killed during the tornado outbreak (so far): The storms killed at least 11 people in Arkansas, eight in Tennessee and three in Kentucky, authorities said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,328745,00.html

Here's a picture of the Atkins, Central Arkansas, storm:

54 tornado reports on Tuesday over AK, TN, MS, KY and IN:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/today.html

A GRLevel3 of the supercell that produced a tornado over south Memphis suburbs, nice hook near Southaven on the TN/MS border:

[Coast]

And then the inevitable looting began CLICKY

[Paul Sherman]

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/today.html

Looks to me to be about 3-4 Long Track Tornadoes in there, Death toll rising by the Hour, have seen it as High as 27 Now!

Quite a Notable Event!

Paul S

[Cookie]

thanks for the updates guys, shame about the deaths.

[Gorky]

I think they really dodged a bullet too with that Nashville Cell./ It had a tornado with it which flattened houses in the south West metro then the storm cycled right as it went over downtown and dropped another killer tornado just East of Gallatin. That was probably the only time in about 150 miles of track that it didn't appear to be producing a strong tornado. Considering there was a packed Stadium in it's path in Nashville downtown I'd say that was pretty lucky, despite all these deaths.

[NL]

135 reported tornadoes for January (prelimary) and 57 unconfirmed yesterday what a start to 2008. Wont be to long till storm chasing season in the states becomes a year long event..!!!

[NL]

Tornado warnings in Northern/central Alabama, live coverage here

http://media.myfoxal.com/live/index.html

Edited February 6, 2008 by NL

[Gorky]

32 deaths now and there are still several tornado warnings ou and about. There was yet another Tornado Emergency for Decatur, AL earlier for another long tracked tornado and Local Storm Reports confirm a tornado went through there. This could end up being one of the deadliest outbreaks of recent times if the death toll keeps mounting. 48 died in May 2003 from the 5 day outbreak then and that was the last one to have a higher toll. Prior to that youd have to go back to 1985 to find a deadlier outbreak than May 2003. I really do fear for what might be found once daylight arrives.

Edited February 6, 2008 by Gorky

[NL]

No doubt that these storms are gonna grow again in intesity as the sun

comes up and generates more energy.

[Nick F]

Tornado warnings out for Alabama, and Eern Tennessee:

http://www.weather.gov/view/national.php?prodtype=tornado

Latest meso discussion:

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0180

NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK

0610 AM CST WED FEB 06 2008

AREAS AFFECTED...PORTIONS ERN TN...WRN GA...AL...FL PANHANDLE.

CONCERNING...TORNADO WATCH 46...47...

VALID 061210Z - 061415Z

THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR TORNADO WATCH 46...47...CONTINUES.

PORTIONS WRN GA...ERN AL AND FL PANHANDLE ARE BEING MONITORED FOR

ADDITIONAL WW ISSUANCE E OF WWS 46-47. SVR POTENTIAL WILL CONTINUE

WITH PRIMARY BELT OF TSTMS FROM ERN TN SWWD ACROSS AL TO MS RIVER

MOUTH AREA. LONG-TRACK SUPERCELL WITH TORNADIC HISTORY IS BEING

ABSORBED BY MAIN CONVECTIVE BAND INVOF CHA. HOWEVER...A FEW OTHER

SUPERCELLS ARE EVIDENT FARTHER SW ACROSS AL...AS PART OF BROKEN BAND

OF STG-SVR CONVECTION EXTENDING STILL FARTHER SW OVER MS RIVER MOUTH

AREA. THREAT WILL TRANSITION FROM MAINLY DAMAGING WIND OVER NRN

PORTIONS OF THIS ACTIVITY...TO MIX OF DAMAGING GUST EVENTS AND

TORNADOES FROM NERN AL/EXTREME NWRN GA SWD.

KINEMATICALLY...VERY FAVORABLE LOW LEVEL AND DEEP-LAYER SHEAR

PROFILES WILL CONTINUE AHEAD OF SFC COLD FRONT IN AL/SRN MS...E.G.

50-60 KT EFFECTIVE BULK SHEAR MAGNITUDES. THERMODYNAMICALLY...SFC

MESOANALYSIS INDICATES RESIDUAL...GRADUALLY ERODING ZONE OF

RELATIVELY STABLE AIR -- LEFT OVER FROM COLD AIR DAMMING REGIME --

ACROSS PORTIONS CENTRAL GA NWD TO SWRN NC. AVAILABLE RAOB DATA AND

MODIFIED RUC SOUNDINGS INDICATE THIS AIR MASS WILL REMAIN IN PLACE

FOR 4-5 MORE HOURS UNTIL SUFFICIENT DIABATIC HEATING...VERTICAL

MIXING AND MOIST ADVECTION OCCUR TO DESTABILIZE IT. NET RESULT

SHOULD BE PROGRESSIVE NARROWING OF MOST FAVORABLE THETAE PLUME OVER

ERN TN AND NWRN GA...UNTIL CONVECTION BEGINS TO INGEST RESIDUAL

DAMMING AIR MASS AND WEAKENS. FARTHER S...HOWEVER...RICH GULF

MOISTURE WITH DEW POINTS MID-UPPER 60S F WILL SPREAD FARTHER N AND

E. THIS WILL RESULT IN NET EWD PROPAGATION OF STG GRADIENT IN

SBCINH NOW EVIDENT ACROSS FAR E-CENTRAL/SERN AL...INTO WRN GA.

MLCAPES 300-800 J/KG SHOULD REMAIN COMMON FOR ANOTHER 2-3 HOURS

ALONG/AHEAD OF MAIN CONVECTIVE BAND...INCREASING THEREAFTER OVER SRN

AL...FL PANHANDLE AND PORTIONS WRN GA.

[Coast]

A whole raft of storms in the Middle of the US in the last 24 hours and severe damage and terrible loss of life including:

'A spectacular fire erupted at a natural gas pumping station northeast of Nashville that authorities could have been damaged by the storms, and an undetermined number of people were reported dead'

Source: The Indiana Star

[Paul Sherman]

Death Toll nearly 50 from Yesterdays High Risk :lol:

This will now rank as a Major Outbreak, It has become deadlier than the 48 who lost their lives in the Moore (Ok) Tragedy.

The main reason the Death toll is large and is still rising is because the Tornadoes all tracked across heavily Populated parts of whats known as Dixie Alley (Ajacent to Tornado Alley) Also quite a few of the Tornadoes were long tracked of possibly over 100 Miles.

It just goes to show that not a massive amount of CAPE Is needed to get Supercell Thunderstorms of this Magnitude that produce Long lived Cyclic Tornadic Cells. Only 500 kj of Cape over most parts yesterday although the low level shear and Jet/Speed Max were Phenomenal!

Paul S

[Roger J Smith]

The dynamics for severe weather are probably marginal compared to yesterday despite the fact that the weather system looks similar on the surface charts and is just moving east towards the Atlantic seaboard. However, I think that by about 21z the front may activate to severe levels in southern VA and central NC into SC. The main factor weakening the outbreak now is that upper wind shear and strong winds have shifted away from the thermal zone required towards the freezing rain storm further north, where the interaction will all take place above the surface.

Also there will not be as strong a push of cold, dry air into the front today as yesterday, so it tends to weaken, however it is still on the slow boil so to speak, and any little ripple of energy could set off a tornadic storm later on. Looking at Raleigh-Durham to Richmond as the most likely zone for tornado activity later today.

[Roger J Smith]

Well, here's one good news story to relate. Extensive damage at Union University located in Jackson TN, residences virtually destroyed but the students were told to evacuate to safer buildings and there were no deaths reported from the campus. CNN was interviewing one official who said that dozens or even hundreds might have been killed or injured if the storm had hit without warning.

Unlike yesterday's election coverage, CNN is now covering the storm damage non-stop and in Tennessee the death toll keeps climbing with new reports coming in, currently the national total is said to be 54.

Most people get their weather reports from local stations rather than CNN so I don't think people were generally less warned than usual, it was simply a case of a lot of powerful storms hitting a lot of different towns yesterday. However, I don't think people were necessarily on high alert as might be the case later in the season. Would imagine the awareness level in NC and VA at this point is very high. It must feel like tornado weather there, recent reports of temp 80, dew point 64 and strong SW winds with partly cloudy weather ahead of the front, very unusual for early February this far north (typical central FL weather).

[NL]

Tornado video from yesterdays outbreak.

[Nick F]

A few links to some good chase accounts yesterday:

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=15201

http://www.violentplains.com/