Deadly Storms Hit Alabama

[knocker]

A mile-wide tornado has ripped through the town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, decimating homes and businesses, killing 15 people and bringing the death toll across the American South to at least 64.

http://www.telegraph...on-Alabama.html

http://www.spc.noaa....orts/today.html

Edited April 28, 2011 by weather ship

[knocker]

Severe storms laced with tornadoes battered America’s South on Wednesday and killed at least 72 people across four states.

Fifty-eight people died in Alabama, 11 in Mississippi, two in Georgia and one in Tennessee - with parts of the city that is home to the University of Alabama destroyed by a gigantic tornado.

Homes and buildings across Tuscaloosa were taken apart, one hospital said its emergency room had admitted at least 100 people and a video showed paramedics lifting a child out of a flattened home.

The amazing video hitting Tuscaloosa is worth a look although one must keep in mind the tragic results.

Read more: http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1KnDRv6dr

Edited April 28, 2011 by weather ship

[Paranoid]

Looks like this is very severe. Death toll currently standing at about 235 and will probably rise. Seems to be a very bad year for the US on the tornado front.

[Coast]

A terrible continuation of the 2011 season, not to put a downer on the storm-chasing this year but this really brings home the power of nature and how it can affect lives in just a few minutes:

The storms and tornadoes struck across Alabama on Wednesday afternoon and evening, flattening whole neighbourhoods.

"It happened so fast it was unbelievable," Jerry Stewart, a 63-year-old retired fireman who was picking through the remains of his son's wrecked home in Pleasant Grove, said. He and his wife, along with their daughter and two grandchildren, survived by hiding under their front verandah. Friends down the street who did the same weren't so lucky - Mr Stewart said he pulled out the bodies of two neighbours whose home was ripped off its foundation. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Centre said it received 137 tornado reports up until Wednesday night.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Video-US-Tornadoes-And-Storms-Kill-220-People-In-Alabama-Causing-Floods-And-Destroying-Buildings/Article/201104415980821?lpos=World_News_First_World_News_Article_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15980821_Video:_US_Tornadoes_And_Storms_Kill_220_People_In_Alabama_Causing_Floods_And_Destroying_Buildings

[Roger J Smith]

This was a bad combination of intense F3-5 tornadoes hitting cities directly. As a result this will probably rank third all time in terms of deaths from one outbreak, behind the 1925 and 1974 events (note, the 3-4 April 1974 death toll of 315 could be exceeded which would place this event second to the 700 deaths reported on 18 March 1925). The southeast has been spared this scale of destruction for a long time but there were several instances of 200-300 death tornado outbreaks in 1920, 1932 and 1936 in the same region. The 1925 event was further north across IL, IN and OH, and the 1974 event was also mainly further north (worst in OH and KY) although some of its toll occurred in these southeast states.

Because the outbreak hit a region that has not seen massive tornado damage in recent times, unlike the main part of "tornado alley" people in the way of the storms had limited options for safety -- even where warnings were timely and heeded, apparently, some people did everything they could to protect their lives but their entire homes were swept away so wherever they took shelter, in some cases they were carried away with the debris. Homes in that part of the country often have no basements (which are common further north and a relatively safe place in a tornado, in fact some homes include a tornado shelter underground). News reports say that some of the victims tried to shelter in a central room of their home but that was not enough protection from these massive storms.

However, I would have to imagine from the reports of damage that in an earlier time with less effective warnings, these storms could have produced a much higher death toll. That would have to be compared to earlier events but then scaled down by population increase factors, showing how difficult it is to make really accurate comparisons of severe weather scale and intensity over long periods of time. But I did want to mention that while this event is sure to be given as "evidence" of climate change, in fact it is more likely just one of those random variations that come and go in a region that has always been prone to severe storms. In fact, the city of Natchez, MS was largely destroyed by a large tornado in 1840, with a heavy death toll associated, so this sort of thing has been part of the regional climate for as long as people have lived in the southeast or tornado alley further north.

Edited April 28, 2011 by Roger J Smith

[Lynxus]

Shocking, Just shocking.

Lets hope that the US Gov actually pull their finger out and help out their own and sort this town/city out.

I just hope that our own storm chasers take care this year, it appears that the US are having some odd weather .

[stewfox]

A terrible continuation of the 2011 season, not to put a downer on the storm-chasing this year but this really brings home the power of nature and how it can affect lives in just a few minutes:

How do storm chasers , stay safe when so many die ?

Do you have instrustments in the car that tract it and you know how to out run it ?

[pottyprof]

How do storm chasers , stay safe when so many die ?

Do you have instrustments in the car that tract it and you know how to out run it ?

https://www.baronservices.com/media_center/history/index.php

Fantastic piece of kit. If you keep an eye out for the videos that will get posted in the storm chase area, you will probably see Barons in use.

Another bit of kit is this. http://www.grlevelx.com/grlevel3/

You can try GRlevel3 for 21 days I think and use all the different parameters.

Then of course there's good old Noaa radio. http://www.weather.gov/nwr/streamaudio.htm

In the states there are radio sets available specifically for weather warnings.

[knocker]

The tops of these severe storms reached the 100mb level, pretty incredible, as can be seen by the attached image.

[Coast]

Amazing footage:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7364072n

Latest follow up report:

[knocker]

This was a bad combination of intense F3-5 tornadoes hitting cities directly. As a result this will probably rank third all time in terms of deaths from one outbreak, behind the 1925 and 1974 events (note, the 3-4 April 1974 death toll of 315 could be exceeded which would place this event second to the 700 deaths reported on 18 March 1925). The southeast has been spared this scale of destruction for a long time but there were several instances of 200-300 death tornado outbreaks in 1920, 1932 and 1936 in the same region. The 1925 event was further north across IL, IN and OH, and the 1974 event was also mainly further north (worst in OH and KY) although some of its toll occurred in these southeast states.

Because the outbreak hit a region that has not seen massive tornado damage in recent times, unlike the main part of "tornado alley" people in the way of the storms had limited options for safety -- even where warnings were timely and heeded, apparently, some people did everything they could to protect their lives but their entire homes were swept away so wherever they took shelter, in some cases they were carried away with the debris. Homes in that part of the country often have no basements (which are common further north and a relatively safe place in a tornado, in fact some homes include a tornado shelter underground). News reports say that some of the victims tried to shelter in a central room of their home but that was not enough protection from these massive storms.

However, I would have to imagine from the reports of damage that in an earlier time with less effective warnings, these storms could have produced a much higher death toll. That would have to be compared to earlier events but then scaled down by population increase factors, showing how difficult it is to make really accurate comparisons of severe weather scale and intensity over long periods of time. But I did want to mention that while this event is sure to be given as "evidence" of climate change, in fact it is more likely just one of those random variations that come and go in a region that has always been prone to severe storms. In fact, the city of Natchez, MS was largely destroyed by a large tornado in 1840, with a heavy death toll associated, so this sort of thing has been part of the regional climate for as long as people have lived in the southeast or tornado alley further north.

Thanks Roger for a very interesting and informative post.

[NL]

The AQUA earth monitoring satellite shows 'scarring' from tornadoes in Alabama..!!

[The PIT]

How do storm chasers , stay safe when so many die ?

Do you have instrustments in the car that tract it and you know how to out run it ?

They don't always. Netweathers storm chasers had a close shave last year wasn't it???

Shocking news and shows how powerful nature can be. My heart goes out to people involved.

[Crimson_Sprite]

WOW. Amazing skycam footage from Coast's post. Being a weather obsessed Yank I have been watching The Weather Channel since it aired back in the early 80s when I a wee lass & lived back in the US and have missed it terribly since I have been living here!! But I found a way to watch it live a few weeks ago on my computer +JOY!+ and have it on every day now while I work from home. I remember putting it on Wed morning and it was only like 4am over on the eastern state-side, and the forcasters were saying THEN that this day would be a really bad day. By 5am their time, tornadoes were already being kicked out, and they have a thing called the Tor-Con index which rates your chances of seeing a tornado in a certain area for the day. usually they are 6 or 7 at the HIGHEST, but on Wed it was the highest I ever saw it at a whopping 9 for upper Alabama and Mississippi!!! The radar they were showing for the storms in the morning was already going PURPLE, yes PURPLE. Usually it goes, red, maroon, then white if its really bad, then light purple!! These morning storms produced lots of tornadoes by time it hit about 10am there, and at that time the Weather Channel goes off for the day as I do my postal run. I remeber thinking while walking to the post office that the afternoon there was going to be mega-bad and the forcasters did too, warning everyone that these morning storms were not going to clear the air, and that it was going to be lethal that afternoon. It wasnt till Thursday morning that my daily "Weather-Channel-on-the-computer-routine" came on and I was gob-smacked at all the footage and deathtoll. Truly horrible. The supercell had travelled through 5 states over 300 miles!!! The south and east will have respite for the next week, mercifully, as much calmer weather is due to stay around for awhile.

[Snowyowl9]

We are still only in april and 306 killed from this alone,most severe storms in 40 years.

May to come.

[Paranoid]

One of the Tornadoes has been officially rated as an EF5. It hit Smithville killing 14, although this seems to have been less damaging (certainly in terms of casualties) than the one that hit Tuscaloosa. Wouldn't be at all surprised if that one was rated EF5 as well.

[NL]

More on the EF5 tornado through Smithville

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN

812 AM CDT FRI APR 29 2011

...PRELIMINARY RARE EF-5 TORNADO IN MONROE COUNTY MISSISSIPPI...

AFTER A REVIEW OF THE DAMAGE PHOTOS TAKEN DURING THURSDAY/S GROUND

SURVEY AND CONSULTATION WITH NATIONAL EXPERTS...THE NATIONAL

WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS UPGRADED THE SMITHVILLE TORNADO

RATING TO EF-5 DAMAGE. THIS IS THE HIGHEST RATING FOR TORNADO

DAMAGE AND THE FIRST EF-5 OR F-5 IN MISSISSIPPI SINCE THE

CANDLESTICK PARK TORNADO NEAR JACKSON ON MARCH 3RD 1966.

* COUNTY/COUNTIES: MONROE

* LOCATION/TIME OF EVENT: SMITHVILLE AT 344 PM EDT

* BEGINNING POINT: 34.0517, -88.4236

* ENDING POINT: 34.0731, -88.3814

* RATING: EF-5

* ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 205 MPH

* PATH LENGTH: 2.82 MILES

* MAXIMUM WIDTH: 1/2 MILE

* FATALITIES: 14

* INJURIES: 40

* SUMMARY OF DAMAGES: 18 HOMES DESTROYED...2 BUSINESSES /POST

OFFICE AND POLICE STATION/ DESTROYED...8 HOMES WITH MAJOR

DAMAGE...7 BUSINESSES WITH MAJOR DAMAGE...44 HOMES WITH MINOR

DAMAGE...AND WATER SYSTEM DESTROYED. MOST TREES EITHER SNAPPED

OR TWISTED AND DEBARKED. MOST THE HOMES DESTROYED WERE WELL

BUILT...TWO STORIES...LESS THAN TEN YEARS OLD AND BOLTED DOWN TO

THEIR FOUNDATIONS. AN 1965 CHEVY PICKUP TRUCK PARKED IN FRONT

ONE OF THE DESTROYED HOMES HAS NOT BEEN FOUND. ALL APPLIANCES

AND PLUMBING FIXTURES IN THE MOST EXTREME DAMAGE PATH SHREDDED

OR MISSING.

Edited April 29, 2011 by NL

[Konstantinos]

We are still only in april and 306 killed from this alone,most severe storms in 40 years.

May to come.

Do you believe in May the circumstances will be more difficult?

[sammie]

Do you believe in May the circumstances will be more difficult?

I don't think anyone can say what is going to happen next month. It could be completely silent, it could be more of whats happened and everything in between. We struggle to forcast the day of the storms where these things are going to be and how bad never mind next month. I think the thing that really shocks me is the fact that it is so early in the season. Normally (if I've got this right) the stronger tornados tend to be mid season - latter in the season not so much this early on.

[NL]

I don't think anyone can say what is going to happen next month. It could be completely silent, it could be more of whats happened and everything in between. We struggle to forcast the day of the storms where these things are going to be and how bad never mind next month. I think the thing that really shocks me is the fact that it is so early in the season. Normally (if I've got this right) the stronger tornados tend to be mid season - latter in the season not so much this early on.

Dixie Alley as its called usually have severe storms around this time (March into May) but the ferocity and frequency has been well up this year.

Barrack Obama has been to see survivors and officials in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Live coverage here now

http://www.foxalabamalive.com/

[Snowyowl9]

Do you believe in May the circumstances will be more difficult?

May is the height of the tornado season.

A record 900 twisters for this april,just seen on SKY 515 Press TV 321 now killed and most severe for 80 years!!!

[Paranoid]

Death toll continues to rise, looks like it has surpassed the Super Outbreak in terms of casualties. http://abcnews.go.com/US/tornado-aftermath-southern-storms-leave-300-dead/story?id=13484461

Worst outbreak in the USA for quite some time as i understand it. I don't think this many people have lost their lives in one outbreak since the 30s.

[NL]

May is the height of the tornado season.

A record 900 twisters for this april,just seen on SKY 515 Press TV 321 now killed and most severe for 80 years!!!

This death toll looks set to rise even further as it has emerged that the Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox: said 45 deaths, 990 injured, 446 unconfirmed missing.

[dogs32]

This death toll looks set to rise even further as it has emerged that the Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox: said 45 deaths, 990 injured, 446 unconfirmed missing.

MY GOD THATS GRUESOME

[NL]

The Birmingham-Tuscaloosa tornado was produced by this supercell that tracked from near Jackson MS to North Carolina...nearly 300 miles!