Topic: Tornado Alley 2009 - Tornado season across the Mid-West has begun

[nzstorm]

Yes, looks a robust set up for Monday. My virtual target would be the early storm development in northern OK.

[David C]

For anyone watching NOW, there are some nice video streams at Severe Studios.

http://www.severestudios.com/livechase

Michael Mandell is heading towards the cell to the north of OKC. Tornado warning has just been dropped, but to my eye, radar still looks impressive so I would not rule out new tornado warnings >>

http://www.severestudios.com/cgi-bin/player.pl?username=michael.mandell&uid=266

Mike Potter is on the same storm, from near Stillwater at the time of posting.

[Harley Pearman]

Looking at the NOAA site, severe weather hitting parts of North East Oklahoma and South East Kansas 23/3/2009 at 8.19PM Eastern Australian Time including Severe Thunderstorm Watch 58. There have been 7 tornado reports (All need to be verified) however one report I found via CNN and KETV 7 Omaha is fairly clear:-

http://www.ketv.com/cnn-news/18993911/detail.html

"Winds toss car 4 people hurt". Includes a handful of photos. A tornado in South East Nebraska near the town of Eagle - CASS County (18 Miles east of Lincoln on Route 34). Includes cars being overturned on I 29. Major storm occurred near Lincoln and Omaha including wind damage in western Omaha itself.

Harley Pearman

[David C]

Thanks for the summary Harley.
GFS is progging a very dynamic situation ~ 27/28 across the central US. One of those early season situations where moisture return might be the limiting factor to what could be a dangerous situation. In fact the overall pattern looks interesting with a southwest flow regime established, and sadly I'll be but a few thousand k's away in sunny SoCal !

[Peter J]

According to info I get from Accuweather.com, there are currently tornadoes flaring up throughout the mid-western USA - including one EF2 currently heading through the western edge of Dallas/Forthworth.

Big Pete

[David C]

Latest SPC guidance regarding 27th and overnight into 28th

A CATEGORICAL SLIGHT RISK WILL BE INTRODUCED ATTM DUE TO THE
   ABOVE-MENTIONED UNCERTAINTIES.  HOWEVER...SHOULD MODEL GUIDANCE
   REMAIN CONSISTENT WITH THE CURRENTLY FORECAST
   THERMODYNAMIC/KINEMATIC PARAMETERS...AN UPGRADE TO AT LEAST MODERATE
   RISK WILL BE REQUIRED IN SUBSEQUENT OUTLOOKS.
   
   ..MEAD.. 03/25/2009

[nzstorm]

I see there was an EF3 at Magee, Mississippi yesterday.  That state may well get nailed tomorrow by the moderate risk set up.

Also worth a mention, blizzard/30+inches of snow forecast for SW Kansas, NW Oklahoma today.

[Colin Maitland]

Yesterday there were 11 recorded tornadoes (25/03/09) then from the same sight they recorded 3 more during their evening 26/03/09.
 

Quote from http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/tornadoes/2009-03-26-severe-storms-alabama-mississippi_N.htm

{MAGEE, Miss. — Tornadoes that raked across southern and central Mississippi in the early morning hours Thursday destroyed dozens of homes here and injured at least 17 people.

There were no immediate reports of fatalities, Magee Mayor Jimmy Clyde said. The most seriously injured were hospitalized, but most others had minor injuries.

the twister began around 1:30 a.m. on the southwestern edge of the city and cut across to the northeast corner, said Katherine Gunby of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

It swept through Mississippi's pine-covered hill country as severe thunderstorms rumbled across several Southeast states.

Power blackouts affected tens of thousands of Louisiana residents, and authorities reported damage to some Alabama homes. Georgia residents also braced for potentially heavy rains.

"This is like reliving Hurricane Katrina all over again and that's no fun," Clyde told The Associated Press.

He said homes in some areas of the city were "basically leveled" and there was extensive damage just outside the city limits.

Gunby said at least 60 homes were damaged and the Corinth Baptist Church was so shattered that "only the doors to its sanctuary were left standing.}

[Harley Pearman]

I found several storeys concerning a powerful thunderstorm that hit a region around the Texas city of Austin Monday 30 March 2009 worth adding.

The region around the city of Austin - Texas took a direct hit by a thunderstorm that dropped golf ball to tennis ball size hail. As at 10 am Monday CDT - The Insurance Council of Texas estimates insured damage at $160 Million. Its quite possibly the costliest hail storm to hit Central Texas:-

22,000 vehicles and 15,000 homes impacted have insurance losses.

In addition, Marble Falls (North West of Austin) was impacted with golf ball size hail.
Travis and Williamson Counties (West and North West of Austin) were impacted with tennis ball size hail.

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/Hail_storm_dents_Central_Texas

Storey is by Carla Castrano - 30/3/09

This site will take you to other storeys concerning this weather event including:-

Hit and run storm moves in, moves out.
Roof repairs in full force after storm.
Hail hits Northwest Hills neighbourhood.
Hail damages North Austin Homes.
Hail pummels parts of the Hill Country.

Including photographs. All the storeys are from KXAN - Austin Texas.

Harley Pearman

[Colin Maitland]

The southern Plains and the South of USA are expecting 2 series of severe thunderstorms over the next few days, threatening to ruin the Easter holiday weekend.
The 1st of the storms for Thursday, 9 April 2009, is predicted to emerge from the Rockies and fuel the severe weather over the plains, resulting in thunderstorms from Springfield, Mo to just north of Houston Texas in the afternoon.

These storms are forecasted to race across the lower Mississippi Valley on Thursday night. Areas from the central Gulf Coast to the Tennessee Valley will have the effects of the severe weather on Friday. The cities of New Orleans, Montgomery and Nashville are included in Friday's threat zone.

More of the severe weather is likely to ruin the Easter weekend for many living across the nation's southern midsection. The dangerous thunderstorms could develope over West Texas on Saturday, then expand to the Arklatex and lower Mississippi Valley on Sunday.

Each of these intense thunderstorms has the potential to produce damaging winds, large hail and blinding downpours. They are also predicting the very high possibility of  tornadoes to touch down and cause destruction

Threat map courtesy of Accu weather site

Col

[Colin Maitland]

It appears from reports, the 1st rounds of storms forecasted have been quite violent in some areas, as at 11.00 am EST there has been 3 reported tornadoes, power poles toppled in 8 reported  high wind or destructive wind storms  and 45 hail storms officially reported. Still very early to get full reports but they should start to appear over the next few hours.

The tornadoes from early reports are

2330       8 SE WILBURTON    LATIMER    OK   3484    9521   TORNADO REPORTED ON GROUND WITH POWER LINES DOWN. (TSA)
2335      MIAMI    OTTAWA    OK   3687   9488   EM CONFIRMED TORNADO TOUCHDOWN ON SOUTH SIDE OF MIAMI. DAMAGE UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME. (TSA)
2349      6 W TALIHINA    LATIMER    OK   3475   9515   TORNADO SPOTTED AT INTERSECTION OF US 270 AND STATE HIGHWAY 2. (TSA)

[Colin Maitland]

These storms have really built some momentum since the last post at 11.00am .
As at 3.35pm 10/04/09 there has been a reported 16 Tornadoes . I have posted NOAA latest storm report. It has been a very active afternoon/ night/early morning in the affected areas of US.

reports are starting to appear to the damage of these line of storms have caused.


As I am collecting data for these storms the count is rising, there is now 21 reports of tornadoes, so there will be plenty of things to talk about from these storms and the next round that is forecasted to hit with severity.

[Colin Maitland]

this story has emerged from KATV7 site regarding one of the storm systems (http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0409/612030.html)
 a direct post from their site


Mena Tornado Turns Fatal
posted 04/10/09 1:30 am


Mena, AR -   A tornado that rocked downtown Mena has turned fatal.


  Official numbers from Arkansas State Police place the death count from Thursday night's tornado at two with 23 injured, though police sources tell Channel 7 News that three have died.

  The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management has sent 30 guardsman to help secure the downtown area where the courthouse was completely destroyed, and homes have been wiped off their foundation.  ADEM says 25 block in downtown lost power, and the Mena Walmart is reported to have received moderate damage.


  Bill Sadler with Arkansas State Police says troopers were in their cars near the Mena courthouse when it was hit.  No troopers were hurt.  However, some lost their homes though they still went to work helping protect other residents despite their own property losses.

  Speaking with Channel 7 Meteorologist Todd Yakoubian, Mena resident Rick Bagwell says his home was directly hit by the tornado while he was taking shelter inside.  After it passed, he looked up and saw stars and says it was like a bomb had gone off in his yard.

  Renee Preslar with ADEM says the county requested utitlity companies to shut of all gas lines to Mena and the surrounding areas.

  Two shelters have been opened in Mena including Dallas Avenue Baptist Church on Dallas Avenue.

[Colin Maitland]

Storms in the southern central area of USA,(11.53 PM,10/04/09 USA time Zone)  have been intense once again with a reported 24 tornadoes. More storms are forecasted for the region over Sat and Sun (11 & 12 of April 2009). They are not expected to be as severe as the last 2 days but still have issued severe weather alerts for storms and possible tornadoes. The photos, sat pics and reports of the storms are available on many sites. Over the next few days, EF ratings and tornado confirmations will be available. 

I had read on 1 site that the Mena tornado was an EF3, but at this point I have not found an official confirmation.

[Harley Pearman]

Tornadoes / Storms and hail reports for 10/4/2009

I was looking at some of the reports from the affected areas in Arkansas on some of the local networks including the impact on Mena itself. The town of Mena is located on Route 71 in Polk County approximately 16 miles from the Oklahoma State Border.

http://arkansasmatters.com/content/fulltext/news?cid=210191

There are some good storeys and descriptions of the storms impact here including the 3 fatalities and 30 injured during the event.

Mena appears to have borne the brunt of the storms including wind gusts to 65 miles per hour (105 km/h).

In addition, tennis ball size hail was reported at Shaw in Saline County with golfball size hail being reported at Benton, Haskell and Sardis all in Saline County. The location is approximately 15 miles (24 km) south west of the city of Little Rock off Interstate 30.

The first look at the damage in Mena suggests an EF3 and initial surveys suggests wind gusts to 136 miles per hour (Approximately 220 km/h).

Other valuable news storeys can be found at the following sites:-

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=83188&catid=260
http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=83218&catid=260

Storys are by Monika Rued.

Another site that documents the tornadoes in Tennessee is:-

WSMV Nashvile News

http://www.wsmv.com/weather/19146520/detail.html

Heading titled "Tornadoes hit Rutherford County".

In Tennessee places hit include Murfreesboro. The old Fort Parkway was hit. The city lies south east of Nashville on Interstate 24. Further, in southern Wilson County, baseball size hail occurred. A funnel cloud was spotted near Ashland City.

Looking at the National Weather Service Storm Reports site and in addition to the tornadoes, the following hail reports are worth a mention for 10/4/2009.

1600 - Linden in Wayne County (Near Flatwoods) - Hailstones are measured at 3.25 inches.
1600 - Linden in Perry County - Hailstones are measured at 3.25 inches.
1906 - Madison in Madison County Alabama - Baseball size hail is reported at the intersection of HWY 72 and County Line Road.
2005 - Morgan City in Morgan County Alabama - Baseball size hail is reported in Morgan City.
2005 - Grant in Marshall County Alabama - Baseball size hail is reported in Grant.
2017 - Langston in Jackson County Alabama - Baseball size hail is reported in Langston.

There were other reports of golfball size hail as well occurring over towns and rural areas.

There were 16 tornado reports, 135 hail reports and 33 wind reports up to 2132Z as shown in the plot below obtained from The National Weather Service http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/today.html


Harley Pearman