Less than 8 hours from now, the new season of Storm Chasers will air on Discovery Channel, featuring the prolific April 27, 2011 tornado outbreak that ravaged much of "Dixie Alley" as over 200 tornadoes touched down from Mississippi to Virginia. Three EF5 tornadoes, 11 EF4s , and 23 EF3s caused horrific damage across several communities in the Southeast U.S., including Tuscaloosa, Hackleburg, and Pleasant Grove Alabama; Smithville, MS; Ringold, GA, and many other communities in between, with over 300 fatalities reported on April 27 alone. The purple and red tracks in the map at right show how long-track these supecells and tornadoes were, with the parent supercell of the Tuscaloosa-Pleasant Grove, AL tornado developing in MS at around 230 pm CDT, and not dissipating until over the western NC mountains just before 11:00 pm. Extensive tornado outbreaks are not uncommon in Dixie Alley, and are often more damaging and expansive geographically extensive than the major outbreaks in more traditional Tornado Alley of the Great Plains -- likely because of the faster storm motions, higher population density compared to the Plains, and more numerous tornado-producing supercells often clustered in distinct waves that can hammer the same areas repetitively during all hours of the day. April 27, 2011 is a perfect example of this phenomenon, as depicted below in the incredible water vapor loop of the evolution of this unprecented tornado outbreak. Interestingly, the southern "vort max" which was responsible for the Southeast tornadoes was aggressively pivoting around the main storm system to its north, firing wave after wave of intense tornado producing supercells moving rapdily northeastward over the same general areas. TVN had the opportunity to embed with the Alabama Task Force 1 during search and rescue operations in Tuscaloosa, who heroically facilitate the recovery efforts during and after the worst natural disasters in the area, and it is by far the worst damage I have seen since the May 3, 1999 F5 tornado in Moore, OK - damage to the smaller communities further north like Smithville, MS and Hackleburg, AL was unbelievably even worse. The season premiere of Storm Chasers tonight will feature the chase of this deadly tornado outbreak, including the pursuit of multiple violent tornadoes over MS and AL from extreme close range, including the birth of the Tuscaloosa EF4 tornado. TVN was just recently visiting Pleasant Grove, AL for the rebuilding of homes along with 125 other Discovery employees, and the damage path still looks like the tornado just moved through, and these people need all the help and exposure they can get during the likely several year-long recovery. Hopefully this episode will help in that effort. Please let us know your thoughts on the episode tonight and don't forget to tune in!
On the last day of production, TIV, TWISTEX, and team Dominator ended with a bang, intercepting multiple tornadoes across southern Nebraska on June 20, 2011. The new vertical radar was mounted on the roof of D2 just in time before this last storm chase, and collected valuable data on the updraft/downdraft speeds inside an EF2 tornado just north of Ravenna, NE. Three of five parachute probes launched inside this tornado were also retrieved. We are currently processing and interpreting this data with Hyperion Technology Group (the engineering company who designs our radar/cannon system), and will post any interesting results as soon as they are available. In the meantime, check out the video clip before from the Dominator 1 and 2 intercept of this large tornado.
Among the many victims of the massive Joplin tornado tragedy are the cousin and family of Storm Chaser Brandon Ivey. Brandon's cousin Kristie and her husband Jeremiah Sickles lost everything. Kristie and her baby, a 5-month-old with a lung disorder, hid in the bathtub. The bathroom walls were the only thing left standing in the house. Mom and baby were trapped for a little over an hour before Jeremiah came home and was able to dig them out.
The Storm Chasers TIV Team is sponsoring a special fund-raising effort that will help the Sickles family rebuild their lives. Their situation is particularly desperate because their baby was born prematurely with underdeveloped lungs and needs oxygen tanks to breathe properly.
Brandon, Sean and Marcus and the rest of the TIV team are hoping everyone can help one of our own. Please send your contributions to:
Sickles Benefit Fund c/o Intrust Bank 105 N. Main Wichita, Ks. 67202
Wind data collected by the RM Young anemometer atop D2 showed a cross-wind of 100 mph from the south in the east side of the Canton, OK EF3 tornado on May 24, 2011 as we were launching parachute probes into the circulation. The plot at left shows wind speed (blue) and direction (red) as we were deployed on EF0590 WNW of Longdale,, OK with the spikes in the pavement, just east of where pavement appeared to be scoured from large debris (see picture below). Note how the abrupt wind direction change occurred well after the peak wind gust was observed, which shows that we were displaced to the east of the center of the tornado with the wind shift occurring as the RFD gust front blasted through just south of the circulation. We walked 6 miles of the damage path yesterday searching for parachute probes after their batteries had died, and were lucky enough to find one in the field to the north of our intercept point. Data from this probe will be extracted in the next few days, and could have been carried inside the tornado and thrown out on the backside..or more likely was one of the probes shot straight into the ground too early. The directional antenna below right is one of the tools we use to track down the parachute probes after intercept. I'll post this data as soon as it is available.
Here is video from the intercept of a strong tornado northwest of Canton, OK, during which six parachute probes were launched into the tornado with our new, upgraded air cannon system. At least three of these probes were lifted high into the tornado like a missle, and likely carried for miles. This tornado was part of yet another historic tornado outbreak this season, with likely over 50 tornadoes occuring across KS, OK, and TX. Sadly, once again, several communities were devastated by tornadoes in this area, including Newcastle, Goldsby, Canton, El Reno, Piedmont, and many others across Southern KS and even as far east as Arkansas. We are currently targeting the middle MS River Valley for more tornadoes today, with strong tornadoes possible once again from Illinois south to northeast AR. Stay tuned for updates.
A historic tornado outbreak will unfold this afternoon and overnight across most of Oklahoma, southern Kansas, and northern Texas, as all ingredients are coming together for long-track strong, violent tornadoes. From a meteorological perspective, this outbreak rivals April 27, as I have not seen such maxed out tornado parameters in the Southern Plains in years. The Storm Prediction Center has issued a high risk for this area, and the NWS has advised motorists to stay off I-35 and I-40 in KS/OK/North TX. Please stay tuned to local media and warnings for updates, and have a safety plan in place for when severe weather strikes.
Just when it seemed this tornado season could not possibly get any worse, yet another deadly tornado outbreak struck the U.S. yesterday with the worst of the damage in Joplin, MO after a mile-wide EF4 tornado struck the community of 50,000 people. Sadly, the death toll is currently reported at 90, making this the deadliest tornado since the 1953 in Worcester, MA. The tornado struck the most densely populated/commercial area of town, including significant damage to the St John's Regional Medical Center where nearly 150 patients were being treated. The supercell developed very quickly out ahead of an original storm, and became tornadic so quickly that advanced warning was not possible. Many residents are reporting there was less than 5 minutes of warning lead-time, showing the need for scientists and meteorologists to continue their tireless work to better understand tornadoes. The victims of this tornado, those from the April 27 outbreak, and others need all the help they can get in the recovery effort...Stay tuned for later blog posts with links to charity sites. Video from the Joplin tornado as it was touching down to the west of town is shown below.
I apologize for the lack of blog updates since the historic April 27 tornado outbreak in the Southeast U.S...Our internet access has been limited over the last several days while assisting in the damage recovery effort. As most have seen in the news by now, this very tragic tornado outbreak has been deemed the worst in nearly a century in terms of fatalities and number of tornadoes during a 24-hr period, with horrific scenes of destruction left behind in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, to as far northeast as Virginia.We began our storm chase on April 27 in Jackson, MS, and were in complete disbelief at what we were seeing in the computer model forecasts that morning, with the atmospheric parameters for tornadoes maxed out over such a large geographical area.We had never seen a tornado forecast of even close this severity in 14 years of storm chasing, and were overcome by a feeling of helplessness as we realized that deadly tornadoes were inevitable in this relatively populated area.Sadly, those model forecasts became a reality during the afternoon and overnight of April 27, and the result was a devastating natural disaster that our nation will never forget.Communities such as Smithville, MS; Tuscaloosa, Hackleburg, and Pleasant Grove, AL sustained extensive damage and loss of life from EF4 and EF5 tornadoes, with thousands of residents displaced from their homes with their lives turned completely upside down. The recovery effort began in earnest almost immediately in most areas, but likely will require years of support for these communities to rebuild. If you are interested in donating to the April 27 tornado outbreak recovery, I've listed below some charity websites I was able to find.
Below is an overview of the updated stats of the April 27, 2011 "Dixie Alley" tornado outbreak, including some for April 25-28 period. Compounding further this event, was that many of the tornadoes tracked over prior damage paths from the April 15, 2011 outbreak over much of MS and AL. At one point, we were observing a large violent tornado to our north on April 27 while driving through a significant damage path from April 15 in Choctaw Co, AL -- Last time this happened was during the May 4-5, 2007 tornado outbreak, that included the Greensburg, KS EF5 tornado.
NOAA estimates around 211 confirmed individual tornadoes (most in 24-hr in U.S. history)
Second highest single-day outbreak was 148 during April 3-4, 1974 "Super Outbreak"
309 storm-related fatalities (as of May 7 but will likely increase)
Tuscaloosa tornado most deadly since May 25, 1955 (Udall, KS)
12 EF4, 21 EF3, 47 EF2, 62 EF1, and 57 EF0 tornadoes on April 25-28
600+ tornadoes during month of April 2011 most in recorded U.S. history
2nd most active April was 1974 with 267 tornadoes
The parent supercell of the Tuscaloosa - Birmingham tornado was going strong for an unbelievable 7 hours and 24 minutes, traveling ~380 miles from development at 2:54 pm in Newton Co, MS to dissipation in Macon Co, NC at 10:18 pm. An incredible composite image showing base reflectivity of this supercell at different times as it tracked across 5 states is shown at right. In the days following this outbreak, the TVN team assisted in clean-up to the north of Birmingham, and was able to accompany the Alabama Task Force 1 out of Mobile, AL during their urban search and rescue mission in Tuscaloosa. These guys are highly-trained heros of the tornado recovery effort, living in tents and eating MREs while working grueling shifts in a very dangerous environment. Many of them worked the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort along the Gulf Coast, and devote their lives to helping the victims of significant natural disasters in Alabama and surrounding states. The damage in Tuscaloosa was the most extensive I have ever seen and was an extremely emotional experience for everyone...The video I've seen on the news of this damage does not even begin to show the true severity of the destruction sustained in Tuscaloosa, and my thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by this tornado and the many others on April 27. Below are pictures of the Alabama Task Force 1 guys we befriended, as well as of the damage witnessed in Tuscaloosa.
TVN intercepted the Tuscaloosa supercell near the AL-MS border early in its life-cycle, and saw the tornado that was responsible for the EF4 damage above touch down. We immediately called in this tornado to emergency managers, and also used live streaming video and social networking to help in the warning process... but then were blocked by downed trees well west of Tuscaloosa as we were trying to make it to town to help in initial emergency response. This was the second of 5 violent tornadoes we tracked on April 27, with the first tornado just northeast of Philadelphia, MS rated an EF5 just a few days ago based on a two-foot deep "trench" of around 50 yards in width and over 200 yards in length. The EF5 rating was very close to our location only a half-mile away in Noxubee County, and the unique roar we heard during its approach made us realize immediately that this was an incredible violent tornado. We were reluctant to mention our initial thoughts on this tornado's intensity before an official damage survey was completed (http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jan/?n=2011_04_25_27_svr_pns), but were not surprised to learn of the EF5 rating after the unforgettable continuous roar. This EF5 tornado can be seen in the early part of our video shown in the previous blog post.
Motivated in part from our personal connection with this tornado outbreak, TVN has decided to donate $1000 after every tornado core flow intercept with the Dominator for the rest of the 2011 season to local charities for April 27 tornado recovery -- beginning with the successful intercept of the tornado in Van Zandt Co, TX the day before with D1.
We tracked four wedge tornadoes across the northern parts of both states - these tornadoes were just a part of this huge devastating outbreak.
Here's video footage of an EF2 or EF3 near Philadelphia, MS earlier in the day; then moving north and east to Scooba, MS where we caught two tornadoes, one that formed into the devastating Tuscaloosa tornado. Finally, a tornado north of Centreville, Alabama.
Sad, terrible scenes of destruction everywhere. God bless all the victims and their families. More of this story to come.
expansive geographically extensive than the major outbreaks in more traditional Tornado Alley of the Great Plains -- likely because of the faster storm motions, higher population density compared to the Plains, and more numerous tornado-producing supercells often clustered in distinct waves that can hammer the same areas repetitively during all hours of the day. April 27, 2011 is a perfect example of this phenomenon, as depicted below in the incredible water vapor loop of the evolution of this unprecented tornado outbreak. Interestingly, the southern "vort max" which was responsible for the Southeast tornadoes was aggressively pivoting around the main storm system to its north, firing wave after wave of intense tornado producing supercells moving rapdily northeastward over the same general areas. TVN had the opportunity to embed with the Alabama Task Force 1 during search and rescue operations in Tuscaloosa, who heroically facilitate the recovery efforts during and after the worst natural disasters in the area, and it is by far the worst damage I have seen since the May 3, 1999 F5 tornado in Moore, OK - damage to the smaller communities further north like Smithville, MS and Hackleburg, AL was unbelievably even worse. The season premiere of Storm Chasers tonight will feature the chase of this deadly tornado outbreak, including the pursuit of multiple violent tornadoes over MS and AL from extreme close range, including the birth of the Tuscaloosa EF4 tornado. TVN was just recently visiting Pleasant Grove, AL for the rebuilding of homes along with 125 other Discovery employees, and the damage path still looks like the tornado just moved through, and these people need all the help and exposure they can get during the likely several year-long recovery. Hopefully this episode will help in that effort. Please let us know your thoughts on the episode tonight and don't forget to tune in! 
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