April's tornado outbreaks the two largest in history
The largest tornado outbreak and greatest one-day total for tornadoes in history occurred during last week's historic super tornado outbreak, said NOAA in a press release on Wednesday. They estimate 190 tornadoes touched down during the 24-hour period from 8:00 a.m. EDT April 27 to 8:00 a.m. EDT April 28 (132 tornadoes have already been confirmed, with several weeks of damage surveys still to come.) NOAA's estimate for the number of tornadoes during the three-day April 25 - 28, 2011 Super Outbreak, is 305. This is nearly double the previous record for a multi-day tornado outbreak of 155 tornadoes, set just two weeks previously during the April 14 - 16, 2011 outbreak. There were tornado outbreaks in May 2004 (385 tornadoes) and May 2003 (401 tornadoes) that had more tornadoes, but these outbreaks occurred over an eight-day and eleven-day period, respectively, and were not due to a single storm system. Prior to April 2011, the most tornadoes in a 24-hour period, and in an outbreak lasting less than four days, was the 148 tornadoes in the Super Outbreak of April 3 - 4, 1974.
Figure 1. A truly frightening radar image: multiple hook echoes from at least ten supercell thunderstorms cover Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee during the height of the April 27, 2011 Super Outbreak. A multi-hour animation is available here.
Figure 2. Preliminary tornado tracks from NWS survets for the April 27, 2011 tornado outbreak. Image credit: NWS Southern Region.
The death toll for the epic outbreak continues to fluctuate, and has decreased substantially to 318. The count decreased in Alabama from 250 to 236 due to some of the victims being counted twice. There are still hundreds of people missing from the tornado, and search teams have not yet made it to all of the towns ravaged by the tornadoes. The estimated 318 deaths makes this is the 4th or 5th deadliest tornado outbreak on record. Only the great Tri-State tornado outbreak of 1925 (747 killed), the 1936 Tupelo-Gainsville tornado outbreak (454 killed), and a 1932 outbreak (332 killed) had more deaths.
Other notable facts from the great April 25 -28, 2011 tornado outbreak
The Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado is likely to be the most expensive tornado of all-time, and damage from the April 25 - 28 outbreak is the most expensive tornado outbreak in history. Insured damages have been rated at $2 - $5 billion, and uninsured losses will be several billion more. The previous most expensive tornado outbreak in history was the $3.5 billion price tag, in 2005 dollars, of the April 3 - 4, 1974 Super Outbreak .
The Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado caused at least 65 fatalities. This tornado had a maximum width of 1.5 miles and a track 80 miles long. These are the most fatalities from a single tornado in the United States since May 25, 1955, when 80 people were killed in a tornado in southern Kansas with 75 of those deaths in Udall, Kansas.
NOAA estimates there were more than 600 tornadoes during the month of April 2011, shattering previous records. The previous April tornado record was 267, set in 1974. April has averaged just 161 tornadoes over the past decade. The previous record number of tornadoes during any month was 542, set in May 2003. So far there have been an estimated 881 tornadoes in 2011. The annual tornado record is 1,817, set in 2004. May is historically the most active month for tornadoes.
So far, 2011 is the 13th deadliest year for tornadoes on record with 369, and the deadliest year since the advent of Doppler radar in late 1980s and 1990s. The deadliest year on record is 1925 with 794.
The outbreak had fourteen violent tornadoes--two EF-5s (the Smithville, MS tornado, and the Hackleburg, AL tornado), and twelve EF-4s. The Super Outbreak of 1974 had far more violent tornadoes, with an unprecedented seven F5s and 23 F4s.
National Weather Service forecast offices provided plenty of warning for the tornadoes, issuing life-saving tornado warnings with an average lead-time of 24 minutes. Warnings were in effect for more than 90 percent of the tornadoes.
Figure 3. Youtube video of the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado of April 27, 2011, as it hit Birmingham.
The most violent tornado of the outbreak: the 210-mph Hackleburg tornado
The most violent and longest-lived tornado of the great April 26 - 28, 2011 outbreak was the Hackleburg tornado. This tornado initially touched down in Northwest Alabama near the Mississippi border, then roared to the northeast for 132.1 miles into Tennessee, causing EF-5 damage at many locations along its path. The most significant damage occurred in the town of Phil Campbell, wind in excess of 200 mph sucked up a 25-foot section of pavement and scattered it up to 1/3 mile away. Tornadoes that can suck up pavement are a rare breed, earning this twister its EF-5 rating. The tornado intensified even further as it hit the town of Oak Grove, where winds estimated at 210 mph over a swath more than one mile wide completely destroyed many buildings, tossed a Corvette 641 feet, and tossed another large car so far that it has not yet been found.
A list of the pages at each National Weather Service forecast office on the tornadoes from the April 25 - 28 outbreak that affected their area (posted by wunderground member beell, thanks!):
Birmingham, AL
Huntsville, AL
Mobile, AL
Little Rock, AR
Tallahasse, FL
Atlanta, GA
Louisville, KY
Paducah, KY
Shreveport, LA
Jackson, MS
Albany, NY
Binghamton, NY
Wilmington, OH
State College, PA
Columbia, SC
Greenville, SC
Memphis, TN
Morristown, TN
Nashville, TN
Dallas, TX
Blacksburg, VA
Sterling, VA
Wakefield, VA
All-time Mississippi River flood records fall
This week, for the first time in 74 years, the Army Corps of Engineers was forced to intentionally destroy the Birds Point levee on the west bank of the Mississippi River, just downstream from the river's confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois. The Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois continues to fall this morning, thanks to this emergency operation, with a level two feet below the all-time peak of 61.8' set on Monday night. The destruction of the Birds Point levee also helped slow the rise of the Mississippi River just south of its confluence with the Ohio River, but the river is still rising slowly, and has now set all-time records at New Madrid, Missouri, Tiptonville, Tennessee, and Caruthersville, Missouri--a 70-mile stretch of river downstream from Cairo. The massive pulse of flood waters will continue downstream for the next 2 - 3 weeks, setting all-time flood records at many locations. The National Weather Service in Jackson, Mississippi has created a nice "May 2011 Mississippi River Flood" web page that details the current stages, expected crests, and previous record crests along the river's path. Currently, the Mississippi is expected to reach its 2nd highest level on record at Memphis on May 11, beat the all-time record at Vicksburg, Mississippi by 1.3' on May 20, and smash the all-time record at Natchez, Mississippi by six feet on May 22. I'll be saying much more about this unprecedented Mississippi flood on Friday, and throughout the month of May.
Figure 4. The Portlight relief trailer being loaded in Summerville, SC, in preparation for a journey to the tornado disaster zone.
Helping out tornado victims
For those who want to lend a helping hand to those impacted by the widespread destruction this month's severe weather has brought, stop by the portlight.org blog. They have been very active in this disaster, bringing aid to many of the victims of this great tragedy.
Jeff Masters
Camp Creek Greeneville, TN Tornado Damage Part 2 (
rivertramper)
Reader Comments
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ACUS48 KWNS 050900
SPC AC 050900
DAY 4-8 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0400 AM CDT THU MAY 05 2011
VALID 081200Z - 131200Z
BY TUE/D6 INTO WED/D7...FLOW OVER THE PLAINS WILL BECOME
INCREASINGLY MERIDIONAL AS THE UPPER TROUGH BOTTOMS AND BEGINS
MOVING EWD. ALSO AT THIS TIME...A SUBTROPICAL JET IS EXPECTED TO
MOVE NWD AND PHASE WITH THE MAIN TROUGH...INCREASING UPPER LEVEL
WIND PROFILES. ALL THE WHILE...A DRYLINE WILL REMAIN ACROSS THE
CNTRL/SRN PLAINS WITH STRONG INSTABILITY AND AMPLE VEERING SHEAR
PROFILES FOR SUPERCELLS EACH DAY. TUE AND WED APPEAR TO HAVE A
GREATER TORNADO THREAT THAN ON SUN/MON WITH HIGHER THETA-E AIR AND
BETTER HODOGRAPHS. AN ISOLATED STRONG TORNADO MAY OCCUR...ESPECIALLY
ON TUE WHEN A STRONG NOCTURNAL LOW LEVEL JET RESPONSE IS FORECAST TO
OCCUR DURING THE EVENING.
GIVEN SOME SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCES WITH THE TROUGH ON D7...WILL
DEFER ON ADDING ANY ADDITIONAL AREAS.
..JEWELL.. 05/05/2011
Here comes the rainy season, whoo hooo....
CRS- all kidding aside- REALLY- there were like 80,000 chickens lost from destruction of chicken warehouses. They HAD to go somewhere, if not scattered to the wind, either alive or dead, I mean that's a lot of chickens.
Aqua, have you forgotten that this is an upcasting year for Ike. Turned a new leaf, so-to-speak. So, don't sic him on the oil.
According to the latest Situation Report from Alabama Emergency Management, there were 3,167,800 birds lost.
Haven't you see that commercial about "parts?" Pieces and parts, that is what makes up some of those nuggets and FF sandwiches. Those 80,000 or so chickens are now "parts."
Tropical Disturbance Summary
3:00 AM JST May 6 2011
==========================================
At 18:00 PM UTC, Tropical Depression (1006 hPa) located at 10.0N 128.0E has 10 minute sustained winds of 25 knots with gusts of 40 knots. The depression is reported as moving west northwest slowly.
I know what happen to them chickens. Haven't you-all seen the grills going when the weather channel folks or the big newcasters show up with their cameras? I've noticed three or four large grills I woulsn't mind owning.
All I wanted to know was WHERE'D THE CHICKENS GO?? It's not like losing a set of car keys!!!
Third EF5
...TORNADO FROM NESHOBA COUNTY TO NOXUBEE COUNTY ON APRIL 27TH
UPGRADED TO EF-5 BASED ON ADDITIONAL ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION...
BASED ON A REVIEW OF DAMAGE SURVEY DATA COLLECTED IN NESHOBA...
KEMPER...WINSTON AND NOXUBEE COUNTIES BY METEOROLOGISTS WITH
EXPERTISE IN VIOLENT TORNADO DAMAGE ANALYSIS...IT HAS BEEN
DETERMINED THAT THIS TORNADO SHOULD BE RATED AS AN EF-5. THE BASIS
FOR THE UPGRADE IS FOUNDED UPON SEVERAL OBSERVATIONS:
IN TWO LOCATIONS...THE TORNADO ACTUALLY GOUGED OUT LARGE SECTIONS OF
THE GROUND. IN ONE SPOT IN NORTHEAST NESHOBA COUNTY...THE GROUND WAS
DUG OUT TO A DEPTH OF AROUND 2 FEET OVER AN AREA APPROXIMATELY 25-50
YARDS WIDE AND A COUPLE OF HUNDRED YARDS LONG. SIMILAR GOUGES...
ALTHOUGH NOT AS LONG OR DEEP...WERE ALSO OBSERVED IN EXTREME
NORTHWEST KEMPER COUNTY. WHILE THE EXACT MECHANISM THAT CAUSED THIS
DAMAGE IS UNCLEAR...INDICATIONS ARE THAT THIS TYPE OF GROUND DAMAGE
IS TYPICALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE EXTREME WIND SPEEDS ASSOCIATED WITH
EF-5 TORNADOES.
IN THE AREA OF NORTHWEST KEMPER COUNTY WHERE THE GROUND GOUGING WAS
OBSERVED...THERE WAS ALSO AN AREA WHERE PAVEMENT WAS REMOVED FROM
THE GROUND. WHILE THIS TYPE OF DAMAGE CAN BE CAUSED BY TORNADOES OF
LESS THAN EF-5 INTENSITY...THE FACT THAT PIECES OF ASPHALT WERE
FOUND AT A SIGNIFICANT DISTANCE AWAY...BOTH UPWIND AND DOWNWIND OF
THE ROAD...ARGUES FOR EXTREME WIND SPEEDS. SIMILAR TYPE DAMAGE WAS
ALSO OBSERVED IN SOUTHWEST NOXUBEE COUNTY.
FINALLY...EXTREME VEHICLE DAMAGE OF THE TYPE NORMALLY ASSOCIATED
WITH EF-5 TORNADOES WAS OBSERVED. THIS INCLUDED NEW VEHICLES BEING
MOVED MORE THAN 100 YARDS FROM WHERE THEY STARTED...AND BEING LEFT
IN A NEARLY UNRECOGNIZABLE STATE.
THE UPGRADING OF THIS TORNADO TO AN EF-5 MEANS THAT THIS IS THE
FIRST EF-5 TORNADO IN THE NWS JACKSON SERVICE AREA SINCE THE
CANDLESTICK PARK TORNADO ON MAY 3...1966. ADDITIONALLY...THIS MARKS
THE FIRST TIME SINCE STATISTICS HAVE BEEN KEPT THAT TWO EF-5
TORNADOES HAVE BEEN RECORDED ON THE SAME DAY IN MISSISSIPPI...WITH
THE TORNADO IN SMITHVILLE ALSO RATED AN EF-5.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS TORNADO...INCLUDING PICTURES AND VIDEO
OF THE DAMAGE...PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/JAN
(LOWER CASE) AND CLICK ON THE APRIL 25-27TH TORNADO OUTBREAK LINK IN
THE HEADLINE SECTION AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE.
COUNTY/PARISH: NESHOBA...KEMPER...WINSTON...AND NOXUBEE
BEGINNING POINT: 1 N PHILADELPHIA AT 230 PM
ENDING POINT: 6 SE MASHULAVILLE AT 300 PM
RATING: EF-5
MAX ESTIMATED WINDS 205 MPH
PATH LENGTH: 29 MILES
MAXIMUM WIDTH: .5 MILE
FATALITIES: 3
INJURIES: 8 (AT LEAST)
SUMMARY OF DAMAGE:
THIS TORNADO CAUSED A PATH OF EXTENSIVE DAMAGE IN NORTHEAST NESHOBA,
EXTREME NORTHWEST KEMPER, EXTREME SOUTHEAST WINSTON, AND SOUTHWEST
NOXUBEE COUNTIES. THE MOST INTENSE DAMAGE OCCURRED IN A SEVERAL MILE
AREA FROM EXTREME NORTHEAST NESHOBA COUNTY INTO EXTREME SOUTHEAST
WINSTON COUNTY. THE THREE FATALITIES OCCURRED IN NORTHWEST KEMPER
COUNTY WHEN A STRAPPED DOWN DOUBLEWIDE MOBILE HOME WAS THROWN A
DISTANCE OF APPROXIMATELY 300 YARDS INTO A TREELINE, AND THEN
OBLITERATED WITH THE DEBRIS AND FRAMING SCATTERED MANY HUNDREDS OF
YARDS DOWN THE PATH. THERE WAS NO INDICATION OF GROUND IMPACTS
BETWEEN THE ORIGINAL SITE OF THE MOBILE HOME AND WHERE IT ENDED UP
TO INDICATE THAT THE MOBILE HOME BOUNCED EXTENSIVELY AS IT TRAVELED.
TWO TRADITIONAL FRAME BRICK HOMES IN SOUTHEAST WINSTON COUNTY WERE
COMPLETELY LEVELED WITH ONLY A FEW SMALL PARTS OF INTERIOR WALLS
STANDING. NEW VEHICLES WERE THROWN OR ROLLED HUNDREDS OF YARDS
BEFORE BEING WRAPPED INTO TREES AND LEFT ALMOST BEYOND RECOGNITION.
IN PARTS OF NORTHEAST NESHOBA AND NORTHWEST KEMPER COUNTIES, THERE
WAS VERY HIGH END TREE DAMAGE WITH EXTENSIVE DENUDING AND DEBARKING
OF TREES, ALONG WITH AREAS WHERE THE GROUND WAS SCOURED OUT TO A
DEPTH OF TWO FEET IN PLACES, AND ASPHALT WAS SCOURED OFF PAVEMENT.
THE NWS WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE METEOROLOGISTS THAT REVIEWED THE
DAMAGE INFORMATION TO ASSIST IN MAKING THIS RATING...AND ALSO THE
EMERGENCY MANAGERS WHO HELPED IN GATHERING ALL OF THIS INFORMATION.
$$
Feather dusters? Feather pillows? Feather rain? Chopped chicken livers? Mulch? Fertilizer?
Feral Chickens On The Rampage - New Orleans
Most did not make it, others were rounded up. Quote from an article;
Out on Grace's 214-acre farm, the 55-year-old spent another day this week trying to pick up the mess — and capture chickens — with the help of his 20-year-old son, Jud, and a few of his friends.
Patiently, they waited until nightfall when the birds huddled for bedtime. Then they snuck up on the chicks and swooped them up by the handful.
In the days after the storm, he has rounded up nearly 50,000 chickens and had about 200 left to gather Wednesday. Those that had been caught were trucked away to new sheds by Pilgrim's, the chicken producer with whom Grace contracts.
All kidding aside Aqua it's interesting. Any news on cattle or horses? I watched a video yesterday and recall seeing 2 dead cattle lying side-by-side in a field.
Our local weather reporter for SS, Ken Kaye (who use to keep his blog here and gets his weather info from Dr Masters) put an article on today's paper that said Florida is due a Wet and Hot "rainy season" this year...
Above normal rainfall and high temps.
so all of you "water folks" in Florida who love the daily downpours and have webbed feet, hopefully you will get your wish this year!
Gamma- my paws are all dried out- you KNOW I'd love nothing better than to splash in some puddles.
New madrid just had a tiny case of the shivers.
Click for larger image:
Click for larger image:
Click for larger image:
When I saw that "two feet of earth" comment last week, I thought for sure they'd upgrade--and now they have. At the beginning of last week, there had been two EF-5s in the U.S. since the May, 1999, OKC monster; we're now at five.
Also RGB in motion looks interesting one of these days I'll learn
That is unbelievable... I can't even comprehend what that would be like to experience that kind of power...
Yeah I have a feeling this wet season will be much more impressive than last year, hopefully more like 2009 was!
Just in time for the end of my academic year! Only 3 more years of college left to go :) well maybe, I'll probably want to take even more school in weather by then.
Jed, just curious, are you taking alot of online courses?
then in October it got dry and stayed dry..
Seems like last summer it rained nearly every day, on my house... I know some folks like that daily rain to cool things down!
Aqua and Hydrus...maybe we will be wet this year but can do without the 'canes!
except for the Tampa area.. they were the only "red" area left after Faye left her mark.
The Chicken Rapture.
Season™'s getting close, DJ. We need a new kitteh.
did they raise the prices? it's all supply and demand, y'know, kinda like oil.
or something like that...
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