High Risk Area – 10 dead!
April 24th, 2010 at 3:59 pm by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Weather
<–SPC Day 1 Outlook and picture of large tornado that hit Yazoo City, MS. Here’s more from the Jackson, MS. NWS Office. We had a High Risk Area on Saturday. It’s probably the biggest high risk area I’ve ever seen! Tornado Watches were in effect from The Gulf Coast to up to north central Indiana and Illinois. Ten confirmed fatalities now. Five dead in Choctaw Co. (including three children, one a 3-month old), 4 in Yazoo Co. and 1 in Holmes Co. State of Emergency in 17 counties of Mississippi and the National Guard was called out. Thirty homes flattened at Eagle Bend, MS northwest of Jackson. Heavy damage in an industrial park in Madison, Parish La – chemical plant destroyed. Monster Wedge Tornado 3/4 mile wide on the ground near Yazoo City – tornado emergency declared. Video of the Twister here. Numerous homes leveled! Word that it was EF3 or 4. “Looks like a war zone.” “Officials with King’s Daughter Hospital said the injuries were pouring in.” An “ALL-CALL” was put out for medical personnel in Yazoo City. 27 people were admitted to the Medical Center in Jackson – 8 were critical and 6 in serious condition (all six are children). Numerous injuries in Hesterville, MS – roofs off 5 NW Kosciusko, MS – 15 homes destroyed with numerous injuries in Madison, LA – significant damage in Crupp, MS. More here. Large, long-track tornado on the ground now more on than off for over 150 miles. It’s crossed I-55 – multiple cars blown off I-55 with injuries! – significant damage in Durant. Picture here. Gust to 84 mph at Ozark, MO – one injury nearby. Streaming video from severestudios.com. Also gusts to 80 mph reported. The Yazoo tornado was moving at 55 mph. 49 tornadoes on Saturday in 7 states as of 11:30 PM, 115 wind damage reports and 61 large hail (to softball-size near Henderson, TN). Follow storm reports here. Click the map above to read the discussion. Here’s southern regional radar – some big storms down there. Sat. AM update: We had 8 tornadoes Friday, 12 wind and 44 hail reports up to tennis-ball size. 32 tornadoes on Thursday (though I bet some of these are duplicates, seen from two sides). That’s 40 tornadoes in two days. Stratton, Colorado had hail pile up 3″ deep Thursday PM. The El Nino and colder than average water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico have combined to bring us a near record slow start to the severe weather season in the U.S. Prior to Thursday we had only 19 tornadoes in the month of April (less than one per day) in the entire U.S. and only 97 since the start of the year. Last year there were 226 tornadoes in the U.S. just during the month of April. We’ve had four days this month without a single report of severe weather (no wind damage, no significant hail). In fact the storm that caused damage south of I-94 on the evening of April 5th stands as one of the most significant severe weather events of the year in the U.S. The number of reports of wind damage and large hail are also well below average. Even the number of cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in the U.S. this year is barely more than half of average. Excellent job by NWS and the local NWS offices on this event.
Hi Bill,
I’m kind of an amature meteorolog
Bill,
I’m kind or an amature meteorologist and know that the great planes, Texas and Oklahoma panhandles are prone to Toronado outbreaks due to warm moist Gulf of Mexico air coming north and clashing with cold, dry Canadian air heading south has a lot to do with it. But I don’t understand how the Dryline plays into it. I’m gussing the dryline is air that drys out as it roles down the eastern slopes of the Rockies. I’ve spent time in Washing State and know how the coastline is rainforest. The air dries out a bit between the Olympics and Cascades. Then, east of the Cascades the air becomes very dry.
Another unrelated question: Why, on a 10 degree winter day, can we have cumulus clouds that are just like summer clouds, fluffy and obviously not frozen. How can it not be freezing up there?
Thanks,
Joe
1) Dryline is usually involved in west Texas. GOogle will help you there.
2) They are frozen.
I still have this nagging feeling that something has to give.
the only thing that we will be given is a 53 degree temp on monday and that sucks! i feel bad for the storm chasers, two years with hardly any chasing.
Maybe not here, but it DOES have something to give. Like a 15% tornado risk!
There’s been plenty to chase in the last 2 years, just not in Michigan. That’s pretty typical always, we don’t get much stuff in Michigan.
10/18/2007 was a different story though. That’s probably the last good ‘storm chase’ day in the Great Lakes region
Some of the highlights from today so far. These are only portions of official statements.
Kearny Co, Kansas
SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
451 PM CDT THU APR 22 2010
…A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR KEARNY COUNTY UNTIL 500 PM
CDT…
AT 448 PM CDT…LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED NUMEROUS PUBLIC
REPORTS HAVE BEEN RECIEVED OF A LARGE AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS
TORNADO…ABOUT 6 MILES WEST OF LAKIN. DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED THIS
TORNADIC STORM MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.
TO REPEAT…A LARGE…EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND POTENTIALLY DEADLY
TORNADO IS CONFIRMED! TO PROTECT YOUR LIFE…TAKE COVER NOW. MOVE TO
AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A STURDY BUILDING. AVOID
WINDOWS. IF IN A MOBILE HOME…A VEHICLE OR OUTDOORS…MOVE TO THE
CLOSEST SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER AND PROTECT YOURSELF FROM FLYING DEBRIS.
HEAVY RAINFALL MAY OBSCURE THIS TORNADO. DO NOT WAIT TO SEE OR HEAR
THE TORNADO. TAKE COVER NOW.
——————————————————————-
Texas Panhandle
SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
526 PM CDT THU APR 22 2010
…A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 600 PM CDT FOR
NORTHWESTERN DONLEY…NORTHEASTERN ARMSTRONG…SOUTHERN GRAY AND
SOUTHEASTERN CARSON COUNTIES…
AT 522 PM CDT…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS AND STORM
SPOTTERS WERE TRACKING TWO TORNADOES. THESE TORNADOES WAS LOCATED 6
MILES WEST OF LAKE MCCLELLAN…OR ABOUT 19 MILES NORTH OF
CLARENDON…MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.
Wow look at that radar down south. Couple tornadoes already reported.
Scary down south! I do hope for some thunderstorms soon I missed them while on vacation I was in Savannah GA on the day Jackson MI had a tornado warning lol
im not liking the looks of all of that snow out west either, does it ever end?
Nasty Weekend Ahead 1 to 2 inches of rain (we need rain) but would be nice on a Monday or Tuesday as we are in a pattern of poor weekends. Oh well life goes on….
Temperature 48.6 ° High 63.6 Low 40.4
Wind Chill 43.7 ° Low 38.0
Humidity 70%
Winds E-10.4 G-14.0 Peak 22.0
Barometer 29.786 Rising Slowly
wondering if May is going to be cooler ?
Heres a question . Due to the gulf water temps being cooler , would that impact us in the summer for humidity levels being lower than normal during lets say a heatwave? Or would it not have an impact all all ?
No, they’ll warm by then.
according to bill it won’t be.
Than April? No.
the first half of it looks to be cooler.
Oh I really hope and pray that we don’t have another cold wet cloudy summer.
it sure looks as it may shape up to be like that again. i hope im wrong, we shall see what may brings first. lots of people i know didn’t even open their pools last year being as cold and crappy as it was.
im glad im not the only one who noticed how crappy it was all last summer.
Northside is dry we need rain …..I wan’t to burn burn and burn…….. INDYDOG!
just my opinion. i think this spring has been great! not too wet and muddy. no significant flooding. a nice warm spell earlier. timely rain. cooler now but lots of clear skies and sunshine. no major killing frost. yet. looks like tulips a week ahead of schedule but beautiful right here right now. we are blessed.
let me guess…you loved the cooler summer last year didn’t you?
Here is a video of some of the tornadoes yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFLMu29SuNw
Some more footage from yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bnhW0leqyY
These guys get even closer to the same tornado: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt0FaTTVVYE
Quite a large Moderate outlook for tomorrow
Hey Bill, you’ve been saying only showers for the weekend. The Weather Channel has thunderstorms forecasted for us. It’s my 30th bday tomarrow and have plans in the evening (inside), do you think it will storm? Any concerns about the strong weather around sw Michigan?
Virtually no chance of severe weather in Michigan this weekend.
The NWS in GR is really getting precise with their discussions all of a sudden….
A DEEP LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL BRING A WET WEEKEND TO THE AREA. AN
INITIAL BAND OF RAIN IS LIFTING TOWARD THE AREA FROM THE SOUTH BUT
IS CURRENTLY BEING ERODED BY DRY AIR. THE LEADING EDGE OF THE RAIN
STRETCHES FROM THE SOUTHERN SUBURBS OF CHICAGO SOUTHEAST TO
INDIANAPOLIS. THE RAIN WILL GRADUALLY PROGRESS NORTHEAST AND INTO
THE AREA AFTER DARK. IT WILL TAKE INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS THOUGH
BEFORE WE SEE RAIN IN THE GRAND RAPIDS AREA…PROBABLY TOWARD 414
AM.
Yep, 4:13 am dry. 4:14 am wet. That’s going out on a limb!
Check this beast out! What a nice low pressure: http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs313.ash1/27828_1303970366507_1447937921_30857188_7055335_n.jpg
There is a high risk area now!
I am a little worried about this. My inlaws left this morning in their truck with huge trailer to go to Malibu, California and L.A. to drop off some cars. 1 of the cars (enclosed trailer) is worth alot of money. And they are taking the southern route there (oklahoma, texas, etc). I hope they are safe!
For Jennifer K – I hope and pray your relatives arrive ahead of the storms and get to their destinations safely.
When we had that nice 80-degree weather in March when it should not have been, I had a funny feeling we were going to get “paid back” for that. Sure enough, it’s going to be a mostly dreary week this week. I want to go pull up the urns at my parents graves and fill them with spring flowers. A difficult task anyway as I still miss them, but even harder when the warm weather we’re supposed to have right now, has taken a hike!
Marti B.,
While the weather does look dreary this weekend, we definitely need the rain. It was getting pretty dry around the area. I think we just were spoiled with that 80 degree warmth because the weather we’ve seen for the past week or so is more typical April weather. Even so, this month should end WELL ABOVE normal temperature-wise. Also, you might like hearing that it looks like the warmer temperatures will be making a return later this upcoming week.
i don’t know where your reading this but i don’t see any warm weather for next week, maybe 70 if were lucky.
Big time, damaging Wedge Tornado in Western Mississippi causing significant damage, including 30 homes destroyed in Eagle Lake, Mississippi. Ben Holcomb is down there tracking live and has seen damage. Big High Risk just issued too Western Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi. Wow.
I ended up driving right into the path and getting runover on highway 61 near Valley Park, MS. My report lead to the Tornado Emergency issued by the NWS in Jackson, MS
I wrote a blog at http://www.benholcomb.com/Yazoo-City-Tornado if anyone is interested.
Flip on the Weather Channel. The radar returns are stunning. Dr. Forbes said the tornado around Yazoo City, Mississippi is the worst he’s seen since 2007. It’s so bad that flying debris around the tornado is showing up on the radar.
Dr. Forbes also labeled today as the highest risk for tornadoes in more than a year.
That tornado that hit Yazoo City is still on the ground right now. It’s amazing. I’m watching James Spann at ABC 33/40 in Birmingham doing around the clock coverage. He said looking at the damage, he wouldn’t be surprised to see it classified as EF4-EF5. Sad. Hope there are no lives lost and all that are injured recover. No one wins.
Sad is right. I like severe weather, but this is nothing to be excited about. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone.
we need a tornado here in grand rapids.
4.5″ softball sized hail reported today
I was watching the weather channel and the debri was being detected on radar. It was quite amazing.
Reed is getting good video. He already posted some from Thursday: http://www.tornadovideos.net
reed is an idiot and takes too many close calls IMO. anyways that low seems to be headed right for us here, you guys sure there will be no severe storms tonight? there’s tornado watches just south of michigan.
what a crappy, cold day today. im really thinking twice about staying in this state anymore.
Bill, I found a few very large-area High Risks… larger than this one:
November 15, 2005
May 30, 2004
May 10, 2003
November 10, 2002
June 5 or June 7 2007 was pretty big as was June 5, 2008