Deadliest U.S. tornado since 1953 rips through Joplin, Missouri, killing 89
The incredibly violent tornado season of 2011 struck another sickening blow last night, when a violent tornado carved a ½ – ¾ mile-wide path of devastation through Joplin, Missouri. At least 89 people died, hundreds were injured, and huge sections of the town virtually obliterated. Damage from the tornado is so severe that pavement was ripped from the ground, which is characteristic of a top-end EF-5 tornado with winds in excess of 200 mph. This was almost certainly a least an EF-4 tornado with winds over 166 mph, and the level of damage is so extreme that this is likely to surpass last month's Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado as the costliest tornado of all-time.
Figure 1. Cars stacked on top of each other in front of the heavily damaged St. Johns Regional Medical Center after the May 22, 2011 tornado in Joplin, Missouri. Note the pavement ripped up from the road and piled in front of the cars. Tornadoes powerful enough to rip up pavement are frequently classified as EF-5 with winds in excess of 200 mph. Image credit: Chris McCrillis, posted to Twitter.
The huge supercell thunderstorm that spawned the Joplin tornado formed over extreme southeast Kansas yesterday afternoon, along the boundary between warm, moist air flowing northwards from the Gulf of Mexico, and cold, dry air moving south from Canada. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center (SPC) had put the region in its “moderate risk” region for severe weather. As the supercell moved into Southwest Missouri, it spawned the tornado that roared through Joplin at 5:45pm CDT. This storm generated other tornadoes, straight-line wind damage, and flash flooding from torrential rains that exceeded six inches as it moved east southeast across Southwest Missouri. SPC recorded 48 preliminary reports of tornadoes yesterday, bringing the 2-day total for the current outbreak to 70. A tornado also killed one person and injured 22 in Minneapolis Sunday. Separate tornadoes killed one person each in Andice, Texas and Reading, Kansas on Saturday—the first tornado deaths in the U.S. since the April 25 – 28 Super Outbreak.
Figure 2. Radar reflectivity image of the supercell thunderstorm that spawned the Joplin, Missouri tornado, ½ hour after it devastated the city (circle with the “+” symbol.)
Figure 3. Radar Doppler velocity image of the supercell thunderstorm that spawned the Joplin, Missouri tornado, ½ hour after it devastated the city (circle with the “+” symbol.)
Figure 4. Satellite image taken at 5:45pm CDT May 22, 2011, when the Joplin, Missouri tornado was occurring. Image credit: NASA/GSFC.
Deadliest tornado since 1953
Yesterday's Joplin, Missouri tornado is the deadliest single tornado in the U.S. since June 10, 1953, when 94 people died in the Worcester, Massachusetts tornado. The previous deadliest tornado in the past 50 years occurred just last month, when 65 people died in the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham EF-4 tornado in Alabama. This year's tornado death toll now stands at 455, making it the deadliest year for tornadoes in the U.S. since 1953, when 519 people died. The deadliest year was 1925, with 794 deaths. That was the year of the deadliest U.S. tornado of all-time, the great Tri-State tornado, which killed 695 people in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.
More severe weather today
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has placed a large section of the Midwest U.S., including portions of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, in its “moderate risk” region for severe weather today. The threat of tornadoes will not be as great today as yesterday, with today's main threat being large hail and damaging straight-line thunderstorm winds. However, I do expect we will see a dozen or so tornadoes today, and residents of the at-risk area need to keep in mind the deadly history of this storm system. The severe weather threat will continue into Tuesday, when additional tornadoes are likely over Oklahoma, Kansas, and Southwest Missouri. A severe thunderstorm roared through Joplin between 8:30am and 9am CDT this morning, bringing heavy rain, small hail, and wind gusts to 36 mph. Undoubtedly, this storm frayed some nerves, and the city will remain at risk of seeing more severe thunderstorms through Tuesday night.
Figure 5. Severe weather threat for Monday, May 23, 2011.
Links
The most remarkable audio I've ever heard of people surviving a direct hit by a violent tornado was posted to Youtube by someone who took shelter in the walk-in storage refrigerator at a gas station during the Joplin tornado. There isn't much video. We won't see a lot of spectacular videos of the Joplin tornado, since it was wrapped in rain and difficult to see.
Listen to my 12-minute interview on the historic April 2011 tornadoes for EarthSky.org, which aired on NPR earlier this month. I discuss how climate change might impact severe weather and tornadoes.
Our weather historian, Christopher C. Burt, has an excellent post on The World's Deadliest Tornadoes.
My 2008 post, Are tornadoes getting stronger and more frequent? The answer is--we don't know.
Figure 6. The Portlight relief trailer being loaded in Summerville, SC, in preparation for a journey to the April tornado disaster zone.
Helping out tornado victims
For those who want to lend a helping hand to those impacted by the widespread destruction this spring's severe weather has brought, stop by the Red Cross website, or portlight.org blog. Portlight has been very active bringing aid to the victims of this year's tornadoes.
Jeff Masters
Rotating wall cloud coming through Perry Kansas. That speck towards the top is a helicopter.
The one that hit Joplin Mo.
Reader Comments
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TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
1257 PM CDT MON MAY 23 2011
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LITTLE ROCK HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
NORTHERN BAXTER COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL ARKANSAS...
WESTERN FULTON COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL ARKANSAS...
* UNTIL 130 PM CDT
* AT 1257 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO. THIS SEVERE
STORM WAS LCENTERED 3 MILES WEST OF CARTNEY...OR 9 MILES SOUTH OF
MOUNTAIN HOME. DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED THIS SEVERE STORM MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.
* LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS DANGEROUS STORM INCLUDE...
SHIPP... SALESVILLE... ROBINSON PT LNDG...
OTT... NORFORK DAM... NORFORK...
DIAMOND BAY... CARTNEY... BYRON...
BRIARCLIFF... VIDETTE... MITCHELL...
HENDERSON... GEPP... ELIZABETH...
BUFORD... WOOD PT PARK... WOLF KNOB...
Having been through both, I wouldn't wish either on anyone!!!
[Updated at 1:39 p.m.] Rescuers have pulled five families from beneath the rubble in Joplin, Missouri, where a tornado devastated up to 30% of the city, according to Gov. Jay Nixon.
"We still believe there are folks alive under the rubble and we are working hard to save them," Nixon said Monday afternoon, nearly 19 hours after the tornado struck.
maybe late week/weekend this week or early next week
Link
Heart wrenching article as a woman describes her and her family trying to help
Up to 92 now
This site from them doesn't work?
Link
An updated graph of the amount of water in the snow above Bountiful, Utah . plus snowbirdski, resort has had 754 inchs this year, this is a new record for a season!
Just wait until all this starts to melt.
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
158 PM CDT MON MAY 23 2011
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SPRINGFIELD HAS ISSUED A
* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
JASPER COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST MISSOURI...
NORTHERN NEWTON COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST MISSOURI...
SOUTHEASTERN CHEROKEE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST KANSAS...
and ~687miles(1106kilometres)EastSouthEast of Engelhard,NorthCarolina.
So unless the steering currents push it wrong-way, 92L's probably gonna be pretty ignorable
Volcanic ash forces Obama to leave Ireland early (AFP) – 1 hour ago
DUBLIN — US President Barack Obama will leave Ireland for Britain on Monday night, a day ahead of schedule, because of fears over volcanic ash spewing from an Icelandic volcano, a White House official said.
"Due to a recent change in the trajectory in the plume of volcanic ash, Air Force One will depart Ireland for London tonight. The schedule for tomorrow will proceed as planned," the official said.
The ash cloud from the Grimsvoetn volcano was already causing "minor delays" to some flights in Britain, authorities said Monday.
Earlier, the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) in London said there was a risk some ash cloud may reach parts of northern Europe in the next 24 hours.
But it added that "at this time no disruption to flights as a result of the Icelandic volcanic eruption is anticipated in Irish airspace for the next 24 hours."
Obama and his wife Michelle had initially been due to fly into London on Tuesday morning after spending 24 hours in Ireland.
Instead they will now take off from Dublin on Monday evening heading for London's Stansted Airport.
Ash from a volcano in Iceland last year caused the biggest shutdown of European airspace since World War II because of fears it can cause damage to jet engines.
Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/vaac/data/VA G_1306172679.png
That's not good news. Dr Forbes also adjusted the TorCon index slightly upward for today.
That would be a blast
This article from last week nicely sums up the situation:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/late-storm s-add-to-record-snowpack-in-the-rockies-mudslide-a valanche-flooding-concerns/2011/05/18/AFrQ5c6G_sto ry.html
Reed Timmer: Meteorologist and Extreme Storm Chaser
Terrible situation in Joplin, Missouri. Here is some very graphic video of the tornado as it was hitting Joplin, shot by storm chasers Scott Peake, Colt Forney, Kevin Rolfs and Isaac Pato. ... MAJOR tornado outbreak possible tomorrow in Oklahoma and Kansas. Everyone PLEASE be prepared.
For some reason TCWEB is not updating, but other files in ATCF are. Also, we now have EP90
EP 90 2011052318 01 CARQ 0 111N 951W 20 1010 DB
nop its not good news i wounder what torcon will be for tusday am gussing about 8 or 10
Hurricane season is on.
92L
East Pacific
90E
Final determination will be made tommorrow
Four people did die inside the hospital during the tornado.
And, that was the evacuation after the storm hit... The last thing they wanted to do was send folks outside during the storms and put them on the road.
Fox News through that Ustream just said maybe EF3.. doubt it with peeled up asphalt & all.
One account I read earlier said once they heard the sirens, hospital staff moved patients into the hallways for protection. Evacuation post-tornado was to transport them to other regional hospitals.
that reference is to after the event...and they may well not have avoided major injuries...
The storm has been noted in several places as a multi-vortex tornado. Looking at the damage, I would not be shocked to see it upgraded to EF5 either, considering we have evidence of asphalt peeled up and the area around the hospital looks like a moonscape almost.
Do you have a source?
Death toll from Missouri tornado rises to 116
By KURT VOIGT and ALAN SCHER ZAGIER Associated Press © 2011 The Associated Press
May 23, 2011, 3:17PM
Link
Not good
Thank you... Unreal...
At least according to this: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/23/us-usa- weather-history-idUSTRE74M46R20110523
the deadliest single U.S. tornado since 1899...
I wish they'd get their facts straight. For instance, the Woodward, Oklahoma, tornado killed 107; the entire family killed 181. Given that, unfortunately, there'll very likely be a few more deaths, the Joplin tornado should go down as the 7th deadliest single tornado in American history, and by far the deadliest in the post-radar era.
Incredible.
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