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2010-12-31 DISC: AR, IL, LA, MO, MS

Jesse Risley

Jesse Risley

Staff member
In reviewing the 18z rawinsondes from the MS/LA area, the hodos were looking quite favorable by early this afternoon. ML CAPE was still less than 750 J/KG, but shear and SRH profiles were quite impressive.

JAN.gif



LIX.gif
 
Robert Rohloff

Robert Rohloff

EF3
With the temperature set to drop into the teens in areas that were hit, I would expect considerable damage from frozen water lines in areas without power. The strength of the storms aside the damage toll will mount.
 

Elaine Spencer

EF2
Also, 22 homes near Petersburg, IL, in Menard County, were "rendered uninhabitable" by a storm that hit around 12:40 p.m. ILX and SPC have this listed as a tornado report. At least one minor injury was also reported.


1241 PM TORNADO 2 SW PETERSBURG 39.99N 89.88W
12/31/2010 MENARD IL CO-OP OBSERVER

ROOFS OFF HOMES...LARGE TREES UPROOTED
 
Bob Hartig

Bob Hartig

EF5
A good thing the leaves were off the trees or its likely that tree damage in Petersburg would have been considerably more extensive.
 
James Hammett

James Hammett

EF3
I happened to drive through Sunset Hills just after the tornado (not chasing). There was small debris strewn across I-270 and a swath cut through the trees. Lots of emergency vehicles and folks standing around.
 

ChristianTerry

Its still going on. Rankin County has another reported tornado in it right now.
 
Mark Ellinwood

Mark Ellinwood

EF2
I know lots of people missed this last night, so he is the TORNADO WARNING FOR THE YAZOO CITY AREA that was issued in the closing minutes of 2010:

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
1107 PM CST FRI DEC 31 2010

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
WESTERN HOLMES COUNTY IN CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI...
THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF THORNTON...
SOUTHEASTERN HUMPHREYS COUNTY IN CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI...
NORTHERN YAZOO COUNTY IN CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI...
THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF YAZOO CITY...

* UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST

* AT 1107 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS DETECTED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 7 MILES
NORTHWEST OF TINSLEY MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH.

-----
Waiting to hear confirmed reports of damage in the area... I was at work and forgot to save the SRM, but there were pretty nasty winds regardless of whether there was a tornado or not.

A preliminary of 40 tornado reports already! We could see it climb to 50+ reports before this is done.
 
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Jason Harris

EF5
Wonder if this quote may catch fire and lead to tornado-surfing extreme sport to get to be "superman for the day" :--
“It sucked me out of my house and carried me across the road and dropped me,” Chris Sizemore of Cincinnati said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I was Superman for a while. ... You're just free-floating through the air. Trees are knocking you and smacking you down.”
Click to expand...
http://www.pretorianews.co.za/i-was-superman-for-a-while-1.1006920

In that Leonard Wood video that Andrew posted, amusing how the guy who was on the phone quickly changes his tone from solemn to excited once he fulfills the duty of checking in with loved ones. You can hear the tornadic wind it sounds like too before the rain comes in.
 
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Elaine Spencer

EF2
ILX preliminary damage survey in Petersburg, IL, indicates that an EF3 tornado hit there:

..PRELIMINARY TORNADO DAMAGE SURVEY RESULTS FROM MENARD COUNTY...

THESE RESULTS WILL BE UPDATED AFTER THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND. A SURVEY
TEAM FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LINCOLN SURVEYED STORM
DAMAGE FROM THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THAT MOVED THROUGH CENTRAL
ILLINOIS ON NEW YEARS EVE.

THE MAJORITY OF THE DAMAGE WAS CONFINED TO THE LAKE PETERSBURG AREA
IN MENARD COUNTY...SOUTH OF THE CITY OF PETERSBURG. A TORNADO
TOUCHED DOWN ON THE WEST SIDE OF LAKE PETERSBURG AROUND 1237 PM.
THE TORNADO TRACKED FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST ACROSS LAKE
PETERSBURG...CROSSING SUNNY ACRES ROAD...BEFORE LIFTING SOUTHEAST
OF THE INTERSECTION OF TICE ROAD AND ILLINOIS 123 AROUND 1240 PM.

THE TORNADO HAD A MAXIMUM ESTIMATED WIND SPEED OF 135 MPH...
CLASSIFIED AS AN EF3 ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE...IN THE
RESIDENTIAL AREA ON THE NORTHEAST SIDE OF LAKE PETERSBURG. THE
TORNADO HAD AN ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIDTH OF 200 YARDS AND WAS ON THE
GROUND FOR APPROXIMATELY 3.6 MILES.

AGAIN...MORE INFORMATION WILL BE ADDED TO THIS REPORT IN THE COMING
WEEK.
 

Christopher E. Kincaid

I own some property in the Petersburg, IL area so the tornado Friday interests me. I downloaded the level2 radar data and put it into GR2AE. I was shocked to see the echo tops were only about 25Kft! I am no expert by any means, but I never would have thought an EF3 tornado could come from a storm that small.

Here is a 3d pic I made from the data:

http://flic.kr/p/96TGaA

(Not sure why I can not embed pics from Flickr anymore.)
 
Jeff Duda

Jeff Duda

site owner, PhD
Staff member
Supporter
Christopher E. Kincaid said:
I was shocked to see the echo tops were only about 25Kft! I am no expert by any means, but I never would have thought an EF3 tornado could come from a storm that small.
Click to expand...

Storm top is a function of multiple things, including tropopause height as well as parcel buoyancy. However, storm top has been shown to not be very indicative of tornado strength. See a project from a colleague of mine.
 
Joshua Nall

Joshua Nall

EF4
Keith Wilson said:
Information on 3-tornadoes in Central MS. Ratings of EF-0, EF-2, and EF-3.
NWS Jackson, MS.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jan/?n=2011_01_01_severeweatherevent
Click to expand...


While driving back from seeing two bolts of lightning and a rainbow in E AR...I remember looking at that storm and associated couplet that came near Jackson, MS and thinking to myself.... "that is no doubt the most impressive thing I have seen all day." Sounds like NWS folks got a good scare. Seeing a storm with that sort of radar presentation and couplet is more than enough to get a person excited.
 
John Farley

John Farley

Supporter
19 tornadoes confirmed by damage surveys in MO and IL

NWS St. Louis County Warning Area:

8 Confirmed tornadoes:

1 EF3 tornado (Sunset Hills, in St. Louis County, MO)
1 EF2 tornado (Robertsville, in Franklin County, MO)
2 EF1 tornadoes (City of St. Louis, and Ballwin in St. Louis County, MO)
4 EF0 tornadoes (Augusta, in St. Charles County, MO; Washington, in Franklin County, MO; Greenville, in Bond County, IL; and Cedar Hill, in Jefferson County, MO)

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/sgf/?n=event_2010dec31_summary


Springfield, MO County Warning Area:

8 Confirmed tornadoes:

2 EF3 tornadoes (Ft. Leonard Wood, in Pulaski County, MO; Rolla in Phelps County, MO, 2 fatalities)
2 EF1 tornadoes (Lecoma, in Dent County, MO, 2 fatalities; rural Christian and Weber Counties, MO)
4 EF0 tornadoes (all near Table Rock Lake in Stone County; 2 occurred between 11:30 p.m. on 12/30 and 12:30 a.m. on 12/31; the other two around 8:00 a.m. on 12/31)

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/sgf/?n=event_2010dec31_survey


Lincoln, IL County Warning Area:

1 Confirmed tornado:

1 EF3 tornado (Petersburg, in Menard County, IL)

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=ilx&storyid=61897&source=0


Paducah, KY County Warning Area:

2 Confirmed tornadoes:

2 EF2 tornadoes (Ellsinore, in Carter County, MO; Poplar Bluff, in Butler County, MO)

Note: Damage surveys are still under way in some areas, and additional information may still be forthcoming.
 
Bart_Comstock

Bart_Comstock

EF5
Tulsa, OK County Warning Area:

1 Confirmed tornado:

Cincinnati Tornado (Adair County OK, Washington County AR, Benton County AR)

Began: Near Westville, OK in Adair County OK at about 6:05 AM CST 12/31/2010

Ended: 3 miles northwest of Tontitown, AR in Washington County AR at about 6:27 AM CST

Path Lenth: 21 miles

Max Path Width: about 500 yards

EF Rating: EF3 with maximum estimated winds of about 140 mph. This EF rating is primarily based on severe damage to 3 permanent homes and a destroyed metal (volunteer fire department) building system in Cincinnati.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tsa/?n=weather_event_30dec2010
 
Jeff Duda

Jeff Duda

site owner, PhD
Staff member
Supporter
6 tornadoes confirmed in Mississippi:

2 EF0s (Warren County: Vicksburg; Kemper County: Gholson)
1 EF1 (Oktibbeha County: Starkville)
2 EF2s (Hinds/Rankin Counties: southeast Jackson metro; Attala County: Durant to Ethel)
1 EF3 (Noxubee County: Macon)

Three of these tornadoes were at least 1/2 mile wide, but the Jackson office seemed rather arbitrary in their sizing.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jan/?n=2011_01_01_severeweatherevent
 
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