02/05/2008 REPORTS: AR, MS, TN, AL, KY, MO, IL

[Tony Laubach]

An amazing day and one I'm happy I made the trip for. Unfortunately the day was filled with a lot of devestation and mayhem which comes with a high risk. Many people felt the impact of today's events hard, so a sobering reminder why we're out here.

Started the day in Atlanta, drove up to Memphis and chased around town, bagging two tornadoes by the time all was said and done.

Multi-vortex dusty tornado just outside of Gallaway, TN (northeast of Memphis)

The funnel rope-out of the second tornado outside of Braden from the same storm (more stills of the actual touchdown later).

Video Clip of Tornado and Funnel Here

COMPLETE STORM CHASE LOG (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Flying out of Memphis tomorrow morning to go straight back to work! What a fun trip this was!!!

I will attempt to get the complete log up as soon as possible. I am moving this weekend, so my time may be limited. I'll update when I get everything up. Keep checking back!

 

[Ron_Jarrell]

2/5/08 DISC: AR/MS/TN

Started out the day with a target of Jackson, TN. Made the decision to head toward Memphis and catch the developing cells as they came out of AR and MS. We got just over the MS River and hit a core. Decided to turn back to get into the cell that was passing near Tunica. Ended up right behind a tornado that passed near Arlington and caught brick houses seriously damaged, but had just missed the tornado.

Decided to head to intercept the second cell that was warned and headed to Bartlett to intercept. Just east of Bartlett, we got way too close (it was dark by then). Got out a little further east and caught the tornado as it proceeded NE toward Summerville and Jackson, TN. We got stopped by debris blocked roads and that effectively ended our chase. Lots of damage in that area around Danville Highway through Jackson TN.

On the drive back, the path of the tornado went right over a truck rest stop. There were over 20 tractor trailers thrown about.

Will post pics and vid when my chase partner gets them uploaded.
__________________

 

[Brandon Clement]

Played the southern end of the storm and intercepted a beautiful classic sup near Lake Village Arkansas. It has a great wall cloud with good rotation but had to leave it to cross the river. Once I was in a trailing position never could get caught up. Played around with a bunch of other less impressive storms and had the chance to get on the 2nd set of cells that crossed just north of Memphis but it was late, I was tired and the storm speeds made it extremely difficult.

I will post some pics in the morning, congrats to those that scored. I hope everyone made it out ok.

 

[Bryce Stone]

Made a 600 mile round trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas. The squall line contained some really wicked-looking lightning as it came through there. Unfortunately, my target area was limited by time and financial constraints so I was not able to make it farther north and east where the tornadoes occurred.

Saw scattered tree branches and powerlines down in various places from the high wind associated with the squall line. I heard that there was an unconfirmed report of a very brief tornado in Broken Bow, OK, but the damage I saw there appeared to be from non-tornadic winds.

It was great to be out chasing again, but these 55 MPH systems are always frustrating, and more so in the trees and hills of Arkansas. Was saddened to hear of so many fatalities, especially the couple and their 11 year old daughter killed in Atkins, AR.

 

[Brian Emfinger]

Full Chase Report HERE

Fun chase despite no tornadoes and one critical wrong decision. Bart Comstock joined me today. We stayed on I-40 between Ozark and Russellville much of the day and saw several severe warned storm but nothing outstanding. We did see some quarter size hail on the ground around 230pm just north of Clarksville. We also saw a lake with fog developing on it and we got nice pictures of that.

Around 415pm we decided to head further southwest into much better chase terrain to intercept a severe storm coming out of Scott County, AR (this would be the critical mistake...if we have just waited 15-20 minutes we likely would have chosen to intercept the Atkins storm and we would have had plenty of time to get there too!) On the way to that one the cold front finally starting surging and unfortunately the surging front squashed the storm into a linear mess. About the same time as the storm was dying we noticed a storm we had been watching for quite a while that was about 20 miles east of us get much stronger. We headed east but speed was limited due to the surging front causing storms to develop all over us. We saw the storm getting extremely well organized on radar and soon a tornado warning was issued. We just couldn't get there in time before it crossed the road so we focused on trying to get to the same area for a new storm that was also getting better organized. We just made it through Russellville ahead of the hail core of the next storm (we got nickel hail though). A few miles east of Russellville in the town of Atkins we saw the tornado damage from the previous storm. The tornado was obviously quite strong and I-40 was backed up for miles. I am anxious to see the chase report of Scott Currens (violentplains.com) as his spotternetwork icon was right under the circulation on radar..I am sure he got some amazing stuff!. We also learned moments later of the fatalities in Atkins. Luckily, it seems that warnings were issued well ahead of the storms and the sirens sounded so many people were able to take cover. It looked like at least EF-2 damage but I bet it will be EF-3.

We chased the storms to just past Lonoke and had a frightening encounter with a local there (its just past halfway down the page). I also got another lighting shot as the storms raced away.

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all...

Wow - What a day, what a trip, and - Now for the bummer ... Bless those who lost lives and / or property ;-(

I made the trip to the Memphis area to intercept at least 3 devastating supercells to affect the area during the afternoon of February 5, 2008.

Note: More pictures to come once I catch up on sleep and all that!

Left Chicago at 7 AM on 2-5-2008 in fog and cold drizzle with an initial target of Sikeston (near I-55 / I-57) and points southward. Made the target by about 1:30 PM CDT just south of stationary front. Temperatures went from 36 to 66 in 50 miles, with partly cloudy skies south of boundary.

Headed south targeting convection firing just north of Memphis, TN along the Mississippi river. Encountered first "tail-end" cell on a line of storms in Northern Memphis at about 4:30 PM CDT. The southern portion of this storm developed into a supercell updraft with a large blocky wall cloud observed near I-240 and I-55. The storm moved rapidly NE but allowed the view below, with possible tornado, viewed from Memphis airport at about 5 PM...

Above: View of supercell "business" end looking north from east side of Memphis International Airport.

The second round of storms affected Desoto and Shelby counties, and produced a large tornado near dusk (6 PM or so). A large bowl-shaped lowering was observed with this storm, then its view was lost as the core passed over me near I-240 and highway 277. Winds, gusting 70-80 MPH with hail 1" to isolated golfball sized was observed, with a hasty retreat back east on 240, then highway 78 SE to Winchester road.

A strong RFD was noted (power flashes to my east - horrible contrast) but the tornado damage path was observed near Hickory Hill and Winchester road, with severe damage noted to a shopping center, residential area, and a mall. I called it quits after doing a radio interview and assesing some damage in near total darkness ... Headed back up 240 to 55, then all the way back up 57 to Chicago.

Another storm was noted near Sikeston, MO and produced another radar-indicated tornado between Sikeston and Cairo, IL. A large lowering, illuminated by lightning, was noted on the SE side of this storm as well, at about 9 PM CDT. Hail to 3/4" and 60 MPH winds also was encountered with this storm.

Many semi-trucks were also noted blown over in the median of I-57 in southern IL, mainly south of the I-64 corridor.

Total chase was 1,119 miles, from 7 AM in Chicago, intercept(s) in Memphis, then back in Chicago at 2:30 AM on 2-6 (Yawn!)

I am still doing a full report on this chase with more pictures and video frame-grabs ... It will be posted in here / discussion area once I catch up.

BTW: Special thanks to Jeff Gammons (weathervine.com) who did an EXCELLENT job at nowcasting this event for me as it unfolded!

 

[scott r currens]

Atkins, AR Tornado

Target: Conway, AR

Brief Summary:
At 4:30pm I reached Atkins, AR ahead of a fast moving supercell that was making a beeline for the town. Unfortunately, this part of Arkansas is heavily wooded. I had planned on chasing E AR but that didn’t pan out. It took me a good 20 minutes to scout a location with good road (escape) options and view to the southwest. I found this location on the southwest side of town as the updraft base was coming into view. The base was fairly small and with rapid rotation. I was confident that it was producing a tornado without having a view of the surface. At 5:00pm, I got a clear view of the tornado as it grew form an elephant trunk within a translucent bowl of rain, into a wide stovepipe. The core overtook me at 5:02 and I never saw it again. Moments later I came across the damage 1-mile east of Atkins.

The following is a drive by damage assessment so take it with a block of salt. The damage track appeared to be about ¼-mile wide. Two homes on the periphery of the tornado appeared to have EF-0 to EF-1 type damage. The home in the middle of the path was completely removed from its foundation and disintegrated. It appeared to be built on a staked cinderblock foundation. Two of the neighbors from surrounding homes were at this house looking for survivors. I asked if everyone was okay and they said they were fine. Although, they didn’t know if anyone was at the home that was leveled. About an hour later I came back through the same area and there was a bad car accident at the start of the damage path. A car had collided with another vehicle that had stopped where a power pole was across the road. Judging from the damage the car must have been going at least 50mph and I wouldn’t be surprised if fatalities resulted from this accident. The accident likely occurred when visibility was reduced by a line of storms moved through after the initial supercell.

I’ll get some pictures of the tornado and damage up on my website this evening.

Scott Currens
www.violentplains.com

 

[Brandon Clement]

This cell started near Alexandria, La and went tor warned just before crossing into Ar. We picked it up about 15 miles West of Lake Village, Ar. Too bad I left my wide angle at home or I could have had some amazing shots. Easily the best structure I have seen this far south.

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

We didnt leave Norman till 11 after we got out of class, but made it to Little Rock by 3:30. The day ended up with us stuck in the between all the storms until the line came through. We shot south to Pine Bluff to pick up a developing storm that fell apart on us when we got there. After seeing the storm approaching Atkins, AR, we wanted to make it up north of Conway before it crossed the road there but there was just too far to drive with that fast of a storm. The line blasted us with visibilty slowing me down to almost 20mph about 20 miles south of Clinton. Clinton had traffic backed up for a mile on the highway. Found a little side road south of town to drive down but there were trees all over the road. We saw a few houses missing roofs, but a sheriff said the damage was much worse in town.

Stopped in Atkins to grab some food on the way home and found the damage path Scott mention after the lady at Taco Bell told us were it touched down at. South side of the interstate there was a decent amount of damage, but it was right on the north side of the freeway where the house was destoryed. Debris in this area was spread well over a 1/4 mile down the road we drove. Everywhere you looked there was debris.

Here are a couple photos outside Clinton.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Left Chicago around 4am and made it down to Chaleston, MO by 10am give or take. Decided to head further south to Kennett and play the waiting game there.

I told myself Memphis was too far [I was trying to make this a 1 day chase...didn't happen.]

Got stuck in that daytime deadzone in eastern AR most of the day, before finally deciding to dart over towards Memphis as the cluster of tornadic supercells was heading towards the city. Noted this wall cloud and possible funnel in eastern AR, the storm looked pathetic on radar so i was suprised to see what I was seeing.

By the time I reached Memphis the chaos was in full swing, sirens blaring, snarled traffic with debris scattered along I-40, no major debris, mostly tree branches, shingles and some downed roadsigns. Followed the cell as it paralleled I-40 rather nicely, couldn't get a visual but did note a series of power flashes on the south side of the expressway ahead of me.

Traffic was unbearable so I decided to go after the cell heading for Somerville, then one of my Nowcasters alerted me that the area I had previously been in [East AR] was lighting up [of course] there was a Nice supercell ahead of the line looking to hit north of Marion, since it was on the way home so to speak I made that my new target, Intercepted the cell near Turrell, AR just off I-55. Tornado was reported on the ground at this time with this cell. Noted another series of powerflashes, about a minute later I could see the funnel below a well defined wall cloud, the funnel was not touching the ground at this time and I did not notice a debris cloud. Im going over the video footage now and if I can get a still I will update.

Congrats to those who bagged a solid tube and I send my prayers to the victims and families.

Thanks Danny Neal and Chad Cowan for excellent nowcasting.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Covered a good 1,000 miles over 19 hours despite telling myself I was going to stay close to home. Ran a circuit from Louisville, Evansville, Henderson, Hopkinsville, Clarksville (TN) back to Hopkinsville, Louisville again and finally Lexington. Caught one supercell as it screamed past near Hopkinsville, didn't see anything.

The chase was redeemed by a tower lightning bonanza in Lexington - eleven hits in 20 minutes, recorded on 4 different cameras.

Full log with video here:
http://stormhighway.com/feb52008.shtml

 

[Brandon Lawson]

After a long trip home and sleeping all day today, I am finally posting a recount of our trip. I left early yesterday morning from Norman, OK around 4:30am with Bryan Putnam, Brett Roberts, and Gabe Garfield. We also had two other chasers in another car (Bryant and Ross), come along for the trip. We made it up to our target area in northeast Arkansas with more than enough time to spare. In fact, we ended up sitting in Fair Oaks for almost four hours waiting for any convection to break out, closer to our location.

It was tough watching the first good storm of the day (Ashley Co.) on radar, cross over the LA and AR border, and wonder whether or not anything else was going to happen. Of course we all know that everything went crazy shortly before dark. So after we could not endure to be patient any longer, we decided our best option was to head south towards Memphis. There was a cluster of crap convection south/southwest of Memphis, which Gabe was confident would probably separate into multiple supercells. And if nothing else, we could always try and intercept the original Ashely Co. storm before nightfall. So began our adventure.

From the cluster of convection, multiple cells evolved, many of which were displaying very good velocity couplets. We drove past at least 2 cells on our way through Memphis and were lucky to avoid much of the rush-hour traffic. We watched the first storm as we first got onto 55/240. While displaying some ominous lowerings, it appeared to be disorganized and passed to our northeast as it crossed the Mississippi river.

At this point, there were two storms of interest. The main one being the monster supercell that started out by Tunica, MS. We figured we could intercept the first storm, which was on-track to pass to the north of Capleville, TN, on the way. So we opted to take 78 east out of Memphis. This storm had a nice wall cloud. By the time we got off 78 to head west on 302, the storm had become LP in appearance, with a miniature flying saucer mesocyclone, and from the look of it, appeared to be weakening. So we pressed on toward the monster supercell, which continued to display very impressive velocity couplets.

(At first I thought this was the same storm Tony Laubach was on, but I guess he was on the other side of Memphis than we were) We headed west on 302 (and had to stop at almost all of the endless stoplights on that road.) and finally intercepted the storm on 301. There were an abundance of trees in the way, but from what we could see, this storm had a massive base and exhibited very strong rotation. Unfortunately for us, as soon as we arrived, it flew past and left us hard-pressed to keep up. We flew back to 302, and on the way, drove through some small falling debris in the form of small tree branches and leaves. Back on 302, we saw multiple power flashes, and could see what looked like the start of the storm putting down a wedge/cone tornado. We tried to keep up by getting back on 55 and heading east on 240, but the storm was moving far too fast. The power flashes continued to our northeast, but too many buildings obstructed our view. I think we must have heard the tornado sirens for a constant 45 minutes during this whole time.

Finally we headed back home and were able to watch another storm put down a nice funnel southwest of Forrest City, AR. It was well after dark by this time and once this storm flew off to the north, we called it a day and spent the next 7 hours driving back to Norman. The length of our trip, from the time we left Norman, to the time we got back, was 24 hours. Ugh. But well worth it.

I'll post a few stills from Bryan's camera as soon as I can.

 

[Robert Rohloff]

Started the day in Tulsa about midnight watching Oklahoma since there was a chance of strong storms before 0300 hours. The ones that went up were all small hailers. Headed to Little Rock and the center of the High Risk. Bad choice, I thought we were well placed however the storms went up to the east and quickly crossed the Mississipi, I really did not want to get into a night chase east of the river. I went back towards the storm the hit Aktins. It was fast and I missed the intercept. I did have a wall cloud south of I 40 that went tor warned after it crossed but we had been tied up in Aktins at that point.

Was on scene for some of the rescue operations along I 40 about mile marker 94 where severeal 18 wheelers were thrown across the highway. On truck was at least 50 yards off the road into the field. I had stopped at the ICS at the Atkins fire and offered help since I am a Disaster Team Member. However the State Patrol was working the ICS. Also they had a very good mutual aid response from surrounding areas for fire and ems. There were rescues in progress that took four wheelers to get into the hard hit areas. Since it was dark it was quite difficult to see and estimate damage. I felt the path was about 100 yards wide near I40 and some of the heavy damage to a church was at least a EF2. I think other information found in the daylight this may go up a bit.

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

I don't believe in bust chases!

Traveling a total of 992 miles from my farm here in Piedmont, OK to the heart of Arkansas where I criss crossed the area within 50 miles of Little Rock and back home last night, yielded.... a 15 minute long borderline severe event in Conway AR. in the form of the squall line at around 6 to 6:30pm. I managed to not only miss the tornadic storms to the west around Atkins, but missed all the TOR warned storms to the east that developed as I expected, right at dusk.

I was hoping that convective initiation would have at least ensued a couple of hours before dusk in my target area which basically ended up being along the I-30 corridor from Hot Springs to Searcy... My optimistic, wishful thinking attitude thought with storm motions expected to be NE at around 50kts, I could keep up with them as they came up from southern Ark. and moved toward Searcy.

I was hopeful that action was about to happen as I sat at a truck stop on the east side of Little Rock for almost two hours from 1pm until 3pm... a few showers rolled through during that time frame with a very unstable look to the atmosphere with fractured looking cumulus congestus with turbulent bases... however, what I suspected was an area of subsidence moved in, and the general atmosphere took on a mid level strati-form look... Clearing south toward Hot Springs enthused me to stir the instability further..but then I heard of the cells that erupted well to my west which ended up being that Atkins event, they were well out of my reach, and I anticipated similar storms to form over the I-30 corridor an hour or so later.

I knew the chances were good that the initial supercells would be flying across the west central areas of the state, had I not been so turned off to chasing on the winding roads and tree covered terrain, I probably would have camped out east of Russellville.. and where that tornado crossed the interstate, was actually in a fairly open area at the 94mi. marker.
Oh well, hindsight's 20/20.

At least t was nice to get out, I knew this would be a big gamble on this chase but it still was worth it... everyday is a gift to get out and chase, no matter the end result. A BIG THANKS to several who phoned me on updates, including Mike from South Carolina (forgot the last name), Dustin Wilcox, Dave Ewoldt, Jim Leonard, and Ray from Ada, OK who also was out chasing and gave me some timely updates. Also, thanks to Tony Laubach as well with an update and a big congrats to him for a lucky (and safe) intercept of the Memphis storm. I did have broadband internet access via my cell phone, but the phone's battery was dying fast so I could only use it sparingly. There were a couple of others who called, can't remember their names but a big thank you all the same.

My heart and prayers go out to all those adversely affected by the storms. Still, I think the SPC and NWS did a stellar job and should be commended.

On a final note, I am humbled and honoured to be chosen as a guest on Gene Rhoden's High Instability show next Wednesday night 7pm CST. You can go to his website or RJ Evans's site for more info. It should be fun, and hopefully not too boring, I haven't half the experience of most others on that show... but I'm sure I can dig up a few tall tales and some of my rants on chasing these days. So tune in, eh??

Blessings!!! Rocky&family

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all...

Full chase report (with pictures) on this event is now available at the link below...

http://www.sky-chaser.com/mwcl2008.htm#FEB05

Below is a text destription from this report...

February 5, 2008 was a "long-shot" and high-risk chase day involving a long drive to the target area (from Chicago, Illinois to near Memphis, Tennessee) and involved the interception of a few dangerous tornadic supercells. The chase began in the early morning of February 5 with a primary target area of Sikeston, MO where I-57 and I-55 meet, which was just south of a stationary / warm front. Forecasting also revealed a developing low pressure area what should move up this frontal zone providing adequate moisture and instability in the warm-sector. Meanwhile, an intense short-wave trough was ejecting into the central US, with a low-level 850 MB flow of 60 Knots from the SSW, then an 80-Knot 500 MB SW flow, and 300 MB over 100-Knots from the WSW, with strong di-fluence aloft near and south of the primary target area.

Left Chicago via I-80 then south on I-57 and was in the primary target of Sikeston, MO near I-57 and I-55 by early afternoon. Temperatures went from cold drizzle and 35-40 degrees to 65-70 degrees and partly sunny skies south of the boundary! Checked data in Sikeston and found the best possibility of severe weather was to be south of the area. At SPC, a high-risk was issued for the 16:30z outlook, with a frightening 30% hatched tornado probability, 40% hail, and 45% hatched damaging wind. The hatched meaning a significant severe weather event. By mid afternoon, a region of confluence showed on the visible satellite along the Mississippi River and an adjustment was made to head south on I-55 toward Memphis, Tennessee. A mesoscale discussion (MCD) and subsequent PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) tornado watch went up with the adjusted target area in the northern half of it.

The trip south on I-55 was on, with another stop for data near Hayti, Arkansas to confirm the confluence axis was indeed firing storms. A weak and high-based cell was encountered near Haydi, with more vigorous convection farther south. This convection was linear in nature, and quickly raced to the northeast. Upon entering the Memphis area, and crossing the Mississippi River along I-40 into the north side of town, the first severe storm was encountered. This storm was to produce the first significant tornado northeast of town and the chase track passed close to its wall cloud during its development to supercell mode. The storms were HP in nature, and bad visibility / traffic was a big problem. This first storm was abandoned with a re-position south to near I-240 and I-55 to view the storm and tornadic section from a distance.

Two more significant supercells developed after the initial storm, and were farther southwest, and both moved over and near the Memphis International Airport. The first had strong rotation and a wall cloud, while the second was to be one of the most significant supercell storms. The second storm skirted the south side of the city and quickly intensified to produce a large, long-track tornado that was to take lives and leave destruction in its path well to the northeast. The chase came within a half of a mile of this tornado, and the parent supercell core was penetrated in a hasty retreat to get out of its path. Visibility, traffic, and rapid storm motion was a major problem, but a glimpse of the tornado was observed just at sundown from its northeast.

Damage was extensive as this storm and tornado moved rapidly NE, especially near and along Winchester road. The storm was to continue NE, in darkness, to produce more tornadoes with damage and fatalities to and beyond Jackson, TN, almost 80 miles away! A brief damage survey was done along with a radio interview with Scott Roberts with Virtual News Center. The chase was wrapped up in Memphis at about 7 PM CST, with the long return going back up I-55 towards Sikeston. Another supercell, ahead of a squall line with hail, high winds, and a possible tornado, was observed again just south of the I-55 / I-57 junction at 9 PM CST. The return continued back north into Illinois along I-57, where numerous semis were noted blown-over in the median and side of the interstate. The drive back to Chicago was completed at 2:30 AM CST on early February 6. Total mileage was 1,119 miles.

Thanks and God Bless...

 

[scott r currens]

Target: Conway, AR

Brief Summary:
At 4:30pm I reached Atkins, AR ahead of a fast moving supercell that was making a beeline for the town. Unfortunately, this part of Arkansas is heavily wooded. I had planned on chasing E AR but that didn’t pan out. It took me a good 20 minutes to scout a location with good road (escape) options and view to the southwest. I found this location on the southwest side of town as the updraft base was coming into view. The base was fairly small and with rapid rotation. I was confident that it was producing a tornado without having a view of the surface. At 5:00pm, I got a clear view of the tornado as it grew form an elephant trunk within a translucent bowl of rain, into a wide stovepipe. The core overtook me at 5:02 and I never saw it again. Moments later I came across the damage 1-mile east of Atkins.

The following is a drive by damage assessment so take it with a block of salt. The damage track appeared to be about ¼-mile wide. Two homes on the periphery of the tornado appeared to have EF-0 to EF-1 type damage. The home in the middle of the path was completely removed from its foundation and disintegrated. It appeared to be built on a staked cinderblock foundation. Two of the neighbors from surrounding homes were at this house looking for survivors. I asked if everyone was okay and they said they were fine. Although, they didn’t know if anyone was at the home that was leveled. About an hour later I came back through the same area and there was a bad car accident at the start of the damage path. A car had collided with another vehicle that had stopped where a power pole was across the road. Judging from the damage the car must have been going at least 50mph and I wouldn’t be surprised if fatalities resulted from this accident. The accident likely occurred when visibility was reduced by a line of storms moved through after the initial supercell.

I’ll get some pictures of the tornado and damage up on my website this evening.

Scott Currens
www.violentplains.com

I have added a YouTube clip and some photos of the tornado and damage to my website.

 

[Gabe Garfield]

Summary:

During the daylight hours on Tuesday, my chase group (Brandon Lawson, Brett Roberts, and Brian Putnam) and I intercepted 3 supercells in eastern TN/northwestern MS. After dark, we observed 2 more supercells in eastern Arkansas. We filmed the beginnings of the Memphis tornado on the south side of the city from several miles away, and we later observed a well-formed funnel/possible tornado north of Moro, AR between 8 and 8:30 p.m.

Extended:

Prior to yesterday, I had never chased in Arkansas. Rumor as well as personal observation had convinced me (until recently) to stay away from the jungles of this area. However, a couple of recent trips along I-40 to the east convinced me that northeast Arkansas is actually a fine place to chase. So, with that in mind, and a potential tornado outbreak in the cards for the Mississippi Valley region, I decided to light the fuse.

My chase group and I left Norman, OK at 5 a.m. in anticipation of a relatively early initiation of supercell thunderstorms. However, the shortwave trough arrived later than expected, which delayed significant thunderstorm development until mid-late afternoon. Thus, we spent a considerable amount of time shooting the breeze northeast of Little Rock, in a little town called “Fair Oaks” at the intersection of Highways 49 and 64. Around 3 p.m., it became increasingly apparent that the prospect of storm development to the southwest of Little Rock was dimming, so we made the decision to pursue the sure-fire convection that had developed southwest of Memphis. This relatively early abandonment of our original target area proved to be rather important to our safety later on.

Our original target as we moved east was a tornadic supercell that began in northern LA and was heading toward northwest MS. Even so, we hoped convection closer to us would intensify, as our estimated time of arrival would be quite late (with regard to the setting sun). Fortunately for us, the nearby convection did mature into fully developed supercells just was we were entering Memphis. In order to stay ahead of the game, we opted for Highway 78 on that goes southeast out of Memphis towards the suburbs of Capleville and Olive Branch. On the way, we observed a developing supercell over Memphis, but blew it off due to traffic considerations. At the time, Highway 78 seemed to be a reasonable choice, but it was only on this road that we realized that it was not a highway, but a gauntlet of traffic lights and aggressive drivers eager to get home. It proved to be quite fortuitous that we had arrived early; had we taken this same route a half hour later, we would have likely been stuck in traffic in the direct path of the Memphis tornado.

At Olive Branch, we headed west where we intercepted our first target cell, which had developed near Hernando, MS. Around this time, Jeff Snyder called and offered his sage nowcasting while I relayed reports to him. We both agreed that we could play the Hernando supercell firstly, and then intercept the Tunica supercell afterwards. The Hernando supercell was in the process of dissipating when we got our first glimpse, but what a beauty! It was a classic supercell with a well-defined and striated updraft, a wall cloud, and even a hint of a beaver tail. However, the decrease in cloud tags below cloud base made it apparent that this was a dying cell; not to worry, though, the Tunica superell was on its way.

At Olive Branch, we went west on 302 toward Horn Lake (south side of Memphis). From the GRLevel3 images we perused on the way, it was apparent that we were dealing with a significant supercell. We made it as far west as 301, and then we headed south as the base of the storm came into view. It was a beast; the wall cloud was probably 3 miles in diameter and very low to the ground. Additionally, it was rapidly rotating and heading directly toward us. With little time to spare, we scramble southward and got out of the way of the monster. The center of the circulation passed to our north by about ¾ of a mile, after which we gave chase. As might be expected, the storm had started to gain considerable ground on us. It was at this time that we observed debris falling out of the sky. Apparently, a weak tornado obscured by trees and buildings was already intermittently on the ground. We quickly headed east on 302 toward I-55, with the circulation still in view about 2 miles to our east-northeast. During this time, a tornado developed just east of I-55 and began causing power flashes a few miles to our east. The low-level mesocyclone was poorly structured in the early development, so it was difficult to see just where the tornado was located. However, in very short order, a laminar cone funnel developed---tornado! Power flashes were occurring at a rapid rate, which aided in our search of the location of the tornado. As we moved northward on I-55, I glimpsed the tornado again between buildings and trees, and noted that it was significantly larger than earlier (I suspected a wedge, though I think in retrospect it was the bottom of the tornado cyclone, which made it appear quite large). I was on the phone the entire time with Jeff Snyder, who informed me that the tornado was now being broadcast on live television. Following this, the tornado translational speed was just too much to keep up with; we gave up and headed west on I-40 and started heading home.

On the way, though, we observed two more supercells; one to the north of Palestine, AR just north of I-40 and one to the south of I-40 near Moro, AR. The latter was fairly intense, and produced a sleek funnel ~8 miles north-northeast of Moro. It descended about halfway to the ground before retreating upward.

This chase lasted 24 hours, as we didn’t arrive in Norman until 4:15 this morning. This was a marathon chase, but certainly a worthwhile one considering the historical significance.

Gabe

 

[Dan Robinson]

It turns out I may have actually bagged one on Tuesday north of Hopkinsville, KY. I'm not certain enough to say for sure, but the evidence is convincing. I read the tornado report on the SPC log page for Crofton, KY on Old Palestine Road, Christian County at 1:35Z, and decided to review my video more closely. I was parked on Covered Wagon Road just south of Crofton, with the camera set up facing west-southwest. Here is a map of my location:

http://stormhighway.com/2008/feb5croftonmap.jpg

OHX base reflectivity at 1:08Z:
http://stormhighway.com/2008/feb5base.jpg

Velocity:
http://stormhighway.com/2008/feb5vel.jpg

And a still frame from video at this time (lightning illuminated):

Another:
http://stormhighway.com/2008/feb5a.jpg

Cropped and contrast enhanced:
http://stormhighway.com/2008/feb5c.jpg

 

[Brandon Lawson]

Here is a video still of the first storm we passed south of Capleville, TN.

This is the best shot I could find of the night time funnel we saw SW of Forrest City, AR. I could have sworn that it was closer to the ground than this, but at night it is hard to tell.

Lastly, here is a horribly low contrast video still of the tornado we saw in its early stages, heading into memphis. It's probably not even worth posting. The tornado is not fully condensed to the ground.

 

[Brett Adair]

We got on the first superecell that came out of Louisiana that targeted Lake Village, AR. Myself, Matt Grantham, Blake Michaleski and our crews setup on opposite sides of the river. We wanted to go after the cell and decided to cross the river into Ashley County, AR as the cells reportedly produced a tornado in Hamburg, AR. Ryan Vaughan (a meteorologist in Little Rock) gave us a call and gave us the report that LZK sent out. After we crossed the river we saw a massive overhang and wall cloud. The wall cloud quickly organized again and produced a pretty defined funnel.

An LSR was noted as we watched this in the distance of wind damge just to the east of our location. Not sure if this actually touched down or not, so I wouldn't dare say it produced before crossing the river. We then figured out that we had to go 100+ miles northward before another crossing of the river took place so this really screwed us in terms of chasing. We raced north but the storms raced along as well.

When we crossed the river we heard of North Oxford, MS has been hit. We decided to rush in that direction since we were in contact with JAN and were doing some reporting for WTVA in Tupelo that evening. When we reached the damage area....check points had already been set up and they would not even let the media near the area. That's where we were told that pavement had been ripped up and numerous well built structures had been destroyed. After seeing the people there, we decided to pack it up and head east back to Alabama as the squall line approached. It began to break up as we traveled Cooridor-X (soon to be I-22) in NW Alabama. Little did we know what was going to happen later in North AL.....or we would have likely stayed there to chase.

After reaching Central Alabama and monitoring the coverage through the night with ABC 33/40 and FOX-6 the damage was widespread so I couldn't sleep thinking that an opportunity might approach my area. The storms continued to cycle as they moved closer and a supercell was spawned in Perry County. This cell moved NEward toward the city of Clanton at around 530am. Since I live in southern Talladega County I decided to load up the truck and get south for a good view as this cell came across. On my way down....I was in IEM talking with some spotters and the NWS while we were watching a phase of the storm cycling back up. They issued a tornado warning for Northern Coosa/Southern Talladega shortly after 6 and reports were coming in of damage by 6:20 in Coosa. I was relayed word that a Delta-V max of 138 knots was approaching my area. I was sitting on HWY-2820 just south of the HWY 231/21 intersection on the south side of town. A rapidly rotating wall cloud crossed in front of me shortly after...and it was about 3/4 of the way to the ground. Little did I know this tornado had just lifted one mile to the southwest. It produced EF-2 damage in West-Central Coosa into Southern Talladega County along a 17 mile path and was up to 1/2 mile wide at some points.

Here is a link to the NWS BMX summary of the event. I will also post a picture of the damage that I took.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/significant_events/2008/02_06/Coosa_Talladega/index.php

 

[JF Massicotte]

Hi and sorry for late report


We left Montreal on Monday morning and were on time in Memphis Thuesday afternoon. After a few storms did nothing, one went on explosive development. As we were tracking NE on HW14, we could see a wall cloud and a funnel but our view was obscured by precipitations from another storm to our south.

We then decided to go back on HW385 via N-Brunswick Rd. We decided to take W on 385 to go after what looked like a wall cloud, but then found out the real circulation was directly to our south and we were in the vault. Things really did not look good for where we were. Went out on the exit for HW14 then came back E on 385, then nearing Arlington we saw a first power flash, here's a capture right after the flash:

We continued E on 385 and this capture now shows a nice cone shaped funnel:

Took exit at Arlington and went NE on 70/79, mostly parallel to the storm motion. After 1 mile we sighted this debris cloud to our W:

Tried to get closer via 205 then Old-Brunswick Rd but and this got us back on 79 where we saw these:

We finally decided to go on the next storm that was now affecting Memphis. Went SE down to Somerville to let the storm pass. We think we saw a Trunk tornado to our NE and we drove into damage while following the storm on 179/76 just north of Dancyville. One home was damaged. We then went E on I-40 and drove by extensive damage in the Jackson area. Then went back home, not without seeing the lights from the gas station explosion NE of Nashville.