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

[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.