03/14/08 DISC: GA

[Alexandre Aguiar]

Aerial footage from Downtown Atlanta:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EPdJah-P0F8

 

[Howard Robinson]

Pictures of damage from last night:
www.wsbtv.com
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/p...=63&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

....more to come....

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

"Since it happened downtown, there is always the chance that their wasn't a condensation funnel. The pavement will make it hard to kick up dirt to see the tornado at the surface."

I gotta call ya on this one although truly, I'm just giving you a hard time. Condensation will be related to whether you can lower the pressure enough to reach saturation. Is tornado location relevant? Probably not, but you could hypothesize that large structures (skyscrapers) will have a negative influence on a vortex by impeding inflow, etc.

 

[B Ozanne]

The 1999 Salt Lake City tornado produced a condensation/debris funnel.

 

[Billy Griffin]

Just watched some coverage on TV where one of the city officials stated, "we had no warning that severe weather was approaching our area."
Not sure if this was the Mayor, City Manager, or who she was?

I give up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SPC had risks posted days in advance, watches went up prior to any cells approaching Atlanta...... warnings WERE indeed issued. There is NO hope for some people !!!
Unless we designate a group of people to go door to door and warn every single person, there'll always be those who manage to appear on TV stating, "we had no warning."
I get so tired of this, and then after the fact, they cry for FEMA, Red Cross, DES, and want millions of dollars in aid.

I hate how this sounds, but at some point, I start losing sympathy for these people. I know that sounds so cruel, and I certainly would NEVER wish tragedy upon anyone, but what more can the warning systems do?
Aid in helping rebuild or for those injured = yes. Aid in people sitting on their a$$ and expecting tax dollars to fund their living = NO.

 

[Danny Neal]

Wasn't there only 9 minutes warning from 926 PM EDT to time of impact 935 PM EDT SPC in their latest MCD was trending down on the events in this region on mentioning a minimal hail and wind threat and there was no watch in effect. I believe a slight risk was in place but I figured that was for the MCS that was going to move through in the early hours. Like many of the meteorologists have said today from ATL area...."This wasn't supposed to happen until today" The storm display supercell characteristics throughout its life but only when it got to the ATL Metro it got it's act together. I heard one anchor woman mention "the heat from the city might have fueled the storm" (meh - anything is possible but I am HIGHLY skeptical) I wonder why it did get briefly organized (although I stopped following the storm once it hit since i wanted to watch the coverage) so it could have just kept on going and being tornadic, but haven't heard reports of that yet. Many of the people in the GA Dome in fact didn't have any warning. I read an article from cbs.sportsline.com from the SEC championship coverage and a lot of people did say they received text messages and phone calls from loved ones about the danger. I am sure though many were thinking "nahhhh not here"

 

[Patrick Marsh]

I gotta call ya on this one although truly, I'm just giving you a hard time. Condensation will be related to whether you can lower the pressure enough to reach saturation. Is tornado location relevant? Probably not, but you could hypothesize that large structures (skyscrapers) will have a negative influence on a vortex by impeding inflow, etc.

Thanks Aaron, poor wording on my part. In fact, wrong wording completely. I meant debris cloud, not condensation funnel. I was going for the lack of dirt and other fine particulates to kick up to make it harder for a debris cloud to be visible. Heavier objects wouldn't be in the air long enough to maintain the constant view of the circulation.

*hangs head in shame*

 

[Bill Hark]

Here is an image of the Atlanta tornado. If I use my imagination, I may be able to see it though I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't told there was a tornado. It is a pretty cool shot from one of the buildings. Here is a link to the page about it and there is a link to enlarge the image.

http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=112981

Bill Hark

 

[Jason Persoff]

Well Bill, when we're out this season, I'm going to have to insist I perform a Snellen test...I'm squinting and up close to my monitor and cannot discern any features to reflect a tornado. However, I do agree that it was an awesome shot--definitely a keeper with beautiful highs/lows and clouds. Great shot given the difficulty in filming a storm from within the urban environment.

I found the basketball game video very impressive. The audio is exceptional. I do side with Charles Edwards, however (sorry Charles, I don't mean to drag you down ): there really was no excuse for them NOT to have an action plan in place. Public places need to have severe weather plans around and they need to be able to convey to people where to go, how to do so, and a way to make that happen in an organized manner.

Instead of a tornado, imagine there was a fire. No one would have said: "there appears to be a fire spreading through downtown Atlanta" over a PA system with no follow-through on the best action to take.

The NCAA game is a big deal to many people. The officials rightly called the game at the same time the tornado hit (based solely on the youtube vid). Many people could have died and that is without excuse.

 

[Jonathan Williams]

For all of those interested I have attached a map of the tornado's track. Sorry It's so big I tried to make it smaller.

CLICK HERE FOR MAP

 

[Jack Beven]

Here is an image of the Atlanta tornado. If I use my imagination, I may be able to see it though I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't told there was a tornado. It is a pretty cool shot from one of the buildings. Here is a link to the page about it and there is a link to enlarge the image.

http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=112981

Bill Hark

A question: Is that the tornado in the center of the picture, or is it near the left edge of the picture just to the right of that tall building with the pointy top?

Jack Beven

 

[Danny Neal]

A question: Is that the tornado in the center of the picture, or is it near the left edge of the picture just to the right of that tall building with the pointy top?

Jack Beven

Far left of the image, the tornado would have moved from the right across to the left, the photo was taken as the storm was in Cabbageville and weakening.

 

[Perry Williams]

A question: Is that the tornado in the center of the picture, or is it near the left edge of the picture just to the right of that tall building with the pointy top?

Jack Beven

According to Dr Greg Forbes, the tornado was a stovepipe at far left side of the image.....moving left.

I attempted to intercept this supercell while it traversed eastern Paulding and western Cobb counties (WNW of Atlanta). Unfortunately, due to a badly timed train, red lights, and Friday evening heavy traffic on GA 92 between Douglasville (my home) and Hiram, I ended up "playing catch up"; chasing the storm from behind ESE from Hiram to Austell before turning my attention to another intense supercell approaching Haralson county (which eventually dropped marble sized hail in Douglasville around 10:30 EDT).

While driving toward the storm (both from the south on GA hwy 92 and from the WNW on U.S. 278), witnessed a similar vivid and honestly frightening display as shown in this photograph; frequent lightning illuminating a very turbulent, ominous sky. I've been studying and observing severe thunderstorms since the mid 1970's; became a storm spotter in 1982, and have never seen such a wicked nighttime sky in a storm......striations indicating a very vigorous rotating supercell thunderstorm. Even though surface conditions were marginal for a serious tornado in this part of the country (temp 58/ dewpoint mid-upper 50's), I was very concerned this storm would drop a significant, destructive tornado.

 

[Jason Persoff]

According to Dr Greg Forbes, the tornado was a stovepipe at far left side of the image.....moving left.

Unfortunately, still photography allows a lot of conclusions to be made that end up not being correct. I'm not trying to troll (really ), but I really don't think this photo allows for ID of storm structures. Nighttime photography, particularly of storm structures, can lead to an innumerable number of lookalikes. Shelf clouds, scud, and others get flagged as tornadoes, and with only flashes of lightning at various angles to illuminate them, they can make a convincing imprint on the imagination. Rarely are storms as illuminated as the one that moved through Greensburg, KS, in May of 2007.

So...the best I can gauge is that there is a vertical cloud structure in the left of the image. Updraft, outflow, shelf, tornado...tough to say. Like I said above, I like the shot a lot. But I'm cautious about saying that this was the monster in action. I've been burned so many times...

 

[Chad Cowan]

A security camera in downtown Atlanta captured some amazing footage of a horse breaking away from its carriage as the tornado touched down. I'm not sure if we're seeing tornadic circulation or maybe an RFD blast throwing around debris, but it is remarkable nonetheless.