1/21/10 DISC: FL/GA/AL

[Jason Harris]

Article on alleged tornadoes in FL and GA:
http://www.news4jax.com/weather/22302174/detail.html?hpt=T2

A storm front moving east out of the Panhandle and fueled by moisture out of the Gulf of Mexico spawned severe weather across the northern tier of Florida Thursday morning. Tornado warnings went up for area counties between 12:40 and 2:45 p.m., and Channel 4 reporters confirmed storm damage in Bradford, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties.

Brick building in St. George destroyed
Photo by Jessica Parnell
This brick building in St. George, Ga., was destroyed early Thursday afternoon by what residents believe was a tornado.
"There likely was a tornado on the ground near Starke, and it's now moving east," Gaughan said during extended weather coverage 1:20 p.m.

"It was a wall of rain and wind and I just jumped into the bathtub with my cat. My house was shaking and I'm in a brick, very secure house," Starke resident Julie Morris said. "When I got out, I looked toward my neighbors, who live in two mobile homes, and half of one of the mobile homes is totally gone. My neighbor's sheds were gone, barns are gone, trees are gone. It's a huge mess out here right now."

Residents in Taylor, in Baker County, reported seeing a tornado, and another tornado was reported on the ground near Raiford in Bradford County. Channel 4's Jim Piggott reports a vacant building collapsed and there is significant tree damage in St. Georgia, just over the Florida-Georgia border in Charlton County.

*added AL

 

[mikegeukes]

Time Lapse of Huntsville Tornado in Alabama
http://www.alabamawx.com/

Picture of Tornado in Huntsville AL
http://www.alabamawx.com/?p=26218.

Mike

 

[Tony Cook]

Time Lapse of Huntsville Tornado in Alabama
http://www.alabamawx.com/

Mike

Mods: may want to add AL to the title.

That time lapse video is from a camera on the 3rd floor of the NSSTC in Huntsville. The NSSTC houses both the Huntsville NWS and the University of Alabama Huntsville ATS Graduate department (my former school and current employer): http://www.nsstc.uah.edu/

I was operating that camera (from my desk in Austin, Texas) as the wall cloud approached and passed to the southeast of the NSSTC. The still pic is from a second camera on the roof. I had been watching the radar all afternoon. The cell that produced the tornado was tail-end charlie at the time. It weakend considerably as it approached from the SW, and then rapidly intensified again shortly before the sequence of images begins. Very impressive storm for the modest dewpoints and apparently diminishing shear that was present at the time. Note that the times on the time-lapse images are ahead by ~2 hours and 10 minutes. The time on the still pic should be accurate.

TonyC

 

[Tony Cook]

I just got off the phone with fellow ST member Dave Gallaher. He lives in the Five Points area of Huntsville where the tornado touched down. He says the wall cloud passed directly over his house, and the funnel was on the back edge of the wall cloud. The funnel narrowly missed his house, and he is fine, but power is still out in the area.

Dave says once he gets power back, he will post more details about his experience with the tornado.

TonyC

 

[Bill Hark]

Mike, thanks for the links. That is a rather unusual appearing tornado for the area. The cloud base seems high and the funnel is a bit shifted away from the main updraft.

Bill Hark

 

[Ben McMillan]

more video...this was provided by a friend of mine who works in Huntsville.

http://www.waaytv.com/global/video/... Top Video)&utm_content=FaceBook&rnd=68034410

 

[Jeff Piotrowski]

Huntsville Tornado Path

Here is the link for the damage path and reports.

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/01/huntsville_tornado_see_a_map_o.html

PS: Baron Services BAMS 3KM model nailed this event very impressive data set.

 

[Tony Cook]

Here is my updated blog post for the Huntsville tornado event:
http://twistedtexas.blogspot.com/2010/01/huntsville-al-tornado-jan-21-2010.html

Here is the link for the damage path and reports.

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/01/huntsville_tornado_see_a_map_o.html

PS: Baron Services BAMS 3KM model nailed this event very impressive data set.

Jeff, I am curious about the Baron Services model. Is this something that is publicly accessible? Do you have any images of the model output for this event?

Thanks,
TonyC

 

[Jim Saueressig]

Some good vids out, This character didn't even notice the PF's just down the block and then noticed the funnel overhead after the fact. Listen to the wind right at the start as well.



This KIA fella set off the sirens but didn't know as they were mouthing about it not having enough uhmmph or wind to reach the ground that it already had. See PF's at least by 2:25



Another with Ebonics narration

 

[Dave Gallaher]

I'll post more details later. Briefly, I witnessed the approach of the tornado while standing in the street in front of my house. It was amazing to see a clear view of a storm like this, as we normally get the soup blocking the way.

I stayed out until I heard the roar to the southwest. At that point, the funnel was rotating nearly overhead. Retreated into the house, and heard the roar change from being in the southwest to surrounding the house.

After about a minute, I went outside and could see the funnel up close just to my north. It had a very narrow core. Two power flashes came from the lines on the next street, one of which sent large sparks up into the cone that traced the circulation well. It reminded me of the scene late in "Twister" when the Pepsi can probes are visible in the storm. The funnel seemed to be hanging off the back of the wall cloud by this time.

I am exactly on the eastern boiundary of the damage path. Two trees came down into my backyard from next door, another between my house and the house to the west. Directly across the street, trees are down on the house.

These big trees are uprooted here, pushed down to the north. About 100 yards west on my street, trees are snapped off and hanging to the northwest. I believe this is close to the center of the path.

PS--Thanks to Tony Cook for posting my notice.

 

[Dave Gallaher]

Driving around moments ago, looks like maximum EF-2.

 

[rdale]

That's what NWS came up with earlier today too...

http://www.alabamawx.com/?p=26234

 

[Dave Gallaher]

I've been thinking about the sound of this storm. I've waited a long time to hear this in person (never being close enough during my Texas/Oklahoma chase years or subsequent intercepts here in the South). My work as a musician causes me to analyze sounds found in nature, and I've posted sound questions in a number of ST threads over the years.

To me, it was more like a huge fan. I heard none of the texture I experience from a train, and none of the harsh edge that I hear from a jet engine. It was a smooth, steady midrange frequency band that came through the trees at ground level. First, it was a single-source, one point sound that I thought might be related to vehicle traffic. As it grew in volume, the field spread out into a stereo image without gaining any rumble or shriek. I was standing in the street listening intently; as I said, I've waited thirty years or more to hear this in person.

As it grew louder, it began to supercede the stereo image and expanded into a surround sound. At that point, I went into the house, where I could hear it emanating all around and it became quite loud, but not as much as I'd expected.

We were very fortunate that it didn't come an hour or two earlier, when local conditions could have caused more violent rotation.

Another new experience has been gathering tree debris in my front yard and watching sightseers drive by slowly. I have done it many times myself so I don't criticize, but I now have an idea how it feels to be the gawked object, minus the shock of tragedy.

Tony, did you ever receive verification of the Baron Services forecasting?

 

[Tony Cook]

Tony, did you ever receive verification of the Baron Services forecasting?

I have not heard any more about this. I did some Googling, and digging around on Baron's site. Found references to a 3km model Baron offers to broadcasters, but did not find any direct information about it on their site. Here is a page describing some of Baron's model products:

Baron Services model page

Most of what I saw there were flavors of the MM5 model, with some domains as fine as 5km. My guess is that the 3km model is part of package they sell to Broadcasters, with the domain specific to the broadcaster's forecast area.

TonyC