2008-02-05 DISC: TX / AR / MO / IL / KY / TN / MS

[Marc Austin]

I have the original on my home pc that is un edited. Any suggestions on whom to contact or an addy?

Many newschannels like CNN and FOX have their own accounts set up for viewers to send pictures. You can attempt that. The only person I somewhat know is a weather producer for CNN. His name is Brandon Miller. You might be able to find his information on CNN's personnel website sometime. I'm sure he'd be glad to put that picture on CNN for you. I think it's truly an amazing shot, and the news companies might want to get the entire video from wherever it's stored (hoping it is). That's my advice.

 

[Chris Strahan]

anybody catch what building that camera was located on?

Thanks for the info... I will look there for upload info

 

[Marc Austin]

All I know is that the camera looks out over the Great Lawn at Union U. I didn't see the sight mention what building it was mounted on. Does anyone know if there were any fatalities at Union U? I didn't hear of any last night, but wanted to make sure none of the students were harmed. I did see that several were trapped and injured. I'm not liking this death toll increase every hour!

 

[Marc Austin]

CNN now reporting 52 dead.

 

[Kevin Statler2]

I cannot remember the last time a single tornado outbreak killed 52 in recent days,least not since i've been tracking tornadoes..maybe 98? but i dont think they had one single day tornado outbreak with that many..

 

[David Yoho]

All I know is that the camera looks out over the Great Lawn at Union U. I didn't see the sight mention what building it was mounted on. Does anyone know if there were any fatalities at Union U? I didn't hear of any last night, but wanted to make sure none of the students were harmed. I did see that several were trapped and injured. I'm not liking this death toll increase every hour!

I believe that I heard that no deaths occurred within the university, but dozens of injuries were reported with many hospitalized.

 

[Mark Farnik]

Just call it a gut feeling, but I have the unfortunate feeling that this death toll is not done rising yet and will continue to climb through the day. There's still a lot of rural areas of the affected states that have yet to be searched by emergency crews, and there are people are still missing at this hour. By the time all is said and done, the final death toll for this oubreak may approach or, god forbid, even exceed 60. The Super Tuesday Outbreak will undoubtedly go down in history as the most deadly American tornado outbreak in decades... it goes without saying that prayers are needed for those affected by these terrible tornadoes

 

[Kory Hartman]

Complete photo album from Highland, AR now up at
www.severestudios.com

109 pictures of homes moved off their foundations and considerable damage to vehicles and businesses

 

[Eddie Natenberg]

IMO-

I actually thought the death toll would be low while I was watching the event last night (since there were few deaths reported during the event) and there seemed to be decent lead times, but I guess it happens when a disaster of this magnitude strikes.

I would like to say how impressed I was with the NWS and SPC who were able (I personally thought) to do an effective job communicating forecasts and warnings to the public in a timely manner.

I also wanted to say I noticed that some information traveled faster on the message board last night than on the TV stations I was streaming online. Maybe they should get an intern to keep tabs on stormtrack (just a thought).

Eddie

 

[Brian Stertz]

The speed that those tornadoes smashed into things last night (45-65 mph), and the fact that many of the deaths occurred at night along long tracks...it's a tragedy that more fatalities are likely as the search and recovery goes on during the daylight hours today. These were not small tornadoes either so the large damage swaths probably are causing all kinds of troubles in reaching many affected areas. A very nasty outbreak indeed.

 

[Marc Austin]

Sounds like an excellent idea. I think local NWS offices did an excellent job last night as well. There wasn't a single storm I saw that didn't have a tornado warning on it any later than I would have issued one. I think the main problem was the fast storm motions. People thought they had "lead" time, but in reality, the tornado was alredy knocking on their front door. And from the Union Univ. webcam I watched last night, those tornadoes were blasting off to the NE! The tornado finally came into view, and within less than a minute, it had taken the camera out, so I think people probably just weren't prepared for such fast moving storms. Also, the fact that some of the worst tornadoes occured during nightime hours doen't help either. An intern to monitor storm track sounds like a great idea!

 

[Chris Hayes]

Just call it a gut feeling, but I have the unfortunate feeling that this death toll is not done rising yet and will continue to climb through the day. There's still a lot of rural areas of the affected states that have yet to be searched by emergency crews, and there are people are still missing at this hour. By the time all is said and done, the final death toll for this oubreak may approach or, god forbid, even exceed 60. The Super Tuesday Outbreak will undoubtedly go down in history as the most deadly American tornado outbreak in decades... it goes without saying that prayers are needed for those affected by these terrible tornadoes

Mark you are right about the death toll probably not done rising, but it has ways to go till it goes high enough to be the deadliest in decades. The May 31, 1985 Ohio/Pa outbreak killed 78. If it were to go above that, it would be the deadliest since the super outbreak

 

[Marc Austin]

Chris, let's hope that doesn't happen. I know this is one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in February. Can anyone recall one that took more lives this early in the season?

 

[Tony Perkins]

Source: www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/t...talday.htm

The 20 Deadliest U.S. Tornado Days
(Since 1950)

Storm Prediction Center
Compiled by Joe Schaefer, SPC

DATE DEATHS
03 Apr 1974 308
11 April 1965 260
21 Mar 1952 202
08 Jun 1953 142
11 May 1953 127
21 Feb 1971 121
25 May 1955 102
09 Jun 1953 90
31 May 1985 76
15 May 1968 71
03 Mar 1966 58
21 Apr 1967 58
10 Apr 1979 57
28 Mar 1984 57
(05 Feb 2008 52+?)
03 May 1999 46

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

As bad as this is shaping up to be, it is scary to think that it actually could have been a lot worse. The storm responsible for much of the damage in TN & KY tracked right over the heart of Nashville, in fact it appeared that the rotation passed right over downtown. Thankfully the storm appeared to by cycling over the city. Also props to the NWS for staying ahead on the warnings, with storms moving that quick through Metro areas it had to be a long night, also the SPC deserves a little respect, upgrading to High risk I'm sure made the weather the "coffee shop talk" of the day, putting many residence on alert. I can't really say the same for the Memphis news stations I was watching streaming live coverage over the web; after the round of tornadoes moved through the southern Memphis Metro, I think they seemed to focus too much on the past and not on the present/future, repeatedly new warning text was stating radar and storm spotters are tracking a large and dangerous tornado, this storm was moving right along I-40 towards Jackson, yet they seemed to deem it more necessary to report on a wall knocked down at a Sears store.

 

[Brian Stertz]

Damage video from a news helicopter looks like very solid EF4 type damage near Denmark TN. Homes leveled to foundation and debris swept off hundreds of yards away....definitely a blasting force behind this fast moving very large tornado. Damage swath wider than a half mile from what I could tell.

 

[Chris Hayes]

I agree with that Brian. I've seen some pictures and video clips of damage that is solid EF4 or perhaps low end EF5. I think it's evident that there were more than 1 violent tornado yesterday. Despite the fact that this was the deadliest tornado outbreak in 23 years, we're lucky it wasnt the deadliest since the Super Outbreak. Looking at the dorm buildings at Union University makes me wonder how everyone survived without critical injury. In addition, I was in the IRC chat room as one of the Tennessee supercells headed for Nashville. I thought for sure that would be the big story of the outbreak. Glad I was wrong.

 

[Dick McGowan]

Live coverage of a press conference from the NWS in Memphis......just now covering the EF-scale.

http://www.wmctv.com/

 

[Dick McGowan]

Hickory Hill - EF2 including mall.
Arlington...(was all I caught) - EF2
Lead time - 15 minutes.

Madison County (Jackson, TN) - EF4 ~170 mph
no fatalities at the time, serious injuries.

Lead time - 26 minutes

 

[Matthew K. Hartman]

Union U. webcam

To whomever had been asking where the camera is located on the Union University campus... The cam appears to have been located atop Miller Tower, the clock-tower located on the west side of campus. The camera seems to have been able to move (direction wise) but likely was pointed towards the west at the time.

Also, I guess this is as good time as any for an announcement... If this is against the rules, moderators, feel free to contact me and/or move this to another thread, if need be.

Anyhow, I have had a web/weather-cam project in development for nearly 2 or 3 years now - geared mostly towards the arm-chair chaser and forecasters, alike.

Since I am mostly forced to work on this on my own time (I don't get paid for it - and it's very tedious work!), many areas are still to be completed - or started! Initial incarnations were focused on areas we forecast for at Meridian, but eventually it will branch out into other states. In hind-site, I really wish I would have had some cams plotted around where the outbreak was on-going last evening. Time is a major constraint for me during the winter (our forecasting responsibilities are much greater this time of year), but this spring and summer, I anticipate much work to be done.

If you are curious as to what I have thus far, feel free to check out the network of web/weather-cams I have put together:

http://webcams.mhartman-wx.com

Thoughts and prayers to all of those affected yesterday and last evening...

 

[Howard Robinson]

Global National in Canada

Global National News is showing footage from the storms in the SE. They had SPC on talking about the warning system. Global was asking if La Nina was the cause of the storms last night. They are still showing footage, looks like they are going to spend a lot more time on this.

 

[David Poch]

First thing I heard when I turned on CNN just now was that some areas had little or no warning about the storms or their intensity. Every station that had streaming coverage was wall to wall and the NWS did an awesome job getting the warnings out in plenty of time.

Just about everyone they interviewed said they barely had warning. Are people that oblivious as to what is going on, or was it the fast storm motions that caught them off guard?

 

[Kurt Wayne]

CNN now reporting death toll at 54 - 30 in the state of Tennessee alone.

 

[Tony Laubach]

First thing I heard when I turned on CNN just now was that some areas had little or no warning about the storms or their intensity. Every station that had streaming coverage was wall to wall and the NWS did an awesome job getting the warnings out in plenty of time.

Just about everyone they interviewed said they barely had warning. Are people that oblivious as to what is going on, or was it the fast storm motions that caught them off guard?

I was there and I know plenty of warning was given! The Memphis tornado, for instance, was being covered wall-to-wall via radio/TV (listening to TV stations) during the entire duration of the event.

I bet storm speeds played a huge part in the "lack of warning". I also think the targeting of storms added to the tolls. Several heavily populated areas, including a college campus, took direct hits from these storms. The tolls seem pretty scattered, but just the number of tornadoes in these areas accumulated and added quickly to all the tolls.

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

Just about everyone they interviewed said they barely had warning. Are people that oblivious as to what is going on, or was it the fast storm motions that caught them off guard?

This may seem mean and cruel, but one can't help but think "natural selection". The event was well forecasted, and from what I can tell, warnings had ample lead time. The few reports I saw mentioned deaths in mobile home parks... hmm what a surprise.
Pretty timely considering a recent paper in WAF concerning killer tornadoes:

"Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Tornado Fatalities in the United States: 1880–2005 - W. S. Ashley" and a bit from the abstract:
"Results reveal that most tornado fatalities occur in the lower–Arkansas, Tennessee, and lower–Mississippi River valleys of the southeastern United States—a region outside of traditional "tornado alley." Analysis of variables including tornado frequency, land cover, mobile home density, population density, and nocturnal tornado probabilities demonstrates that the relative maximum of fatalities in the Deep South and minimum in the Great Plains may be due to the unique juxtaposition of both physical and social vulnerabilities. The spatial distribution of these killer tornadoes suggests that the above the national average mobile home density in the Southeast may be a key reason for the fatality maximum found in this area. A demographic analysis of fatalities during the latter part of the database record illustrates that the middle aged and elderly are at a much greater risk than are younger people during these events. "

Can anyone say nail on the head??? What does one have to do to convince people in these states that late winter/early spring is "showtime" for tornadoes? Although we can certainly improve our understanding of QLCS tornadoes and improve POD/FAR for tornado warnings in general, one can't help but think the problem is more sociological rather than meteorological.