2011-04-16 DISC: NC, SC, VA

[Aaron Kennedy]

AMAZING, possibly a 3 mile wide tornado!!!

Call me suspicious... probably lots of RFD damage included in that width? I have yet to see videos of a gigantic mile+ wide tornado? I'm also suspicious of the "estimated" path lengths. I wouldn't be surprised if they are long-track, but the wordage raises my eyebrows.

 

[Andrew de la Garza]

I think the path width is supposed to be .3 miles.
I noticed that for that entry there is an extra dot between the item name and the number.

 

[Bill Hark]

Here are a couple of really good videos of the NC tornadoes:

This one shows the best rotation over Raleigh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elAVRzflQik

Depressing for me since I couldn't chase but really good ("Tornado Alley type" video of the tornado crossing the road near Wilson I can't understand the videographer's language.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TWSM7jTlqk

I can do without the music but the tornado is cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8nLRidX1LI

The guy who filmed this tornado near Wilson is very lucky and not especially smart or just has nerves of steel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgwJfoZ-12c

Bill Hark

 

[Simon Brewer]

Saw an update... it's .3 miles; not very close to 3 miles.

 

[Mike Johnston]

Didn't see the streaming TV coverage, so can't comment on that. It should be noted, though, that the SPC and NWS as a whole did an OUTSTANDING job of forecasting and covering this outbreak. Any death toll is tragic, but I truly believe it could have been much, much worse. North Carolina is densely populated. Even in the "rural" areas, the tracts of farms are much smaller than in the plains and there are numerous little hamlets at virtually every turn. The population density of North Carolina is 196 inhabitants per square mile. Compare this to Kansas, for example, which has 35 inhabitants per square mile.

Having spent the first half of my life in Kansas and now been on the east coast for 23 years, I can honestly say that Saturday was the first day I've ever noticed back here that "tornado weather" feeling that's so hard to put into words, but some of you know what I'm talking about. I mean, you could literally see the wind shear in the cloud motions and feel the rising, unstable air.

At any rate, I'm encouraged the SPC called it as they saw it. The local warnings seem to have been very accurate and timely. I'm sure on a spring Saturday afternoon not every person in the area got the message, but our weather services did a remarkable job - perhaps their finest hour.

 

[Chris Strahan]

speaking of warnings in the local area. I have been chasing for 10 years. I live in this area and there are no warning sirens anywhere. Sure, radio and tv had coverage, no doubt that was on and the news was out, but you would be amazed on how many "joe publics" had no clue what was happening.

 

[Mike Johnston]

speaking of warnings in the local area. I have been chasing for 10 years. I live in this area and there are no warning sirens anywhere. Sure, radio and tv had coverage, no doubt that was on and the news was out, but you would be amazed on how many "joe publics" had no clue what was happening.

Yes, so true. I know the standard refrain is for everyone to have NOAA weather radios, sign up for text alerts, etc. but I don't think anything compares to the blare of a siren going off as far as a call-to-action signal. So, as accurate as the message itself can possibly be, it's the final communication that can make the difference in saving lives. Ultimately, it's a local cost/benefit decision...I just hope maybe the leaders of some communities in our part of the country at least think about it.

 

[V. Gensini]

Also, here is a
Temporal Report Evolution

 

[Bill Hark]

There are a lot of interesting videos on the WRAL website:

http://www.wral.com/weather/asset_gallery/9452631/

One is very concerning because it is attributed to a 12 year old kid using a phone as they drive into the tornado. Ouch, one can hear the debris hitting their car.

http://www.wral.com/news/video/9456892/#/vid9456892

Bill Hark

 

[mwenzbauer]

Haven't heard much about some of the tornadoes, including the Askewville-Colerain, NC tornado that resulted in the 11 fatalities. This blog has some very good pictures showing the damage.

http://chowanriver.blogspot.com/2011/04/askewville-colerain-tornado.html

 

[jshields]

wow, stupidity!! it sounds like at the very end of the video you can tell a window(s) was blown out by the way the audio was cutting in and out

There are a lot of interesting videos on the WRAL website:

http://www.wral.com/weather/asset_gallery/9452631/

One is very concerning because it is attributed to a 12 year old kid using a phone as they drive into the tornado. Ouch, one can hear the debris hitting their car.

http://www.wral.com/news/video/9456892/#/vid9456892

Bill Hark

 

[Steve Dedman]

Haven't heard much about some of the tornadoes, including the Askewville-Colerain, NC tornado that resulted in the 11 fatalities. This blog has some very good pictures showing the damage.

http://chowanriver.blogspot.com/2011/04/askewville-colerain-tornado.html

NWS Wakefield has the survey on this storm. Some good radar grabs as well as pics. Interestingly, this storm had two damage paths running parallel and concurrently. Unfortunately, the radar shots are from earlier in the storm. I'd love to see the returns from when it doubled down.

 

[Jeremy Gilchrist]

There are a lot of interesting videos on the WRAL website:

http://www.wral.com/weather/asset_gallery/9452631/

One is very concerning because it is attributed to a 12 year old kid using a phone as they drive into the tornado. Ouch, one can hear the debris hitting their car.

http://www.wral.com/news/video/9456892/#/vid9456892

Bill Hark

I don't understand why people are this dumb. They had plenty of time to stop driving and let it pass them rather than driving into the funnel!

 

[Kevin Walters]

Wow, that is simply amazing. Now you know how highly visible tornadoes manage to kill or injure people in cars on open roadways.

 

[Jason Boggs]

I don't understand why people are this dumb. They had plenty of time to stop driving and let it pass them rather than driving into the funnel!

That idiot needs a Darwin award. He probably wanted his fifteen minutes of fame, and he got it.