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2011-04-27 MISC: AL,TN,MS,KY,OH,IN,WV,GA

  • Thread starter Thread starter Drew.Gardonia
  • Start date Start date
According to this 335 people lost their lives in the Super Outbreak. Seems there are lots of differnet death totals out there for that event. If you are interested I have a few thoughts on how we the Media, yes I said we even though I try to make them state the facts, continues to get the tornado count wrong here. To all of you that chased this event and gave valuable life saving information, thank you!
 
1. The conclusion about voice alert getting faster attention than 'tone' alerts is the reason that every time you fly- if something goes wrong with a control on the plane- the pilot gets a voice command rather than a tone. Call the FAA and the US Airforce and tell them their decision to insert voice alert/commands is based on 'not believable conclusions'.

2. You cannot base a decision about an entire countries infrastructure on the condition of two telephone poles in Lansing Michigan.

3. How many terrorist attacks have we stopped? No one knows. Probably nil. But I know how many died this week from storms. And last year. And the year before that. I would guess the probability is much higher.

So, what do you say for the people who sought shelter after hearing the sirens, but were still killed? At what point do you say that an event of this magnitude will kill people no matter how much advanced warning is given? Do you say that the govt. needs to provide everyone with a shelter below ground for situations where the tornadoes are so violent?

The important question is how many lives were saved because of the warning systems, the advanced SPC forecasts, radar and the spotters on the ground? I would imagine that number is large, but obviously there is no way to know. Just my 2 cents...
 
I came up with 17 ..and checked the batteries in my calculator.
*shrugs*

That's probably accurate for the 0-3km EHI:

18_ehi3.gif
00_ehi3.gif


I stepped through the detailed sector view and saw EHIs of 15 at least, but it was hard to see more than that because the gradients were so tight.
 
Fox News is reporting that the Smithville, MS tornado has been upgraded by the NWS to an EF5. Unless, I've missed something, this would be the first official EF-5 from the event?

W.
 
Well, we have at least one EF-5

000
NOUS44 KMEG 291420
PNSMEG
ARZ008-009-017-018-026>028-035-036-048-049-058-MOZ113-115-
MSZ001>017-020>024-TNZ001>004-019>021-048>055-088>092-300230-

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
920 AM CDT FRI APR 29 2011

...DAY 2 STORM SURVEY AND DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS UNDERWAY...

...MONROE COUNTY TORNADO UPGRADED TO EF-5 WITH 205 MPH WINDS...

THE NATIONAL SERVICE IN MEMPHIS IS IN THE PROCESS OF ASSESSING
DAMAGE FROM A HISTORIC SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK THAT SPANNED
SEVERAL DAYS BEGINNING LATE LAST WEEK THROUGH WEDNESDAY APRIL 27
2011. THIS SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK RESULTED IN DOZENS OF INJURIES
AND NUMEROUS FATALITIES. CREWS WILL CONTINUE TO BE DISPATCHED OVER
THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS TO VARIOUS LOCATIONS ACROSS EAST
ARKANSAS...WEST TENNESSEE...NORTH MISSISSIPPI AND THE MISSOURI
BOOTHEEL TO SURVEY DAMAGE AS THE RESULT OF SUSPECTED
TORNADOES...FLOODING...AND POSSIBLE DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS.
SURVEY CREWS WILL INVESTIGATE AS MANY AS 10 SUSPECTED TORNADO TRACKS
THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE CONTINUOUS AND MAY BEGIN OR END IN
SURROUNDING COUNTY WARNING AREAS. WE WILL WORK CLOSELY WITH OUR
MEDIA PARTNERS...EMERGENCY MANAGERS AND SURROUNDING FORECAST OFFICES
TO BUILD A THOROUGH PICTURE OF THIS EVENT.

DUE TO THE SCOPE OF THIS TRAGICALLY HISTORIC EVENT...SURVEYS MAY
TAKE A WEEK OR MORE TO COMPLETE. WE WILL RELEASE INFORMATION BY
UPDATING OUR PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENTS AS SURVEY CREWS REPORT
BACK TO US. CHECK BACK OFTEN FOR THE LATEST.

Edit: sorry Warren for the re-post
 
Fox News is reporting that the Smithville, MS tornado has been upgraded by the NWS to an EF5. Unless, I've missed something, this would be the first official EF-5 from the event?

W.

You got it. Earlier post touched on this as well. First for the even, first since Parkersburg, IA. Obviously we will have to wait for NWS surveys, but I'm sure it won't be the only one :(
 
Looking at the aerials the Smithville, MS tornado reminds me of the Parkersburg, IA tornado. Also when you read the damage descriptions from NWS in Huntsville, the tornado that hit the Tanner, AL area sounds like it too and possibly another tornado in their jurisdiction. The Tuscaloosa tornado damage looks really possible as well.
 
I'm hearing that there is debate going on between forecasters and tornado expert Greg Stumpf at Peachtree City on whether or not the Catoosa County, Georgia tornado should be upgraded to an EF5.
 
How many times has any outbreak produced more than one F/EF 5 tornado? The super outbreak 4/3/1974, Kansas 3/13/1990, Iowa 5/15/1968 come to mind. I'm sure there are others.
 
Looking at the aerials the Smithville, MS tornado reminds me of the Parkersburg, IA tornado. Also when you read the damage descriptions from NWS in Huntsville, the tornado that hit the Tanner, AL area sounds like it too and possibly another tornado in their jurisdiction. The Tuscaloosa tornado damage looks really possible as well.

Where have you seen aerial photos of the damage in Smithville?

How many times has any outbreak produced more than one F/EF 5 tornado? The super outbreak 4/3/1974, Kansas 3/13/1990, Iowa 5/15/1968 come to mind. I'm sure there are others.

You can find the answer pretty easily here.
 
I want to make clear that this is not confirmed, but from a friend of mine who I trust completely. If I didn't trust her, I would not be posting this:

I have an EMA friend up here in Asheville and some of them got called down into Tuscaloosa for extra help. Her team found a car flipped with "4 kids and a ton of video equipment." It is their belief that these kids were amateur storm chasers. She said the car was so unrecognizable that for a few minutes she was panicked that it was us, but then she remembered we were already back home.
 
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