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

[Jason Harris]

Didn't see the NOAA page updating the outbreak posted yet: April 2011 is currently the all-time record of any month now for tornadoes:

NWS’s preliminary estimate is that there have been more than 600 tornadoes thus far during the month of April 2011. # The previous record number of tornadoes during the month of April was 267 tornadoes set in April 1974.

# The previous record number of tornadoes during any month was 542 tornadoes set in May 2003.

2nd deadliest too--April 27. One of my coworkers has relatives in Tuscaloosa and said that they were ok, but some neighbors were trapped in the wreckage and the sounds of moans had ceased. Why weren't more National Guard or other rescuers called in for quicker extractions of people? I understand the general idea of how inaccessible some things were, but there must have been and be some other ways of putting even further state/national resources earlier into the rescue?
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/april_2011_tornado_information.html

 

[Jim Parsons]

Good write up on the outbreak.... http://www2.ucar.edu/currents/recipe-calamity-ingredients-horrific-tornado-outbreak

 

[E. Clark]

Preliminary tracks map - noaa
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/rtimages/srh/stsd/Apr26-27/PrelimTornadoTracks_Release.jpg

Prelim info - noaa
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/april_2011_tornado_information.html

 

[Drew.Gardonia]

342 confirmed dead and continuing to climb.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/30/severe.weather/index.html?hpt=T1

whats interesting is CNN is saying this is the 2nd deadliest, but according to AlabamaWX that's not the case. This would be the 3rd deadliest


http://www.alabamawx.com/?p=7007

1. 747¦Tri-State Outbreak, MO, IN, IL. TN, KY, AL¦March 18, 1925
2. 454¦April 5-6,1936¦AR, TN, AL, MS, GA, SC
3. 330¦March 21-22, 1932¦AL, TN, KY, GA, SC
4. 324¦April 23-24, 1908¦AR, NE, TX, AL, LA, MS
5. 317¦LA/MS¦May 7, 1840
6. 315¦Superoutbreak¦April 3-4, 1974
7. 305¦MO/IL¦May 27, 1896
8. 256¦Palm Sunday Outbreak…IA, WI, IL, IN, MI, OHâ€Â¦April 11, 1965
9. 236¦Flint/Worcester¦June 8-9, 1953
10. 224¦MS/AL/TN¦April 20, 1920

 

[Jeff Duda]

I'm probably going to have this post removed, but I'm seeing wayyyyy too many duplicated posts in this thread. You guys need to read through the posts before posting yourself. Some people are duplicating the post above theirs (where the posts are separated by several minutes or hours).

 

[E. Clark]

NSSL has released an image documenting the rotation tracks of the devastating tornadoes on April 27. Bright reds and yellows show more intense circulations.

The image of the rotation tracks was produced by the On Demand Severe Weather Verification System, part of NSSL’s Warning Decision Support System – Integrated Information (WDSS-II) Multi-Radar/Multi Sensor platform. On Demand is a web-based tool that can be used to help confirm when and where severe weather occurred.

 

[Warren Faidley]

342 confirmed dead and continuing to climb.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/30/severe.weather/index.html?hpt=T1

whats interesting is CNN is saying this is the 2nd deadliest, but according to AlabamaWX that's not the case. This would be the 3rd deadliest


http://www.alabamawx.com/?p=7007

1. 747¦Tri-State Outbreak, MO, IN, IL. TN, KY, AL¦March 18, 1925
2. 454¦April 5-6,1936¦AR, TN, AL, MS, GA, SC
3. 330¦March 21-22, 1932¦AL, TN, KY, GA, SC
4. 324¦April 23-24, 1908¦AR, NE, TX, AL, LA, MS
5. 317¦LA/MS¦May 7, 1840
6. 315¦Superoutbreak¦April 3-4, 1974
7. 305¦MO/IL¦May 27, 1896
8. 256¦Palm Sunday Outbreak…IA, WI, IL, IN, MI, OHâ€Â¦April 11, 1965
9. 236¦Flint/Worcester¦June 8-9, 1953
10. 224¦MS/AL/TN¦April 20, 1920

I believe they are referring to a single day event.

There were possibly some even larger death tolls in the late 1800's and in the 1930', but no official count was ever made. In addition, the sad politics at the time would not allow certain groups of people to be counted.

W.

 

[Elaine Spencer]

As of right now there are at least 75 deaths attributable to the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado (45 in Tuscaloosa and at least 30 in BHM).

I'm guessing that when a final fatality count is achieved and deaths in other communities along its path are included, chances are it will set another grim milestone: first single tornado in 58 years (since Flint MI in 1953) to kill more than 100 people.

 

[jshields]

View attachment 6200
Good Lord!!!! I know it is preliminary but wow!

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/rtimages/srh/stsd/Apr26-27/PrelimTornadoTracks_Release.jpg

that is absolutely amazing! as of this image they show the tuscaloosa/birmingham tornado as one very long track. something i noticed though, and noticed when i was watching the storm on radar, was the jog to the north the storm took right before birmingham. you can clearly see this on that map. i know it still went through a populated area of northern Birmingham, but I wonder if it would have been even worse if it went right through central and downtown Birmingham?

also as of last night on CNN's Anderson Cooper, they said there were still over 450 people unaccounted for in Tuscaloosa alone!

 

[Drew.Gardonia]

NSSL has released an image documenting the rotation tracks of the devastating tornadoes on April 27. Bright reds and yellows show more intense circulations.

The image of the rotation tracks was produced by the On Demand Severe Weather Verification System, part of NSSL’s Warning Decision Support System – Integrated Information (WDSS-II) Multi-Radar/Multi Sensor platform. On Demand is a web-based tool that can be used to help confirm when and where severe weather occurred.

im not sure I agree with how accurate this really is, because it's showing red in a lot of areas that didnt even have tornadoes on Wednesday.

 

[Elaine Spencer]

it's showing red in a lot of areas that didnt even have tornadoes on Wednesday.

These are ROTATION tracks, not tornado tracks. There were MANY tornado warnings issued on Wednesday for "possible tornadoes," "thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes" or "severe thunderstorms with strong rotation" in areas that did not have any official tornado reports.

For every supercell that did produce a tornado, there were probably many others that COULD have produced but didn't.

 

[rdale]

Good info Elaine... Even the Huntsville office had a false-alarm rate of 70% during this event.

 

[Elaine Spencer]

Also, re the high number of missing/unaccounted for in Tuscaloosa (supposedly it's increased to 500 +): could some, perhaps many, of them be U of Alabama students who lived off campus and when their apartments or other accomodations were destroyed, damaged, or left without power, they simply packed up and went home without telling their landlords or others? Since the university canceled classes for the rest of the semester (which only had a week left to go anyway) I could easily see this happening.

 

[Chris Hayes]

Elaine, the number of missing/unaccounted for in Tuscaloosa is odd/disturbing. This wasn't like an earthquake where it levels a city. There should be some forms of communication down there such as phone service in some areas, or cell phone service. We're 3 days post event. It seems to me that the number of people unaccounted for shouldn't be that high. So, either they have their info messed up due to chaos, or the toll is going to go sky high. I hope I'm wrong about that, but it just seems to me that the number of people missing shouldn't be that high.

 

[Patrick Boomer]

Google has posted some amazing new GeoEye imagery for Google Earth.

Tuscaloosa

Jefferson County

More on their maps collection page