2012-03-02 REPORTS: IN/KY/TN/AL/IL/MO

[Skip Talbot]

Jennifer Brindley Ubl and I intercepted a large, multi vortex tornado southwest of Henryville, IN. It was brief but exciting point intercept, made somber by the massive amounts of destruction we're hearing about on the news. Will post video and more pics later when I get home.

 

[Jenn Brindley]

Chased with Skip Talbot - intercepted the Henryville tornado before it struck the town. We lucked out with an amazing view. Here are some of the shots - visit my blog post for more.

Blog Post: http://www.thefaceofastorm.com/2012/03/indiana-3212-henryville-tornado.html

~Jenn

 

[Matt Hunt]

So much for staying north of I-70, huh? I didn't get off work in time to make it down there, but though I might be able to catch it near Cincy. It would have helped me if it had more of a northeast track. Once I got to I-75 south of Cincy, traffic slowed me way down, and I just barely missed it crossing I-75. There was an overturned semi there, and debris scattered on the road. From there I decided to make one more try on a cell that was warned, headed for Georgetown, KY. I have brief video of some nice structure on that storm, but it never did produce anything. I'm not even mad about busting, cuz let's face it, many others had a much worse day today.

 

[Bob Hartig]

Bill Oosterbaan and I intercepted the Henryville/Marysville tornado farther west of Skip's position, on SR 135 north of Palmyra. The terrain is hilly and woodsy, and viewing wasn't optimal. We caught the tornado in what appeared to be its organizational stage, materializing as condensation wisps beneath a rapidly rotating collar cloud that consolidated into a stout and intense stovepipe. It crossed the road in front of us by around a half-mile and moved off to the northeast, strengthening and expanding.

We turned around once we hit the damage path and dropped south to intercept the next supercell, which was following hot on the heels of the first. We witnessed no tornado with this second storm, but I expect that chasers to the east of us may have gotten something.

From there, we dropped south into Kentucky to work the broken line that was moving in from the west, but we had no further encounters.

Now, here's the kicker: when I replayed my video of the Palmyra tornado...there was nothing. Nada. I was not a happy camper when I made the discovery. The second storm with a rather mushy, disorganized wall cloud--that I got. Crud. Good thing there were no sharp instruments in the vehicle at that moment. Fortunately, Bill got some decent video.

I'm sobered by the reports of what this storm did to Henryville and Marysville. The dark side of this avocation surfaced with a vengeance last year; I hope today doesn't presage things to come.

UPDATE: I found my "lost video" of the tornado. Chalk it up to operator error in the replay, not--thankfully--the record function. It's all there, and I'm very pleased with some of the footage.

 

[Dan Robinson]

After catching an early-morning hailer here in the STL area, I targeted Evansville-Warrenton, Indiana for the main event. Convection would fire inv the Mississippi River, and I expected storms to have matured before reaching the IL/IN border. I also wanted to be far enough north to catch the northernmost storms that would benefit from lesser veered winds closer to the surface low. The plan was to 'cell hop', dropping south into Kentucky to catch storms as they rocketed by. Around 11:30AM, I made a last-minute deviation just before reaching my target area to jump on a storm on at Norris City, IL, about 30 minutes before it produced its first reported tornado north of Evansville. This storm became the second of the duo that were prolific tornado producers generally north of I-64 in Indiana and Kentucky, the lead cell of which produced the tornado in Skip's post.

I observed three supercells, none of which displayed anything indicating tornado potential in the brief moments I had visual. Storms speeds made today very difficult. At one point, I was being outrun by a storm to my south while traveling 70mph on a 4-lane highway near Owensboro. I could not get ahead of the last two storms to my south, and since so far they had not been efficient tornado producers, I decided to cut my losses at Owensboro and head back home westward.

This was my first major chase after having surgery a couple of weeks ago. I was a little uncomfortable, but otherwise it wasn't a big inconvenience.

Here is my chase log for the day with a few photos:

http://stormhighway.com/blog2012/march212a.shtml

Congrats to all who had success, it was a challenging day, as are most in the Midwest. Sad to hear of all of the loss this event has caused.

 

[Jenn Brindley]

Okay, PHEW. The difference in editing on my calibrated monitor and skip's laptop is huge. Please feel free to visit the blog for the revised shots.

~J

http://www.thefaceofastorm.com/2012/03/indiana-3212-henryville-tornado.html

 

[Zack Hargrove]

Incredible footage Skip! Here was our chase account. We had to stick to eastern TN unfortunately but we got one of the most terrifying storms I've ever seen/experienced in Chattanooga. That storm starts around 1:30. No obvious tornado, but man what a storm!

Watch video >

 

[Skip Talbot]

Here's our full shot of the Henryville, IN tornado from Friday, edited and contrast enhanced so you can see the features better. This was shot from a truck stop in Memphis, IN just a couple miles south of Henryville just after 4pm EST.

Watch video >

 

[Kelton Halbert]

I drove from Nashville and decided to target Western KY. Paducah was as far north as I would go, and my plan was to hit every storm that crossed I-24 from Paducah to Nashville. I made it back in time for the storm that almost dropped a tornado on Nashville, but it was moving too fast for us to see anything other than hail.

I believe I saw a funnel cloud on a tornado warned storm in Paducah, KY. There was visible upward motion into the base, but rotation was very hard to discern. Looking back, I'm not too sure, but in the moment, it sure seemed like one. Guess I'll never know!

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmr1RmvUVgI

I took a picture and did a color-correct to make the possible funnel stand out a little better.

 

[Dave Gallaher]

I caught tornado #2 of the 3/2/12 outbreak (and perhaps some structure from #1?) around 10am cst.
Watch video >

Shot from US231 just south of Bob Wade Lane in Meridianville, AL around 10am on March 2, 2012 (camera video time stamp is wrong), the first view is of a wall cloud estimated to be over north Meridianville/Hazel Green, perhaps with the first tornado that caused damage there.

At 1:07 a vertical feature appears revealing circulation as the suspected rain-wrapped vortex approaches.

At 1:30, a glance over my left shoulder revealed a bowl-shaped lowering that had been obscured by trees approaching very close to my position. I yell to some other observers to make them aware of possible risk. Inflow from south kicks up considerably.

At 1:58 the rain-wrapped vortex I had been following crosses US231 about 1/2 mile north of my position. I originally thought it was on the ground, but may have been slightly elevated over the road, then dropped on the east side.

At 2:47 a view of the backside of the bowl-shaped lowering reveals structure and inflow bands. This is possibly the updraft that dropped the EF-2 which began around the Executive Airport.

At 3:18 is a view of the PYKL3 reflectivity of the cell.

In retrospect, I should have paid more attention to the radar, as GRL3 velocity of the time shows my position to be in the southern portion of the couplet, definitely closer than I intended to get, though my original target vortex was safely a half mile north.

Small red dot on GRL3 images shows my position, which in retrospect was too close as I was unaware of the southern segment of the storm emerging from behind the treeline as I focused on the rain-wrapped vortex about a half-mile to the north.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Missed the main show [which seems to be my natch in chasing] but caught a pair of tornadoes in Kentucky, one from each supercell. After we couldn't get infront of the storm while it was producing the Henryville tornado we decided to get on it further east, unfortunately along the Ohio river. The storms core was on one side of the river and the tornado was on the other. Talk about a tricky intercept. Afterwards we dropped down to the second storm south of Sparta, Ky to catch a brief view of a developing tornado before it got wrapped in rain and we lost it due to not having a E/W road to follow it on.

Full account here: http://aerostorms.com/March-2nd-2012-Indiana-and-Kentuckty-Tornado-Outbreak.php

 

[Simon Brewer]

Jim Bishop and I were located 3 miles south of Henryville, IN in the same parking lot with Skip Talbot and Co.; not many other decent places to view this storm. Didn't like the road network, trees, and terrain, so we let the storm approach our location. Very violent motions on this tornado and took appearance of 2012 EF4 Tuscaloosa, AL tornado at times. Witnessed 2 tornadoes from 2nd supercell on it's heels: one northeast of I-65 and another virtually hidden deep in rain and hail, but nowhere near the significance of Henryville tornado. What impressed us was significant road damage on Highway 135 north of Palmyra: large asphalt slabs (some 8-10 inches thick) thrown tens of meters into a field causing deep gouges and impact craters. I've never seen such impressive road damage.

Webpage Link: http://stormgasm.com/3-2-12/3-2-12.htmj

Photos of Tornado and Road Damage:

Simon Brewer
"Storm Riders" on The Weather Channel

 

[Bob Hartig]

I've finally posted my video of the Palmyra (Henryville/Marysville) tornado to YouTube and written a detailed account. You can check out both here in my blog.

 

[Skip Talbot]

Here's my full account of the chase with pictures, video, and map:
http://www.skip.cc/chase/120302/

Powerflash illuminated funnel southwest of Henryville:

Hail damage we sustained fleeing the second storm in the line:

 

[Joe Pudlik]

It felt good getting out there for the first time, after a long off season. Even though I missed the main event and did not see any tornadoes due to having to detour because of the I-65 crash, it still ended up being a decent chase.

I was in Madison, IN where there was debris falling from the sky as the first supercell passed just to the south, producing a tornado in Milton, KY at the time. I made it to Milton in time to recieve quarter size hail near the core of the second supercell. I also came along a path of tornado damage in Milton from the first supercell. Below is a shot of the Milton firestation #2 that was heavily damaged (Rated EF-3).

Full chase log:
http://www.turbulentstorm.com/1/post/2012/03/march-2nd-2012-s-indianan-kentucky.html