2012-04-03 MISC: TX

[Mike Smith]

Tim Marshall has awesome video of the tornado in Arlington!

Where have you seen it?

 

[brentford]

I believe he may still supply NBC 5 video here, may be on their homepage (havent checked) I assume he will chime in with a report. Fantastic close range of debris being lofted upwards.

 

[John Olexa]

Amazing footage from a unique vantage point. I cringe, hoping those trailers aren't landing on somebody, but it's just jaw dropping.

Same here! That was some pretty incredible footage.

 

[Greg Higgins]

Two comments: 1st...the 1st tornados in Johnson County were very close to the KFWS radar site at Spinks Airport and 2 - Tim posted some stuff on his FaceBook page. He will be assiting in the storm damage survey in the morning.

 

[M. Drabowski]

Pretty amazing videos of tornado crossing highway before entering to Arlington.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_1OxAlrYsM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTmkSSI26f4

 

[Skip Talbot]

I think you'll need to be friends with Tim to see this video, but here is his shot from today and hopefully he'll repost for us in the Reports thread.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3633828254008

I love his cool demeanor and steady camera work. He really sets an example even at close range with debris flying overhead. I grabbed a radar/spotter network screen shots when I spotted him pop up:

It was neat to see a hook passing that close to the radar site, and Tim's name popping up practically inside of it.

 

[rdale]

He's way too quiet to be a real chaser

 

[Jeff Duda]

Two comments: 1st...the 1st tornados in Johnson County were very close to the KFWS radar site at Spinks Airport

In other cases that has provided for some very cool radar signatures. I did not see anything like that for this case. I'm guessing the clutter filtering was just too much and erased much of the signature present in the scans when the storm was very close to the radar.

 

[brentford]

Jeff, thank you for that observation. I never thought about that but as the storm came thru Johnson county I was very un impressed by what radar was showing. It wasnt until after it passed the radar site to the NE that it showed a nice couplet.

 

[Tim Marshall]

Yep, I am a quite one - but I do listen. Here is my chase summary: I was up-close on the Kennedale tornado in the wooded bottom lands on business 287. Not the best chase country. I was in Fort Worth when a tornado was reported by Martin Lisius in Joshua. I punched the FFD (no hail) and saw the rapidly rotating wall cloud to my south. As soon as I stopped, a multi-vortex tornado developed and traveled first through an industrial area before crossing Rt. 287 where there were single-family dwellings. I saw lots of roof shingle and decking damage there. I followed the tornado and watched it cross I-20 entering south Arlington where it narrowed into a V-shape with full condensation to the ground. Some roofs were completely removed (EF-2). The tornado roped out but the circulation (and hook echo) remained well defined across central Arlington, and passed just east of DFW airport. I followed it on Hwy 161 (GBT) to I-635 where the circulation became elevated. Large hail (to 3 inches in diameter) fell in Coppell. I got five keeper dents on my truck. Pictures and videos are posted on my FB site. Yesterday, I assisted the NWS and surveyed two tornado tracks: Forney (EF-3) and Royse City (EF-2). I am amazed that no one lost their lives given the extent of building damage and the fact that several tornadoes crossed major highways.

 

[ZCurry]

Quick question, didn't the Royce city tornado sweep a house of it's foundation leaving a slab? That's pretty impressive. Not your classic EF2 type damage so i'm assuming the house was of very poor construction or maybe just sitting on the foundation with no anchoring? I know a similar deal happened in Gordontown, NC last year.

 

[Jennifer Bankier]

Some of us don't do Facebook, Tim ... any chance you could also post somewhere other than Facebook?
Or would you will be willing to let us order/pay for a DVD?

 

[Skip Talbot]

I'm producing a radar animation of this event with tornado tracks and GPS positions. If you chased this event and wish to be included in the animation, PM or email your GPS log file or Spotter Network position history.

 

[STexan]

We've all heard that downtown Dallas was due for a direct hit by an EF3+ in the near future ... was this is it and was downtown spared and did Dallas in fact dodge it's preverbal bullet? How long before downtown Dallas can expect another outbreak of this magnitude in it's own backyard ... and go relatively unaffected?

I was set up on the opposite area (near Farmersville) when these broke out and traversing all that traffic/mess was not going to happen. All I captured was the remnant funnel cloud passing just S of Garland near the 30/635 intersection. Later, a few suspects were just out of sight later near Greenville and Cooper.