Rolling Fork Tornado

[Mike Smith]

I want to know whether or not that crumped water tower was full—I’m thinking not.

The first thing I looked for was puddles or any other sign of water from the tower.

In the 1955 Udall Tornado, the toppled water tower was full and people -- who dashed into their basements at the last second -- drowned.

 

[Jeff Wright]

Now, maybe it itself had a camera? Nearby storefronts and homes may have had doorbell cameras…that may be worth investigating.

 

[Warren Faidley]

I'm impressed that a number of chasers, including Reed Timmer transported some of the injured to regional hospitals. Ryan Hall raised over 100k for relief efforts. This is all good. I did hear of some chasers walking though the rubble live, not paying much attention to victims or helping. Still a lot of chasers trying to zero-meter nighttime, fast-moving wedges and bragging about it. I'm shocked no chasers were killed. Sadly, it's only a matter of time. Everyone seems to forget about satellite tornadoes and rapid, deviant vortex motion with these violent set-ups.

 

[Thomas M]

How wide was the tornado? It’s varied from 1-2 miles wide… the debris signature was 2 miles on my radar.

 

[JamesCaruso]

Given that Fox News is saying there was "no warning," and for other reasons, I have written a report on last night's Mississippi tornadoes.

Report on Last Night's Horrific Tornadoes

Twenty-six people perished in last night's horrible tornadoes. The aim of this report is to put these storms in perspective. Because I am s...

www.mikesmithenterprisesblog.com

SPC Day 3 on Wed 3/22 was already making it apparent this would be a high-end event, and the area was outlooked at least as early as the Day 4 on Tuesday (maybe earlier, I haven‘t gone back to look…)

 

[Mike Smith]

NWS has given the storm a "preliminary" rating of EF-4.

 

[Rick Schmidt]

Can anyone answer a question for me? Are these rumors true or not that a chaser whom I will not name at the moment, is claiming that he has video of the wedge with a van full of people with their headlights on, going around the outer edge? I have seen it, but doubt it. If this were true, it would be international news, and would have been mentioned in every outlet there is. It could be anything with a light on it. I am guessing it is a mistake or hoax. If real, has law enforcement confirmed this?

 

[James K]

I watched multiple YouTube videos on this storm, and on the ones with the worst damage, yeah I'd agree it looked EF-4 range, It just didn't have such complete and total destruction of the building remains (or even trees) that I'd say EF-5 .. Of some of those houses that were 'slabbed' I question how well they were anchored simply no way you can tell from a drone view.
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A couple radar grabs from when it was near Amory, certainly looks pretty intense at this point .. I've seen/heard nothing about whether the town was hit or not (I'm assuming that's a good thing, meaning it was missed)

 

[James K]

Also when looking at radar velocity, I was getting this in super-res for awhile, but it would look normal at standard res.
I'm assuming its just a bug in wX?? Or maybe just where it was located in relation to the radar site?

Oh and that couplet looks pretty close to Anguilla, but maybe passed just to the south missing the town? (like Amory I haven't seen/heard anything about it)?

 

[Mark Gressman Jr]

@Rick Schmidt - From the videos I've seen, I'm leaning towards the light being a drone. It stays lofted much longer during the second pass then I'd imagine a vehicle would. As you said, if it was a vehicle, I'd imagine news of it would be trickling out by now. Hard to say with what I've seen thus far.

@James K - I use RadarScope for radar and wX for just about everything else, so I can't confirm a bug there. I did notice one of the radars (KGWX?) seemed to be missing a few scans in SRV where new scans appeared to be spaced by 10 mins or so, over the course of 40ish mins. I was at a "required social gathering, lol" so I didn't have the ability to monitor the unfolding situation as closely as I would've liked.

 

[Jeff Wright]

Well, an unloaded pick-up is a metal sail on wheels.

A drone’s light would likely not be visible in the murk….and that darkness would keep it grounded anyway

I’m thinking parked vehicle with car-alarm going off and flashing.

There have been murder investigations where headlights are seen shining out of a lake…so lights can survive intact even in hostile conditions.

Had it been occupied, the lights would have been a bit more continuous if bodily picked up off the road…then too…the road speed may have helped get it airborne.

Parked vehicle is still my guess.

 

[Warren Faidley]

Can anyone answer a question for me? Are these rumors true or not that a chaser whom I will not name at the moment, is claiming that he has video of the wedge with a van full of people with their headlights on, going around the outer edge? I have seen it, but doubt it. If this were true, it would be international news, and would have been mentioned in every outlet there is. It could be anything with a light on it. I am guessing it is a mistake or hoax. If real, has law enforcement confirmed this?

I believe it was determined that the lights were too steady / stationary to be an automobile. Likely a drone?

 

[Bobby Little]

Chasing these nightime wedges in the dark, especially southern fast movers is not for me.
As Warren Faidley stated..."Sadley, just a matter of time".
I chased that Thalia/Lockett wedge last year, hoping to capture it a second time coming out of a roadway mess , waiting in the dark (no radar)on 183 for it to appear thinking what the hell am i doing here searching between lighting flashes. Lucky for me it turned 90 to the north. Unlucky for the town and that van.
No not for me!

 

[Diane Bianchi]

I'm impressed that a number of chasers, including Reed Timmer transported some of the injured to regional hospitals. Ryan Hall raised over 100k for relief efforts. This is all good. I did hear of some chasers walking though the rubble live, not paying much attention to victims or helping. Still a lot of chasers trying to zero-meter nighttime, fast-moving wedges and bragging about it. I'm shocked no chasers were killed. Sadly, it's only a matter of time. Everyone seems to forget about satellite tornadoes and rapid, deviant vortex motion with these violent set-ups.

I just don't understand the zero-metering craze. As others have said, there will be tragic consequences.

 

[James K]

@James K - I use RadarScope for radar and wX for just about everything else, so I can't confirm a bug there. I did notice one of the radars (KGWX?) seemed to be missing a few scans in SRV where new scans appeared to be spaced by 10 mins or so, over the course of 40ish mins. I was at a "required social gathering, lol" so I didn't have the ability to monitor the unfolding situation as closely as I would've liked.

Yep.. sometimes you have those things you gotta go to. .lol.
I started out using KDGX then switched to KGWX as the storm progressed northeast.
I didn't pay attention to length of time between scans .lol. but I did notice that it seemed a bit slow/laggy at times when I'd refresh or change modes.
(at the time I chalked that up to the fact I was in my bedroom where WiFi signal isn't the greatest...and the fact I had 4 YouTube livestreams running off the wired part of the network)

Chasing these nightime wedges in the dark, especially southern fast movers is not for me.
As Warren Faidley stated..."Sadley, just a matter of time".

Night chasing (in general) is something I won't do .. there's the danger factor of not seeing the tor itself, but also the RFD, debris in the road, etc (plus I really don't care for driving at night in rain)
But also there's the simple fact of even if you're parked somewhere... you're not going to see (or be able to video) much anyway when it comes to the tornado.
..That said, I love a good lightning show, especially at night!

A drone’s light would likely not be visible in the murk….and that darkness would keep it grounded anyway
I’m thinking parked vehicle with car-alarm going off and flashing.

Yep the lights on drones are tiny little things. .lol.

My thinking is along the line of:
I've got some 4-foot fluorescent lights that I added what's called an 'emergency ballast' ... basically a battery-backup unit inside the fixture that'll light it at partial brightness for atleast 90minutes when the power goes out. (they're more something you'd find in commercial buildings than homes)
Something like that is large enough & bright enough it could be seen a good distance in the dark! Not to mention lightweight enough to easily be picked up and lifted high off the ground (wouldn't even need to be deep in the tor).
Obviously fluorescent being glass bulbs would *never* survive being launched into the air...but its also "dead technology", so lets say you take the same thing but modern technology: LED (which atleast where I'm at most businesses have converted to), made of plastic thats more robust(not to mention brighter)... A building gets hit & one of the 'emergency lights' gets picked up by the tornado, then you've got a decent-sized & reasonably bright light in the sky, "blinking" because its spinning...and on the outer edge of the main circulation where its most visible.