Tag Archives: tornado

National Weather, Natural Disasters

Alabama tornadoes captured on video ripping apart store

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March 9, 2011 - This truck was flipped on its side by the tornado that struck Theodore, AL. (Twitpic/WKRG_Jessica http://twitpic.com/47u3yv)
March 9, 2011 - This truck was flipped on its side by the tornado that struck Theodore, AL. (Twitpic/WKRG_Jessica http://twitpic.com/47u3yv)

The Deep South was the scene of some nasty weather yesterday as severe storms brought damaging winds, flash floods and tornadoes to four states in the region.  One particularly damaging tornado struck Theodore, Alabama and surveillance video captured the effects of the storm as it tore apart a hardware store.

According to the National Weather Service the tornado initially touched down at about 9:00am local time yesterday as an EF1.  As it tracked to the northeast the tornado increased to EF2 strength packing winds up to 120mph.  At its maximum size it was 150 yards across.

Four people suffered injuries from the tornado and 25 residential and commercial structures were damages.  Cars in a strip mall were tossed about like toys and a gas station awning collapsed.

Alexander Hardware and Small Engine was in the path of the tornado when it was at its strongest after it passed over Theodore Dawes Road.  The store sustained a near direct strike from the twister.

Video captured by Alexander’s surveillance cameras provide video proof of the power and fury of the twister.  In one video, employees are seen tentatively looking out the front door before running for cover as the tornado struck.  The second video provides an overall view of the store interior as the tornado hits sending shelves and merchandise flying.

National Weather, Natural Disasters

U.S. Army digs out from New Year’s Eve tornado

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The housing areas of Fort Leonard Wood were devastated by a New Year's Eve tornado. View more images in the slideshow below. (4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade)
The housing areas of Fort Leonard Wood were devastated by a New Year's Eve tornado. View more images in the slideshow below. (4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade)

An unusual New Year’s Eve tornado outbreak brought on twisters across Arkansas and Missouri causing widespread destruction.  Seven lives have been reported lost and one tornado struck Fort Leonard Wood, a U.S. Army base in northwestern Missouri.

Strong thunderstorms spawned the tornado outbreak that included 44 tornado reports although the actual number of twisters is likely much lower once duplicates are removed.  Three fatalities were recorded in Arkansas, four in Missouri.

Preliminary damage assessments from the National Weather Service indicate the two most significant tornadoes were EF-3 twisters packing winds as high as 150 mph. 

The Cincinnati, Arkansas twister started near the in Oklahoma near the town of Westville.  The tornado continued into Arkansas tearing a path 21 miles long and 500 yards at its widest. Click here for the damage assessment from the Tulsa, Oklahoma National Weather Service office.

In Missouri the weather service has begun analysis of four confirmed twisters rated EF0, EF1, EF2 and EF3.  The most powerful storm struck the Sunset Hills area southwest of St. Louis and at one point created a damage field 1/4 of a mile wide. Click here for the damage assessment from the St. Louis, Missouri National Weather Service office.

Slideshow: Fort Leonard Wood Army base devastated by New Year's Eve tornado
Slideshow: Fort Leonard Wood Army base devastated by New Year's Eve tornado

At the Army post in Pulaski County, images show extensive damage to structures at the base, many of which were part of the base housing and training areas.  Officials said that only four minor injuries were sustained at the base. 

View images of the destruction at Fort Leonard Wood in the slideshow to the right.  For more on this story, visit the Natural Disasters Examiner and these stories:

National Weather, Natural Disasters

Oregon town struck by rare EF-2 tornado

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An EF-2 tornado struck the town of Aumsville, Oregon on Tuesday damaging 50 structures. Click the image for a slideshow of the damage from Examiner.com.
An EF-2 tornado struck the town of Aumsville, Oregon on Tuesday damaging 50 structures. Click the image for a slideshow of the damage from Examiner.com.

Tornadoes are not usually asssociated with Oregon or December and certainly not the two of them together.  Tuesday however that rarest of event did occur when an EF-2 tornado packing 110+ mph winds struck the town of Aumsville.

The first report of the tornado was at 11:59am PST when emergency personnel reported spotting the twister.  Power was knocked out to thousands and several homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed.  Two minor injuries were reported. 

The National Weather Service completed their preliminary investigation of the twister and rated the tornado as an EF-2 with winds between 110 and 120 mph.  At its maximum the twister was 150 yards wide and carved an intermittent path 5 miles long. 

For more details on the tornado including video and a photo slideshow of the damage, please visit the Natural Disasters Examiner.

National Weather, Natural Disasters

Strong cold front brings tornadoes, damaging wind to Illinois and Wisconsin

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Path of EF2 tornado in Illinois on November 22, 2010. (NWS)
Path of EF2 tornado in Illinois on November 22, 2010. (NWS)

November is not normally the time of year for tornadoes, least of all in states in northern latitudes like Illinois and Wisconsin.  That however did not stop a mini-outbreak yesterday as at least two tornadoes struck and as many as seven were possible.

  • Watch video of the twister below

Severe thunderstorms were spawned yesterday by a strong cold front moving across the upper Midwest.  The twisters were the first in 26 years to strike the area in November – you have to go all the way back to November 9, 1984 to find the last one.

The National Weather Service has confirmed that the strongest of the tornadoes yesterday was an EF2 packing winds of 135mph.  It covered a path of 16.4 miles and had a maximum width of 200 yards.  The twister overturned a bus, caused significant damage to buildings and injured six people. 

Below you can see a video of the twister as it passed near Loves Park, Illinois.

Natural Disasters

Surveillance video shows trailers being overturned by tornado

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Crews pick up debris from Chickamauga Creek Oct. 27, 2010. (USACE/ Richard Scott)
Crews pick up debris from Chickamauga Creek Oct. 27, 2010. (USACE/ Richard Scott)

An extraordinary severe weather outbreak on Tuesday, October 26th brought Mother Nature’s fury to a large part of the nation stretching from Mississippi to Michigan.  Of the dozens of tornadoes reported that day, one ripped through Chickamauga Lock near Chattanooga, Tennessee and was captured on surveillance video.

  • Watch the amazing video below

The twister ripped through an area near Chickamauga Dam Tuesday evening where the Army Corps of Engineers is constructing the lock.  No injuries to the employees working at the sight were reported but the Corps said some barely escaped. 

The video, captured by a surveillance camera, initially gives no indication of the destruction that is about to come as conditions appear calm and vehicles are seen driving on a nearby road.  40 seconds into the video the winds and rain begin to pick up and 10 seconds later two construction trailers are flipped over and reduced to rubble.

Wayne Huddleston, project manager at Chickamauga Lock, said “The Corps is relocating personnel to other buildings on site and repairs and cleanup are ongoing.  We are extremely pleased that no people were hurt and that operations were not seriously affected by the storm.”

The video clearly shows why mobile homes and other structures without permanent foundations are never a safe place to take cover during severe weather.  Residents should always seek sturdier shelter in a permanent structure.

For all the latest on all types of natural disasters, be sure to check out the Natural Disasters Examiner.

National Weather

New York City tornadoes confirmed – Rare event also brings 125 mph winds

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In a rare occurrence, two tornadoes struck the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens on Thursday, September 16, 2010.
In a rare occurrence, two tornadoes struck the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens on Thursday, September 16, 2010. View more images in the slideshow below.

Severe weather struck the Big Apple this past Thursday and brought with it only the sixth and seventh tornadoes to strike New York City since record keeping began in 1950.  Accompanying the storms were straight-line winds packing a 125 mph punch. 

Funnel clouds were spotted in the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn from the storms that also brought extraordinary winds and driving rain.  The severe thunderstorm toppled trees and power lines and left one woman dead.

The National Weather Service sent a team to look at the damage and determine if the winds were the result of a tornado or straight-line winds.  The answer is that two tornadoes -one an EF0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, the other an EF1 – struck Brooklyn and Queens.

In the Park Slope Neighborhood of Brooklyn, the tornado touched down at about 5:33pm and ripped across the cityscape for two miles.  It generated winds of 80mph, an EF0, and had a maximum width of 75 yards. 

Slideshow - Twin tornadoes strike Brooklyn and Queens, New York.The second twister struck the Flushing / Bayside area in Queens and was stronger and longer lived.  That tornado packed winds of 100mph making it an EF1.  It reached a maximum width of 100 yards and was on the ground for four miles.  One fatality is attributed to the twister as Iline Leuakis of Pennsylvania was killed when a tree fell and crushed her car. 

Also notable were significant straight-line winds caused by a macroburst.  In the Middle Village and Forest Hills areas in Queens, winds reaching 125 mph with a path five miles wide and eight miles long contributed to the damage. 

The two tornadoes mark only the sixth and seventh tornadoes to strike in the five counties that make up New York City since 1950 – Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond.  The strongest occurred on August 8, 2007 and was an EF2 that caused nine injuries.

New York City’s Tornadoes – Since 1950

  • 1985-10-05, Queens County, EF1
  • 1990-08-10, Richmond County, EF0
  • 1995-10-28, Richmond County, EF1
  • 2003-10-27, Richmond County, EF0
  • 2007-08-08, Richmond & Kings Counties, EF2
  • 2010-09-16, Kings County, EF0
  • 2010-09-16, Queens County, EF1

Data courtesy the Tornado History Project

National Weather

Record-setting hail falls near Wichita, Kansas

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A monstrous hailstone measuring 7.75 inches in diameter fell near Wichita on September 15, 2010, setting a new record for Kansas.
A monstrous hailstone measuring 7.75 inches in diameter fell near Wichita on September 15, 2010, setting a new record for Kansas. (National Weather Service / Melissa McCarter)

Severe weather rolled through south-central and southeastern Kansas on the evening of Wednesday, September 15, 2010 and dropped tornadoes and potentially record-setting hail.  The supercell thunderstorms developed in the late afternoon and caused significant damage in the Wichita area.

  • Watch video of the hail pounding Wichita below

In Sedgwick and Cowley counties one supercell generated monstrous hail on the western side of Wichita.  The largest stone, right, was measured at 7.75 inches and fell at about 6:00pm in West Wichita.  According to the National Weather Service the chunk of ice weighted 1.1 pounds and was 15.5 inches in circumference. 

It has been preliminarily confirmed that the diameter of the hailstone from Wednesday easily eclipsed the state’s previous record setter of 5.7 inches in diameter – a hailstone that fell on September 3, 1970 near Coffeyville.  It does fall short of the all-time largest hailstone which fell on July 23rdof this year and measured 8.0 inches in diameter.

Hail from golf ball to softball sized swept across a large area breaking windows in homes and smashing vehicles. At Mid-Continent Airport the hail broke through skylights and damaged the facilities airport.  Several planes sustained damage as well. 

Video - Monstrous hail falls in Wichita, Kansas on Wednesday, September 15, 2010.Strong, straight-line winds up to 80 mph were recorded in Cowley, Wilson, Labette and Cherryvale counties.  Downed power lines resulted in 10,000 people being without power at one point.

Five tornadoes were reported south, southeast and east of Wichita.  The twisters were on the ground for short periods of time and did not appear to directly cause any damage.  All have been rated EF0 with winds from 65 mph to 85 mph by the National Weather Service.

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Colorado Weather, Natural Disasters, Severe Weather

Colorado storm chaser gains notoriety thanks to Drudge Report

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Colorado storm chaser Roger Hill was shown on the Drudge report and that led to appearances on most major TV networks.
Colorado storm chaser Roger Hill was shown on the Drudge report and that led to appearances on most major TV networks.

Roger Hill is considered quite famous among storm chasers as he has a proven, uncanny ability to place himself right where severe weather will strike. A recent headline on the Drudge Report featuring Hill has now shined the national media spotlight on him and his profession as co-owner of a storm chasing tour company.

Examiner.com / ThorntonWeather.com rode along with Hill as part of Storm Chase 2010 at the end of May and the beginning of June. The experience proved to be a once in a lifetime event as the tour experienced Mother Nature’s fury up close and personal culminating with a long-lived tornado near Campo, Colorado – the same tornado which Hill was pictured in front of on the Drudge Report.

Hill is no stranger to the media as his amazing videos and photos have been featured on the Weather Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic and all major news networks. For nearly a decade Hill and his company Silver Lining Tours have been showing thrill seekers what it is like to experience severe weather at closer range than what may be possible otherwise. Interest in “storm chasing tours” however has hit a fevered pitch in recent weeks.

On July 6th, the U.K.’s Daily Mail ran a story about Hill and his wife Caryn and their storm chasing passion. This was then picked up by the Drudge Report (above right) and led to interviews with CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News.

Crews from Inside Edition and Nightline then followed by riding along with Hill and Silver Lining Tours as they crisscrossed the Great Plains on the hunt for tornadoes.

The Nightline piece aired this past Friday and gave a good idea of what it is like to be on tour with Hill (watch the video below). From the frenzied pace to the seemingly endless ingestion of fast food and of course the thrill of the tornado chase, reporter Eric Hong experienced it all.

Severe Weather

Tornado that struck the Bronx rated an EF-1 with 100mph winds

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A tornado that struck the Bronx in New York was rated an EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. (ThorntonWeather.com)
A tornado that struck the Bronx in New York was rated an EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. (ThorntonWeather.com)

A common myth is that tornadoes don’t strike cities. That myth was dispelled again this past Sunday when a twister packing 100 mph struck the Bronx in New York.

The tornado, rated an EF-1 by the National Weather Service (NWS), struck at 2:55pm. The service said that at its biggest the twister was 100 yards wide.

Initially touching down on the grounds of the Hebrew Home for the Aged on the east bank of the Hudson River, the tornado tore a path one half mile long. Seven people were injured by the storm and a variety of damage was documented by survey teams.

A flagpole was toppled as were numerous trees. Some large trees were stripped of their leaves.On West 254th Street across Netherlands and Arlington Streets “significant damage occurred.” One residential home sustained roof damage.

The National Weather Service this was only the second tornado to strike the Bronx since 1950. The first occurred on September 2, 1974.

From the National Weather Service:

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
216 PM EDT TUE JUL 27 2010

…TORNADO CONFIRMED NEAR NORTH RIVERDALE IN BRONX COUNTY NY…

LOCATION…NORTH RIVERDALE IN BRONX COUNTY NY
DATE…JULY 25 2010
ESTIMATED TIME…255 PM TO 300 PM EDT
MAXIMUM EF- SCALE RATING…EF1
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED…100 MPH
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH…100 YARDS
PATH LENGTH…0.6 MILES
BEGINNING LAT/LON…40.91N / 73.91W
ENDING LAT/LON…40.90N / 73.90W
* FATALITIES…0
* INJURIES…7

Colorado Weather

Funnel cloud over two-mile-high Leadville raises eyebrows

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A 'cold air funnel' was spotted over Leadville, Colorado on Sunday morning. (NWS Pueblo) See amazing video of the funnel cloud below.
A 'cold air funnel' was spotted over Leadville, Colorado on Sunday morning. (NWS Pueblo)

At an altitude nearly two miles high, one would not expect a funnel cloud to appear in the sky over a town like Leadville, Colorado. On Sunday however, Mother Nature treated visitors and residents to a rare ‘cold air funnel’ over the town high in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.

At approximately 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, the funnel was spotted over Leadville where it continued to rotate for nearly 20 minutes, according to observers. The funnel never touched down, thus never becoming a tornado, but it serves as a reminder that twisters can occur just about anywhere on earth.

Funnel clouds and tornadoes typically need four conditions to form – Shear, Lift, Instability and Moisture (SLIM as famed storm chaser Roger Hill calls it). With a cold air funnel, those conditions also exist, although they aren’t associated with a supercell thunderstorm like is seen on the plains.

According to the National Weather Service’s Pueblo office, a cold low pressure system over northwestern Colorado provided the instability part of the equation. Strong upper level winds over the southwestern part of the state and slower winds over the northwest provided shear. The difference in lower and upper level temperatures and a passing thunderstorm provided the lift and moisture for the funnel.

One Denver-area television station is incorrectly reporting on its website that “Leadville was never in any danger because he says cold-air funnels do not turn into tornadoes.”

This is wholly inaccurate. While cold air funnels do not typically touch down, they can reach the ground and as the National Weather Service states, they “can bring damage in a small area.”