A screenshot of video taken of a multiple vortex tornado that struck in Oklahoma on Monday, May 10, 2010. Watch the video below. (Scott Weberpal / Ryan Wichman)
It is a little known but amazing phenomenon that sometimes accompanies tornadoes – multiple vortices coming from one larger twister. Storm chasers descended on the area of yesterday’s deadly tornado outbreak and two were able to capture amazing video of what looks like small tornadoes circling a larger twister.
When witnessed from the ground, multiple vortex tornadoes are an amazing sight. The larger twister will appear no different than what one might expect, but smaller vortices will be seen rapidly circling around and through the main funnel.
These suction vortexes are usually short-lived and will die out as the main funnel moves and then new satellites will reappear. These satellite vortices are oftentimes present but not visible due to debris and clouds.
Storm chaser team Scott Weberpal and Ryan Wichman captured amazing video of a multiple vortex tornado as it tore through the Oklahoma countryside. Watch the video below.
This tornado in Goshen County, Wyoming in 2009 was intercepted by VORTEX2 teams and is considered the “most intensely examined tornado in history.” (NOAA) Watch video of the twister and see more photos at the complete story on Examiner.com. (NOAA)
For the second year in a row, a team of over 100 scientists and dozens of vehicles will take to Tornado Alley in an attempt to study one of Mother Nature’s most destructive phenomena. Like last year, Colorado researchers will be helping with the project.
Among the Colorado-based participants are University of Colorado students and researchers. They join others from 11 other universities from across the nation including the University of Oklahoma, Penn State University, and the University of Massachusetts.
Perhaps most well known, Dr. Josh Wurman of the Center for Severe Weather Research (CSWR) in Boulder will be a key contributor. Watchers of the Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers series know Wurman well as the operator of a Doppler On Wheels (DOW) radar truck and coordinator of the TV series’ storm chases.
Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2 (VORTEX2) is simply the largest, most extensive in-field tornado study in history. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the VORTEX2 team will prowl the Great Plains hunting their elusive prey from May 1st to June 15th.
Once again, a veritable armada of scientific equipment will be deployed. Ten mobile radar units, dozens of vehicles, over 70 other instruments and even an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) will cover thousands of miles on the Great Plains.
Storm Prediction Center reports for Saturday, April 24, 2010. Click on the image for a slideshow of the damage.
Severe weather across the South on Saturday turned deadly as tornadoes ripped through the region. Mississippi was hardest hit as one twister in Yazoo County killed 10 people and officials fear more could lie buried under the rubble.
Yazoo County was ground zero for the worst of the devastation where officials estimate 100 homes were destroyed. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour described the scene as “utter obliteration.”
Images of the scene were heart wrenching and show homes reduced to nothing but scattered lumber. A church was destroyed, cars tossed about like toys and trees snapped like twigs and left without foliage.
Widespread power outages were reported as power lines were downed by the intense fury of the storms. Officials said thousands remained without power as of Sunday morning.
The human toll was staggering and covered three Mississippi counties. Five people were killed in Choctaw County, four in Yazoo County and one in Holmes County. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency reported that two children were among the dead including a three month old baby.
This funnel cloud was seen from the Thornton Civic Center (looking north) on June 10, 2009. Image courtesy Lisa Wilson, the City of Thornton.
If you happen to be outside or listening to broadcast media this morning, don’t be surprised to hear a tornado warning / siren. As part of Severe Weather Awareness Week, the National Weather Service will be conducting a statewide tornado test around 9:15am.
The service is urging all government agencies, schools, businesses, broadcast media and emergency management agencies to participate in this important drill.
This is a good time for citizens to ensure they are prepared and know what to do when a tornado strikes. As we saw with last year’s tornado activity and in 2008 with the Windsor tornado, twisters can and do strike the Denver area. Preparation and planning are critical to ensuring you and your family remain safe.
It is perhaps most fitting that Colorado saw its first tornado of 2010 yesterday. The twister which struck in Kit Carson County 11 miles south-southwest of Bethune caused no damage. However, it serves as an important reminder.
A Chicago Herald Examiner headline covering the Great Tri-State Tornado of 1925. (Wikipedia) Follow the link below for images of the destruction.
News reports portray a dreary start to March 18, 1925 with heavy rain in the morning but nothing that would foretell the disaster that was to come. Before the day was over, parts of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana would be torn asunder and nearly 700 people would be dead.
Today marks the 85th anniversary of what we now call the Tri-State Tornado. The deadly twister was of the likes that had never been seen before – and hasn’t been seen since. That morning, the U.S. Weather Bureau’s forecast called for “rains and strong shifting winds.” Nothing that would indicate the horror that was to come.
The first reports of the tornado happened at 1:01pm near Ellington, Missouri. As it moved to the northeast the twister tore through the towns of Annapolis, Redford, Cornwall, Biehle, and Frohna. By the time it exited Missouri, 11 people were dead.
Illinois bore the brunt of the tornado as it continued on its deadly path. It crossed the Mississippi River and tore through Gorham, Johnston City, Murphysboro, De Soto, Hurst-Bush and a half dozen other Illinois towns. Entire towns were reduced to rubble, over a thousand people were injured and 613 people in the state were dead.
Far from over, the twister crossed into Indiana where the towns of Griffin, Owensville, and Princeton were hit. 71 people are thought to have died in the state.
The horror finally came to an end at 4:30pm, three and a half hours after it started. The tornado dissipated southwest of Petersburg, Indiana but not until after it had covered a path of at least 219 miles and left death and destruction the entire way. From southeastern Missouri, completely across southern Illinois and into southwestern Indiana, the tornado was the longest tracking twister ever recorded.
A tornado ripped through western Oklahoma on Monday destroying five homes and a barn. Dramatic video captured by stormchasers show the twister ripping apart out-buildings as it crosses a highway near Hammon.
According to the Storm Prediction Center, the twister was reported at 5:57pm local time. Residents said the area’s warning sirens did sound and provided nine minutes of warning before the tornado struck.
Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Michelann Ooten told the Associated Press that no injuries were reported. In addition to the five homes, a barn owned by the county was destroyed and the roofs of several homes were blow off.
Stormchasers were tracking the storm and captured amazing video of the twister from the distance and from very close proximity. The first is from Arick Inman and the second from Mike Scantlin.
Tornadoes can and do strike at night and during winter months. Are you prepared?
Tornadoes are one of nature’s most violent storms. Able to strike without warning, they bring death and destruction with frightening frequency. Twisters can be scary enough to just think about and when you consider one striking at night when you can’t see it and aren’t expecting it, the odds of survival diminish.
Over the last three years, there has been an average of 1297 tornadoes per year and on average 91 tornado-related deaths per year. While not as common during the winter months, tornadoes can and do occur every month of the year and they do strike at night.
Seeking to draw attention to the dangers nighttime tornadoes present, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its National Weather Service announced an effort to increase awareness. In a press release today, the services said that with the El Niño conditions we are experiencing, Florida and the Gulf Coast region stand a greater risk of tornadoes.
NOAA reminded all residents of the United States that a NOAA All Hazards Radio is the first line in defense against not only tornadoes, but all natural disasters. Also announced were new severe weather outlooks that will be issued when conditions are favorable for such storms.
Something you will not see in Thornton - tornado sirens.
In yesterday’s Northglenn-Thornton Sentinel, the paper wrote about tornado sirens and warning systems in the north metro area – or rather the lack thereof. Appropriately titled “Sound of silence”, the article points out that Thornton is not alone in their lack of any sort of severe weather warning system.
Westminster, Northglenn, Federal Heights and Adams County leave citizens to fend for themselves as well. Brighton and Commerce City have siren systems to protect residents of their cities.
Emergency managers cited a number of reasons including the ever-present cost consideration and the fact that severe weather season in Colorado is relatively shortlived. It is the opinion of ThorntonWeather.com that these thoughts are all extremely shortsighted and cities are risking their citizens’ lives.
One of the more interesting sections of the article reflects that:
Mike Reddy, captain of emergency management for the Westminster Fire Department, said Mother Nature often provides enough warning for those people who are caught outside during severe weather.
“To me it’s like lightning. If you are out playing golf and there is lightning, it’s best to go inside where it’s safe,” Reddy said. “Tornado sirens are a very expensive investment that it turns out are used three weeks out of the year.
With all the media coverage and alternative approaches, there are more effective ways for people to be notified.”
Reddy added that the information he gets from dispatch about severe weather can be found on the local news channel or Internet.
Do tornadoes strike in the Denver area? 177 have been recorded in the metro area alone since 1950. They have occurred as early as April 10th and as late as October 14th. Map courtesy TornadoPaths.org.
Captain Reddy may wish to familiarize himself with the history of tornadoes in Colorado. Since 1950, tornadoes have been recorded as early as April 10th and as late as October 14th – in the Denver metro area alone. Further, through yesterday, 177 twisters have been recorded in the metro area during that same time frame so despite what some may say, they are not rare.
If a warning system saved your life or the lives of your family, wouldn’t it be worth it?
We recently wrote an article on Examiner.com detailing the current state of emergency warning system across the metro area. While we had similar results in our talks with various cities that the Sentinel did, we also found that many communities are taking advantage of lower-cost, high tech solutions that incorporate notifying residents of emergencies using email and text messaging. These types of systems have the added benefit of having multiple uses and can be used to notify residents about other significant events including Amber Alerts, wildfires, chemical spills, civil disasters and terrorist attacks.
We recognize that siren systems are expensive and limited in their reach. However, we applaud those communities that are taking steps using other methods and implore Thornton and other north metro area municipalities to do the same.
What do you think? Should north metro communities invest in emergency alert systems to protect their citizens? Leave a comment below with your thoughts!
This funnel cloud was seen on Tuesday, June 9, from the Thornton Civic Center (looking north). Image courtesy Lisa Wilson, the City of Thornton.
MetroNorth Newspapers in the Northglenn-Thornton Sentinel covered the recent bout of severe weather in the most recent edition of Thornton’s hometown newspaper. In part, the article says:
As a former producer for 9News, Todd Barnes has chased a few tornadoes in his time. On Sunday, however, the storm found him.
Barnes, communications manager for the City of Thornton, was shopping at Costco in the Larkridge development near 162nd Avenue and Interstate 25 when he witnessed the funnel cloud form. The tornado touched down at 1:17 p.m. one mile north of Broomfield, near the northwestern edge of Thornton.
“There’s nothing like watching a tornado touch down,” Barnes said Monday. “It’s incredible.”
Another funnel cloud was spotted over the city at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. It appeared only briefly, high in the sky at a nearly 90-degree angle, before disappearing, according to witnesses. A tornado did touch down outside Firestone shortly after 5 p.m., but no serious damage was reported.
Do you subscribe to the Sentinel? Why not? There is no other source of truly local news available to Thornton and Northglenn residents and MetroNorth News and the Sentinel do an outstanding job of providing the depth of news and information area residents really need. If you haven’t read the Sentinel, pick up a copy and check it out. They do have a website but it isn’t particularly noteworthy and doesn’t have the same information you get in the print version. Subscriptions for the paper are very inexpensive and I would highly recommend it to everyone who lives in the area. Check it out and support Thornton’s hometown newspaper!
On June 3, 1981 a tornado struck Thornton in what is the worst twister to have struck the Denver metro area. Despite this, Thornton does not have any sort of emergency alert system to warn citizens of tornadoes or other civil disasters. Image courtesy the City of Thornton archives.
As we have discussed before, the City of Thornton is lacking any type of system to alert citizens of severe weather like we have seen recently. In the last week, parts of Thornton have been under Tornado Warnings as funnel clouds circled in the sky and citizens are understandably concerned.
We at ThorntonWeather.com continually remind people that the Denver metro area is at the far western edge of Tornado Alley and funnel clouds, tornadoes, hail and other types of severe weather are not unusual at all. It was 28 years ago last Wednesday in fact that the costliest tornado to ever hit the Denver metro area struck Thornton. Accounts vary but 53 people were injured, at least 25 homes were destroyed and hundreds more damaged.
The danger is real – tornadoes can and do strike in the Thornton area. In some ways it is surprising that the city did not implement some sort of system in the wake of the tornado in 1981. Many municipalities in the metro area do have warning sirens including Denver, Aurora, Englewood, Commerce City and Brighton.
Thornton Mayor Erik Hansen has told ThorntonWeather.com that the city will look at ways to inform citizens when severe weather is imminent. This may take the form of utilizing the reverse 911 system or as we suggested to him, a possible new text alert system that would deliver alerts to citizen’s mobile phones. It is our firm belief that some sort of system to be used not only for severe weather but for other civil disasters is a wise and prudent investment for the city to take.
The Denver area is at the western edge of Tornado Alley and as we have seen historically and in recent days, the danger is real. Click image for larger view. Image courtesy NOAA.
This week the city posted some tornado safety tips on its website that are worth reviewing. You may also wish to review our Severe Weather 101 series which provides more in depth information on the entire array of spring and summer severe weather (links below).
We will continue our conversations with the city about how they can improve communication with Thornton residents about severe weather and keep you updated as appropriate. If you are so inclined, contact your city council representatives and let them know you want to see Thornton implement an emergency alert system.
For the rest of this story including photos of all the equipment and amazing video of the tornado in Wyoming that the team intercepted last year, visit the Denver Weather Examiner.
