Last Sunday's excitement
- Thread starter Mike
- Start date
Those are always exciting. In Oklahoma that would be considered a baby, but will still rearrange your furniture rather efficiently.
bigblk1177
Member
WOW! We have had a few of those bad boys here in Bama the past few years. Done more than just rearrange furniture though. God Bless and help those affected by this force of nature.
fluidfloyd
Active Member
Mike,
Glad you're OK. Those big twisters can really get you're attention. One hit downtown Fort Worth when I lived there some years ago. I moved to the mountains of North Central Arkansas and was told, "Tornadoes don't hit the mountains." I guess the tornadoes weren't listening because an F4 blew both ends off of my shop before it the town. On the ground for 123 miles and one mile wide. Power out on the mountain for several weeks. I burned a lot of generator gas at the house. Shop was on 3 PH and considered a low priority. Here's a quick report on it.
North-central Arkansas tornado
The first long-lived supercell, which spawned the tornado with the longest continuous track of any single tornado in this outbreak, developed around 4:50 pm CST (2250 UTC) southeast of Centerville in Yell County. The tornado tracked into Pope County, striking the community of Atkins. Four people died in Atkins and much of the town was destroyed.[27] The tornado continued on and crossed into Conway County where it killed two more people, injured five others, and destroyed numerous homes.[28] The next hard hit town was Clinton in Van Buren County, where three people died. One of these deaths occurred at a boat manufacturing facility which was destroyed.[29] The tornado continued into Stone County, where one person was killed. In the town of Mountain View the local hospital lost its roof and a fire station was destroyed.[30] The tornado affected mostly rural areas for the rest of its path, but two additional people were killed in Izard County before it finally lifted back into the clouds northeast of Highland in Sharp County, about two hours after it initially touched down.[31]
An aerial survey later determined that the damage across the seven counties was caused by one tornado, with a track estimated at 122 miles (196 km) in length. This was the longest single tornado track recorded in Arkansas since detailed record keeping began in 1950. The tornado was rated an EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.[32] Thirteen people were killed by this tornado,[31] and about 140 people were injured.[33] Approximately 200 homes and businesses were destroyed along the tornado's path.[33] Damage from this tornado was estimated at nearly $120 million across the seven counties.[34]
I don't need anymore of these in my life time.
Stay safe folks.
George
Glad you're OK. Those big twisters can really get you're attention. One hit downtown Fort Worth when I lived there some years ago. I moved to the mountains of North Central Arkansas and was told, "Tornadoes don't hit the mountains." I guess the tornadoes weren't listening because an F4 blew both ends off of my shop before it the town. On the ground for 123 miles and one mile wide. Power out on the mountain for several weeks. I burned a lot of generator gas at the house. Shop was on 3 PH and considered a low priority. Here's a quick report on it.
North-central Arkansas tornado
The first long-lived supercell, which spawned the tornado with the longest continuous track of any single tornado in this outbreak, developed around 4:50 pm CST (2250 UTC) southeast of Centerville in Yell County. The tornado tracked into Pope County, striking the community of Atkins. Four people died in Atkins and much of the town was destroyed.[27] The tornado continued on and crossed into Conway County where it killed two more people, injured five others, and destroyed numerous homes.[28] The next hard hit town was Clinton in Van Buren County, where three people died. One of these deaths occurred at a boat manufacturing facility which was destroyed.[29] The tornado continued into Stone County, where one person was killed. In the town of Mountain View the local hospital lost its roof and a fire station was destroyed.[30] The tornado affected mostly rural areas for the rest of its path, but two additional people were killed in Izard County before it finally lifted back into the clouds northeast of Highland in Sharp County, about two hours after it initially touched down.[31]
An aerial survey later determined that the damage across the seven counties was caused by one tornado, with a track estimated at 122 miles (196 km) in length. This was the longest single tornado track recorded in Arkansas since detailed record keeping began in 1950. The tornado was rated an EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.[32] Thirteen people were killed by this tornado,[31] and about 140 people were injured.[33] Approximately 200 homes and businesses were destroyed along the tornado's path.[33] Damage from this tornado was estimated at nearly $120 million across the seven counties.[34]
I don't need anymore of these in my life time.
Stay safe folks.
George
Mike
Well-Known Member
Yeah, that photo shows the smaller of the two storms that hit within minutes of one another. The cell in the photo was 'only' an F2. The storm that hit the south side of town was an F3 and it caused a bit more havoc. It ripped the gymnasium off a middle school and wiped out one end of the nearly new voestalpine plant. The storm in the photo tore the roofs and siding off a few dozen homes and ripped up a few hundred trees, which left about 25% of both Lafayette and West Lafayette without power for a couple days.
It's funny, because when I was a child, this part of Illinois and Indiana was always known as 'Tornado Alley'. But here, the tornadoes tend to follow the river valleys a lot more, so they are always picking up huge amounts of water and don't look as large as the 'dry' tornadoes down in Oklahoma and Arkansas. The storm in the above photo was almost hidden from sight, before it got close, because it was rain-wrapped. They were seeing it on radar, but spotters had problems seeing it. Believe it or not, the track width on the F2 storm was measured at just over 9,000 feet wide, so it was actually a rather large footprint and much larger than the photo would indicate.
Our tornado season generally starts in April, and by July, most of the threat is over. But in those months, we are all used to what can happen and we always keep one eye on the sky. When the pesky things crop up in November, it catches everyone off-guard. Thankfully, no one was injured by either of last weekend's storms, but when the F3 hit the school, everyone said a prayer of thanks that it was a weekend and not a school-day. We already had a lot of bad headlines, we didn't need to add children into the mix.
It's funny, because when I was a child, this part of Illinois and Indiana was always known as 'Tornado Alley'. But here, the tornadoes tend to follow the river valleys a lot more, so they are always picking up huge amounts of water and don't look as large as the 'dry' tornadoes down in Oklahoma and Arkansas. The storm in the above photo was almost hidden from sight, before it got close, because it was rain-wrapped. They were seeing it on radar, but spotters had problems seeing it. Believe it or not, the track width on the F2 storm was measured at just over 9,000 feet wide, so it was actually a rather large footprint and much larger than the photo would indicate.
Our tornado season generally starts in April, and by July, most of the threat is over. But in those months, we are all used to what can happen and we always keep one eye on the sky. When the pesky things crop up in November, it catches everyone off-guard. Thankfully, no one was injured by either of last weekend's storms, but when the F3 hit the school, everyone said a prayer of thanks that it was a weekend and not a school-day. We already had a lot of bad headlines, we didn't need to add children into the mix.
fluidfloyd
Active Member
Like you Mike, I too grew up in part of Tornado Alley. I was in the center of West Tennessee in the town of Jackson. Once you left the city area it seemed as if everyone had storm shelters a short distance from their house. My Dad was in the National Guard and worked for the telephone company so he was called out every year for the surrounding area. I was working in Kansas when the big one hit Joplin, Mo. a few years ago. I would go though Joplin whenever I went home and I saw the damage first hand. Those folks really took a hard hit but with God's Blessing they have rebounded and are about back to normal other then the lives lost. In my case, I was very lucky. My shop sits on top of a mountain and either side of me are parallel revines. The main cell split into two smaller cells and ran up both of those revines. It appeared that we got hit with just the top of the tornadoes. Both revines looked looked like the paths of a B-52 strike. The twin cells rejoined as they came off the mountain and with full force hit the town of Mountain View. Was really incredible that the town only had one death. God was surely looking over us that day.
George
George
Mike
Well-Known Member
Ah, yes, the days of storm shelters. I grew up in a 2-bedroom National Home, built on a slab, so there was no basement to seek shelter. An elderly couple lived across the street and they built an above-ground shelter on the back side of their garage. I sat in that shelter more than a few times, back in the day. We had a near miss at Purdue, a few months back and I was upset they kept forcing me into the basement of the building, so I couldn't at least watch what was happening.
Have had my share of those.....Always remember December 1957 when one hit the school I was in, a second erased part of our woods, third crossed the road south of our farm at about the same time my mother was supposed to be driving home from her school teaching job and a fourth hit a small town about 10 miles away and killed some of my relatives......
The woods has had three more tornadoes go through the same spot since 1957....latest was 2008 in May.......actually 2 600 feet apart and side by side....or at least the pictures my neighbor has shows that...... that one was on the ground and up and down for over 20 miles
Second most scary was when I was towing my fuel dragster to a race at Motion Raceway south of Decatur, Il on a Saturday afternoon when one dropped out of the sky about 1/4 mile east of me. I was in the country so it just rearranged the rows of crops and stayed on the ground for about a mile.....that will make you need a BVD cleaning!
Last Sunday we were lucky...they wen all around us but none where I am....closest about 2 miles north and 3 miles south......
The woods has had three more tornadoes go through the same spot since 1957....latest was 2008 in May.......actually 2 600 feet apart and side by side....or at least the pictures my neighbor has shows that...... that one was on the ground and up and down for over 20 miles
Second most scary was when I was towing my fuel dragster to a race at Motion Raceway south of Decatur, Il on a Saturday afternoon when one dropped out of the sky about 1/4 mile east of me. I was in the country so it just rearranged the rows of crops and stayed on the ground for about a mile.....that will make you need a BVD cleaning!
Last Sunday we were lucky...they wen all around us but none where I am....closest about 2 miles north and 3 miles south......
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