1510 replies to this topic

[Hoosier]

Posting this here as it may become a story of national interest...

Obviously we have to wait for the survey but it looks like it may have been a violent tornado. The tornado appears to have tracked across the southern portion of the city and quite wide. It only happened a few hours ago and there are already reports of 24 deaths, but that number will probably rise.

Joplin has a population of about 50,000. This is the latest example of a major tornado striking a densely populated area, an all too frequent occurrence this year.

We have a member from Joplin by the name of JoMo. He was posting in the severe weather thread until the tornado approached. It is unclear whether he was hit but we have not heard from him since the tornado struck. Please keep him in your thoughts.

[Srain]

JoMo is one of the core members from the old Western sub forum on Eastern. Our thoughts are with those in Joplin tonight.

[rainstorm]

we must pray for him. i imagine power and internet service is out for most of the area. god bless everyone there.

[Cyclonicjunkie]

Hoping JoMo is OK

[MJW155]

Hopefully JoMo is OK.

This is going to be bad. Woman from Red Cross said on CNN 2 minutes ago she estimates 75% of the town is destroyed. TWC showed a fire out of control near the hospital.

[The Iceman]

does anyone have a screen cap of the cell as it approached? praying for all who were hit including JoMo. My cousin was hit by the Tuscaloosa storm and it is the worst feeling not knowing the outcome of loved ones following the aftermath.

[Srain]

CNN reports debris from St. John's Hospital in Joplin found 70 miles away...

Residents 70 miles away from Joplin in Dade County were finding X-rays from St. John's in their driveways, said Foreman, indicating the size and power of the twister.

http://www.cnn.com/2...hpt=T1&iref=BN1

[Ian]

Hopefully JoMo is OK.

This is going to be bad. Woman from Red Cross said on CNN 2 minutes ago she estimates 75% of the town is destroyed. TWC showed a fire out of control near the hospital.

Hopefully like most early reports that sound similar.. Wrong.

[HubbDave]

Good luck to those in the area

[k***]

all those storms are forming a nice squall line now over N AR/ S MO

[kab2791]

does anyone have a screen cap of the cell as it approached? praying for all who were hit including JoMo. My cousin was hit by the Tuscaloosa storm and it is the worst feeling not knowing the outcome of loved ones following the aftermath.

 joplin.PNG   275.04KB   11 downloads

[B-Rent]

I have friends there, power is out surrounding the town as well. AT&T wireless is unreliable. Verizon wireless is spotty. Home internet services are out.

Sent from my Thunderbolt.

[matthewweatherwatcher]

we must pray for him. i imagine power and internet service is out for most of the area. god bless everyone there.

Agree with you. We must pray for these poor people and hope for a fast recovery. May god comfort them.

[Pluffmud]

Praying that JoMo is safe. Yet another tornado with multiple fataliites. God bless all of those people affected there. What a terrible year for tornadoes!

[Hoosier]

[jburns]

That looks like a med evac chopper. Looks like a direct hit on the hospital for sure.

[BadgerWXman]

does anyone have a screen cap of the cell as it approached? praying for all who were hit including JoMo. My cousin was hit by the Tuscaloosa storm and it is the worst feeling not knowing the outcome of loved ones following the aftermath.

Here's the L2 scan... -105kts to 83kts wall to wall and rain wrapped.

 rad.png   321.77KB   8 downloads

[HurricaneJosh]

So, what's the expectation Re: intensity-- EF4?

A few of the damage pics have an EF4 look to them, with the homes really flattened and the trees stripped completely down to sticks. It definitely looks worse than EF3 to me in some places.

[BadgerWXman]

I'd bet my life savings that it's at least EF4... honestly wouldn't be surprised if it ended up EF5 after going through a lot of the raw video this morning on CBS newspath.

[irishbri74]

I'd bet my life savings that it's at least EF4... honestly wouldn't be surprised if it ended up EF5 after going through a lot of the raw video this morning on CBS newspath.

Absolutely. I would bet EF-4 as well. Tree's debarked, and basements(below grade) exposed are sone things that make me think that.

I've never seen cars so damaged. I mean, windows broken with hoods crunched from tree's falling on them. But this is something else. Cars look like they were taken out to a firing range and shot to shreads . I guess the duration , being such a wide tornado, would account for that.

[NE Balti Zen]

Just glancing at headlines on msnbc and they are noting the current death toll at 89. Which is, obviously, horrifying.

Not a religious person, but will hold a thought for JoMo and all others there.

[CandymanColumbusGA]

http://www.cbsnews.c...n20065247.shtml

Here's an article stating the death toll being at 89.

[HurricaneJosh]

Reuters has that figure as well. So it's the deadliest single American tornado since Udall, KS, in 1955? We already hit that milestone this year, didn't we?

[HurricaneJosh]

2011 is having a very "1953" feel to it-- with multiple incidents of violent tornadoes hitting decent-sized cities and extracting large death tolls.

[CoastalWx]

2011 is having a very "1953" feel to it-- with multiple incidents of violent tornadoes hitting decent-sized cities and extracting large death tolls.

I can't believe how many casualties this took...yet again. Just an awful, awful year.

[NE Balti Zen]

I can't believe how many casualties this took...yet again. Just an awful, awful year.

Sounds like, anecdotally, this one caught a lot of folks there off guard. Makes sense, Sunday night, people maybe less likely to be near a TV or the internet, family stuff going on, just not clued in to the approaching danger. Sounded like that from at least a few of the interviews I caught this morning while flipping around the dial. Saw one mention that this cell kind of "blew up" from not much to that over a short time period. If so, maybe that added to the surprise factor. Have not had a chance to go back and look at the maps of it as it developed yet and god knows how reliable the reports are on the major news stations, but that was some of the soundbites I caught.

[weatherwiz]

Wow...this is the deadliest single tornado since the Worcester tornado of '53 which had a deal toll of 90. Just sad.

[gymengineer]

With the AL outbreak, there was the talk of the early morning severe weather knocking out power and therefore leaving parts of the population vunerable to not getting enough warning in the late afternoon tornadoes.
Especially with that outbreak still fresh in everyone's minds, having this massive death toll yet again just seems unreal. I'm sure it will come out in the NWS Service Assessment as to "why" it happened here, but F4's and F5's going across downtowns have not been accompanied by this type of death toll since the tornado warning system really got established. 1966- Both Jackson MS and Topeka, Kansas had F5's through the cities, with the Topeka one pretty much through downtown-- 19 died in the Jackson area and 16 died in the Topeka tornado. 1970- Lubbock, TX had an F5 go through downtown, including having a skyscraper in its path. There were 28 deaths there. 1979- Wichita Falls, TX, had the massive F4 mow through the city-- 42 deaths.
Maybe here, there were special circumstances, like a large amount of fatalities in one building-- we'll see if a lot of the deaths happened in the hospital itself.

[HurricaneJosh]

With the AL outbreak, there was the talk of the early morning severe weather knocking out power and therefore leaving parts of the population vunerable to not getting enough warning in the late afternoon tornadoes.
Especially with that outbreak still fresh in everyone's minds, having this massive death toll yet again just seems unreal. I'm sure it will come out in the NWS Service Assessment as to "why" it happened here, but F4's and F5's going across downtowns have not been accompanied by this type of death toll since the tornado warning system really got established. 1966- Both Jackson MS and Topeka, Kansas had F5's through the cities, with the Topeka one pretty much through downtown-- 19 died in the Jackson area and 16 died in the Topeka tornado. 1970- Lubbock, TX had an F5 go through downtown, including having a skyscraper in its path. There were 28 deaths there. 1979- Wichita Falls, TX, had the massive F4 mow through the city-- 42 deaths.
Maybe here, there were special circumstances, like a large amount of fatalities in one building-- we'll see if a lot of the deaths happened in the hospital itself.

That's a great point-- that these other "warning-era" urban tornadoes didn't kill anywhere near as many people as these 2011 events. I didn't even think of that.

Re: the hospital... It's beaten up, but the actual structure looks to be intact, based on the images I've seen.

[Quakertown needs snow]

Thoughts and prayers to the people Joplin

[Srain]

Memories of the (1953) Waco, TX tornado come to mind as well. Thoughts continue for JoMo and all those in the path.

[mayjawintastawm]

I was on a small commercial flight about 30 miles north of Joplin when everything was going down last evening... worst turbulence I've ever experienced, though it was probably only high-end moderate/low-end severe. The flight attendants were starting to look at each other and stuff was starting to bounce around, then we were through it. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone there... terrible.

[OHSnow]

So, what's the expectation Re: intensity-- EF4?

A few of the damage pics have an EF4 look to them, with the homes really flattened and the trees stripped completely down to sticks. It definitely looks worse than EF3 to me in some places.

Looks EF5 to me... I helped clean up after an EF4 last year and it wasn't even close to as bad as the images I've seen from this one.

[HurricaneJosh]

Looks EF5 to me... I helped clean up after an EF4 last year and it wasn't even close to as bad as the images I've seen from this one.

Hmmm. Can you share the images that look EF5 to you? Curious to see!

[Ellinwood]

Hmmm. Can you share the images that look EF5 to you? Curious to see!

This.

I haven't seen anything indicative of an EF-5 yet... should be able to get some quick shots in this morning before the next storm rolls through.