JoMo

Here is my story of the historic May 22nd, 2011 Joplin tornado.

1pm: I am outside and working on getting the boat de winterized for the season. However, I was amazed at how warm and windy it was. I saw the big puffy cumulus clouds and I just had a thought, get on the computer and see what is going on. I knew we had a severe threat for that day, but I wasn't watching it very closely as it was my day off. So I go inside and look at the set-up. We were in a moderate risk for severe weather and the airmass was extremely unstable. We were pushing 6000 joules on cape which is very high. I though I better finish up the boat quickly and tarp and get it put back up fast before any storms decide to blow up. I call meteorologist Brian Davis (our weekend meteorologist) and tell him to get into work now, you need to watch these storms as they blow up.

1:40pm facebook post.

Extremely unstable airmass. Tornado watch is in effect with extremely strong supercells blowing over the next couple of hours. The main threat is large hail and strong tornadoes. Looks like I better go to work.

3pm: Arrive at work with a severe thunderstorm warning in eastern Wilson county and western Labette county KS. I continue to watch these storms closely.

4pm: Tornado warning out for eastern Labette county as funnel clouds are being reported. The storm continues to sink slowly to the SE.

5pm: Tornado warning continue for eastern Cherokee county KS. The storm is getting ready to move into the western metro of the Joplin area. At this time I call my wife who lives in the northern metro area. I tell her to keep her phone near her. We have a plan on what to do if a tornado approaches my home. My house got hit in the Carl Junction tornado in 2003, so I have always figured out a plan on how to keep my family safe. I tell my wife I will ONLY call you if your in the direct path of the storm.

5:30pm: Confirmed reports of funnel clouds east of Galena and the western side of Joplin. I go to wall to wall coverage. But I have no idea what is about to happen.

5:45pm: Still wall to wall coverage with confirmed reports of a tornado on the SW side of Joplin. I continue with my wall to wall showing the radar and in pinpointed where I thin the tornado maybe. We start using tower cam at 7th and Rangeline and looking back to the west southwest. However, from our angle the tornado is rain rapped. I can't see the monster wedge working through. I continue with the tornado warnings.

5:50pm: I can see glimpses of the wedge tornado on our tower cam. At this time it is approaching main and 20th street. I know it is doing damage, but I didn't know to what extent. At this time we weren't getting any reports in on what it was doing. All I knew was it was tearing through down and we were getting some damage.

5:55pm: Debre is being picked up on our tower cam as the tornado smashes into Rangeline road. At this point I realize this is a major tornado doing massive damage across the Joplin metro. our tower cam goes out as it looses power as the tornado passes Rangeline. I continue the wall to wall coverage of the tornado passing through the city. Still at this point in time I know it has done damage, but I still don't know to what extent.

6:05pm: I continue with the coverage and watching the hook on the radar very close to the 249 and I-44 intersection. I remember thinking this massive tornado is going to go right across the interstate. I get some damage reports in of power polls down on the west side of Joplin. Next report says some house structures damaged. So I knew we had damage but again I still didn't know how bad it was going to be. My mentor Bryan Busby try's to call me from Kansas City. He is seeing if I am ok and trying to get info from me to get out on the news in Kansas City.

6:20pm: Tornado warning continue for eastern Jasper and northern Newton County. Also Barry county as it is now just dropping some brief smaller tornados in Barry county. I am continuing to stay on air and go over these storms and give the damage reports that are coming in. At this time I knew St. Johns took a hard hit. I report that houses are gone and people are trapped in their homes. Also at this time I get reports in of Rangeline hard hit and 40 cars and semi's flipped on I-44. This is when it hit me that this is going to become a historic event.

7pm: We still have numerous severe thunderstorm warning across the region. I continue the coverage with our severe thunderstorm warnings and reporting the damage reports. Everyone is in at the station now helping out. Dowe is getting ready to come down to the studio so we can tag team this event. He goes over damage and I go over what is going on at that time and what has happened. I get a call from my wife saying she find her sister. She asked me if she was in the path. I told her yes, her house probably got hit. I also find out at least 5 people at our work went through the tornado, but are unaccounted for at that time.

7:30pm: Severe thunderstorms continue. Dowe and I are still on air giving the lastest damage reports. This is the time we get in a number of 24 dead. I remember thinking during the May 4th, 2003 outbreak with 3 EF-4 or 5 tornadoes that ripped through the viewing area at the same time, we lost 22 people. Now just under 2 hours after this tornado hit Joplin, the death toll was already higher than that. Finally my sister in law is found. She was not home when the tornado hit. I find out that 8 people at work got hit by the tornado and at least one is injured. My phone is over loaded with family calling to see if we are all right. I send a brief face book message out saying "I am ok, my family is ok. Very busy at work and I will get back to you all later."

10pm: Dowe and I continue are live coverage and we now know the full effect of what has happened. We both sit in disbelief as we are reporting this massive historic tornado and what it did.

Sunday May 22nd, 2011 with never leave my mind. This is the second tornado to hit the Joplin metro in 8 years. I knew that day was going to be a big day by looking at how unstable the atmosphere was. That is why I decided to go to work on that Sunday afternoon. I remember once I got into work thinking how similar this is to May 4th, 2003. It was warm and very windy with high dewpoints and just sticky outside. Just like on May 4th. It was a Sunday afternoon, just like May 4th. When I got to work I looked at the TV and saw that golf was playing on KOAM, just like May 4th.

This tornado had plenty of warning lead time. We had numerous tornado warnings as it working into the metro area. However, this storm was mainly producing just funnel clouds. The problem here is we saw this storm produce a funnel cloud to a major tornado in about 1 minute of time. And it just happened to drop in west Joplin. I feel like I did everything I could. I knew 5 weeks in advance that we would have a good chance for severe weather on that day by using my long range forecasting pattern. But I can't tell that far in advance that large tornadoes are possible. A few days out I can tell that we could have some tornadoes. Once Sunday rolled around, that is when I know strong tornadoes are very possible in our viewing area. It just happened to strike a highly populated area.

The past two weeks have been kind of a blur. I feel so bad for everyone that was effected by this terrible event. I live and breath weather. I love winter storms, I love severe weather and I love to watch tornadoes. But when a tornado does damage and takes peoples life, it makes me sick to my stomach. My thoughts and prayers go out to everybody effected.

So what can we do? The most important thing is know when severe weather is possible. Pay attention to the weather on those days. Get weathercall. This is a produce that is only $7 dollars per year and will call your cell phone if you are in the direct path of the storm. Plus we have a business weathercall that lets you know if your business is in the path. Also for smart phone users, no matter where you are located if you cell phone signal is in the path of a storm you will get a call. When we have tornado warnings, take them seriously. I know that 9 out of 10 times they are usually funnel clouds or very weak tornadoes. The that one time will also get you. You have to look at each warning like this is the the one.

Thanks for writing that. I've been looking through the radar archive and SPC mesoanalysis. Just looks like everything came together just right.

http://www.riversidemo.com/police/officer-jeff-taylor-passes-away

Police officer that was struck by lightning on May 23rd while helping in Joplin died this morning.

NWS team is coming to see how people responded to the warning and how they survived.

"Low end EF-5" was described several times in this article.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1517687342/Joplin-tornado-to-prompt-research

Just found this Emergency Services Audio of the event. I'm fairly certain that this is JASCO (Jasper County) and Newton County. I'm just now listening to it so I don't know what all is said.

I hope everyone is doing ok. I have tried to keep up with the thread but it has been crazy down here. My family is all ok. 8 people from my work are homeless. Also my wife lost her job as the business was lost. It has been crazy. I have some great videos from our several tower cams I will have to post. I was at work during the whole event. In fact I came in around 3pm. I posted on my facebook at 2pm that I have a bad feeling, well that came true. I did wall to wall through the event as it tracked through the city. I am just very upset and mad that we lost 140 people. I keep asking could I have done more?

Doug Heady

One of the last things I remember was you on TV, circling a strong area of rotation on the western side of Joplin. Of course then the power flickered a couple of times and I headed to the closet since I heard the rumbling sound before the power did go out.

It was bad because it developed just west of Joplin and had not been on the ground that long. With the Picher, OK tornado or other tornadoes and severe thunderstorms, we usually get reports of the storm on the ground from over in Kansas or Oklahoma. Since this developed just west of Joplin, it was hard to warn people early on since it was just forming when it was entering Joplin.

Another thing was just the strength of the tornado. I wasn't expecting that strong of a tornado and I'm pretty sure I may not be here if the tornado had hit 3 blocks closer.

Well that is just awful. At least they have accounted for all the missing and that uncertainty is gone.

I hope this is not too morbid or out of line, but does this mean that when they said they had 142 dead, that some of those remains turned out to be the same person? I am just asking because they kept specifically saying that they had 142 sets of remains, and now it is officialy 134 dead?

With the horrific descriptions from the survivor's stories that you have posted, I could see how that could happen. I do not envy the people who had to deal with doing the identifications.

Hopefully this closure is one of many that will help Joplin move forward from this historic tragedy.

I believe so. They said there were 146 remains but I guess some of those belonged to the same people.

There's a memorial page that was started for those that died.

http://joplinmemorial.com/

Final death toll is officially 134. Everyone on the missing list has been accounted for.

There's a website that will change as the needs change, it's an informational website if you want to donate, or send stuff etc. It's endorsed by the City of Joplin.

http://rebuildjoplin.org/

Kinda disagree that having weather saavy would make a difference at that moment..

I remember following the thread on this board at the time.

No one was really paying attention to Joplin as tornadoes possibilities were occurring elsewhere.

This storm quickly formed and produced one of the most destructive tornadoes right in a populated area.

It is not something anyone could predict, immediately even.

A very unique, tragic and unpredictable event.

Yeah, I wasn't even prepared for it. I thought we may have some wind or a weak tornado but I wasn't expecting an EF-5. It was rain wrapped as well so some people would have had a hard time seeing it, although I was 3 blocks away and could definitely hear it inside with the TV on even.

The one thing I just remembered now is the power dimming two or three times before I heard the rumbling and the eventual loss of power once it was wiped out about 3 streets away.

The people at the news stations weren't taking it that seriously either since the tornado sirens go off all the time. (and they are tested every Monday at 10:00 AM if the weather is sunny).

Here's a news story on how the media reacted here:

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/2011/05/31/51571/tv-mobilized-as-routine-turned-to-disaster

Jeremiah Cook is not a meteorologist as indicated in the story though. He's the weekend weatherman and doesn't seem to know that much about weather.

I did not have power when the tornado warned storm came through on Tuesday evening/night. I didn't rely on NOAA Weather radio because their updates are not very timely. Instead I listened to the radio station that did a great job in describing where the rotation was and the direction the storms were moving. They even had the Emergency Manager call in and describe what was happening and why the sirens were sounding. The siren for my neighborhood was lost in the tornado so it was replaced with a mobile siren that performed well. The siren went off a second time and the Emergency Manager was called again and he said it was for straight line winds of 75 MPH. It's policy to sound the sirens when 75 MPH winds are expected in the city.

List of missing is down to 10 names now.

690 pets have been found and some have been reunited with 191 families. Those are the pictures that bring a tear to my eye, seeing people so happy to find their lost pets.

Here's another link with before/after pics.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/before-after-pictures-of-joplin-missouri

Federal Gov't is going to pick up 90% of the tab for expedited debris removal.

Some more before/after pictures since those seem to have a lot of impact and help people understand what the area looked like before it was destroyed. It looks so bare without the trees. This isn't my video.

I saw this the other day. A bank was destroyed and all that was left was the vault.

Saw this story about a UA student who lives in Joplin and was in Tuscaloosa at college and the tornado missed her by about 3 blocks. She drove home to Joplin and 3 weeks later, the tornado here missed her by 3 blocks as well.

http://www.tuscaloos...03/1007?p=1&tc=

There was also a local news story on a man who lived in Racine, MO and lost his wife in the Picher, OK storm when it moved into that area. He moved to Joplin with his daughter and rode out this storm in one of those twister safe tornado shelters. His house was destroyed but the shelter survived.

There's still 2 people missing in that area, as well as some deaths, the ones missing may actually be from one of the houses in one of the before/after pictures I've made below even :-\

I'm fairly certain these are the right houses as I've matched them up based on driveway location and the concrete steps in the first picture. The before are from Google a few years ago, and the after were taken from that video I linked.

This was just down the street from that one.

I should add that my ex-gf's house was about 3 houses down from here but the video cut out before it reached where she lived. She's fine but was busy getting a new social security card and a car since hers is gone, so we didn't talk about much the other day. She had a contusion, and some other medical jargon that I didn't catch but I hope to hear what she went through here in a few days if she's willing to talk about it since she was basically right in the exact path according to the NWS track.

That list made my stomach upset. Numerous instances of two family members and at least one instance "Howard" of three family members. Looking at the video you took, where the hell do you start? When there is no neighborhood left, where do you start to rebuild?

It isn't my video, it's one I found online. The video starts in the area Obama toured actually, over by Franklin Tech and Joplin High School. He was on the same street. The guy taking the video turned right on to Missouri street. That entire area is destroyed so he could have taken that video anywhere over there and it would have looked like that. I don't know if people are going to rebuild in some areas or not. All I know is that it won't ever look the same.

I saw a post today that they are doing the 5th and final sweep. Where the heck are these 100 missing people?

They are doing 6 sweeps. The number of missing is down to 29 or so.

http://dps.mo.gov/news/template.asp?ID=N01110015

Ah, OK. That makes sense. Thanks.

So you were in the yellow zone but you feel like you had EF0? Even that, though. D*mn. It's just nuts how close it passed to you-- maybe the strongest tornado in modern U.S. history. You must be having serious gratitude, dude.

Actually, it's kind of mixed emotions. I'm glad it wasn't 3 blocks closer, but at the same time, I feel bad for those involved. Hearing all the stories is incredibly saddening as is seeing the destruction of places you have known all your life. It's amazing to see the power of mother nature but it's extremely sad to consider that some people lost all they had, and some people lost loved ones. The sheer terror that people must have experienced as they heard windows breaking, wood splintering, and having their houses collapse around them.The stories are just terrible to hear. There are children that they can't identify in other hospitals around the area. There was a 4 year old whose parents were killed and they didn't know who she was. The story of an elderly lady found dead in her closet still clutching her bible. I'm sure you heard it was graduation night for Joplin High Schoolers and many were just starting their lives. I'm pretty sure everyone has heard of Will Norton. The recent graduate was on his way home with his dad and was sucked or thrown out the sunroof of his dad's car, he was found in a pond.

I also just saw the story of a mother that was killed when she was going to pick up pizza for her son's graduation party. They had found her car which had been damaged, the roof and seat headrest were missing, the seat belt was still buckled and there was a shoe on the dashboard. They didn't find their mom in the car, but they got a call last night that said she had been found.

I mean, could you imagine that? Could you imagine being so happy because you just graduated and then having that all ripped away in a couple of minutes? I don't think I can.... I can't really imagine that.

Wow. That is just crazy. I can see how these places become unrecognizable to you. Without even the trees, there are just about zero visual cues to help you make the connection.

I noticed on the contour map-- the one we were discussing so vigorously this morning-- that the tornado passed just S of downtown and might have grazed it. Did the downtown area have any damage from inflow winds or anything?

I don't believe so. The inflow damage is probably marked in the EF-1 area, there may be a bit more surrounding that area but it's probably very minor. They probably received debris falling.

the end of that video is overwhelmingly disturbing..hard to believe anyone survived in that area honestly.

There's still 2 people missing in that area, as well as some deaths, the ones missing may actually be from one of the houses in one of the before/after pictures I've made below even :-\

I'm fairly certain these are the right houses as I've matched them up based on driveway location and the concrete steps in the first picture. The before are from Google a few years ago, and the after were taken from that video I linked.

This was just down the street from that one.

This was the video I posted the other day. I'm pretty sure this entire area is in the EF-5 damage swath. The #'s on the building are 2201 Grand Ave. He hangs a right on Missouri Ave. These were all well built wood structures that were probably 30+ years old. There are a couple of the house frames left standing but some were leveled completely.

I see JoMo lurking. JoMo, were you in one of the colored areas? If so, which one?

EF-1, however I'd say it was more like EF-0.

I don't think it's a continuous EF-5 damage path, but there are sporadic EF-5 damages in that area. There will be a home still standing out in the middle of a bunch of homes that are flattened.

I was looking for a video I saw the other day where the guy drives down the EF-5 area in the residential area by the high school. I'll probably find that in a little bit.

I found this one which has EF-4, EF-5 damage. I did not listen to this video with sound so I don't know what was said.

This is taken on 26th street around Wall, Joplin, Pearl, heading west. The first building you see is Irving Elementary. A brick building that was built in 1927. After that you see a power substation which has been rebuilt already by the electric company. At around 20 seconds you see the remains of another brick building. I believe this was poorly constructed and also ancient though. This is probably really close to the EF-5 on the map. At around 27 seconds there's another brick building that belong to St. Mary's church which you can see in the back, it's a much newer construction and it was destroyed. Around 32 seconds after the dump trucks, you can see the remains of the Greenbriar nursing home (it's leveled). From there, there are numerous businesses that are destroyed and duplex that I can't seem to find on the video.

Here is the actual warning text, for reference.

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO

542 PM CDT SUN MAY 22 2011

MOC097-222300-

/O.CON.KSGF.TO.W.0030.000000T0000Z-110522T2300Z/

JASPER MO-

542 PM CDT SUN MAY 22 2011

...A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 600 PM CDT FOR CENTRAL

JASPER COUNTY...

...A TORNADO WARNING ALSO REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL FOR NORTHERN

NEWTON...SOUTHEAST CHEROKEE COUNTY...AND SOUTHERN JASPER COUNTIES...

AT 538 PM CDT...TRAINED WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO NEAR

JOPLIN...OR 6 MILES NORTHEAST OF GALENA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE AIRPORT DRIVE...ALBA...ATLAS...BROOKLYN

HEIGHTS...CARL JUNCTION...CARTERVILLE...LAKESIDE...NECK CITY...

NORTHEASTERN JOPLIN...OAKLAND PARK...ORONOGO...PURCELL AND WEBB CITY.

INTERSTATE 44 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 13 AND 18 WILL ALSO BE IMPACTED BY

THIS TORNADO.

IN ADDITION TO A TORNADO...THIS STORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE

DAMAGING HAIL UP TO BASEBALL SIZE.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM CDT SUNDAY EVENING FOR

SOUTHEAST KANSAS AND SOUTHERN MISSOURI.

&&

LAT...LON 3725 9462 3727 9434 3717 9432 3708 9430

3711 9462

TIME...MOT...LOC 2241Z 240DEG 38KT 3713 9451

HAIL 2.75IN

$

Thanks, I just found it. Yes, that warning is very wrong. I wonder what happened? All those locations are north or well north of the actual touchdown and eventual track. Were they looking at a different area?

The one before that was more correct at 5:39.

I'm not saying it would have mattered either way since the tornado was already on the ground and you could hear it or it was moving through the city.

I just noticed something. This was quoted from the Severe thread as the tornado was happening. I'm not sure if there are archived tornado warnings somewhere.

This looks bad

AT 538 PM CDT...TRAINED WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO NEAR

JOPLIN...OR 6 MILES NORTHEAST OF GALENA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

See 6 miles NE of Galena?

Now check out the map on this page showing where the first point of touchdown was.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/sgf/?n=event_2011may22_summary

It's actually SE of E of Galena.

Hey JoMo, A little late to the game but. Glad to see you are alive and for the most part ok. Don't know if you remember but I talked to you during the winter when you guys got walloped. My Mom moved out there from Ft. Lauderdale a little over a year ago. Your obs. match up excatly to hers. She lives up off of W Zora and said as you travel south things get worse & worse block by block. She had just finished eating at the Golden Corral on Range Line when I called her to let her know of the Warning. She got home as fast as possible & less than a minute or two after she got in the house her yard was covered with golf ball to baseball size hail. She took a less traveled way home yesterday (in the damage area) and was worried she was lost. She says after the initial shock. The will & the strenght of the comm. have her in awe. She really feels at home in Joplin and no plans to leave. I guess one of the few positives about such a tragic event like this is that people like her have a new found respect for the violent side of mother nature. I no longer will have to call her and inform her of a weather warning. I don't have to bug her to have her "annoying little weather radio" set up next to her bed. For her and others I am truly happy. Thoughts & Prayers for the less fortunate not only in Joplin but, all around the country.

Thanks and yeah I do remember that, and remembered that your mother lived here. We've experienced an EF-5 tornado and a record breaking blizzard with 19" of snow all within 4 months.I didn't experience any hail here at all, just the inflow winds to the tornado and a little bit of rain. I know some people that already mentioned they aren't staying after this and they are going back to Michigan. So.. wouldn't you know it they have tornado warnings up there today!?

It's very easy to get lost due to nothing looking like it once did. It all just kind of feels like a dream. It's going to take forever to clean all this up and once it's cleaned up it's going to look really bare. Everything has to be sorted out and looked through to make sure no body parts are in the wreckage. It's getting hot here now and everything is really going to start smelling. One thing I noticed was how close things look now. You can see things a long ways off and everything just looks like it's really close because you couldn't see it before due to the trees and houses. The area from Main street to Indiana street looks like it's about 2 blocks because you can see everything due to all the destruction.

I don't know about people taking the warnings seriously. I'm sure those who were in the effected area may be a little bit more skittish and the general population may worry about it for awhile, but I think that due to us receiving so many warnings, people will once again get used to it. A lot of people were just used to nothing really happening or they'd go and sit in the closet for 10 minutes, wait for the storm to pass, then go back to whatever they were doing before. Now some of those people don't have closets.

About one week ago from today I posted this at 5:27 PM

"Pitch black out, couplet nearly on me... Joplin, MO"

After I posted that, I had enough time to shut down my desktop computer, look outside to the west and see the lowering and look at the base velocity again on my laptop before I heard the rumbling.

2 minutes later:

Geez. Easy to see how one can become disoriented after a major tornado like this.

Blurry picture since traffic was moving, there were a lot of police around that were stopping people and traffic was moving at this time but became backed up in places as well. I could have taken more pictures but camera battery was low, people were there trying to find belongings, and it all basically looked just like this. Every now and then there was a house that made it or you could tell it had been a house. I believe Pres. Obama was in this same neighborhood today.

People made signs that said "Gawkers, put down your cameras and help!!" I saw signs that said "Looters will be shot". I saw "For Rent" and "For Sale" signs that people had put up as a joke. There was a sign that pointed to a bucket that said "$15 for a picture" so I didn't really want them to know I was snapping pics because it does seem somewhat disrespectful but at the same time I wanted to capture the carnage that happened.

Basically it all looks like this in the neighborhoods with the most damage. Just blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks of this.

Shot of Home Depot. It looks like shredded cheese.

Traffic was backed up and I saw this mattress in a tree so I took a pic of it while I was waiting. This is the Hampshire Terrace apartments over by Dillons. These were 2 story apartments. In some areas the first story was still there but not the second.