cyclone77

Don't think this vid has been posted yet. Kind of a different perspective from south of the tornado. The vid owner said he lives just south of Charlies Chicken, which I checked and is on E32nd street. The tornado missed him by several blocks to the north.

At the beginning of the video it looks pretty benign, but after about the 1:40 mark you start to see power flashes to the west-northwest. By the end of the video there's multiple power flashes, and a faint roar can be heard to the distant west. You can also see the RFD core heading right at them.

Joplin High School Demolition started today after delays due to a a flooded basement and asbestos abatement. Still waiting on the hospital demolition due to asbestos issues.

Pics from KZRG:

http://www.facebook.com/NewsTalkKZRG

I take it you went to high school there? That has to be surreal to see that being torn down.

Not sure if anyone has seen this video.

An 18-wheeler drives drives right into the tornado. He's lucky since the tornado had weaken to an EF2 when it crossed the interstate.

Wow, that was crazy. You can see how the rain wrapping around the tornado blocked it from view. As soon as he punched through the wrapping rain curtains there was basically just a wall of black there inside the hook.

What on earth are you talking about? The tornado was on the ground for several miles past the city.

My bad. The map I had ( http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/tornado-damage-swath-joplin_2011-05-24 )showed the track ending on the southeast side of Joplin. I didn't realize it continued on that far as I was only focusing on Joplin. Thanks for pointing out my error.

Good evening,

Today was mainly cloudy but less cool than yesterday with temperatures of 3.1C for the low, and 15.4C for the high.

Here are some pictures I took this afternoon:

We have now 10.2C, tomorrow should be mainly cloudy and cool, but weather conditions should be better for the rest of the week.

Ciao !

Very nice pics man! Makes me really look forward to October down here.

You're a pro cyclone77, lol. I can't remember who it was, but someone on here analyzed that video in post #1031 and found the intersections that the different shots were taken at. He has his blog in his sig but I can't remember who it was.

Here's a new one I found a couple of days ago, not sure where it's at.

NOTE THIS VIDEO HAS CUSSING, and towards the end, a 'rescue' at Hampshire Terrace apartments.

He's just north of the intersection of Indiana Ave and East 17th Street. He's basically at that intersection at the beginning of the vid, and then retreats to the house north of the one on the corner.

With Google Earth I also scanned a bit southwest of where the NWS placed the formation of the tornado (at JJ HWY and Newton Road) and found several uprooted trees west of John Duffy Drive. They're all uprooted, and laying towards the northeast. This was probably either caused by a circulation passing just north of that location, or from the initial RFD that slammed down into that area just southwest of the forming vorticies. The Google Earth images are dated June 7, 2011, so this would explain why the foliage on the uprooted trees is brown.

I'm pretty sure I found the location of the chase video that shows the formation of the tornado shot from the north. The chasers are driving south with the formation of the multiple vortex tornado to their due south. In the video around the 10 second mark you see them approach a railroad crossing. There's only one north/south road with a railroad crossing that would line up with the formation of the tornado, and that is on South Central City Road. This road actually turns into JJ HWY south of the tracks, and the NWS places the formation of the tornado at the intersection of JJ HWY and Newton Road.

cyclone77, I found the hi-rez NOAA image version of the West 30th and south Eiler quite interesting. The area you have highlighted is in the top left portion of the image. EF1 damage occurred there with EF2 damage south of there, although by looking at the image, it appears a couple of homes may have been destroyed. As you progress east along the top of the image you can see the tree fell pattern is more chaotic then it was once the tornado had reached the mature stage. Around the top center of the image, you can see a cell phone tower that was pushed over, just north of the tower, you can very clearly see a tight circular tree fell pattern.

http://ngs.woc.noaa....00e4102500n.jpg

And this is the link to the E24 and Meadow Lane image. They were very close.

http://ngs.woc.noaa....00e4105000n.jpg

Those are some amazing images. The cell phone tower portion is very interesting. Looks like one of the strong multiple vorticies passed just north of the fallen tower. It had fallen to the northeast, while just a few hundred yards to the north the uprooted trees blew over towards the west.

The E24 and Meadow Lane image looks like it was snapped earlier than the image I posted yesterday, as the uprooted tree in the cameraman's backyard hadn't been cut up yet.

A couple of vids I stumbled across that were posted on May 23th after the tornado that I haven't seen before. These two vids capture the formation in the Cedar Ridge area in SW Joplin, which was the first area hit.

.... Not sure which direction this was taken.

You can see debris flying and hitting the window but no condensation funnel yet. Was this basically forming right over them?

I found this location as well. This was filmed at the corner of West 30th Street and South Eiler Ave. These guys got very lucky, as just a few houses to the south were severely damaged and destroyed. It's amazing that the tornado was capable of that type of damage so quickly.

I can't locate where this video was shot and the person that uploaded it hasn't been on youtube for 2 months. I know about 36 seconds in there is a close lightning strike, the same one heard on the video shot near me, but the actual tornado doesn't arrive at that location until about a minute later.

This is the aftermath of the house and neighborhood in that video right after the tornado.

It took me awhile, but I was finally able to locate where the video was shot. The unique dead end road with the two driveways at the north end helped quite a bit. The pine tree that was left also helped.

These guys were pretty close to the end of the tornado, and probably would have been missed if it hadn't curved east-southeast before lifting. I'm still amazed at how quickly it went from destroying house after house to no damage at all.

EDIT: I should also note that the map incorrectly continues 24th Street right through the cameraman's garage lol. 24th Street actually has a break in it there, and continues behind the cameraman's residence.

EDIT #2: I forgot to mention another thing I noticed in the two videos. In the first video the cameraman pans to the right (northwest), and you notice a little white car parked in front of a house. In the aftermath video when he pans over in that direction you see the same white car in the same exact position, yet the house is GONE.

I can't locate where this video was shot and the person that uploaded it hasn't been on youtube for 2 months. I know about 36 seconds in there is a close lightning strike, the same one heard on the video shot near me, but the actual tornado doesn't arrive at that location until about a minute later.

This is the aftermath of the house and neighborhood in that video right after the tornado.

Wow, unfortunately it looks like they received quite a bit of damage there. In the aftermath video you can see the sun setting in the direction the camera was pointing at in the beginning of the first video. This tells us the winds were blowing from the south as the tornado approached, and more than likely means they were probably on the southern side of the swath. Judging by the fact the tornado was very loud for a few minutes before it arrived makes me believe this was shot after the tornado had achieved an enormous size. If I were to guess I'd estimate he was somewhere southeast of you just on the other side of the damage swath. I'm glad it appears that his family and the surrounding neighbors made it through okay.

EDIT: Another thing I noticed in the first video was the surprising amount of CG activity very close to when the tornado arrives. I remember seeing a video from a chase group that was heading south through the city that also shows CGs hitting on the outer edges of the wrapping rain curtains that encircled the tornado. This is a near perfect example of what a strong HP supercell is capable of. I believe the Plainfield Illinois F5 was probably very similar in appearance, as it too was totally wrapped in rain.

Here's sort of an interesting sequence of videos all shot by the same person. This is between 29th and 30th Street on South Brownwell Ave. He was a few blocks south of the main damage swath, but according to some of the damage maps I looked at he's considered to be on the southern edge of the damage swath. In the third video you see all kinds of small debris on his street, and can clearly hear the rain-rapped tornado roaring to his north.

Most of the time he's filming towards the east....

A couple of vids I stumbled across that were posted on May 23th after the tornado that I haven't seen before. These two vids capture the formation in the Cedar Ridge area in SW Joplin, which was the first area hit.

.... Not sure which direction this was taken.

You can see debris flying and hitting the window but no condensation funnel yet. Was this basically forming right over them?

The above two vids were actually shot by the same person. Apparently his house suffered some damage as well, as he shot this aftermath video. Looks like his neighbors just up the road had considerable more damage.

A couple of vids I stumbled across that were posted on May 23th after the tornado that I haven't seen before. These two vids capture the formation in the Cedar Ridge area in SW Joplin, which was the first area hit.

.... Not sure which direction this was taken.

You can see debris flying and hitting the window but no condensation funnel yet. Was this basically forming right over them?

Not sure where this was taken, but these people almost waited too long to take shelter. You can see just how dark it got before the tornado arrived, I can't confirm where this was at but you can hear glass breaking and everything.

EDIT:

Tornado shelters dominate Joplin's rebuilding plans

"When it was over, Jake climbed the ladder, opened the door and looked outside. “It’s gone,” he said. “The house?” asked his mother in law. “The neighborhood,” he answered. "

Some amazing videos right there. In the top vid it looks like he's shooting west, as the tornado begins to take shape just to his southwest towards the end. He was probably narrowly missed just to the south.

That last video is absolutely astonishing to me. I can't believe how long they waited to go inside the house. That roar was downright terrifying, and that's just me sitting behind the computer monitor. Can't imagine what that would have been like in person. I'm guessing they must have been on the southern edge of the tornado, as it appears they sustained more of a moderate brand of damage based on what I can tell towards the end of the vid. Also, it appears you can see the left (southern) edge of the tornado right before they head indoors. The sky is noticeably brighter behind the trees to the left.

Thanks for all the pictures. It's amazing how quickly some of the trees sprung back to life. Even though the landscape still looks barren, it seems a lot more upbeat with most of the debris removed. It's starting to look more like a giant construction site now than a scene of a huge disaster. They've made amazing progress down there.

I'm still thinking the supercell that was in the process of merging with the Jopin supercell from the south helped enhance the meso of the Joplin supercell.

Don't know if this video was posted or not. This must have been on the northern edge of the tornado, as it says the camera's pointing north.

Franklin Tech was a brick building right across from the high school. There's nothing left of it now. I think the bricks are about ankle high. It was used to help determine the EF-5 rating.

I just read that 139 are now dead.

The amount of force it would take to destroy a well built brick building like that is just unfathomable.

I suspected it was the interaction with the northern cells, perhaps they produced an OFB that the southern cell merged and traveled on that boundary. That would be why the HRRR was picking up insane somewhat localized helicity of 500+ coupled with the rapid updraft due to 5000 CAPE.

And...

Was just informed that they found a car with 5 people in it, in a pond not far from me. They are going to drain the pond and look for more bodies. Was informed earlier they found a body on someones pasture near here :-\

Horrible news there.

I'm sure there will be many case studies done on this tornado. This has been an especially active year for violent tornadoes, but this tornado is the most unusual in how quickly it evolved, and how violent it was.

Just watched the radar loop of the Joplin storm and noticed something kind of interesting. As the parent supercell was moving through Joplin another supercell had quickly developed just to the south. This supercell quickly moved northeast and seemed to interact with the Joplin sup. The FFD on the northern edge of the southern sup may have helped to tighten up the RFD on the Joplin sup, and may have also helped tighten/funnel the inflow on the east/southeast side of the meso. That could explain why the thing exploded in intensity so quickly, and also why it only lasted 6-7 miles.

http://www.rap.ucar....e=23&duration=2

NOTE: The above radar loop will not be viewable after today, as it will fall off the 5-day archive.

Glad you're okay JoMo!

Keep in mind even if JoMo is okay (and I sure hope he is), unfortunately there's a very good chance he may have family and friends who may not have been so lucky.

That first post in the thread is as close to a proximity sounding for Plainfield as you are going to get. The sounding is from the day of the Plainfield tornado...and Peoria is the closest sounding site.

Ahhh, what the hell? I didn't even see that lol. Yeah that's pretty sweet right there.

I'd like to see a sounding for northern Illinois the afternoon the F5 tornado hit Plainfield Illinois. There had to be a lot of instability that day, as I recall reports saying how hot and humid it was. The storm moved southeast, so it probably attained some enhanced SRH, so mid and upper winds may not have been too impressive. Still would be an interesting sounding I think.