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Devastating tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri


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The official stuff:

000

NOUS43 KSGF 242259 AAA

PNSSGF

KSZ073-097-101-MOZ055>058-066>071-077>083-088>098-101>106-250445-...UPDATED

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO

559 PM CDT TUE MAY 24 2011

..EF-5 TORNADO CONFIRMED IN JOPLIN...

THE JOPLIN TORNADO HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO AN EF-5 TORNADO.

* DATE...22 MAY 2011

* MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF-5

* ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...IN EXCESS OF 200 MPH

* ESTIMATED PATH WIDTH...3/4 MILE

* FATALITIES...122

* INJURIES...750

* THIS PRELIMINARY INFORMATION WAS DETERMINED BY A NATIONAL

WEATHER SERVICE SURVEY TEAM AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING

FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT AND PUBLICATION IN NATIONAL WEATHER

SERVICE STORM DATA.

AN EF-5 TORNADO IMPACTED A LARGE PORTION OF THE CITY OF JOPLIN.

WIND SPEEDS WERE ESTIMATED IN EXCESS OF 200 MPH. THE PATH WIDTH

WAS ESTIMATED AT THREE QUARTERS OF A MILE WIDE.

FOR REFERENCE...THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES TORNADOES

INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

EF0...WIND SPEEDS 65 TO 85 MPH.

EF1...WIND SPEEDS 86 TO 110 MPH.

EF2...WIND SPEEDS 111 TO 135 MPH.

EF3...WIND SPEEDS 136 TO 165 MPH.

EF4...WIND SPEEDS 166 TO 200 MPH.

EF5...WIND SPEEDS GREATER THAN 200 MPH.

$$

WISE

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Was Tuscaloosa ever upgraded to an EF5?

I see people referencing 4 EF5s, but I can only think of Hackleburg, Smithville and Joplin so far...

Philadelphia, Mississippi was the other

also on April 27

Possibly 2 today (obviously before NWS survey, just based on watching feeds and what some of the chasers/tv mets have said)

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Do you know if it is mandated, Fred, or is that just a rumor I have heard?

It's not mandated. It's a decision that each school system makes, and not completely all of them close. To be honest, it's probably more for liability reasons than anything, after the Enterprise, AL incident in 2007.

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Also, my mom tells me that on this morning's news they mentioned that the deaths at the hospital were in the parking lot?

Five patients who died inside the hosppital suffocated when power was lost. No staff died.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/24/us-usa-weather-tornadoes-hospital-idUSTRE74N7FB20110524

A woman died today from cardiac arrest when she was told her father was found dead. They said she will be counted in the death toll.

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I took the liberty of making a map in the Geographic Information system (GIS) software ArcMap of the tornado as it went through Joplin. My intent is not to rub in the damage, but rather to provide a geographical reference for those not familiar with the area. Data was provided by the National Weather Service as well as the Jasper and Netwon County offices of emergency management and department of public works. Please refer to the latest media releases by the aforementioned agencies for additional information.

post-1389-0-81760500-1306328167.jpg

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Cool map, Joe! It's very informative, so thanks for posting it. (By the way, I don't know why anyone would be annoyed by it. This is a weather forum-- we analyze these events here.)

Re: the path, are those really the start and finish points, or just where the surveying started and ended? It's just crazy that such a large, intense tornado spun up and spun down so fast like that.

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I took the liberty of making a map in the Geographic Information system (GIS) software ArcMap of the Tornado as it went through Joplin. My intent is not to rub in the damage, but rather to provide a geographical reference for those not familiar with the area. Data was provided by the National Weather Service as well as the Jasper and Netwon County offices of emergency management and department of public works. Please refer to the latest media releases by the aforementioned agencies.

post-1389-0-81760500-1306328167.jpg

Nicely done!

Did you buffer out the width of damage along the line?

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Cool map, Joe! It's very informative, so thanks for posting it. (By the way, I don't know why anyone would be annoyed by it. This is a weather forum-- we analyze these events here.)

Re: the path, are those really the start and finish points, or just where the surveying started and ended? It's just crazy that such a large, intense tornado spun up and spun down so fast like that.

Start and End Paths were taken through this storm assessment: http://www.srh.noaa....ersion=3&max=51

The start and end points were acquired via handheld Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) on a hand held device by the assessment team. I am unsure at this time if the storm was skipping before or after those two points.

Nicely done!

Did you buffer out the width of damage along the line?

Yes, and I'm looking to find point locations of damage reports (ie: where a tree was de-barked or a car was flipped over) and add it into the map as a reference. Unfortunately, that information has yet to be released.

Great map. As Josh said, amazing that it was so violent and intense and had suck a (relatively) short track.

Yup, I intend to do one for Piedmont, Oklahoma once the information is released.

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Yes, and I'm looking to find point locations of damage reports (ie: where a tree was de-barked or a car was flipped over) and add it into the map as a reference. Unfortunately, that information has yet to be released.

Well, from someone who works with GIS daily, it's a fantastic map!

Have you worked with KML files (google earth) before? It would cool if you could take those storm reports points with the attribute data and export them to KML files so they can be opened into GE for people to view (Norman did that with the tracks, but didn't have anything you could click on).

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I am amazed that the death toll isn't much higher. Right now about 1500 people are still missing. I would consider it a miracle if the death toll is less than 500.

Any word from Jomo?

Well 1500 people are/were unaccounted for, not missing like those bodies swept out to sea that will never be recovered after a tsunami. In Tuscaloosa, that number went from 400 down to 12 without an appreciable increase in the death toll. Probably the vast majority of the still missing will be accounted for, alive, in the coming days. (Out of town, etc..)

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Well, from someone who works with GIS daily, it's a fantastic map!

Have you worked with KML files (google earth) before? It would cool if you could take those storm reports points with the attribute data and export them to KML files so they can be opened into GE for people to view (Norman did that with the tracks, but didn't have anything you could click on).

Thank you for the compliment, it's now a part of my sig :)

Yes, I make KML files for NASA on a weekly basis. I think I'm going to hold back on the KML until I get enough data in. I considered a rough overlay of the SPC reports, but since they are in decimal degrees it's not as spatially accurate as I'd like. Disclaimer: I'm not bashing SPC at all, they do an excellent job!

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Thank you for the compliment, it's now a part of my sig :)

Yes, I make KML files for NASA on a weekly basis. I think I'm going to hold back on the KML until I get enough data in. I considered a rough overlay of the SPC reports, but since they are in decimal degrees it's not as spatially accurate as I'd like. Disclaimer: I'm not bashing SPC at all, they do an excellent job!

I agree with you on decimal degrees and you are welcome for the compliment :)

I need to brush up on KML, play around with it some more. My mind is going crazy thinking of all the cool things you could with the data.

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I agree with you on decimal degrees and you are welcome for the compliment :)

I need to brush up on KML, play around with it some more. My mind is going crazy thinking of all the cool things you could with the data.

Yes, KML (Keyhole Markup Language for those not familiar with the term) has really enabled the geographically enthused population to map features in software such as Google Earth. In term of meteorology and the Joplin, MO tornado a person could take a picture of damage, reference it with standard lat/lon coordinates and then upload the file in KML format for anyone to view on the web. This really emphasizes the connection between geography and the earth sciences.

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I took the liberty of making a map in the Geographic Information system (GIS) software ArcMap of the tornado as it went through Joplin. My intent is not to rub in the damage, but rather to provide a geographical reference for those not familiar with the area. Data was provided by the National Weather Service as well as the Jasper and Netwon County offices of emergency management and department of public works. Please refer to the latest media releases by the aforementioned agencies for additional information.

post-1389-0-81760500-1306328167.jpg

Based on what all of you have said, wouldn't this map put JoMo right in the damage zone? I don't know much about this stuff, but that's how the map looks to me. Still keeping JoMo and everyone else affected by this in my thoughts and prayers.

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Based on what all of you have said, wouldn't this map put JoMo right in the damage zone? I don't know much about this stuff, but that's how the map looks to me. Still keeping JoMo and everyone else affected by this in my thoughts and prayers.

I honestly have no idea who JoMo is, but from what I've read he lives in Joplin. Not sure what part of town so I will not speculate.

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