bowtie` Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Great vid. It's all fun and games until you see a car flying through the air. Agreed. The lady was so calm and very *professional* with recording it until she stepped outside. Once she felt the inflow/gust front winds and saw the tornado had picked up and was throwing the vehicle, that pushed her P-A-N-I-C button. Amazing what will and will not push some peoples P-A-N-I-C button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Rent Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Agreed. The lady was so calm and very *professional* with recording it until she stepped outside. Once she felt the inflow/gust front winds and saw the tornado had picked up and was throwing the vehicle, that pushed her P-A-N-I-C button. Amazing what will and will not push some peoples P-A-N-I-C button. The wind and the car set her over the edge. If that was a car, it was 2-300 feet in the air at least, guessing by thr tree line, that's pretty amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoMo Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Maybe one of you all who have been following this closely can answer a question for me. Did they survey all the areas that had a correlation coefficient signal that a tornado was on the ground and did they find that there had indeed been a tornado on the ground at that time? Were there any false positives? I think it was the Atlanta area NWS that used the wording that they were tracking debris indicated on radar as a sign that a tornado was on the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinicity Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Wilmington is adding maps and radar images today http://www.erh.noaa.gov/iln/events/20120302/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcworthWx Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Maybe one of you all who have been following this closely can answer a question for me. Did they survey all the areas that had a correlation coefficient signal that a tornado was on the ground and did they find that there had indeed been a tornado on the ground at that time? Were there any false positives? I think it was the Atlanta area NWS that used the wording that they were tracking debris indicated on radar as a sign that a tornado was on the ground. As far as the ATL TOR, this is whatn they have surveyed. I believe the indication of debris on radar was from the Haralson and Paulding County tornado. PNS from FFC NOUS42 KFFC 061937 CCA PNSFFC GAZ001>009-011>016-019>025-027-030>039-041>062-066>076-078>086- 089>098-102>113-071200- PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA 240 PM EST TUE MAR 6 2012 ...PRELIMINARY TORNADO REPORT FOR MARCH 2 2012... ...HARALSON-PAULDING TORNADO... LOCATION: HARALSON AND PAULDING COUNTIES RATING: EF-3 MAX WIND SPEED: 165 MPH PATH LENGTH: 29 MILES PATH WIDTH: 200 YARDS INJURIES: 1 DEATHS: 0 START TIME: 809 PM END TIME: 850 PM BEGIN POINT: 33.8681N/-85.2964W END POINT: 33.9310N/-84.7965W ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN HARALSON COUNTY...TRACKED ACROSS THE COUNTY AND MOVED INTO PAULDING COUNTY. SOME OF THE WORST DAMAGE WAS ALONG BETHLEHEM CHURCH ROAD IN HARALSON COUNTY WHERE A REPAIR SHOP WAS DESTROYED AND A HOUSE COLLAPSED... INJURING A PERSON INSIDE. THIS AREA WAS RATED AT EF-3 DAMAGE. OTHER DAMAGE IN HARALSON COUNTY INCLUDED A METAL ROOF BLOWN OFF A MOBILE HOME...A CHURCH STEEPLE BLOWN OFF ON MOUNT ZION EAST ROAD AND A MOBILE HOME PUSHED OFF ITS FOUNDATION ALONG BETHLEHEM CHURCH ROAD. IN THE VICINITY OF HIGHWAY 27 AND HARPERS CREEK ROAD NUMEROUS TREES AND TELEPHONE POLES WERE SNAPPED. IN PAULDING COUNTY THE HARDEST HIT AREA WAS NEAR THE PAULDING COUNTY AIRPORT. THREE TO FOUR PLANES WERE FLIPPED AND A JET AND HANGER WERE DESTROYED. A PORTION OF THE ROOF WAS BLOWN OFF AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. AT LEAST FORTY HOMES SUSTAINED ROOF DAMAGE. 100S OF TREES WERE SNAPPED AND UPROOTED. ...COBB COUNTY TORNADO... LOCATION: COBB COUNTY RATING: EF-1 MAX WIND SPEED: 100 MPH PATH LENGTH: 1.4 MILES PATH WIDTH: 150 YARDS INJURIES: 0 DEATHS: 0 START TIME: 913 PM END TIME: 915 PM BEGIN POINT: 33.9798N/-84.4608W END POINT: 33.9799N/-84.4362W ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: THE DAMAGE FROM THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED ALONG ROSWELL ROAD/HWY 120. IT BEGAN AT THE INTERSECTION OF ROSWELL ROAD AND OLD CANTON ROAD. THE TORNADO TRAVELED EAST ALONG ROSWELL ROAD THROUGH EAST COBB PARK WITH NUMEROUS TREES SNAPPED OR UPROOTED FROM THE PARK TO AROUND THE INTERSECTION WITH PROVIDENCE ROAD. THERE WAS ROOF DAMAGE TO A DAYCARE AND A HOUSE AT THE INTERSECTION OF PROVIDENCE ROAD AND ROSWELL ROAD WITH MINOR TREE AND ROOF DAMAGE CONTINUING EASTWARD JUST NORTH OF ROSWELL ROAD...ENDING IN THE INDIAN RIDGE SUBDIVISION. THIS WILL CONTINUE TO BE UPDATED IF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE. $$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amped Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 95 mile track for the West Liberty storm. Still EF3 though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyhb Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 11 fatalities now too, matches the Southern IN EF4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calderon Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 This is the closest video I've seen of the Henryville tornado, besides the one from the Shell station by I-65. It's pretty insane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyhb Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Wow, reminds me of the video from Woodward, IA on 11/12/05, except the Henryville tornado is more violent: Also reminds me of this video of the West Liberty tornado (particularly from 2:22 onwards): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoMo Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 This is the closest video I've seen of the Henryville tornado, besides the one from the Shell station by I-65. It's pretty insane. That's nuts! I like how the tree waited until well after the tornado had passed and was just like f-it and fell over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowtie` Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 That's nuts! I like how the tree waited until well after the tornado had passed and was just like f-it and fell over. Check out the angle of the trunk to the ground. After the tornado passes, the first inflow gust hits it and it angles visibly. A quick couple of small gusts then a whopper of the inflow hits and the camera is even shoved so the tree is out-of-frame. When the camera gets the tree back in frame it is even leaning more. Acutally it is leaning so much it is actually gone it just doesn't know it yet. THen it does the stately tree slow death spiral and gives up the ghost. Kind of sad to see good old growth get trashed when it wasn't even hit directly by the tornado. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanStWx Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Dude I just watched NBC news and my heart sunk. That pic was the home where the mom covered her kids, saved their life, her leg and other foot were severed by the bricks. The video shows where that debris pile ended up. http://www.msnbc.msn...638130#46638130 It's really amazing anyone survived that, considering the complete failure of the structure. Seems like the debris ended up where I expected it to, behind what little of the foundation we can see in the original photo. Seems from the tornado track map posted by LMK that they were directly in the path of the tornado, just north of the center line of the track. I haven't seen any pictures of nearby, but there appears to be quite a few houses directly across the street too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanStWx Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Maybe one of you all who have been following this closely can answer a question for me. Did they survey all the areas that had a correlation coefficient signal that a tornado was on the ground and did they find that there had indeed been a tornado on the ground at that time? Were there any false positives? I think it was the Atlanta area NWS that used the wording that they were tracking debris indicated on radar as a sign that a tornado was on the ground. I don't know for sure if they surveyed every mile of the suspected TDSs, but I know that is the recommendation that you treat a TDS just like a spotter report, and office policy dictates what you do with that (which I hope means a survey). I actually believe there were some "false positives" in that it looked like a TDS, but closer inspection showed this to not be the case. I think I'll probably download some of the data and mess around with GR2Analyst tonight. Pretty sure I'll be able to post some examples of what was and wasn't a TDS in the FFC CWA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calderon Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 That's nuts! I like how the tree waited until well after the tornado had passed and was just like f-it and fell over. At about :20, just to the right of the huge tree, something fairly sizeable, either a tree or a building debris, is shot nearly straight downward out of the funnel. The speed is insane and I can't imagine the amount of force to shoot something downward against the overall vertical motion at the speed it appears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hm8 Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 The upward motion on that video with the tree falling at the end is nuts. The videos we've seen from the last few outbreaks, especially Tuscaloosa and this one are remarkable. The ones that are just people who live in the area that are shooting their own footage. As much as I love the videos, the trend of more people running outside to get a awesome video for youtube is a scary one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyclone77 Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 That's nuts! I like how the tree waited until well after the tornado had passed and was just like f-it and fell over. Around the 17 second mark a huge section of the tree breaks and falls over to the downwind side of the tree. That certainly didn't help matters having all that additional weight on the downwind side of the tree lol. EDIT: Anyone have any guesses on what kind of tree that was? I've seen oak mentioned, but to me it looks more like a hard maple of some kind. Maybe a Sugar maple or Norway maple? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ineedsnow Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Thats amazing!!! What an awesome mother Dude I just watched NBC news and my heart sunk. That pic was the home where the mom covered her kids, saved their life, her leg and other foot were severed by the bricks. The video shows where that debris pile ended up. http://www.msnbc.msn...638130#46638130 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanStWx Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 To answer JoMo more in depth... The TDS signature first showed up in the FFC CWA on the 114z volume scan March 3rd. FFC issued this statement with a SVS update: AT 814 PM EST...DEBRIS CONTINUED TO SHOW DEBRIS FROM A CONFIRMED TORNADO. THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR FELTON...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH. Which was quickly corrected to: AT 818 PM EST...DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO SHOW DEBRIS FROM A CONFIRMED TORNADO THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR FELTON...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH. One volume scan later (118z) you can see it still here. Extremely low CC values (< 0.80) in a region of > 50 dBZ reflectivity. As a check it should be collocated with the velocity couplet (it is) and feature at the very least a local minimum of ZDR (again it does). This signature is in the vicinity of, according to the FFC damage survey team, a mobile home that was pushed off its foundation on Bethlehem Church Road and numerous trees and power poles were snapped near Highway 27 and Harpers Creek Road. One more volume scan later, a weaker TDS signature, coinciding with a weaker velocity couplet. Again one more volume scan later FFC issued another SVS: AT 828 PM EST...DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO SHOW DEBRIS FROM A CONFIRMED TORNADO. THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED JUST NORTHEAST OF EUBANK LAKE...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH. Although on closer inspection something doesn't look quite right to me. There is very low CC (where I placed the red dot marker) located near a velocity couplet. There is a local minimum in ZDR, but it is completely devoid of any high reflectivity. To me this looks like inflow air, and I'm not quite sure why we're seeing this CC signature. My guess is something non-meteorological or even biological is being ingested by the updraft. The next two volumes scan here show the TDS redeveloping. First subtly southwest of Yorkville, then strongly present near the red dot marker. Again extremely low CC values, highish reflectivity, velocity couplet and local minimum in ZDR. This is near the Paulding County Airport where there was damage, in addition to tree and roof damage in surrounding neighborhoods. The "false" TDS at 128z was located near the three county intersection west southwest of Yorkville (well northwest of this TDS track). A couple volume scans later, we're back to seeing low CC in the inflow region of the supercell. FFC correctly stopped mentioning doppler confirmation of this tornado but instead focused on the prior damage it had caused. FFC then began using the doppler confirmation of debris again with the 211z TOR. Again low CC, velocity couplet, local minimum in ZDR, but no corresponding high reflectivity. By 214z the signature remains, but has become smaller, but it still isn't collocated with any high dBZ returns. The red dot marker in this instance is where the tornado damage actually occurred along Highway 120. This is a case of no TDS appearing with a tornado on the ground, despite being within 40 nm of the RDA. A good example of why no TDS does not mean no tornado on the ground. Last one, I promise. FFC issued another TOR AT 938 PM EST...A DEBRIS SIGNATURE INDICATED BY DOPPLER RADAR CONFIRMED A TORNADO NEAR SUWANEE...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH. But once more this appears to be a false positive, as it is missing the high reflecitivity. It is important to remember that CC is our best descriminator of meteorological vs. non-meteorological targets. And inflow air will be non-meteorological in nature, and will most likely show up as low CC if there is weak dBZ present. Additionally, dual-pol will perform poorly in low signal to noise areas, so low dBZ can play tricks on the radar. This FFC case was a good example of both impressive TDSs and some impressive look alikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoMo Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Wow, thank you so much OceanStWx. Great research! I was hoping dual-pol would lead to something more definitive when it comes to detecting a TOG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanStWx Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Wow, thank you so much OceanStWx. Great research! I was hoping dual-pol would lead to something more definitive when it comes to detecting a TOG. I think it has great potential. Some of these otherwise subtle signatures (like the very first one) don't automatically jump off the screen with reflectivity. However, when viewed with the dual-pol variables it does pop. What we really don't know is how often we'll see these types of signatures. There is a lot of learning left to do, but that's exciting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCNYILWX Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 OceanStWx, great work! Thanks for taking the time out. It would be an excellent addition the Dual Pol Storm of the Day series run by WDTB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanStWx Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 OceanStWx, great work! Thanks for taking the time out. It would be an excellent addition the Dual Pol Storm of the Day series run by WDTB. I figure it's a lock that the March storm of the month will be this outbreak right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyhb Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I figure it's a lock that the March storm of the month will be this outbreak right? Unless some of the patterns on the mid-longer range ensembles/models play out, then in all likelihood, yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinicity Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Video of the Crittenden, KY tornado crossing I-75 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewxmann Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 One more EF2 confirmed in PAH's CWA: PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 1048 AM CST THU MAR 8 2012 ...DAMAGE SURVEY RESULTS FOR UNION COUNTY, KENTUCKY... * EVENT TYPE.........EF2 TORNADO * EVENT DATE.........FRIDAY MARCH 2, 2012 * EVENT TIME.........138 PM CST * EVENT LOCATION.....2.5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF UNIONTOWN, KY TO 4.5 MILES WEST OF CORYDON, KY * PEAK WIND..........120 MPH * AVG. PATH WIDTH....200 YARDS * PATH LENGTH........6.5 MILES * INJURIES...........1 MALE (MINOR) * FATALITIES.........0 * DAMAGE DETAIL...... A HOME HAD MOST OF ITS ROOF REMOVED. A GRAIN BIN AND SEVERAL BARNS WERE DESTROYED OR DAMAGED ALONG WITH MAINLY MINOR DAMAGE TO A FEW HOMES AND OTHER STRUCTURES. SEVERAL TREES AND POWER POLES WERE BLOWN DOWN. SURVEYORS.......SHANKLIN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago Storm Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 March 2nd: PAH: 2 LMK: 8 ILN: 12 JKL: 4 RLX: 2 OHX: 2 MRX: 12 JAN: 2 HUN: 6 BMX: 4 FFC: 2 GSP: 1 ----------- IN: 4 KY: 15 OH: 8 WV: 2 TN: 12 MS: 2 AL: 9 GA: 2 VA: 2 NC: 2 ----------- EF-0: 15 EF-1: 15 EF-2: 15 EF-3: 8 EF-4: 2 ----------- Total: 55 March 3rd: CAE: 1 GSP: 1 TAE: 1 ----------- GA: 1 NC: 1 SC: 1 ----------- EF-0: 1 EF-2: 1 EF-3: 1 ----------- Total: 3 Overall Total: 58 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichiganLion Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 The Northern Kentucky storm that hit Crittenden and Piner in Cincinnati's far southern suburbs was just upgraded to an EF-4. PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 418 PM EST FRI MAR 9 2012 ...A PORTION OF THE TORNADO PATH THROUGH PINER KENTUCKY IN SOUTHWEST KENTON COUNTY HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO AN EF4 LEVEL TORNADO... LOCATION...CRITTENDEN AND PINER IN GRANT AND KENTON COUNTY KENTUCKY DATE...MARCH 2 2012 ESTIMATED TIME...430 PM EDT MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF4 ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...175 MPH MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...ONE HALF MILE PATH LENGTH...10 MILES BEGINNING LAT/LON...38.791N/84.633W ENDING LAT/LON...38.8324N/84.459W * FATALITIES...4 * INJURIES...8 * THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT(S) AND PUBLICATION IN NWS STORM DATA. ...SUMMARY... WITH ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AND DETAILS RECEIVED FROM KENTON COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON OH HAS CONFIRMED THAT A PORTION OF THE MARCH 2 2012 GRANT AND KENTON COUNTY TORNADO DID REACH THE EF4 THRESHOLD. THE DAMAGE IN GRANT COUNTY...SPECIFICALLY IN THE HARVESTERS SUBDIVISION...REMAINS IN THE LOW TO MID EF3 CATEGORY...AS AT LEAST SOME EXTERIOR AND MOST INTERIOR WALLS WERE STANDING WHERE THE DAMAGE WAS THE WORST. THIS OCCURRED AT THE WEST END OF BARLEY CIRCLE. MOST OF THE DAMAGE IN THE SUBDIVISION WAS EF1 TO EF2. IMMEDIATELY AS THE TORNADO CROSSED FROM WEST TO EAST OF INTERSTATE 75...THE STORM STRENGTHENED TO EF4 LEVEL WITH WINDS ESTIMATED AT 175 MPH. WHILE A TOTAL OF FIVE SINGLE FAMILY HOMES WERE DESTROYED TO THEIR FOUNDATIONS IN THE AREA...AT LEAST TWO OF THESE HOMES MET THE EF4 CRITERIA OF SUFFICIENT FOUNDATION STRAPPING/BOLTING. ALL 4 FATALITIES WITH THIS TORNADO OCCURRED WITHIN THE AREA OF EF4 LEVEL DAMAGE. THE EF4 LEVEL DAMAGE WAS FOUND FROM THE WEST SIDE OF INTERSTATE 75 TO THE NORTH END OF OLD LEXINGTON PIKE...WHERE 2 HOMES AND MULTIPLE OUTBUILDINGS WERE COMPLETELY DESTROYED. BOTH HOMES WERE BRICK STRUCTURES WITH FOUNDATION BOLTING OR STRAPPING. THE EF4 LEVEL WINDS CONTINUED ACROSS ROUTE 25/DIXIE HIGHWAY...AND ENDED NEAR THE BAGBY ROAD AREA. AT LEAST 2 VEHICLES WERE CARRIED...WITH ONE CARRIED OVER 1800 FEET. TREES WERE STRIPPED OF NEARLY ALL BRANCHES...WITH MUCH OF THE BARK ALSO STRIPPED. AS THE STORM HEADED FURTHER TO THE EAST NORTHEAST...HIGH END EF3 DAMAGE CONTINUED THROUGH OTHER PROPERTIES ALONG BAGBY ROAD...TO CARLISLE...PARKER GROVE AND PAXTON ROADS. NUMEROUS DOUBLE AND SINGLE WIDE HOMES WERE DESTROYED....WITH BOTH BRICK AND SIDING STRUCTURES LEFT WITH COLLAPSED EXERIOR WALLS AND EITHER ALL OR A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF ROOF REMOVAL. THE WIDTH OF TORNADO DAMAGE WAS ROUGHLY ONE HALF MILE. THE STORM CONTINUED THE EAST NORTHEAST PATH INTO SOUTHEAST KENTON COUNTY...TO THE LICKING RIVER NEAR MORNING VIEW. DAMAGE IN THE MORNING VIEW AREA WAS CONSISTENT WITH EF1 TO EF2 DAMAGE TO THE CAMPBELL COUNTY LINE. IN ADDITION TO THE PATH OF THE TORNADO ITSELF...THERE WAS A WIDE AREA OF STRAIGHT LINE /NON-TORNADIC/ WINDS ESTIMATED IN EXCESS OF 100 MPH ALONG THE SOUTHERN EDGE OF THE TORNADO PATH. THIS DAMAGE RESULTED IN NUMEROUS BARNS AND OUTBUILDINGS DESTROYED...WITH HUNDREDS OF TREES SNAPPED OR PUSHED OVER...AS WELL AS WIDESPREAD ROOF DAMAGE. WITH THE COMBINATION OF THE DAMAGE FROM THE TORNADO ITSELF AND THE REAR FLANK DOWNDRAFT DAMAGE....TOTAL DAMAGE SWATH REACHED AS MUCH AS A MILE WIDE IN SOME LOCATIONS. http://www.erh.noaa.gov/iln/events/20120302/crittenden_piner.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackjack123 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 The Northern Kentucky storm that hit Crittenden and Piner in Cincinnati's far southern suburbs was just upgraded to an EF-4. PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH 418 PM EST FRI MAR 9 2012 ...A PORTION OF THE TORNADO PATH THROUGH PINER KENTUCKY IN SOUTHWEST KENTON COUNTY HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO AN EF4 LEVEL TORNADO... LOCATION...CRITTENDEN AND PINER IN GRANT AND KENTON COUNTY KENTUCKY DATE...MARCH 2 2012 ESTIMATED TIME...430 PM EDT MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF4 ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...175 MPH MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...ONE HALF MILE PATH LENGTH...10 MILES BEGINNING LAT/LON...38.791N/84.633W ENDING LAT/LON...38.8324N/84.459W * FATALITIES...4 * INJURIES...8 * THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT(S) AND PUBLICATION IN NWS STORM DATA. ...SUMMARY... WITH ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AND DETAILS RECEIVED FROM KENTON COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON OH HAS CONFIRMED THAT A PORTION OF THE MARCH 2 2012 GRANT AND KENTON COUNTY TORNADO DID REACH THE EF4 THRESHOLD. THE DAMAGE IN GRANT COUNTY...SPECIFICALLY IN THE HARVESTERS SUBDIVISION...REMAINS IN THE LOW TO MID EF3 CATEGORY...AS AT LEAST SOME EXTERIOR AND MOST INTERIOR WALLS WERE STANDING WHERE THE DAMAGE WAS THE WORST. THIS OCCURRED AT THE WEST END OF BARLEY CIRCLE. MOST OF THE DAMAGE IN THE SUBDIVISION WAS EF1 TO EF2. IMMEDIATELY AS THE TORNADO CROSSED FROM WEST TO EAST OF INTERSTATE 75...THE STORM STRENGTHENED TO EF4 LEVEL WITH WINDS ESTIMATED AT 175 MPH. WHILE A TOTAL OF FIVE SINGLE FAMILY HOMES WERE DESTROYED TO THEIR FOUNDATIONS IN THE AREA...AT LEAST TWO OF THESE HOMES MET THE EF4 CRITERIA OF SUFFICIENT FOUNDATION STRAPPING/BOLTING. ALL 4 FATALITIES WITH THIS TORNADO OCCURRED WITHIN THE AREA OF EF4 LEVEL DAMAGE. THE EF4 LEVEL DAMAGE WAS FOUND FROM THE WEST SIDE OF INTERSTATE 75 TO THE NORTH END OF OLD LEXINGTON PIKE...WHERE 2 HOMES AND MULTIPLE OUTBUILDINGS WERE COMPLETELY DESTROYED. BOTH HOMES WERE BRICK STRUCTURES WITH FOUNDATION BOLTING OR STRAPPING. THE EF4 LEVEL WINDS CONTINUED ACROSS ROUTE 25/DIXIE HIGHWAY...AND ENDED NEAR THE BAGBY ROAD AREA. AT LEAST 2 VEHICLES WERE CARRIED...WITH ONE CARRIED OVER 1800 FEET. TREES WERE STRIPPED OF NEARLY ALL BRANCHES...WITH MUCH OF THE BARK ALSO STRIPPED. AS THE STORM HEADED FURTHER TO THE EAST NORTHEAST...HIGH END EF3 DAMAGE CONTINUED THROUGH OTHER PROPERTIES ALONG BAGBY ROAD...TO CARLISLE...PARKER GROVE AND PAXTON ROADS. NUMEROUS DOUBLE AND SINGLE WIDE HOMES WERE DESTROYED....WITH BOTH BRICK AND SIDING STRUCTURES LEFT WITH COLLAPSED EXERIOR WALLS AND EITHER ALL OR A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF ROOF REMOVAL. THE WIDTH OF TORNADO DAMAGE WAS ROUGHLY ONE HALF MILE. THE STORM CONTINUED THE EAST NORTHEAST PATH INTO SOUTHEAST KENTON COUNTY...TO THE LICKING RIVER NEAR MORNING VIEW. DAMAGE IN THE MORNING VIEW AREA WAS CONSISTENT WITH EF1 TO EF2 DAMAGE TO THE CAMPBELL COUNTY LINE. IN ADDITION TO THE PATH OF THE TORNADO ITSELF...THERE WAS A WIDE AREA OF STRAIGHT LINE /NON-TORNADIC/ WINDS ESTIMATED IN EXCESS OF 100 MPH ALONG THE SOUTHERN EDGE OF THE TORNADO PATH. THIS DAMAGE RESULTED IN NUMEROUS BARNS AND OUTBUILDINGS DESTROYED...WITH HUNDREDS OF TREES SNAPPED OR PUSHED OVER...AS WELL AS WIDESPREAD ROOF DAMAGE. WITH THE COMBINATION OF THE DAMAGE FROM THE TORNADO ITSELF AND THE REAR FLANK DOWNDRAFT DAMAGE....TOTAL DAMAGE SWATH REACHED AS MUCH AS A MILE WIDE IN SOME LOCATIONS. http://www.erh.noaa....enden_piner.php Yeah, I remember their report saying well-built brick homes being almost entirely cleaned off their foundations was consistent with EF3 damage and winds around 160mph. I thought really it seems higher. Now I see they upgraded it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baroclinicity Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 Here's the updated tornado track placefile for GrLevelX that now includes surveys from all of the affected areas. There was some missing information, such as the start/end times for the tornadoes in the MRX area. A tornado listed in Ewing, VA didn't have any path information, so a short segment is drawn here. I tried to avoid straight lines for the longer tracks, so those contain multiple lat/lon values. The tool tip (mouse hover) contains the intensity, time, length, width and fatalities/injuries (if that was available). Some of the shortest tracks don't show up at the default zoom value, so zooming is required to see them. 030212 Tornado Tracks Placefile.txt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbsolutZero Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 I don't know for sure if they surveyed every mile of the suspected TDSs, but I know that is the recommendation that you treat a TDS just like a spotter report, and office policy dictates what you do with that (which I hope means a survey). I actually believe there were some "false positives" in that it looked like a TDS, but closer inspection showed this to not be the case. I think I'll probably download some of the data and mess around with GR2Analyst tonight. Pretty sure I'll be able to post some examples of what was and wasn't a TDS in the FFC CWA. Hey all, this is SNELSON@FFC. That track was surveyed on the ground twice and also by air. Cobb county was also surveyed and found a weak/brief EF1. Very interesting event. I have been studying the TDS in depth since we upgraded KFFC. *Amazing* dataset that surpassed my expectations. I was in Starkville at the SE Severe Storms Symposium (presenting on the Coweta/Fayette county December and January TDSs of all things) on Friday night and watched the event unfold on TWC and nwschat. I returned home and studied the data. Without going into details, there were indeed false detections by forecasters as well as the media once a well defined inflow notch developed in Cobb, Fulton and other counties to the east. Our warnings and statements continued the mention of debris until the last warning on that storm. That said, it was *very* impressive that the forecasters correctly identified the TDS back in Haralson county so quickly and incorporated into the warnings and statements. I'd rather have this rapid detection and incorporation into warnings along with an hour of false positives, than no detection at all! Kudos to the forecasters on deck that night. Based on research from UAH and the ARMOR dual-pol radar, you really do not have a TDS without cc < 0.8, a velocity couplet, AND reflectivity values > 30dbZ. Once the storm entered Cobb county, the low correlation coefficient values were not occurring in the reflectivity hook where the tornado should be but in the inflow notch VERY close (~1/2 mi northeast) to where it should be (at the tip of the hook). The low cc values were indeed superimposed on the velocity couplet but not in an area of higher reflectivity. A very easy mistake to make, particularly when there are NO experts at interpreting real-time dual-pol anywhere! Anyways, we'll keep learning as we go. For now, I'm leading training in the NWS to include reflectivity > 30dbZ *and* knowledge of storm structure to better interpret the TDS. I will be posting some of this data to our web page on the event and/or our facebook page. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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