Intense supercell thunderstorms raged across southern Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama on February 10, 2013; unfortunately, the town of Hattiesburg, MS, felt the brunt of a long-tracked, violent tornado produced by one of these powerful late winter storms. Scott Peake of the Basehuntersstorm chase team made a great call in positioning his team in a prime area for tornadic development late in the afternoon, which allowed them to capture this astonishing close-range urban tornado footage (below). Scott also remained in contact with the local National Weather Service office in Jackson to keep them apprised of the behavior and location of the tornado. as it tracked toward and eventually into Hattiesburg. The Weather Service is still assessing the damage from several tornadoes that impacted their region, but late yesterday released an update to their initial survey and have determined thatEF-4 damage exists in Hattiesburg. Thankfully--and incredibly--no fatalities are known to have occurred during this event as of this posting, though there have been several dozen reports of injuries. Without the collaborative efforts of storm chasers, NWS personnel, and local media, the situation for residents of Hattiesburg and surrounding communities would surely have been much different once the storms had passed.
Below is Scott's video, which begins with a monstrous multi-vortex tornado several miles outside of Hattiesburg, and follows the progress of the tornado as it enters and carves a path through the city.
Reed will be posting the latest updates to this story on his Facebookand Twitter pages, or at our sister site, TVNweather.com.
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Ida has been downgraded to a tropical storm, with maximum sustained winds coming it at ~ 70 MPH. At this time it appears that Ida will weaken gradually throughout the day, with landfall occurring tomorrow morning, probably very close to Mobile, AL. The greatest threat from Ida will likely be heavy rainfall, with 5+ inches possiblein areas of eastern Alabama, Georgia and the Florida panhandle. A notable surge of 3-5' is also anticipated, which could threaten property along the immediate coastline. As with any landfalling tropical system, tornadoes will also be possible. Dennis Sherrod will be streaming from Alabama, with other TVN live streamers possibly on the scene as well, so be sure to follow along on the Live page.
The morning model runs look abstolutely amazing for central/eastern KS southward into Oklahoma, with textbook hodographs for strong tornadoes. The moisture has also been returning more rapidly than forecast by previous models, with around 60F dewpoints now forecast across the entire Southern Plains by tomorrow afternoon. Based on these insane morning model runs, the SPC has gone with a moderate risk in their recent Day 2 outlook, with a mention of strong tornadoes near the I-35 corridor. I am not concerned at all with storms remaining discrete tomorrow from South Dakota down to Oklahoma, since storm motions will be near normal to the advancing boundary/Pacific front. The Live streaming network has been growing rapidly, and will be in full force for tomorrow's outbreak. Stay tuned for updates!
Airing at 11:35PM ET on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno you will see a familiar face. Reed Timmer along with Denzel Washington will make guest appearances on tonight's show.
During the last few storm seasons, Reed has been featured on the Storm Chasers series on Discovery Channel, while launching extreme tornado research projects such as the tornado intercept project (with the Storm Research Vehicle - aka the Dominator) and the parachute probe-RC plane project. As seen on Storm Chasers, the TVN team successfully deployed a camera/instrument probe into a fast-moving Kansas twister on May 29, 2008, and intercepted five tornadoes during the 2009 season with the Dominator, measuring over 130 mph wind gusts in two of them and losing the driver's side window inside the Aurora, Nebraska tornado on June 17, 2009. Reed's exciting 2010 storm chases are currently being featured on the Discovery Channel's hit show Storm Chasers. Reed graduated with a Bachelors Degree in meteorology in 2002, Masters in 2005, and will complete his Ph.D. in Meteorology in 2010. He will storm chase until the day he dies!!!
Besides Storm Chasers, other projects that Reed is currently working on include his Ph.D. dissertation and LiveHailMap.com, a ground-breaking technology that produces the world's most accurate, detailed, and timely hail maps.
Re:Reed Timmer on Jay Leno Tonight! Oct 30 2010 02:16:04
I can't believe the comments people have left on Jay's/NBC website. About Jay saying Eric Myers video from Rice, Texas Tornado was Reeds. Soon as Jay says that the clip starts. Reed never said it was his video. If anything you can slightly here something like no, but the vid is too loud. Even if he didn't say anything, would you tell Jay no you messed up that's not my vid on his show..I think not.
Anywho, really glad Reed got to be a guest on the show and promote his book and Storm Chasers show. Hope it helps promote more awareness about extreme weather also.
Re:Reed Timmer on Jay Leno Tonight! Oct 30 2010 20:25:15
I had to wait a bit until I could watch the episode (due to location) and I really liked the interview Nice to see Reed so enthousiastic about what he does
Re:Reed Timmer on Jay Leno Tonight! Oct 31 2010 16:56:54
Edds wrote: I had to wait a bit until I could watch the episode (due to location) and I really liked the interview Nice to see Reed so enthousiastic about what he does
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I'd bet Reed never dreamed storm chasing would take him onto the TONIGHT SHOW stage to shake Jay Lenno's hand!! Leno would use another chaser's footage... But Reed IS the expert on what it feels like to be IN the tornado. He sure did have a big smile on his face!!
