News DetailPDS tornado watch issued for Arkansas
Posted At: May 10, 2008 @ 4:11 PM
Posted By: Reed Timmer
Related Categories: Tornadoes
A "Particularly Dangerous Situation" (PDS) tornado watch has been issued for central and southern Arkansas for this afternoon and evening, for the expectation of strong, long-track tornadoes in the vicinity of a diffuse warm front draped across the area. We're currently stationed just south of Little Rock waiting for the storms to our west to intensify and ride the front east-southeast-ward. Three live streaming teams are in this area, so stay tuned to the tracker for live streaming tornado video!
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Reed and co...just went to walmart on east side of norman and saw a line of thunderheads blowing...no breaking of tropopause yet but these are isolated and heading right into that PDS E @ 45 mph...wish i could chase it but have fun and be safe in those rolling hills, winding roads, and tall trees!!!
Just some RUC perspective...at 21z: CAPE is at 6400 in some areas of central and south central arkansas...Oklahoma, Central and NE Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi all have lifts of at least -9 with some in the -12 and -14 range...0-3 km helicity is in the 700 range in central to northern arkansas with other areas hitting cerca 250 or above...0-1 km helicity varies but is strongest in arkansas...moisture is not a problem as dewpoints are exceeding 70 in most areas...some areas hitting the upper 70's!!! I am just amazed and have not seen a set up like this since I have been following the models...
Heavy damage in the town of Stuttgart Arkensas.
Houses destroyed, gas leaks and power lines down.
It's bad!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080511/ap_on_re_us/severe_weather;_ylt=AhF5ggHPcB0.dt5_uuDZbnxH2ocA
At least 5 dead in Central US in new round of tornadoes
By ANDALE GROSS, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tornadoes tore across the nation's heartland Saturday evening, killing at least five people, mangling buildings and trapping people in the rubble of their homes in areas still reeling from other recent bouts with severe weather.
At least four people died in southwestern Missouri after storms plowed through, the National Weather Service said. Three died after a tornado hit near Seneca in Newton County, said meteorologist Bill Davis.
A twister left a half-mile-wide path of destruction in Oklahoma, killing at least one person and devastating the northeastern towns of Picher, Peoria and Commerce, an official said.
"I know of one fatality at this time and I'm afraid there is going to be more. Things are looking pretty bad up here," said Picher Housing Authority Executive Director John Sparkman.
The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said the tornado caused an unspecified number of injuries and that first responders were working to free people trapped in the rubble.
In Arkansas, which has been beset by severe weather this year, a tornado damaged buildings and pulled down trees in Stuttgart. The Weather Service said that trees were down across a wide area of the southeast Arkansas city and that an elderly woman was reported trapped in her home.
Cors I'm in Stuttgart now. Where are you?
We left the area Conner. some people turned violent and there are a lot of locals helping. no emergency services yet though. we checked some destroyed houses but there was little we could do. be carefull there are lots of power lines down and there are gasleaks!
We noticed the power lines and gas leaks. There are some emergency services out now. The locals we have met have been pretty nice. A few were worried about friends and family in nearby towns, so we pulled up the radar for them and showed them that everything was alright. The entire town is damaged. This tornado had to be huge!
We noticed the power lines and gas leaks. There are some emergency services out now. The locals we have met have been pretty nice. A few were worried about friends and family in nearby towns, so we pulled up the radar for them and showed them that everything was alright. The entire town is damaged. This tornado had to be huge!
bad deal all around...........sad
Now THIS is weird!
This is the second time I've seen this phenominon this year....
http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/full_loop.php
(backup saved at http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c210/CaptPower/weather/NatLoop_Small051101.gif for those who miss it tonight - I also have a larger version)
Look at the IA/MO/IL border area - Notice the storm system is rotating, with a clear "Eye" in the center of rotation?
WTH is that, anyway??? Almost looks like a huricane....
I'm in Iowa City and I grew up in FL on the coast experiencing many hurricanes and tropical storms. It is really strange that this system looks so similar on the radar. Having been through several of those storms on the coast I can definitely say this storm is mimicking all of those characteristics. The rain is coming down in sheets from the sustained winds and the power is flickering.
Ahh, reminds me of home.
Hey Ashe, bet you $10 it pulls a "curveball" and swings northward to head RIGHT for green bay, WI. :))
LOL
Sadly I must report that when I read our Special Weather Statement it mentioned something about the winds shifting more northerly.
;D
BTW, I must be really impatient because I've been looking around for some raw footage of these tornadoes today and having no luck yet.
Boo.
Ashe, go to www.stormtrack.org and find the thread for 5/10/08 REPORTS. Check through, I believe someone posted video of some of the Oklahoma tornadoes.
Almost home! I'm gonna be tired tomorrow...
We chased the Stuttgart storm as well...
I'd say isolated EF2 damage on the southeast side of town..thankfully there was no loss of life. The smell of gas was nauseating
The first wrap-up occurred near the town of English, but no tornado consolidated. This storm was a monster
OMG Connor! Thank you for the site info! I only read a couple threads and I'm totally in love with it.
:D
Reed I agree totally. Definitely EF2 damage in places. How big was that that thing anyways? So much of the town was damaged.
Ashe I'm glad I could help :)
death toll has reached 18
Ashe - centralokstorms on YouTube has uploaded a video. It's not of the tornado but the clouds and debris.
So sad that a lot of people have lost their lives.. :(
We gambled that the northern setup would produce INVOF Tulsa, and although we all had jitters about staying north of the warm front, the low drifted differently than projected and the cold front didn't overtake the dryline - and since the warm front kept drifting north, we won out.
However, we made a critical error when in the splits between the great wrecking storm that was born in Kansas vs. the storm that ignited quickly over Tulsa. We'd already figured out the problem with the insane storm speed, and we knew that either (or both) of these storms would produce - so without the time to consult the present conditions at the time, we basically had to guess.
We chose the southern Tulsa storm on the "south storm rule" basis, went to intercept that storm instead of the one that eventually became a deadly monster, and ended up busting out when our road option came up BLOCKED OFF by the Oklahoma DPS due to flood waters. We tried chasing it from a different route, but only ended up watching the storm fly out over the Ozarks. The semi-excitement of knowing I was on my first ever tornado but blocked because of the trees, gave way to the news of the tragedy of the northern storm. My thoughts and well-wishes go to the survivors of that monster, which left a damage path a quarter of a mile wide on Highway 71 when we passed the area.
P.S. You don't and Ashe, that wrapping comma is that low pressure area, indeed the same sort of concept as a hurricane except without all those lovely ingredients a warm water body provides.
They're typically surrounded by junk (in the winter up here in Iowa, it's been heavy snow) while storms fire down the southern part of the "comma" due to the increased wind support, among other things.
For the best example of this type of low you saw today causing widespread havoc, google the Storm of the Century, which happened in 1993.
For the TV.NET crew watched some of the chase, and it seemed like a tough area to chase nice go at it.
Lucky for the rest of the south that was in a moderate risk for today the storm has dissipated into a fast moving line.
Mr. Y.D.N.T.K., the reason for the eye in a low pressure center over land with no tropical characteristics what-so-ever is because, like just about all "storms", that low pressure center is cyclonic. All low pressure centers are cyclonic. The fact that you can see a clearly-defined eye means that this is a very strong system. That's it. Good luck residents of AR, KS, MI, MS, TN with cleaning up.
I can't believe the amount of fatalities this year. 19 confirmed yesterday alone.
According to the SPC, that makes 94 for 2008.
and we have had more double of the tornado's from last year 714 now this year i think
Very sad with all the fatalities. Where I am in KC we're only hearing on local news about Seneca, MO in SE Missouri with 15 fatalities - I think. Are sirens not going off?
I heard our weather people say the other day, before yesterday's storms that last year there were about 1100 tornados for the whole 2007 season and as of then, about 95 fatalities associated with tornados last year.
Unfortunately, it seems those numbers will be quickly topped before the month of May is out.
I know that many rural areas don't have sirens, or they can't be heard because they are so far away. It's just heartbreaking to me that people were still driving on a highway and either didn't pay heed to warnings, or didn't know a devastating tornado was headed their way. It seems to me, something more should be done about this. The number of fatalities this year, in this day and age, is unacceptable - except for extreme cases that are unavoidable.
Thanks for letting me rant for a sec.
Stage was set for twisters the 3,000 to 3,500 cape and blasting winds aloft from south west and near warm front the helicity was even stroger and given very low local heights tornados where likely.If earlier storms did not happen this would have been the biggest outbreak ever.
Also i am concerned for north carolina south carolina clearing is hown there.Also as warm front lifts there and sttep lapse rates aloft 2,000 cape should exist.Strong vertical shear in the low level and extreme helicity would pose a threat of strong tornados there.If stroms become surface based.
Unfortunately, most people are "used" to severe weather, this could have been a factor if they didn't heed the warnings. On the other hand maybe they did, and still got killed. But remember there are alot more fatalities caused by other things than tornadoes....
We had a bad scare here in Harrison, Arkansas last night. (Northern Arkansas) We were in the basement listening to the police scanner. Multiple funnel clouds were being spotted. They were making their way down to the ground for a split second before going back up into the clouds. It couldn't been a very dangerous situation. We were very lucky.
Excuse me, that was supposed to say "Could've been a very dangerous situation." I apologize for that. Had a long night last night with very little sleep. :)