TornadoVideos.net

Posted At: May 11, 2008 @ 12:05 PM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

Preliminary SPC reports indicate that 42 tornadoes touched down yesterday from the eastern Southern Plains to the Southeast U.S., with many of the reports coming from a particularly strong supercell that tracked from Southeast KS into Southwest MO.  Sadly, this storm produced at least 20 fatalities from extreme Northeast OK into Newton Co, MO, with the hardest hit communities being Picher, OK and Seneca, MO, where 7 and 10 fatalities were reported respectively.  The tornado that hit the town of Picher (an old mining town of ~800 people) was a 1/2 mile wide wedge tornado that appeared to be very strong.  From the damage pictures I've seen and from a friend who intercepted the tornado, it appeared to be EF3 to EF4 damage in Picher. 

Here are links to video of this tornado from storm chaser Chris Wilburn:

Wedge near Picher, OK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-aKmv1QepQ

Stovepipe from I-44 in extreme Northeast OK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2obd362ZaM

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/05/10/tornado.deaths/index.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24558648/

In addition to this supercell, several tornadoes were reported in Eastern OK and Arkansas, with the town of Stuttgart, AR taking a direct hit from what appeared to be an EF2 tornado.  We were chasing this storm from south of Little Rock, through the town of England where the first circulation tried to put down a tornado.  Here, rain curtains were wrapping completely around the circulation, but a condensation funnel was never visible.  We fell behind the storm briefly but re-intercepted from the west just as a new tornado was moving through Stuttgart.  We could not make out a condensation funnel since we were approaching from the west near dark, but we did see power flashes as the tornado was moving through the south side of town.  After the tornado moved through, we returned to Stuttgart to help with the rescue effort.  Power lines and trees were down everywhere, and the smell of natural gas was nauseating.  We even witnessed some looting around some destroyed structures.  Very bad site.  From what I saw, I'm guessing this was an EF2 tornado.  Here are some radar images I captured as the tornado was on the ground from around 8:10 pm CDT yesterday evening.  Interestingly, this is the last radar image we were able to acquire, since we could no longer connect to mobile internet after this time...likely due to a downed data tower near the town of Stuttgart.

Posted At: May 10, 2008 @ 4:11 PM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

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!

Posted At: May 10, 2008 @ 7:33 AM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

An outbreak of tornadoes is possible today from Eastern OK/Northeast TX eastward through the Lower Mississippi River Valley.  Wind shear will be most favorable for strong tornadoes along an E-W warm front forecast to move northward across AR/MS through the day.  Due westerly upper flow will allow for storms to move eastward parallel to the boundary, increasing further the chance for long-track tornadoes.  CAPE values will be significant, contributing to the formation of massive hail stones.   The warm front can be seen clearly on the WRF forecast CAPE for 00z this evening - forecast to be along I-40 at this time.  The strong trough responsible for this severe weather episode can be seen in the WRF forecast 500 mb map for 00z (see below):
We're currently driving toward an initial target of Little Rock, AR, and will reposition from there depending on the location of the warm front.  Stay tuned to the live tracker as at least 2 streaming teams will be chasing today!

Posted At: May 9, 2008 @ 6:52 PM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

TornadoVideos.net just recently partnered with Vuze.com, a company similar to Youtube but specializing in the broadcast of high-quality standard digital and high-definition videos.  Most of the TVN videos have been provided to Vuze, and they just went live today!  You can check out all of our most extreme tornado videos in their best quality at the following link...Check it out and let us know your thoughts!  Vuze is an amazing site...

http://www.vuze.com/channel/tornadovideos.net

Posted At: May 8, 2008 @ 11:36 AM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

Another day of active weather is ahead, this time for the Deep South. There has already been a tornado report with damage in Tupelo MS. More warnings and extended watches are likely for North Mississippi and North-Central Alabama. In fact, SPC issued a 10% hatched area for tornadoes: 

I am not surprised by the forecast considering instability should increase before the main forcing moves into Alabama. A tornado watch is in effect through 2 pm today:

Biggest threat today will be supercells developing ahead of squall line. The environment is prime. Dewpoints in the mid 60s, temps rising into the 80s, 850 mb flow 50 kts, no CIN. Here is the RUC analysis from SPC of the curent 0-1 km storm relative helicity. This is the measure for the potential aid in updraft rotation:

Reed should have more updates later. I should be out chasing this event, but I am down in Mobile monitoring any severe potential for our inland counties. 

-JY

Posted At: May 7, 2008 @ 1:52 PM

Posted By: Reed Timmer

We're currently waiting here in Gainesville, TX, as a tornado watch was just issued for the area.  Looking at the low-level jet (visually), it appears relatively backed in our location, with near due-southerly flow.  This is very favorable for strong tornadoes if it remains until the storms arrive.  At least two teams will be streaming live to the tracker!!  According to the weather station, the dewpoint here is 67-68 - so clearly moisture will not be an issue.  Stay tuned for updates..