Tornado outbreak of April 15-17, 1998

[polarbear]

An outbreak of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes occurred between 1800 UTC April 15 and 1200 UTC April 17, 1998.

A deep Plains cyclone moved from Kansas to Missouri on the 15th, with a cold front moving southeastward thru Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas. Severe thunderstorms with large hail broke out during the afternoon and evening on the 15th from Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and northeast Texas. Some of the thunderstorms were supercells over Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas. One storm produced a family of seven to eight tornadoes across southern Illinois between 0000 UTC and 0200 UTC on April 16th. Three of these tornadoes were rated F2. Other tornadoes occurred over central and northeast Arkansas and over western Tennessee. An F4 tornado hit Manila, Arkansas. Two children were killed with 20 injured. About 100 homes were either damaged or destroyed in this tornado. The same supercell that produced the Manila tornado also produced an F3 tornado in Roellen, Tennessee about an hour later. One man was killed. There was 21 tornadoes between 2147 UTC on April 15th and 1200 UTC on April 16th. There was also 100 reports of large hail and 23 reports of severe thunderstorm winds between 1200 UTC on the 15th and 1200 UTC on the 16th.

Later on April 16th, more severe thunderstorms developed across Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and North/South Carolina. At 2034 UTC, an F3 tornado touched down in south-central Kentucky, killing two in Glasgow. This tornado had a path length of 48 miles. There was 13 tornadoes that occurred in Tennessee. A number of tornadoes touched down in and around the Nashville metro area. The first was at 1210 UTC in southern Dickson County, where an F3 occurred. Other significant tornadoes near Nashville...the first touched down at 2030 UTC in southwest Davidson County and tracked east-northeast through Nashville, doing F3 damage with a path length of 43 miles. The second tornado touched down in eastern Nashville at 2119 UTC producing F2 damage as it moved east-northeast. It had a pathlength of 28 miles. A third tornado touched down in Nashville at 2215 UTC. Storm Data records one fatality with these tornadoes. A tornado touched down at 2149 UTC in western Wayne County, Tennessee, producing F5 damage. This tornado killed two people. It had a pathlength of 69 miles. A family of weak tornadoes occurred between 0000 UTC and 0400 UTC April 17th north of Birmingham, Alabama. Between 1200 UTC April 16th and 1200 UTC April 17th, there was a total of 37 tornadoes, 13 significant and 5 killers. There was also 96 reports of large hail and 51 reports of severe thunderstorm winds.

Here's some highlights from TWC's coverage from the 15th thru the 16th: http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIn ... 596535&f=0