Massive Tornado Evansville

[Skywatch_NC]

Miss Mary's prayer thread for Donna:

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=78188

Donna and her family are okay!!

[southerngale]

As 2005 comes to an end, the only real protection we have from events such as this is a NOAA weather radio -- and a battery operated one at that.

...and only about 2 percent of homes have one of those(at least down here, and we're one of the most tornado prone states in the country). I love mine... and I also live across the street from the sirens.

Oh wow...that's unbelievable. It's not like they cost a fortune. Every home should have one. I have the Midland 74-105XL weather alert radio. It's done its job so far.

It looks like this and stays in my kitchen. It's loud and will wake me up in my bedroom.

[Brent]

Oh wow...that's unbelievable. It's not like they cost a fortune. Every home should have one. I have the Midland 74-105XL weather alert radio. It's done its job so far.

I was shocked... about a year ago I heard that 2% figure from a local met and it was just unbelievable.

I have a Midland with SAME capability... if your going to get one, defintely get one with that. You can set it for only the counties you want it to go off for, so you won't be woken up for a storm that's not going to affect you.

[Brent]

Miss Mary's prayer thread for Donna:

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=78188

Donna and her family are okay!!

YAY!

[isobar]

Weatherfreak, I'm so glad your family's ok!

[jkt21787]

Strong F-3...

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
453 PM CST MON NOV 7 2005

|...DAMAGE SURVEY RESULTS FOR EVANSVILLE TORNADO NOVEMBER 6 2005...

THE FOLLOWING IS A PRELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESSMENT FOR THE TORNADO
THAT TRACKED FROM HENDERSON COUNTY KENTUCKY NORTHEAST ACROSS
VANDERBURGH...WARRICK AND INTO SPENCER COUNTIES IN SOUTHWEST INDIANA.

* EVENT DATE: SUNDAY - NOVEMBER 6 2005

* EVENT TYPE: TORNADO - F3

* ESTIMATED START TIME: APPROXIMATELY 150 AM CST; CROSSED
VANDERBURGH-WARRICK COUNTY LINE BETWEEN 202 AND 203 AM CST

* EVENT LOCATION:

TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN 2 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF SMITH MILLS IN
HENDERSON COUNTY KENTUCKY AND MOVED NORTHEAST ACROSS THE OHIO
RIVER AND ACROSS ELLIS PARK; STAYED SOUTH OF I-164 IN EVANSVILLE;
CONTINUED MOVING NORTHEAST INTO WARRICK COUNTY THROUGH DEGONIA
SPRINGS AND SOUTH OF TENNYSON; LIFTED 1.5 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF
GENTRYVILLE IN SPENCER COUNTY.

* PEAK WIND: ESTIMATED 200 MPH

* DAMAGE AREA DIMENSIONS:

PATH LENGTH - APPROXIMATELY 41 MILES
MAXIMUM WIDTH - 400+ YARDS

* INJURIES: AT LEAST 200 PERSONS /APPROXIMATELY 50 CRITICAL/

* FATALITIES: 23 PERSONS

* UNACCOUNTED FOR: 5-6 PERSONS

* DAMAGE:

100+ BUILDINGS/HOMES DESTROYED OR SEVERELY DAMAGED. MUCH OF THE
DAMAGE APPEARS TO BE UPPER F2 TO LOWER F3 INTENSITY.

PEAK WINDS OCCURRED ON PROSPECT ROAD IN THE INDUSTRIAL PARK NEAR
PARADISE IN WARRICK COUNTY.

THE SURVEY INVESTIGATION IS ONGOING AND SUBJECT TO FURTHER
COORDINATION WITH LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCIES.

[wxmann_91]

A picture is worth a thousand words:



Source - http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051109/NEWS01/511090448

[jhamps10]

1 good thing from this disaster is the tri-state is helping out in a lot of ways, All the TV stations are helping with a telephon or a fundraiser of some sort, and the telephon has raised $1,000,000 in 75 minutes!!!!!!

[isobar]

This just brings up the bigger issue of properly warning the public for severe weather. Sure there was a warning in effect ten minutes before touchdown (much longer for areas further down the tornado track), but, heck, it happened at 2 am. As 2005 comes to an end, the only real protection we have from events such as this is a NOAA weather radio -- and a battery operated one at that. It is amazing to me that in the United States, the most tornado prone nation in the world, we still lack a nationally uniform warning system in this day in age. In the plains, there are warning sirens, which are really only meant for outdoor use, and, nine times out of ten, when the power gets knocked out so do the sirens. I don't have a solution to propose because there really is no easy answer, but all I do know is that something needs to change -- it's only a matter of time before a tornado barrels through a MAJOR city early in the morning and scores end up being killed.

You bring up a very important point. One that needs to be addressed and is currently being thoroughly reviewed in this area as well as in our area NWS office in Paducah, KY.

In this particular tornado, it was determined that the analog NOAA radios did not go off either because of a software glitch or a transmitter malfunction. But the alerts on the newer digital radios with SAME codes worked.

Another thing that was rather disturbing was that the NWS warnings of the path the tornado was going to take was roughly 6 miles off of its actual track. So even if those in the mobile home park heard the warnings on their wx radios, they may have thought they were safe. The only thing that would have saved them in this case would have been leaving their TVs on all night to local News25 Chief Met Wayne Hart who broke in to local programming and showed exactly when and where it was going. I heard of one family who did that and got out of there 10-15 mins before it hit the mobile home park. Btw, the nearest warning siren to them is 2 miles. Not enough to wake them up, but like Sam said above, their purpose is to alert those who are outside.

Also, the tornado warning for Warrick County was issued at 1:59am, and the tornado crossed the county line 3 minutes later. I understand the thing had developed quickly and was moving at 60mph, but I still think that's unacceptable. And once again the actual track was a few miles south and east of the projected path.

Normally I sing praises to NWS. They do a really awesome job. But I think some questions have to be asked in this situation. Hopefully these things will be ironed out before anything like this happens again somewhere.

[jhamps10]

yes, although wasn't the warning time for Vanderbugh county somewhere around 15 minutes. There was some mistakes in this storm, that probley cost some lives. All I can say is that warning systems need looked into NOW!!!

[wxmann_91]

The thing is that the NWS had absolutely NO spotters over the area, nobody had any idea that a tornado had occurred (or was still occurring) even after this storm crossed into Warrack County.

The reason why: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/md/md2379.html

A severe thunderstorm watch was in effect all the way up to until the supercell that spawned the tornado died. Had a tornado watch been issued earlier, maybe the emergency managers and spotters would've been more alert, as well as the general public.

I'm not bashing the SPC or NWS, as tornado forecasting is very, very hard, and the combination of the fast speed of the storms and the fact that it was night made it so much harder. Recall that a similar surprise outbreak occurred on April 20, 2004, where 8 people died from a tornado in Utica, IL. The thing is that tornado forecasting is difficult and we still have a long way to go.

[isobar]

Thanks for the MD archive wxmann. Here's the WW in effect at the time:
http://spc.noaa.gov/products/watch/ww0844.html Nothing unusual jumped out at me that an F3 would be in my backyard, so to speak. So yeah, there is so much, and yet so little, known about weather forecasting. Here was a rapidly intensifying supercell broken off from a squall line moving at 60 mph at 2am in November. It doesn't get much more challenging than that!

When I went to bed at 11:30pm, spotters were not activated.

You're right jhamps, the warning time for the mobile home park was about 15 minutes, which is only about 3 miles ENE of the county line and where the Ellis Park horse facility is.

However, everyone with NOAA radios (and right now there's a huge demand for them here in Evansville) should also always program the counties west and south of their location. I'm sure most of us here do, but I'm talking about normal people, and we weathergeeks are certainly not normal. Even though I'm in Warrick County, I heard the first warning for Henderson County in KY a full 30 minutes before the tornado arrived in Warrick. Now that's a lot of warning for a tornado moving at that speed. Had I only programmed Warrick, I would have had less than 5 mins.

[wxmann_91]

Level 2 Radar images from KVWX (Evansville, IN):

As always, the earliest image is the last picture of the gallery. Except for the 1.5° Tilt smoothed. (I still haven't figured out Imageshack yet)

0.5° Tilt nonsmoothed: http://img497.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=evansvillebreflectivity85ih.png

0.5° Tilt smoothed: http://img306.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=evansvillebsreflectivity83rh.png

1.5° Tilt nonsmoothed: http://img306.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=evansvillereflectivity84zy.png

1.5° Tilt smoothed: http://img306.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=evansvillereflectivitys74rc.png

Base Velocity: http://img310.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=evansvillevelocity89bb.png


2.4° Tilt nonsmoothed:




2.4° Tilt smoothed:




I hope to have more data uploaded soon. Oh yes, FYI, the + symbol you see is where the trailer park is.

[isobar]

These are awesome wxmann! The couplet on the velocities are incredible. I copied a few onto my desktop. Thanks!

[wxmann_91]

These are awesome wxmann! The couplet on the velocities are incredible. I copied a few onto my desktop. Thanks!

You're most certainly welcome!

I just checked out LVX (Louisville) radar, the Evansville cell isn't as impressive since it is farther away from the radar. However the supercell that spawned the tornado that destroyed Munfordville is there, so I will post pics of that either later tonight or tomorrow.

[jhamps10]

WOW, I just saw video of Sunday's twister on Fox 7 news from the Deaconess Women's hospital security video. Just amazing, at the top, it was 1 to 1.5 miles wide!!!! isobar, they are supposed to show it during the weather segments.

[jhamps10]

I have a still photo of the security video of the twister. This photo is found on the front page of news25.us. This picture is amazing (this was taken roughly as it is hitting the mobile home park.)

[isobar]

jhamps, Thanks for the info! I missed it last night on the news, darn it! Hopefully they'll show it again today. The video online is pretty impressive for anyone interested: http://www.news25.us/

Deaconess Women's Hosp, where this image is taken, is exactly 3 miles NE of the mobile home park. What a classic wedge! Glad that 1+ mile wall cloud didn't transfer down to the surface!

[wxmann_91]

As promised, I have posted the reflectivity and velocity level 2 radar images from Munfordville:

Reflectivity (first nonsmoothed then smoothed):






Velocity:

[wxmann_91]

The damage from this tornado could be seen from space:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsro ... g_id=17100