Major tornado outbreak Sunday...the aftermath..

[Gorky]

They were reporting that one car was thrown into 80 yards in the Caruthersville storm. I think F5 damage includes cars thrown over 100 yards so it's not too far off. The same storm also picked up a car with someone in sheltering under an ovepass, and wedged it in the bridge supports on the roof of the underpass. The occupant survived, but apparently the car was stuck there. Was hoping to see some pictures of that as it sounds quite unbeleivable, but I havn't found any yet...

[MiamiensisWx]

Here are some amazing photos from Marmaduke...

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?aid=24791&storyid=26372&bw=

[CrazyC83]

Those look like Hancock County after Katrina!

[CrazyC83]

http://imageevent.com/brobert/marmaduke?n=0 80+ pictures from what is left of Marmaduke...

[jkt21787]

I've talked with a met at NWS Memphis. Memphis is not allowed to go higher than F3 until a regional survey team does their own assessment, which is expected to begin shortly. Then any possible upgrades will be made. From what I was told, Marmaduke has a good chance of being upgraded, but Dyer and Gibson counties will likely remain an F3, as those homes there which only had foundation left were weakly constructed and homes nearby were left standing, and those were well constructed. The person I talked to personally surveyed Dyer and Gibson counties.

Nevertheless, everything is still preliminary, and all areas are going to be surveyed again and with the regional survey team. Flyovers may be done as well. Other areas in addition to to the Marmaduke, Caruthersville, and Dyer area have to be surveyed too. Memphis is stretched thin on resources at this point and is emphasizing that they want to take their time and get the ratings right in the end.

[CrazyC83]

I think, at this point, Marmaduke will go up to F4, since I haven't seen any pictures of solid structures being blown completely away. Caruthersville may also go up to F4.

[Wpwxguy]

F4 or F5 I don't know. It was however an underwear messer upper. Not trying to be funny either. I can't imagine the horror that was going through those peoples minds as this thing ripped their homes apart around them. So very sad. Horrible, yet so surreal and amazing at the same time.

[CrazyC83]

What's amazing about Marmaduke is that NO ONE was killed there...

[tidesong]

Oh my GOODNESS, I never thought I'd see a train car pulled up off the tracks like that.

That's frightening. That town was just decimated. *shakes head*

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

So Katrina only had f2 winds....Look at her damage. That was crazy.

[CrazyC83]

So Katrina only had f2 winds....Look at her damage. That was crazy.

That is because the communities that were flattened were done so by the storm surge, not the winds. Also hurricanes do that damage over many counties or even states, as opposed to just neighborhoods or small towns.

[WaitingForSiren]

Not really...most the damage in NO WAS from flooding, but in other cities on the MS coast, the damage was mostly wind. Its just that, if you take F2 winds and sustain them over several hours, you get far greater damage.

[Gorky]

Most of the MS damage was surge related. Sure 100mph winds sustained for an hour is going to deroof plenty of houses, but 28ft of water smashing 5 story floating casinos, shipping containers and other houses into your house for an hour is going to do more...

[simplykristi]

http://imageevent.com/brobert/marmaduke?n=0 80+ pictures from what is left of Marmaduke...

Unbelievable

Kristi

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF THE CROSS COUNTY (ARKANSAS) TORNADO:

A TEAM FROM NWS LITTLE ROCK SURVEYED DAMAGE FROM A TORNADIC
THUNDERSTORM THAT BEGAN 4 MILES SOUTHEAST OF MORTON OR ABOUT A MILE
NORTH OF THE PENROSE COMMUNITY IN WOODRUFF COUNTY AND ENDED 9 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF PARKIN IN CROSS COUNTY. THE TORNADO REMAINED IN WOODRUFF
COUNTY FOR LESS THAN HALF A MILE AND THEN MOVED INTO CROSS COUNTY.
THIS TORNADO WENT ON TO STRIKE THE FITZGERALD CROSSING COMMUNITY
SOUTH OF WYNNE AND VILLAGE CREEK STATE PARK. A NUMBER OF HOUSES WERE
DESTROYED OR DAMAGED ALONG WITH MOBILE HOMES...FARM SHOPS...AND
GRAIN SILOS. HUNDREDS OF TREES AND POWER LINES WERE DOWNED.
SEVERAL PARKED EIGHTEEN WHEELERS AND CARS WERE OVERTURNED. A
PRELIMINARY RATING OF F3 WAS GIVEN TO THE TORNADO WITH ESTIMATED
WINDS OF 200 MPH. THERE WERE 5 INJURIES IN CROSS COUNTY. THANKS TO
LITTLE ROCK FOR THEIR HELP. THERE WILL BE MORE UPDATES TO COME ON
THIS STORM IN THE FUTURE.

STORM SURVEY ASSESSMENT OF THE CARROLL COUNTY (TENNESSEE) TORNADO:

THIS TORNADO WAS FROM THE ORIGINAL SUPERCELL THAT MOVED THROUGH
GIBSON COUNTY AND IMPACTED BRADFORD. AFTER THE TORNADO PASSED
THROUGH BRADFORD IN GIBSON COUNTY THERE WAS SPORADIC DAMAGE ACROSS
THE NORTHERN HALF OF CARROLL COUNTY WITH WORST AFFECTED AREAS 5
MILES SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF MCKENZIE. DAMAGE HERE INCLUDED NUMEROUS
TREES DOWNS...GRAIN SILOS DESTROYED AND POWER LINES DOWNED. A
RATING OF F1 ON THE FUJITA SCALE WAS GIVEN TO THIS TORNADO. DAMAGE
CONTINUED INTO BENTON COUNTY. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN
NASHVILLE HAS DETAILS ON THE DAMAGE TRACK EAST OF CARROLL COUNTY.

MORE INFORMATION WILL BE ADDED AS SURVEYS CONTINUE ON TUESDAY.

[wxmann_91]

Can anybody host a couple of 2 mb radar loops? They are going to be posted on many forums... but if somebody is able to please PM me.

Well I guess nobody.

If anybody's interested, they can PM me and I'll email them to you. They are GRLevel3 radar loops of the Marmaduke-Caruthersville-Newburn Supercell and then the Greenford-Bradford Supercell.

BTW those images look to me like F3 damage.

Interesting trivia-
1) We are one death from last year's entire yearly death toll from tornadoes
2) The prelim final count for March (according to Sam's page), fell five tornadoes short of last May's final tornado count.

[wxmann_91]

Can anybody host a couple of 2 mb radar loops? They are going to be posted on many forums... but if somebody is able to please PM me.

Well I guess nobody.

If anybody's interested, they can PM me and I'll email them to you. They are GRLevel3 radar loops of the Marmaduke-Caruthersville-Newburn Supercell and then the Greenford-Bradford Supercell.

BTW those images look to me like F3 damage.

Interesting trivia-
1) We are one death from last year's entire yearly death toll from tornadoes
2) The prelim final count for March (according to Sam's page), fell five tornadoes short of last May's final tornado count.

Thanks to Mike Chambers (conestogo_flood) for hosting these.

BTW, I think the timestamps are in PDT. 5:00 is 0Z.

Pocahontas-Marmaduke-Kenneth-Caruthersville-Newbern Supercell
Greenford-Bradford Supercell

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

40 confirmed tornadoes...11 to 13 more to catch up to March 12th.

[CrazyC83]

Another top-of-F3 tornado, could that also be upgraded?

[bvigal]

All this discussion made me lookup and review the fujita scale. There seems a lot of questions about how the assessment teams apply the scale.


F3 Severe tornado 158-206 mph - Roof and some walls torn off well constructed houses; trains overturned; most trees in fores uprooted

F4 Devastating tornado 207-260 mph - Well-constructed houses leveled (this means both poorly and well-constructed, inference poorly leveled in F3); structures with weak foundations blown off some distance; cars thrown and large missiles generated.

F5 Incredible tornado 261-318 mph - Strong frame houses lifted off foundations and carried considerable distances to disintegrate; automobile sized missiles fly through the air in excess of 100 meters; trees debarked; steel re-inforced concrete structures badly damaged.


Homes with only part of one wall left standing, trees uprooted, trains overturned, can all occur in F3. Some homes leveled doesn't indicate F4 or F5, if SOME homes in the middle of the damage path (vs on the fringe) DO have some walls still intact. Poorly-constructed frame homes can be leveled in F3.

An F5 will have just rubble everywhere, with nearly nothing standing over 3 feet high, clearly marking the damage path. I haven't seen any pictures like that.

The media story on Marmaduke mentions how rescue teams were putting marks on doors to indicate they'd been checked. An F5, there wouldn't be any doors.

F5 in Jarrell TX
http://www.k5kj.net/jarrell.htm
notice large hardwood trees snapped off 3 feet above the ground, thrown cars barely recognizable as cars, well construction homes gone, only concrete slab left, etc.

F4 in Huntsville
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/ ... ville3.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/ ... ville2.jpg
notice clear delineation of damage path - outside, buildings relatively intact, within, just debris

F5 in Smithfield, AL
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/ ... field1.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/ ... field4.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/ ... field3.jpg