Massive storms
- Thread starter Cyclonepride
- Start date
Its the EF scale :wink:
And I'm sure they haven't had enough time yet to investigate to come to a consensus.
They are now reporting the death toll at over 200 now. What a sad day. The one storm system that went through Birmingham and Tuscaloosa was said to have tracked for over 300 miles (at the last update I saw last night). Typically we don't get storms that are that powerful and that long lived I am guessing because of location. We aren't as close to the Gulf which fuels these storms. Pretty scary stuff down there.
Pretty sure when they get out to survey the damage there will be several F5 rated tornadoes. That one that hit Tuscaloosa and Birmingham was a real monster. The severe weather expert on the weather channel was going through the video of the Tuscaloosa tornado and was pointing out that it appeared to him that it had a multiple vortex setup. Probably not a good thing when you have multiple funnel clouds that come together to form one giant tornado.
Photo Blog:
Blogs Only | HamWx by Steve Miller
YouTube Playlist of tornado footage:
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
Blogs Only | HamWx by Steve Miller
YouTube Playlist of tornado footage:
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
A lot of news articles and storm chaser sites have described it as a very strong EF4 but after watching the video I wouldn't be shocked if they announce it was at EF5 strength when it was rocked Tuscaloosa. A guy on the Weather Channel who was on the scene said winds had to be at least 200 mph
Pictures I saw still showed plenty of walls standing and tree trunks. An EF5 would wouldn't leave walls and tree turnks would be splinters.
Might be pockets of EF5 though.
Unless it is well reinforced with steel, concrete block doesn't make a great tornado shelter. A number of places make above ground storm shelters (as well as below ground shelters). One or the other, my wife and I have decided to get one...
Very sad day for those folks. My prayers will be with them.
Live blog available on CNN...
Live blog: 30 killed in Tennessee; 231 dead across six states – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs
Live blog: 30 killed in Tennessee; 231 dead across six states – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs
espcially with all of the warnings and advisories that the SPC out of Oklahoma & local NWS offices had in place all day yesterday, the loss of life that we've seen is just unreal.
To put these storms in perspective- the top 25 tornado outbreaks with number of deaths all precede 1955 when reflectivity radars were mostly nonexistent and could not warn people about impending storms. The storm yesterday, as of now, stands #7 on the list. With all of the technology at our fingertips now for forecasting/warning/seeing/communicating about impending tornadoes this outbreak was filthy nasty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:25_deadliest_US_tornadoes
I also have a question-- Why do houses in the south not have basements? Is it too costly? Water table too high? Soil to rocky? What is it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:25_deadliest_US_tornadoes
I also have a question-- Why do houses in the south not have basements? Is it too costly? Water table too high? Soil to rocky? What is it?
Basements:
Soil properties (shrink-swell w/ high clay soils) and depth (very shallow) to impervious layer (ie. slab of rock).
Edit: Where my house is in College Station, Texas (prior to building adding dirt for the foundation, yard, etc.) it is ~2.5 feet to a restrictive layer.
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