February 5-6: Super Tuesday Outbreak... 57 dead

[wbug1]

Wow.. I never saw this till now.. the Greensburg damage: at least two blocks and a half cleaned out:

http://www.stormchaserco.com/20071017_G ... treets.jpg

The debris is not sitting beside the houses, I can't see where the debris went. The major "wind zone" appears to have been quite narrow (250-300 meters), the other houses "only" have EF-3/4 damage.

It doesn't look like OKC and Greensburg are much different. In fact, I can't find pics of an entire block just gone from the OKC 1999 event.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/storms/19990503/
The worst of the OKC tornado, not many buildings "gone" but the ground is scoured.

http://www.stormtrack.org/library/damage/moore.htm - damage analysis of OKC 1999.

[Bunkertor]

I'd say EF5. But I'm not an expert.

That picture doesn´t match witch the definition of an (e)F5. To classify you need more details.

[wbug1]

Wow.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lzk/html/stories020508.htm


http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lzk/html/imgvie ... orm020508i

[Squarethecircle]

Also at Clinton (Van Buren County), a lady had small pieces of newspaper buried in her leg...and the print could be read just under her skin.

That's insane.

[JonathanBelles]

Also at Clinton (Van Buren County), a lady had small pieces of newspaper buried in her leg...and the print could be read just under her skin.

That's insane.

WOW!!!

[Stephanie]

:uarrow: It's kinda scary to realize, but I have no idea what that thing is. It certainly doesn't look like a railroad car.

I didn't know what it is when I looked at it either, but the picture caption says it's a railroad car. If you look carefully, you can see the coupler. It's hard to make out because the colours make it look like the rest of it.

OMG! I would've never guessed that in a million years. I knew it was bigger than a car but...

I think we'll see an upper EF4 or EF5 for this current tornado. It's pretty darn close to the damage in Moore/OKC, but maybe not quite, IMHO. It does look "scrubbed and clean" to me as well.

[wbug1]

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lzk/html/stories020508.htm


http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lzk/html/imgvie ... orm020508i

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lzk/html/imgvie ... orm020508j

Not EF-5 so far. May be changed again?

[Squarethecircle]

Did I mention ?




EDIT: Though folks, remember, for a manufactured single wide house, the tornado only has to be about an EF-3 (expected) for complete gone-ness.

[karynb]

hi im new to this forum ,, my name is karyn .. i found this site when i was checking up on the clinton area damage..
my fiance is from clinton arkansas and i lived there, down hwy 16 between clinton and shirley for over a year.. that area is VERY hilly/mountainous..it may be just old wives tales but i always heard from older folks that it was hard for a tornado to last long in hilly or heavily forested areas as it would cause the tornado to "break up" .. IF thats true.. because im far from a tornado expert ...for a tornado to be that destructive from atkins to across the section from cleveland through to past mountain view is amazing.. i can only imagine how much worse it would have been had the area been flatter...i remember my first drive through that area when i moved there.. EVERY older house we passed had a tornado shelter .. even though they were mostly overgrown.. it freaked me out since i am originally from south alabama..sorry im just giving you all some random information about that area .. hope yall dont mind..

[RL3AO]

it may be just old wives tales but i always heard from older folks that it was hard for a tornado to last long in hilly or heavily forested areas as it would cause the tornado to "break up"

First of all welcome. And second, that is a complete myth. Hills won't do anything to "break up" a tornado.

[Squarethecircle]

(above RL3AO) It's no problem to us. There's lots of stuff on the Wikipedia page and the past few pages here if you want to know more about it.

And welcome to Storm2k!

[simplykristi]

:uarrow:


Did I mention ?

EDIT: Though folks, remember, for a manufactured single wide house, the tornado only has to be about an EF-3 (expected) for complete gone-ness.

My relatives who live south of Mountain View have no storm shelter. They live in double-wide and single-wide trailers on their property.

My dad said that they were safe from tornadoes because of the hills around there. I told him that was a false sense of security. I have heard eyewitnesses say that the tornado just came oover the mountains to the SW of Mountain View so his thinking was very flawed.

I am glad that my relatives are safe.... I hope that they get their electricity back soon.

I keep up to date with info from Kait8 in Jonesboro.

Kristi

[Squarethecircle]

Lol, I think you were quoting the wrong post.

[karynb]

My dad said that they were safe from tornadoes because of the hills around there. I told him that was a false sense of security

seeeee im not the only one that has heard that growing up
well im glad i wasnt there because i was on top of a hill anyway so fat lot of good it would have done us .. and we were in a double wide there with NO shelter.. and i would have stroked out before the tornado got me anyways!
i imagine few of the trailers or newer houses built in clinton or wherever had storm shelters installed.. like i said even in the older houses that did have them.. they mostly were over grown with vines.. some kept thiers current..im amazed there were not more fatalities in the clinton area... i do know of one brick house on hwy 16 before PeeDee that was wiped clean ,, since you all were speaking of it being a E4 -5.. there is a photo of it in an earlier posting .. i guess i should have found it before i posted this .. oh well im having a blonde week here.. i shall go now and search for it..

[simplykristi]

:uarrow: Lol, I think you were quoting the wrong post.

Are you talking about me? No I was just commenting because of the manufactured home and the fact that my relatives live in trailers. There are a lot of trailers and manufactured homes in and around Mountain View.

Kristi

[simplykristi]

I am really surprised that more people were not killed in the outbreak. A lot of rural areas were hit. I think that advance warning thru TV and radio are working.

Kristi

[RL3AO]

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
1255 PM CST SAT FEB 9 2008

...AERIAL SURVEY COMPLETED FOR PRIMARY TORNADO TRACK OVER NORTH
ARKANSAS...

AN AERIAL SURVEY WAS COMPLETED LATE THIS MORNING FOR THE TORNADIC
STORM THAT TRACKED ACROSS WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHERN ARKANSAS ON
TUESDAY. THE AREAL SURVEY TEAM CONCLUDED THAT THE PATH OF THE
TORNADO WAS CONTINUOUS FROM YELL COUNTY... NORTHEASTWARD INTO SHARP
COUNTY. THE TORNADO WAS EARLIER RATED AN EF4. BASED ON PRELIMINARY
INFORMATION...THE LENGTH OF THE TORNADO TRACK WILL BE AT LEAST 120
MILES LONG.

AN NWS GROUND SURVEY TEAM HAS ALSO FOUND THE STARTING POINT OF THIS
TORNADO TO BE 5.6 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF CENTERVILLE...IN YELL
COUNTY. AN ENDING POINT...ALONG WITH A MORE DETAILED PATH LENGTH...
WILL BE DETERMINED ONCE THE TEAMS RETURN LATER THIS AFTERNOON.

[simplykristi]

I am not surprised. I wonder if it is one of the longest tornado tracks tho.

Kristi

[Squarethecircle]

Note that they say "earlier rated an EF-4". That makes it sound like they're expressing some sort of doubt or lack of confidence that it will remain so.

[wbug1]

:uarrow:


Did I mention ?




EDIT: Though folks, remember, for a manufactured single wide house, the tornado only has to be about an EF-3 (expected) for complete gone-ness.

In fact, a single or double family residence (single or (double brick?), or concrete block walls) being levelled isn't enough to rate EF-5 according to the EF scale. The highest damage indicator, upper bound is 198 mph 3 sec gust, for a destroyed FR12 (family residence, 1 or 2 family, up to 5,000 sq.ft).

The link to the full EF scale on the spc NOAA website:
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/ef-ttu.pdf

SNIP from the PDF:

One- and Two-Family Residences (FR12)
Typical Construction
• Asphalt shingles, tile, slate or metal roof covering
• Flat, gable, hip, mansard or mono-sloped roof or combinations thereof
• Plywood/OSB or wood plank roof deck
• Prefabricated wood trusses or wood joist and rafter construction
• Brick veneer, wood panels, stucco, EIFS, vinyl or metal siding
• Wood or metal stud walls, concrete blocks or insulating-concrete panels
• Attached single or double garage

3-sec gust mph mph mph
DOD* Damage description EXP Lowerbound Upperbound
1 Threshold of visible damage 65 53 80
2 Loss of roof covering material (<20%), gutters and/or 79 63 97
awning; loss of vinyl or metal siding
3 Broken glass in doors and windows 96 79 114
4 Uplift of roof deck and loss of significant roof covering
material (>20%); collapse of chimney; garage doors
collapse inward or outward; failure of porch or carport 97 81 116
5 Entire house shifts off foundation 121 103 141
6 Large sections of roof structure removed; most walls
remain standing 122 104 142
7 Top floor exterior walls collapsed 132 113 153
8 Most interior walls of top story collapsed 148 128 173
9 Most walls collapsed in bottom floor, except small
interior rooms 152 127 178
10 Total destruction of entire building 170 142 198
* DOD is degree of damage

If you go and look at the OKC/1999 tornado damage photos, you will see that a single brick family home of much smaller than 5,000 square feet being wiped clean with a slab remaining, but with some debris still on the slab, is listed as F5 damage. This would not be E-F5 damage. As you can see from the EF scale, vehicles being thrown for whatever distance is not a damage indicator, while a vehicle tossed 109 yard or greater on the old F scale is an indicator of F5 strength. A vehicle being stripped of it's innards and body or thrown over 400 m (a quarter mile) goes beyond this, and there is photo evidence (2 pictures showing a vehicle with the body and engine gone) on the NWS Little Rock site.


The net result result of this rewriting will be a reduction of reported EF-5 tornados as compared to the old F-scale, if strictly followed. Looking at the new scale, to my eye the other categories remain comparable to the old F-scale.

Correction: tree debarking only gives upper bound 168 mph according to the EF scale, hardwood or softwood. Not a EF5 damage indicator.