It's been less than 24 hours since the severe weather outbreak we worried about for almost a week took place, and folks from Oklahoma to New Jersey are cleaning up the mess and trying to figure out what exactly got damaged.
There were over 250 reports of severe weather yesterday, mostly due to wind damage. There were tornadoes (10+ reports, in fact), and the NWS has survey crews out today assessing the damage and trying to figure out what caused the damage, and if it was by a tornado, how it rates on the EF scale.
The day started off with a moderate risk area issued by the Storm Prediction Center for the area in and around Arkansas, alerting everyone to the fact that the area could face a major tornado/severe weather outbreak as the day went on.
It didn't take long for the action to get going. If you recall, the storms yesterday started off in Texas/Oklahoma, with a severe thunderstorm watch issued early in the morning.
Severe Thunderstorm Watch 12
These storms didn't come with much more than rain or thunder, but the storms that fired up later in the day weren't nearly as kind to those beneath them.
The next watch was issued about 6 hours later, for the Ark-La-Tex region. As storms began forming in this area, another watch was issued just to the east of this one.
By Thursday evening, another tornado watch was issued for several counties in southern Kentucky as a very defined line of thunderstorms set up over central Arkansas and began working its way east.
Radar image from 520PM CST, issued with Tornado Watch 15, showing the line of severe storms forming in central Arkansas.
The line would continue pushing through the southern states, producing tornado watches in Tennessee (16), Alabama/Mississippi (17), and a severe thunderstorm watch in Kentucky/Tennessee/Georgia (18) before weakening below severe limits.
Radar image at Midnight CST, issued with Severe Thunderstorm Watch 18, showing the line of thunderstorms extending across 4 states from Mississippi to Kentucky.
Thanks to daytime heating and the energy associated with the storm system that caused severe weather the day before, a severe thunderstorm watch was issued early this afternoon for portions of the mid-Atlantic region as storms began to fire in western Virginia and Maryland. The broken line of storms moved east, and achieved severe levels after crossing the Potomac River and entering Maryland. The storms weakened below severe limits again a few hours ago, the watch was allowed to expire, and the severe weather event ended.
Severe Thunderstorm Watch 19, showing a few isolated thunderstorms forming off to the west along a line from Charlottesville, VA to west of Philadelphia, PA.
Reports from 6PM CST 2-24-2011 to 6PM CST 2-25-2011. All reports preliminary, some (especially tornado reports) may be duplicates or not considered "severe" weather reports after further examination.
The line of storms tore a path of damage from Arkansas to North Carolina, and resulted in 237 high wind reports, 12 tornado reports, and 4 hail reports.
Wind Damage
Of the 237 high wind reports, 6 were in excess of 65 knots (74 MPH, the low threshold of a category 1 hurricane). Most of the reports were generic tree or roof damage, but a few were interesting:
Westmoreland, TN -- House struck by lightning on Butt Road.
Owensville, AR -- Trees down on the Arkansas Forestry Commission building.
Cullen, LA -- Tree down on a vehicle, causing 1 injury.
Hazen, AR -- 70 MPH wind reported.
Pemiscot, MO -- Vehicles pushed off I-55 by the winds.
Marked Tree, AR -- Roof ripped off a building.
Trumann, AR -- Tractor trailer blown off I-55 by the winds.
Marion, AR -- Canopy torn off gas station.
Osceola, AR -- 62 MPH wind recorded by handheld anemometer.
Henderson, TN -- 100 MPH wind estimated (this seems suspect to me)
Hopkinsville, KY -- 77 MPH wind measured.
Jackson, TN -- 80 MPH wind measured.
Regarding that Jackson, TN report, recall that yesterday I posted a radar image of a pretty nasty storm going through that region as I was posting the liveblog. Another point is the 100 MPH estimation in Henderson, TN. There was another 100 MPH wind estimated in Halls, TN, in which a few buildings and power poles were destroyed. The latter seems like it could be real, since the report had damage to back it up, but the one in Henderson seems a little high to me.
Today, there were 10 reports of wind damage associated with the storms over the mid-Atlantic region. 60-70 MPH winds in some of the thunderstorms that went through Maryland caused tree and roof damage, and a storm that went over Seaside Heights, NJ did roof and fence damage. The NWS speculates that a microburst with 75 MPH winds could be to blame for windows being shattered, roofs and shingles sustaining damage, and garbage cans getting tossed around, in Lakewood, NJ.
Hail Reports
There weren't many hail reports with this batch of storms, but there were a few (4, to be exact). Nothing spectacular (mainly in the 1.00-1.50" range), but enough to cause damage if it hits at the right angle.
Tornado Reports
There were 12 reports of tornadoes yesterday, but this number is probably only 4 or 5 due to the nature of tornado reporting*. The NWS is still conducting surveys on how strong the tornadoes were, but at this point it doesn't seem like they were as strong as they could have been, which is good.
*Since tornadoes can have tracks as long as half a state (or more), numerous tornado reports can be sent in from miles around. 12 towns could send in a tornado report, giving the appearance that there were 12 tornadoes, but most of the time it was the same tornado that went through all 12 towns.
I'll post another diary either tomorrow or Sunday with more information about the possible tornadoes that occurred yesterday. Meanwhile, be sure to follow State of the Skies for more weathery goodness, and follow Severe Weather Liveblog to keep up-to-date with severe weather as it happens.
UPDATE
I'll still do a diary tomorrow, but reports are slowly coming in tonight about some confirmed tornadoes by NWS survey crews. The first two are from NWS Jackson, the next two are from NWS Nashville, the two after that are from NWS Little Rock, and the last two in Kentucky are from NWS Paducah (pictures and maps included in link).
EF2 -- Grace, MS
EF1 -- Killbourne, LA
EF2 -- Antioch, TN
EF2 -- Lebanon, TN
EF1 -- Lonoke, AR
EF1 -- Scott, AR
EF0 -- Hickman, KY
EF1 -- Fulton, KY
Other Links:
National Weather Service
Storm Prediction Center
Liveblogs from yesterday's event:
Severe Weather Liveblog -- #1 -- So it begins...
Severe Weather Liveblog -- #2 -- Storms Firing, Watches Issued