News - Blogs - Massive early spring tornado outbreak kills dozens

Massive early spring tornado outbreak kills dozens
Published: 3/5/2012 3:05 PM
Last Modified: 3/5/2012 3:23 PM

Snow-covered tornado damage from Marysville, Ind. via Associated Press

They say March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb.

Well, if last week’s massive and deadly tornado outbreak was the lion, I’d hate to meet the lamb.

So far, 45 tornadoes have been confirmed in 11 states from just Friday (with more confirmations surely to come). The death toll from those tornadoes also continues to climb. So far, nearly 60 people have died from the storms.

And as a reminder that it is still winter—at least on the calendar—snow today covered parts of Indiana and Kentucky that were worst hit by the storms. It is an eerie sight.

There were 440 tornado warnings and 606 thunderstorm warnings issued in all of last week. That includes the Leap Day outbreak that caused damage in Missouri and Kansas as well as the Friday outbreak. And here they all are in one giant map:

The Friday outbreak was spectacular. The atmosphere that day was the perfect mixture of conditions to produce such deadly storms, so perfect in fact that it led the NWS’ Storm Prediction Center to issue a “high probability” of severe weather across several states, centered on Kentucky. The prediction called for multiple, long-track tornadoes. And unfortunately, they were correct.

A large low pressure system send cold, dry air into the area that was very warm and very moist, all pushed along by a strong low-level jet. When those two air differences meet, accompanied by that jet stream to stir things up, supercell thunderstorms with tornadoes can likely occur.

The high probability is only issued sparingly. The last time one was issued was on May 25 of last year, part of the storm system that spun up tornadoes from Texas to Michigan between May 21 and 26. There were two EF-5 tornadoes during that outbreak. One was May 24 that killed nine people between Hinton and Guthrie. The other EF-5 was in Joplin two days before, which was only in the moderate area for severe.

The SPC archived all the data they had from Friday, including radar. Check it out here.

Of the 45 confirmed tornadoes so far, 28 were EF-2 to EF-4.

And with the proliferation of cell phones and a camera in everyone’s pocket, there are more breathtaking images of these deadly natural wonders than ever. Here are a few:

Raw Video: Henryville Twister Caught on Tape

Raw Video: Massive Band of Storms Hits Indiana

Raw Video: Indiana Picks Up Pieces After Storm

Surviving Alabama Storm in Special Shelter

Snow wasn't just a northern state issue. Snow falls Monday on West Liberty, Ky., as the town of 3,400 prepares to clean up from Friday's devastating tornado. Forecasters say the tornado that hit West Liberty was on the ground for about 60 continuous miles in eastern Kentucky. JOHN FLAVELL/AP Photo

Happy ending for a rescued dog: On the top photo, Lisa Copeland, right, and Kacie Rose carry a dog to safety before a second round of storms approaches Friday in Ooltewah, Tenn., near Chattanooga. In the bottom photo, Honey the dog is reunited with her owner J.C. Vickers, right, and his great grandson Dawson Fletcher, Sunday, in front of the home of her rescuer, Lisa Copeland, in Ooltewah, Tenn. Copeland rescued Honey after a tornado from last Friday's thunderstorms struck Vickers' home. ANGELA LEWIS and DOUG STRICKLAND/AP Photo/Chattanooga Times Free Press

The storms were truly widespread. Jonathan Foster tosses part of what remains of a barn to the side Monday in Mt. Olive, Ohio. The barn was leveled by a tornado that came through the area Friday. AL BEHRMAN/AP Photo

Heartbreaking hug: In this Sunday photo, Patricia Stevens, left, hugs her grandchildren Ashely Stevens, 3, center, and Jamal Stevens, 7, at her home in Charlotte, N.C., after a tornado destroyed their home in the Brookstead neighborhood, on Saturday. A tornado ripped a trail of destruction across parts of northeast Mecklenburg and southern Cabarrus counties early Saturday morning, damaging nearly 90 homes and leaving three people injured. ROBERT LAHSER/AP Photo/The Charlotte Observer

In this image made with a cell phone, a residential area is heavily damaged in Harrisburg, Ill., after a severe storm swept through the area early Wednesday morning. A hospital administrator in Harrisburg says at least three people were killed in the storm that swept through the region. PAUL NEWTON/AP Photo

Tree debris: Madison County workers use knuckle boom truck to pick up tornado debris Saturday in Harvest, Ala. Emergency crews desperately searched for survivors Saturday after a violent wave of Midwest and Southern storms flattened some rural communities and left behind a trail of destruction: shredded homes, downed power lines and streets littered with tossed cars. BOB GATHANY/AP Photo/The Huntsville Times

--Jerry Wofford

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Almanac

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

	Temperature		Precipitation
Date	High Temp	Low Temp	Total	Month to date	Historical average
1	44°	16°	0	0.00	0.05
2	59°	24°	0	0.00	0.11
3	57°	33°	0	0.00	0.16
4	68°	37°	Trace	0.00	0.21
5	69°	29°	0	0.00	0.26
6	66°	33°	0	0.00	0.32
7	59°	38°	0.05	0.05	0.38
8	51°	34°	0	0.05	0.44
9	44°	36°	0.01	0.06	0.51
10	62°	37°	0.07	0.13	0.57
11	54°	28°	0	0.13	0.64
12	44°	30°	0.25	0.38	0.70
13	55°	40°	0.01	0.39	0.76
14	°	°			0.83
15	°	°			0.89
16	°	°			0.95
17	°	°			1.02
18	°	°			1.09
19	°	°			1.16
20	°	°			1.23
21	°	°			1.31
22	°	°			1.38
23	°	°			1.46
24	°	°			1.53
25	°	°			1.61
26	°	°			1.69
27	°	°			1.77
28	°	°			1.85

TEMPERATURE

RAINFALL

SNOWFALL

Weather World

Follow Jerry Wofford on Twitter for updates during severe weather conditions.

Tulsa weather milestones of 2013 (as of Feb. 12)

Highest temperature: 70 on Jan. 11 (Record: 115 on Aug. 15, 1936)
Lowest temperature: 15 on Jan. 16 (Record: Minus-16 on Jan. 22, 1930)
Hottest month (average): 40.5 degrees in January (Record: 91.7 degrees on July 1980)
Coldest month (average): 40. 5 degrees in January (Record: 21.7 in January 1918)
Most snowfall (day): 0.1 of an inch on Feb. 12(Record: 13.2 inches on Feb. 1, 2011)
Most snowfall (month): 0.1 of an inch in February(Record: 22.5 inches in February 2011)
Most rainfall (day): 0.91 of an inch on Jan. 29 (Record: 9.27 inches on May 26-27, 1984)
Most rainfall (month): 1.54 of an inch in January (Record: 18.18 inches on September 1971)
Highest wind speed: 30 mph on Jan. 30
Previous day with any rain: Feb. 12
Previous day with 1 inch or more of rain: Oct. 17, 2012
Previous day with any snow: Feb. 12
Previous day with freezing temperatures: Feb. 12
Read regular updates on Oklahoma's unpredictable weather and learn more about meteorology from the Tulsa office of the National Weather Service.

>> Visit the main weather page
>> Send us your weather photos
>> Meet the forecasters

Contributors
Staff Writer Althea Peterson started writing for the Tulsa World in March 2007 after previous stops at the Norman Transcript in 2006 and the Oklahoma Gazette in 2005. She followed her older brother from rural Wisconsin (with a public school that never seemed to call snow days) to the University of Oklahoma, but did not follow his pursuit to study meteorology. However, she tries to find as many opportunities to report on the weather as possible.

Staff Writer Jerry Wofford came to the Tulsa World in 2010 from The Manhattan Mercury in Manhattan, Kan. Originally from western Arkansas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Jerry has lived in Tornado Alley his entire life and is one of those people who goes outside when the sirens go off.

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