The Associated Press reported earlier Monday that at least 39 people were killed on Friday and Saturday and many others were injured, an extreme weather outbreak associated with a powerful storm system in central America. Two intense tornadoes caused most of the high-end damage, but wildfires burned hundreds of structures, and highway accidents associated with sudden, blind dust caused nearly a third of the deaths.
NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Centre made excellent predictions at NOAA National Weather Service, which includes NOAA National Weather Service. High peaks were highlighted about six days in advance, with many tornado reports on Saturday on the day’s “high risk” prospects (level 5, level 5) from southern Mississippi to central Alabama. Fortunately, so far, there has been only one tornado in the entire multi-day episode that has reached the “violence” category (EF4 or EF5 on the enhanced Fuji scale). Note that the highest risk levels are designed to capture the most concentrated areas of severely inclement weather (hail at least two inches in diameter, gusts of at least 75 mph, or tornadoes with an EF2 or stronger tornado); they are often (but not necessarily related to violent tornados).
As of late Sunday, preliminary calculations of tornado reports at the Storm Prediction Center (filtered to avoid duplicate repetitions), of which 79 were reported from Friday to Sunday, as well as 506 reports of severe wind gusts and 156 reports of severe hail. On Sunday, the thunderstorm moved to the eastern part of the Appalachians and was relieved as strong winds became the main threat. There are more than 200 severe gusts reported, mainly from West Virginia and eastern Ohio to western Pennsylvania and New York.
Read: Climate Change and Tornado: Is there any connection?
The multi-day tornado cluster began Friday night when several intense supercells spanned the Mississippi River from southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas, producing multiple twisters. In Missouri, twelve people were killed, including five in a house in southeastern Wayne County, Missouri.
Friday's worst tornado was striking near Diaz in northeast Arkansas, with an initial rating of EF4 with an estimated highest wind of 190 mph, plus a second EF4 track, with details from the NWS/Little Rock Office. Diaz's Twister is the most powerful tornado in the United States, a catastrophic tornado that struck Mississippi rolling fork about two years ago. Given that at least one well-built home was completely destroyed, this is not a problem, that any subsequent damage investigation may find enough evidence to raise Diaz Tornado to the EF5 rating, although, as noted in a recent study, even a well-built house seat with good exterior bases, now yields a rich Fuujita rating because it has very few scales because it is high because it is high.
Read: New research reveals potential causes of “drought” in violent EF5 tornadoes
The rapid influx of deep moisture enhances the fuel available to Saturday’s storm, which turns into a tornado in the afternoon. A long-lived super battery dropped a string of tornadoes from northeast Louisiana to central Mississippi. Eight tornadoes in Mississippi have been rated EF2 at least.
Saturday’s results could be worse if they travel through Alabama and enter Georgia on Saturday night. Despite this, there are at least two EF2 tornadoes in central Alabama, at least one EF3, and at least three people killed three, according to the Associated Press.
Read: How to Make Your Home More Tornado-Resilient
Deadly dust (and fire and smoke) in the wind on the southern plains
On the dry side of this huge storm system, the weather is very different, but in its own way extreme. On Friday, huge dust shrouded the southern plains, until early Saturday morning to the Great Lakes in the west.
Throughout Oklahoma, Friday’s high-end fire weather threat became too real as widespread wind gusts of up to 83 mph pushing backbone air toward the cold landscape. There are more than 130 fires across the state, including some larger communities, including the University Towns in Norman and Stillwater.
More than 200 homes and nearly 100 other buildings were destroyed, including a farmhouse near Luthertown owned by Gov. Kevin Stitt, according to the state’s emergency management department. Hundreds of people were evacuated for hours, and about 170,000 acres were burned down, more than three times that of the Los Angeles-Area Palisades and Eaton Fires this year (although these fires are more destructive, consuming more than 15,000 structures).
Four deaths in Oklahoma were linked to fires and strong winds, but the violent wind kicked out huge dust clouds, spreading more lives across neighboring states. Farms and pastures, even adjacent farms, can change dramatically in their dust generation, so motorists can switch from good visibility to near-zero conditions in seconds, and tightly packed high-speed traffic will soon become a deadly force.
Three people died in a dust-related crash in Panhandle, Texas. According to the state Department of Public Safety, a wreckage in Amarillo County includes 38 cars. The worst accident was on the far-reaching Interstate 70 in Kansas, where eight people died and 55 injured, involving more than 70 cars. A state policeman called it “probably the worst situation I've ever seen.”
High-platform highways on the terrain are often closed when snow blowing can cause ground stormy conditions, sometimes in the case of predicting or material things, and sometimes in warm weather, which may cause dust. On Friday, several U.S. highways in eastern Colorado and several state roads in Kansas closed in a wind gust of 75 to 85 mph, in addition to accident-related closures.
Bad weather should be relatively resting this week, and no tornado outbreaks are expected. However, on Monday, critical fire weather conditions (level 3) are expected to return to a vast area of the South Plains on Monday, extending from Colorado Springs to Oklahoma City and to the south to the Mexican border. Similar areas on Tuesday also feature Level 3 “extremely critical” areas (see Figure 1 above), which include cities in Amarillo, Lubbock and Midland/Odessa, West Texas.
Jeff Masters contributed to the report.
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