Link

The tornado fatality that occurred in Washington County on Friday, October 9th was the first death from a tornado in Mississippi in 4 years or since 2005.

Sixty year-old Sarah Smith was killed when a EF-1 tornado with winds near 110 mph flipped her mobile home on its roof.

Smith died after suffering severe head trauma.

According to the National Climatic Data Center, the last tornado fatality during the month of October in Mississippi -was over 40 years ago in 1967. (Harrison County 1967)

---

This was also the first tornado death since May of this year across the country.

A total 22 tornado fatalities have occurred in the United States in 8 states, this year.

(Mississippi, Georgia, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky)

This is well below the 126 fatalities that occurred across the country in 2008 and the 3 year average of 91 tornado fatalities.

Link

ONTARIO, Canada -

Judy Brown admitted she was still in shock and mourning as she remembered her good friend, Bernie Jackson, a retired Neosho Junior High School principal who was one of two men killed by a tornado that hit their campsite in Ontario, Canada, Thursday night.

Brown said Jackson was “Mr. Education. Mr. Wonderful. Mr. People Person.”

Bernie Jackson, 65, who served as Neosho Junior High School principal for nine years, retired in the summer of 2006. Jackson, of Ponca City, Okla., and Stan Hollis, 79, were killed by a tornado that hit about 9 p.m. Thursday and destroyed two cabins in the camp area. The tornado was rated an EF2, with wind speeds between 113 and 157 miles per hour, according to Environment Canada, the Canadian equivalent to the National Weather Service.

Dennis Kinkaid, 66, was still missing as of Friday evening, the Associated Press reports. The incident happened at a fishing resort next to Lac Seul in northwestern Ontario.

According to the Tulsa World, this is the 23rd year for the men to go on a summer camping trip.
Jackson retired from the Ponca City School District in Ponca City, Okla., before coming to the Neosho School District in 1997.

It was then that Brown, long-time junior high school secretary, found herself working for Jackson. It was that year that Jackson and Brown became friends, as well as colleagues.

“I just can’t imagine this world without Bernie Jackson,” said Brown, who has worked for the Neosho R-5 School District for 27 years with the junior high school. “Bernie loves people, and I am saying that in the present tense because it is still hard for me to grasp. He loved his faculty. He was always taking good care of people. You could go to him as a sounding board for your thoughts. You could go to him for advice, and he would help you think things through. He loved the kids, and always had wonderful stories to tell.”

Brown said Jackson was a family man, as well as a man of education. He is survived by his wife, Marilyn, two children, and four grandchildren.

“He would always talk about his grandchildren, because they were always so special to him,” Brown said. “Bernie was always doing things for other people. He would be working late in the evening to make a big, huge pot of soup for the entire faculty. He was so fun. He very seldom got angry, and when he did, he controlled it very well.”

Brown said everyone was excited for Jackson when he retired in 2006, because they knew he would be able to do the things he enjoyed like hunt, fish and golf.

“He was also a wonderful cook, and he had a big garden every year,” Brown said. “He would bring food in the office and share them. He was just always thinking of other people. I have never worked for anybody who was more giving and gracious, and compassionate. We were a part of his family, and he loved us. I didn’t know anyone who didn’t respect him. I can’t say enough about how much I respected him, and loved him.”

Shirley Cummins, a current member of the Neosho R-5 School Board and a retired R-5 administrator who worked alongside Jackson, said he was one of the most “positive and compassionate educators I think I have ever worked with. He always had a smile on his face, and he always had something good to say about people. He has been a counselor, an educator, in human resources and he was excellent in dealing with people. He had many strong suits, but I think those positive people skills were his best.”

Cummins said she and her husband, Sonny, and Jackson and his wife, Marilyn, went on a cruise together the summer Jackson retired.

“We just had the best time,” Cummins said.

Cummins said Jackson was good for Neosho and the district, and Darren Cook, current principal at Neosho High School, echoed that statement.

“Bernie was a kind man, and he had a big heart,” Cook said. “He was always thinking of others. Why he came back after retiring in Oklahoma to be principal in Neosho is because he loved working with kids. He had a great love for students.”

Dr. Richard Page, superintendent of Neosho R-5 Schools, said he was shocked to hear of the news of Jackson’s death.

“Bernie was a good person and a good friend, and he always remembered us here in Neosho,” Page said. “We are sure sad to hear of the loss. He was a great educator and a great person, and this is a sad loss to all of us.”

* * *
The Associated Press and the Tulsa World contributed to this report.

Link

 

Tornado cuts 3-mile-long path in Eagle Lake   By Julia Bayly Special to the NEWS PHOTO COURTESY OF SUSAN TARDIE A tornado that touched down in Eagle Lake on Sunday brought hail and toppled trees, including these that spared statuary in the Catholic cemetery. EAGLE LAKE, Maine — It’s official. The storm that blew through this northern Maine town Sunday has been declared an EF-1 tornado by the National Weather Service office in Caribou. “We marry up a bunch of data to determine a tornado,” Hendricus Lulofs, meteorologist in charge at the Caribou NWS, said Thursday afternoon. “The survey team reviewed the radar data, the recorded wind flow and talked with eyewitnesses.” When the NWS survey team visited the Eagle Lake area on Tuesday, it found a path of destruction roughly 3.2 miles long and averaging 100 yards wide. “It’s that length versus width that indicated tornado rather than straight-line winds,” Lulofs said. “It snapped trees, uprooted trees, and the way the trees were laying down in different directions [also] indicated a tornado.” Lulofs said the tornado had maximum winds of 110 mph. While not common in Maine, an average of two or three such events occur each year, mostly in the southern and western parts of the state, Lulofs said. In the Eagle Lake event, the survey team determined the tornado first touched down near the Pinette Brook Crossing around 2:15 p.m. Sunday, and was on the ground intermittently as it followed a southeast track, crossing Convent Road, Duprey Road and Route 11. No injuries were reported but along its path the storm destroyed hundreds of trees, an outbuilding, a transport trailer and a boat. At the town’s Catholic cemetery, large trees were uprooted and toppled onto several pieces of statuary, which miraculously escaped serious damage. Susan Tardie, a native of Winterville, was at her family’s camp on St. Froid Lake when the storm came through Sunday. “It was sunny and all of a sudden it started hailing,” Tardie said Thursday. “At first I thought it was someone outside trying to get my attention and then I saw the hail.” Soon afterward, a relative came to alert the family of the storm’s passing. Tardie said she feels very fortunate after seeing firsthand the damage at the cemetery as she and several family members had spent the previous day that Memorial Day weekend attending to relatives’ graves. “Thank goodness we were not there when that storm hit,” Tardie said. “But it was very emotional standing there the next day with other people and looking at the damage.” The last official tornado in northern Maine was on July 24, 2001, in Oakfield.

Link

There’s a great chart below, too.

Just one year ago, Mississippi was in the midst of a record year for tornadoes.

Sixty-eight tornadoes were confirmed from January to mid May 2008.

2008 went on to produce over 40 more tornadoes, for a record total of 109.

 This year,  only 35 tornadoes have been confirmed across the state through mid May 2009, which is significantly down from last year.

 2008 Monthly Tornado Count

JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT	NOV	DEC
12	19	11	12	14	0	0	0	24	1	0	16

 

 March and May have been the most active months so far this year,  with 14 confirmed tornadoes in both months.

 

 Despite a less active severe weather season, Mississippi is above average for tornadoes.  (35 confirmed)

The state averages 28 tornadoes annually.

The state has been above average in tornadoes over the last several years.

(This continuous trend of above average tornadoes has caused the overall average for tornadoes to increase from 24 in the late 1990’s to early 2000’s to 27 in 2004 to now 28.)

---

 

Mississippi is transitioning into more of a summer like pattern, which is not conducive for severe weather in the Southeast.

In 2008, no tornadoes were recorded from June thru August, which is typical.

Severe weather becomes more confined to the Midwest and Central Plains. (tornado alley)

Church destroyed from a EF 3 tornado on March 25, 2009 (Magee, MS)

 

 

 

 Tornado activity begins to increase once again with the threat of land falling tropical systems along the Gulf Coast and during what is called the ‘Second Severe Weather Season in the late Fall’ across the South. (Fall Severe Weather Mississippi) (Tropical systems produce tornadoes)

Link

 

Fla. tornado damages 11 mobile homes

A tornado caused damage to 11 mobile homes and a vehicle but no injuries when it touched down in the city of Casselberry, just north of Orlando. The National Weather Service says the F-0 tornado, the lowest possible severity, touched down late Tuesday. Casselberry Fire Chief Don Harkins said that damage was “relatively minor,” and that total damage was estimated at $51,000. The most severely damaged mobile home had its roof buckle and side walls damaged. Two others had roof damage, and the remaining eight homes had siding or window damage. One vehicle was hit by a tree limb. Heavy rains over the past three days also caused flooding in some coastal communities in Brevard and Volusia counties.

 

Link

Tornado strikes in Madison County

By – STAFF REPORT

Observer-Dispatch

Posted May 17, 2009 @ 08:46 PM

---

MADISON COUNTY —

A tornado touched down 1 mile south of the village of Georgetown late Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

The tornado, which touched down between 4:34 and 4:47 p.m., stretched 6 and one-half miles and carried winds of at least 110 miles per hour, said Brian Lovejoy, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service’s Binghamton office.

Those winds classified the tornado as a two on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which measures the severity of tornados, Lovejoy said. The scale ranges from zero to five. 

Link

Five tornadoes hit Roberts, Gray counties

Storm spawns tornadic activity, knocks out power

At least five tornadoes touched down Friday in Roberts and Gray counties, the National Weather Service in Amarillo said.

One motorist was injured and scores of people in Pampa and Lefors had their power knocked out.

“Based on what we saw on radar, we were not surprised we had five tornadoes,” said meteorologist John Cockrell.

One tractor-trailer driver caught in a E2 tornado – winds between 111 and 135 mph – southeast of Pampa – suffered a broken shoulder and damage to his truck. Cockrell said the trucker may have been traveling on Highway 60 when the tornado passed right over him. The tornado was estimated to have been a half-mile wide.

The NWS found one tornado was on the ground for up to 20 minutes, officials said. The tornado was a quarter-mile wide with winds ranging from 86 to 110 mph. It carved a path of about six miles stretching from two miles northwest of Lefors to about four miles southeast of the city, officials said.

Robert Hines of Lefors said he was driving toward Lefors on Spur 398 near the path of the tornado Friday when he watched wind push a pickup traveling ahead of him around the roadway. The wind was fierce.

“It was freaky,” he said. “Just sucking everything off the ground. All I hear was bang, bang.”

Something cracked his windshield, but he said otherwise he was unharmed.

Three other tornadoes touched down nearby. The first hit about 4:45 p.m. 13 miles west of Miami in Roberts County and was on the ground for about a minute.

The second landed about a minute after the first about 14 miles west-southwest of the city. It was on the ground for more than 10 minutes.

The third landed about four or five miles northeast of Pampa, stayed on the ground about eight minutes and covered about three miles.

Xcel Energy spokesman Wes Reeves said crews spent most of Saturday working to restore power to residents. By midday Saturday, about 500 customers were without power and Xcel reported about 50 poles east and south of Pampa were lost during the storm.

He said the company had called in more than 70 employees from Pampa, Borger, Amarillo, Hereford, Plainview and Lubbock to rebuild the damaged lines.

He said the infrastructure damage appeared to be caused by straight-line winds.

By the end of day, outages in Lefors and Pampa were estimated to be less than 50 and local crews were expected to work overnight to fix the rest of the outages.

Another sub-par review because someone thinks we are wrong about the information in LETHAL. When actually, we are right.

Earthquakes are a real threat in Washington State, the most recent occurrence being in 1996. The potential for more happening in the future is there, because of existing, known fault lines.

Tornadoes are often also real threat in Washington State.  In 1972, Washington lead the country in tornado deaths. And in 1997, 6 tornadoes touched down in Washington state in a single day.

 April 5, 1972 – Washington’s Deadliest Tornado Outbreak

* An F3 tornado touched down in Vancouver

* 6 deaths and 300 injured, Washington led nation in tornado deaths that year

* Tornado swept through a grocery store, bowling alley, and grade school near where Vancouver Mall is today

* 50 million dollars in damage

* Later that day, another F3 tornado touched down west of Spokane

* And an F2 tornado struck rural Stevens county

* Numerous severe thunderstorms with large hail and damaging winds were reported over other areas of eastern Washington 

As for the Great White Shark in the woods, it’s likely the user is in a coastal forest, and when in a coastal area, we list the dangers that the oceans represent, as a general rule.

It’s frustrating that our app consistently gets bad reviews for having information that is accurate, but unexpected or against “common wisdom.” Oh well.

Link

Tornadoes kill 3 people in Missouri

By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER – 1 day ago

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. (AP) — Violent storms tore through four Midwestern states, killing three people in northern Missouri, damaging dozens of homes and leaving thousands without power.

Kirksville apparently took the hardest hit Wednesday night. Police Detective Sgt. Ron Celian said about 30 to 40 homes were damaged, one was destroyed and an auto dealership sustained significant damage.

Lynne Sanders told the Kirksville Daily Express she took shelter in a bathtub while a tornado flipped one of her sheds, destroyed another and sucked up a barn while leaving the horses inside.

“It was just awful, simply awful,” she said. “The whole house was just rocking.”

Sullivan County Emergency Management director Rick Gardner said a woman was killed Wednesday night when what appeared to be a tornado struck a mobile home east of Milan in Sullivan County.

Two other people died in neighboring Adair County, said communications operator Tammy Babcock of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. She called all three deaths are tornado-related.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Brent Bernhardt said the Adair County sheriff flew over the area to inspect the damage and said in some places the tornado was only 500 feet wide.

“It was not wide,” Bernhardt said. “It would be on the ground and then come back up and be on the ground again.”

In Caddo County in southwest Oklahoma, a possible tornado damaged homes and businesses in Gracemont and Anadarko, authorities said.

Dozens of inmates were evacuated from the Caddo County jail because of a gas line break, said Caddo County Emergency Management Director Larry McDuffey.

In northeast Oklahoma, a 100 mph wind gust was recorded west of the Bartlesville airport in Washington County, authorities said. The high winds downed trees and power lines, with 8,000 power outages reported at one point.

Central Indiana saw wind gusts of up to 60 mph and street flooding was reported in Vincennes, Linton and Rockville, authorities said. Utilities reported 8,000 were without power in and around Indianapolis early Thursday.

In Illinois, a range of windy storms dumped as much as 3 inches of rain within 50 minutes. National Weather Service meteorologist Ed Shimon called the accumulation “unbelievable,” comparing it to heavy rainfall in the tropics.

The storm was continuing in southern Illinois early Thursday, with lightning, heavy rain and strong wind gusts, Shimon said.

The latest storms come less than a week after another batch of severe weather, including at least a dozen confirmed tornadoes, ravaged parts of southern Missouri. Those storms killed four people and damaged or destroyed several hundred homes.

Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth and Andale Gross in Kansas City and Rochelle Hines in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

Link

Storms leave many in the dark in city, suburbs

 

May 13, 2009 

FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS

Storms that moved through Cook County and most of northeastern Illinois Wednesday night left about 7,500 people without power in Chicago and suburbs.

As of 11 p.m., 4,900 Chicago Commonwealth Edison customers were without power, ComEd spokesman Peter Pedraza said. The South Side of the city was most affected by the outages, he said.

“Crews are working to insure safe restoration of power for our customers,” Pedraza said. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Customers in west suburban Elmhurst were also hit hard by the storms. Pedraza said 2,600 customers were without power in the suburb.

A storm system that developed across eastern Iowa Wednesday afternoon moved into the area about 10 p.m. Wednesday evening, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a tornado watch.

The watch, which was issued for Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake, McHenry, Kane and more than two dozen other Illinois counties Wednesday afternoon, expired at 11 p.m., but the NWS said a severe thunderstorm watch remains in effect until 4 a.m. Thursday.

“These thunderstorms may become severe as they move across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana,” the weather service said.

The storms moving through the area brought strong winds, hail, heavy down pours, lightning and thunder.

Flooding could also occur in some areas and one to two inches of precipitation is predicted.

Most of the storms will occur before 1 a.m., according to the weather service.

Thursday is expected to by dry and sunny, with a high near 67 degrees.