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Non-Road Boards => Off-Topic => Weather => Topic started by: I-55 on December 10, 2021, 10:57:48 PM

Title: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: I-55 on December 10, 2021, 10:57:48 PM
Thread for discussing the outbreak on Dec 10-11, 2021.

Hardest hit areas at time of posting include Monette, AR and Mayfield, KY (from same tornado). This storm has produced remarkable radar imagery and may be the first EF5 tornado since May 20, 2013 in Moore, OK.

If I get a warned storm close enough to West Lafayette I might go out and chase tonight (wouldn't be my first time).

Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: ozarkman417 on December 10, 2021, 11:38:50 PM
I was quite lucky in that the bulk of the tornado-producing storms formed after the system passed through Springfield, and I needed it. I was stuck several miles from my home due to a flat tire and had to wait for an hour for AAA to do anything about it, shortly before the system swept through town, which prompted a Severe Thunderstorm Warning.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: ilpt4u on December 11, 2021, 11:49:22 AM
WPSD-NBC 6 out of Paducah, KY was tracking the storm as it went thru WKY all night last night. The imagery of the aftermath is bad

RADAR indicated the tornado was over 1 mile in diameter, and it was the same tornado stretching from near Jonesboro, Arkansas to near Bowling Green, KY

Much of the path in KY followed the Purchase Parkway, which the weather guy for WPSD kept calling I-69 last night. But whatever, the weather teams on all the Local TV stations last night were calling for anyone in/near the path to get to shelter

Gov Beshear (KY) activated the KY National Guard early this morning to assist in the aftermath
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: Ryctor2018 on December 11, 2021, 02:47:08 PM
Technically, the highway around Mayfield north to I-24 is I-69. It's been signed that way in the field for a few years. The section from the KY/TN state line to about mile marker 20 is still the Purchase Pkwy. Until maybe next year or 2023 at the latest when the Wingo interchange is upgraded to interstate standards.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: US 89 on December 11, 2021, 04:13:46 PM
Quote from: ilpt4u on December 11, 2021, 11:49:22 AM
RADAR indicated the tornado was over 1 mile in diameter, and it was the same tornado stretching from near Jonesboro, Arkansas to near Bowling Green, KY

No, Bowling Green was definitely a different tornado. That storm tracked up from around Clarksville TN.

What we do know is the tornado reports from Jonesboro AR northeast through Mayfield KY were all associated with the same parent supercell thunderstorm, which tracked from the Little Rock area up towards the Ohio border east of Cincinnati. It remains to be seen whether the tornado stayed on the ground the whole time, or if it lifted briefly at some point. If it lifted at some point along the path, even if it touched back down later, technically those are different tornadoes. NWS survey crews will be out there the next few days to determine that as well as assign damage ratings.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: Stephane Dumas on December 11, 2021, 05:20:50 PM
Quote from: US 89 on December 11, 2021, 04:13:46 PM
Quote from: ilpt4u on December 11, 2021, 11:49:22 AM
RADAR indicated the tornado was over 1 mile in diameter, and it was the same tornado stretching from near Jonesboro, Arkansas to near Bowling Green, KY

No, Bowling Green was definitely a different tornado. That storm tracked up from around Clarksville TN.

What we do know is the tornado reports from Jonesboro AR northeast through Mayfield KY were all associated with the same parent supercell thunderstorm, which tracked from the Little Rock area up towards the Ohio border east of Cincinnati. It remains to be seen whether the tornado stayed on the ground the whole time, or if it lifted briefly at some point. If it lifted at some point along the path, even if it touched back down later, technically those are different tornadoes. NWS survey crews will be out there the next few days to determine that as well as assign damage ratings.

Does the tornado who hit the Amazon warehouse at Edwardsville in Illinois is part of the same supercell thunderstorm?
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: ilpt4u on December 11, 2021, 05:23:15 PM
Quote from: Stephane Dumas on December 11, 2021, 05:20:50 PM
Does the tornado who hit the Amazon warehouse at Edwardsville in Illinois is part of the same supercell thunderstorm?
No, the tornado activity in the St Louis area, including the Edwardsville tornado, were a separate storm front, pretty sure.

AFA my comment about the long track toward Bowling Green, could have sworn I read one of the Pro's this morning that made that comment, but yes, looking up the track, that would have involved a major NE trajectory to SE trajectory turn, which never happened. So Bowling Green was a different tornado
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: US 89 on December 11, 2021, 07:03:30 PM
Quote from: ilpt4u on December 11, 2021, 05:23:15 PM
Quote from: Stephane Dumas on December 11, 2021, 05:20:50 PM
Does the tornado who hit the Amazon warehouse at Edwardsville in Illinois is part of the same supercell thunderstorm?
No, the tornado activity in the St Louis area, including the Edwardsville tornado, were a separate storm front, pretty sure.

AFA my comment about the long track toward Bowling Green, could have sworn I read one of the Pro's this morning that made that comment, but yes, looking up the track, that would have involved a major NE trajectory to SE trajectory turn, which never happened. So Bowling Green was a different tornado

I mean, all the tornadoes were part of the same large-scale storm system... but yeah the Edwardsville tornado did come from a different supercell thunderstorm than the Jonesboro-Mayfield and Bowling Green supercells.

I bet what you read was just commenting about the insane length of the Jonesboro-Mayfield supercell and tornado path length. The parent supercell thunderstorm tracked over 500 miles. If it is confirmed that the tornado damage produced was all one continuous track, as opposed to lifting and reforming, it would be the longest continuous tornado track in history and the first 4-state tornado ever (AR-MO-TN-KY). Those are both records currently held by the Tri-State Tornado of 1925, which is believed to have cut a 219-mile track through MO/IL/IN.

Personally, I doubt the Quad-State Tornado from yesterday was on the ground the whole time, but I'm also not convinced the 1925 Tri-State was either. Either way - a historic tornado happened last night.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: I-55 on December 11, 2021, 08:28:43 PM
For future clarification, there was a line of severe thunderstorms that stretched from Lake Michigan all the way to Texas. There were multiple supercells ahead of the line, including the Monette-Mayfield cell, the Bowling Green Cell, the Edwardsville cell, and the Nashville cells.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: NWI_Irish96 on December 11, 2021, 10:20:34 PM
So, this is far less significant than the tornado that killed dozens in AR-TN-KY, but there was a confirmed EF-0 tornado about 10 miles south of here. Tornadoes this far north in December are incredibly rare.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: CoreySamson on December 11, 2021, 10:54:04 PM
The footage of the Quad-State Tornado reminds me heavily of the Greensburg 2007 tornado. Horrifying.

This is not the first EF5-equivalent tornado on record in the US in December. An outbreak on  December 18, 1957 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_outbreak_sequence_of_December_18%E2%80%9420,_1957) generated 13 violent tornadoes (one F5) in similar areas of the country. Also, just 4 years earlier, Vicksburg, MS was hit by an F5 in December. More recently, in December 2000, Tuscaloosa, AL was hit with an F4.

This goes to show that although violent tornadoes are a rarity in December, they nonetheless can happen then, or any time of year, if conditions are right.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: hbelkins on December 11, 2021, 11:09:00 PM
My colleague who lives in Bowling Green and works in the Bowling Green KYTC district office had his home severely damaged to the point that it may be declared a total loss. He's OK, though.

I was far enough east that all we got was rain, and a gusty cloudburst around daybreak, then another gusty cloudburst around noon when the cold front came through. We didn't even have any thunder or lightning, although I understand we may have been under an active tornado warning (possibly due to weak radar-indicated rotation).
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: Rothman on December 11, 2021, 11:57:20 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on December 11, 2021, 11:09:00 PM
My colleague who lives in Bowling Green and works in the Bowling Green KYTC district office had his home severely damaged to the point that it may be declared a total loss. He's OK, though.

I was far enough east that all we got was rain, and a gusty cloudburst around daybreak, then another gusty cloudburst around noon when the cold front came through. We didn't even have any thunder or lightning, although I understand we may have been under an active tornado warning (possibly due to weak radar-indicated rotation).
I've got a cousin in Richmond and Berea was hit.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: Chrysler375Freeway on December 12, 2021, 02:43:29 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on December 11, 2021, 11:09:00 PM
My colleague who lives in Bowling Green and works in the Bowling Green KYTC district office had his home severely damaged to the point that it may be declared a total loss. He's OK, though.

I was far enough east that all we got was rain, and a gusty cloudburst around daybreak, then another gusty cloudburst around noon when the cold front came through. We didn't even have any thunder or lightning, although I understand we may have been under an active tornado warning (possibly due to weak radar-indicated rotation).
That cell that produced the tornado in Mayfield went a long way before dissipating:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Radar_collage_of_a_long-lived_supercell_radar_on_December_10-11%2C_2021.png/1024px-Radar_collage_of_a_long-lived_supercell_radar_on_December_10-11%2C_2021.png)
Notable places impacted are in the picture. I think it may have made history as the first four-state tornado. By the time that storm hit the Maysville area, it was a pariah of what it was over Mayfield. In Bowling Green, the public works requested police presence due to people driving around roadblocks, moving barricades, and looting.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: froggie on December 12, 2021, 09:15:20 AM
Quote from: US 89 on December 11, 2021, 07:03:30 PM
Personally, I doubt the Quad-State Tornado from yesterday was on the ground the whole time, but I'm also not convinced the 1925 Tri-State was either. Either way - a historic tornado happened last night.

There is radar evidence to indicate that it was on the ground for most if not all of that 200+ miles. 
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: Life in Paradise on December 12, 2021, 02:38:46 PM
What is relieving to know is that many people took the warnings seriously.  Even in the candle factory in Mayfield, the employees had gone to the safest area, but the devastation was so bad that many lost their lives.  If there had not been the advance warnings, I would guess that only a handful would have come out of that.  In 1925 there was no advance warning sirens, television, or doppler radar.  That's why there were so many dead in that tornado with several cities losing 100% of their buildings.  This could have been a much worse loss of life event, and I'm thankful that we do have more tools today.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: Road Hog on December 12, 2021, 05:22:02 PM
That supercell took 10 hours to travel from west of Little Rock to east of Cincinnati, Ohio. That's why it never had a chance to occlude. It was bookin' it.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: I-39 on December 12, 2021, 05:52:02 PM
Has the main tornado that hit Mayfield been rated yet?

Here in the Nashville area, we had a few tornado warnings, but it mostly stayed northwest sans an EF2 that went through the Dickson area. By the time it came to Nashville, it was mostly winds. I believe a 78 mph wind gust was recorded at Nashville International Airport.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: CapeCodder on December 12, 2021, 06:27:09 PM
Quote from: Road Hog on December 12, 2021, 05:22:02 PM
That supercell took 10 hours to travel from west of Little Rock to east of Cincinnati, Ohio. That's why it never had a chance to occlude. It was bookin' it.

It sure was booking it. I recall reading about a tornado or thunderstorm outbreak in North Carolina that featured a left moving supercell that was moving at speeds between 90-120 mph.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: hbelkins on December 12, 2021, 07:12:09 PM
Quote from: Rothman on December 11, 2021, 11:57:20 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on December 11, 2021, 11:09:00 PM
My colleague who lives in Bowling Green and works in the Bowling Green KYTC district office had his home severely damaged to the point that it may be declared a total loss. He's OK, though.

I was far enough east that all we got was rain, and a gusty cloudburst around daybreak, then another gusty cloudburst around noon when the cold front came through. We didn't even have any thunder or lightning, although I understand we may have been under an active tornado warning (possibly due to weak radar-indicated rotation).
I've got a cousin in Richmond and Berea was hit.

The NWS Louisville office is surveying damaged locations now and I haven't heard any reports out of Madison County as to whether it was a tornado or just strong winds. There was damage reported in Kirksville (west of Richmond and northwest of Berea) and that area was hit by a tornado a few years ago. I used to drive through there fairly often and could see the damage to trees.

Bowling Green has been rated an F-3. (Or do they call them EF now instead of just F?)
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: TXtoNJ on December 12, 2021, 07:20:12 PM
Quote from: I-39 on December 12, 2021, 05:52:02 PM
Has the main tornado that hit Mayfield been rated yet?

Here in the Nashville area, we had a few tornado warnings, but it mostly stayed northwest sans an EF2 that went through the Dickson area. By the time it came to Nashville, it was mostly winds. I believe a 78 mph wind gust was recorded at Nashville International Airport.

Preliminary EF-3+ (that is, aerial surveys confirm at the least EF-3 damage, and experts are surveying specific damage points to confirm possible EF-4 or EF-5 damage).
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: Chrysler375Freeway on December 12, 2021, 10:41:36 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on December 12, 2021, 07:12:09 PM
Quote from: Rothman on December 11, 2021, 11:57:20 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on December 11, 2021, 11:09:00 PM
My colleague who lives in Bowling Green and works in the Bowling Green KYTC district office had his home severely damaged to the point that it may be declared a total loss. He's OK, though.

I was far enough east that all we got was rain, and a gusty cloudburst around daybreak, then another gusty cloudburst around noon when the cold front came through. We didn't even have any thunder or lightning, although I understand we may have been under an active tornado warning (possibly due to weak radar-indicated rotation).
I've got a cousin in Richmond and Berea was hit.

The NWS Louisville office is surveying damaged locations now and I haven't heard any reports out of Madison County as to whether it was a tornado or just strong winds. There was damage reported in Kirksville (west of Richmond and northwest of Berea) and that area was hit by a tornado a few years ago. I used to drive through there fairly often and could see the damage to trees.

Bowling Green has been rated an F-3. (Or do they call them EF now instead of just F?)
They call them EF. On that scale, the 150+ mph winds would have made it an F2. On that note, Canada stopped calling them F and started calling them EF. The Bowling Green tornado was in fact rated at an EF3.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: Road Hog on December 12, 2021, 11:09:42 PM
The EF scale is just an update of the original Fujita Scale. It was adopted in the US in 2007 and more accurately matches wind speed with damage.

Anything greater than EF-5 is not possible in this scale because EF-5 represents complete destruction and removal of debris (i.e. a clean slab foundation).
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: STLmapboy on December 12, 2021, 11:54:05 PM
Six people confirmed dead at the Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville now.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: edwaleni on December 13, 2021, 01:13:56 AM
A woman in New Albany, Indiana woke up and found a picture from a photo album in Dawson Springs, KY laying calmly on her windshield.

166 miles away.

https://www.lex18.com/news/a-ky-family-photo-sent-flying-by-the-tornado-is-found-in-indiana (https://www.lex18.com/news/a-ky-family-photo-sent-flying-by-the-tornado-is-found-in-indiana)
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: edwaleni on December 13, 2021, 01:25:57 AM
NWS Water Vapor Loop at the time the tornado rich front came through.  There was a very warm and moist troft of air moving NNE as the cold front pushed ESE very quickly. Very dangerous.

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51743943344_878aa7e214_b.jpg)
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: US 89 on December 13, 2021, 01:38:21 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on December 12, 2021, 07:12:09 PM
Quote from: Rothman on December 11, 2021, 11:57:20 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on December 11, 2021, 11:09:00 PM
My colleague who lives in Bowling Green and works in the Bowling Green KYTC district office had his home severely damaged to the point that it may be declared a total loss. He's OK, though.

I was far enough east that all we got was rain, and a gusty cloudburst around daybreak, then another gusty cloudburst around noon when the cold front came through. We didn't even have any thunder or lightning, although I understand we may have been under an active tornado warning (possibly due to weak radar-indicated rotation).
I've got a cousin in Richmond and Berea was hit.

The NWS Louisville office is surveying damaged locations now and I haven't heard any reports out of Madison County as to whether it was a tornado or just strong winds. There was damage reported in Kirksville (west of Richmond and northwest of Berea) and that area was hit by a tornado a few years ago. I used to drive through there fairly often and could see the damage to trees.

As of now, all severe weather reports out of Madison County, KY that night were simply straight-line thunderstorm wind damage.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: edwaleni on December 13, 2021, 01:39:52 AM
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51743567278_538643e26b_c.jpg)
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: hotdogPi on December 13, 2021, 07:24:32 AM
So is this why I got an extremely heavy downpour at about 11 PM on the 11th?
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: edwaleni on December 13, 2021, 12:05:44 PM
Check out the ground swirls left by the tornado near Hayti, Missouri. Amazing.

The storm chaser said he picked up the funnel while on I-155.

Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: triplemultiplex on December 14, 2021, 05:47:15 PM
It strikes me that if it was a hundred years ago, these storms would have killed a thousand people, at least.  It's great how far we've come in giving severe weather alerts.  I've come to take for granted that if something like this was coming my way, my phone would start blowing up with alerts.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: bmeiser on December 14, 2021, 07:53:54 PM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on December 14, 2021, 05:47:15 PM
It strikes me that if it was a hundred years ago, these storms would have killed a thousand people, at least.  It's great how far we've come in giving severe weather alerts.  I've come to take for granted that if something like this was coming my way, my phone would start blowing up with alerts.
Unless cell phone service / wifi goes down. That's why I buy everybody weather radios as house warming gifts . You should get yourself one as well.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: triplemultiplex on December 15, 2021, 05:11:14 PM
There's one in a box around here somewhere.  Probably with no batteries or it takes some weird kind that no one has laying around like C's or something.  Real safe up in here.  :-P
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: hbelkins on December 20, 2021, 04:00:18 PM
NWS survey indicates an EF-1 tornado hitting the Kirksville community in western Madison County, Ky.
Title: Re: Tornado Outbreak of December 10-11, 2021
Post by: paulthemapguy on December 29, 2021, 02:36:08 PM
Exhibit from the NWS Paducah on the tornadoes the night of December 10 into December 11.
https://www.weather.gov/pah/December-10th-11th-2021-Tornado

The Mayfield/Quad-State Tornado was given a peak wind rating of 190mph, which is JUST BARELY below the 200mph threshold needed to declare it an EF-5.  The tornado was thus rated as a high-end EF-4.  Whether the tornado that occurred earlier from the same supercell was distinct from this one, this supercell produced a tornado along tracks comprising the third-highest distance in history.  In other words, the total distance spent on the ground was the third-highest, though maybe not the third-highest continuous track for a tornado.  Surely, though, the tornado that hit Bowling Green was separate, as it came from a separate supercell that didn't develop until later into the night, and had a different track (Mayfield tornado is #1 and Bowling Green tornado is #2 as labeled in the NWS Paducah exhibit linked above).

I've been watching and listening to this newscast out of WPSD in Paducah, from when they were providing ongoing coverage on the tornado disaster.  These broadcasters and others from the region undoubtedly saved a lot of lives.  It was very educational to review this footage and learn the tornado signatures on radar.  Very classic and textbook examples of hook echos and debris balls.  And these guys had the roughest night of their lives trying to get information out to people, as a catastrophe unfolded before their eyes and the radar in Paducah lost power.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-O_1fkdMHA&t=5358s

Another remarkable thing about the tornado situation is how long it produced confirmed and long-lasting tornadoes.  Just as the first Mayfield/Quad State tornado moves out of their area, another supercell started producing a damaging tornado farther south.  This is the supercell that would cause destruction in Bowling Green.  That led the above newscast covering the catastrophe to last more than FIVE HOURS.

I've also been looking at different Youtube users' drone footage of the destruction in populated areas like Bremen, Dawson Springs, and of course, Mayfield.  I don't throw the term "total devastation" around loosely, but an unsettling amount of it is total devastation.

It's probably already clear to most, but it bears mentioning--the fact that this happened at night in December is absolutely insane.  I thought the outbreak on November 17, 2013, was already insane for being so deep into the cold weather season.  But that took place during the day, when you expect to have enough warmth for things to flare.  This was AT NIGHT four weeks later than THAT.  Truly amazing.

A map and descriptions of storm reports on December 10: https://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/211210_rpts.html