Tornado Outbreak Flattens 15 States

A strong spring storm that began in Oklahoma spit out a bunch of tornadoes starting April 14. Then as the storm continued east it intensified thanks to a giant pocket of dry, cold air meeting warm, moist air pushing from the Gulf of Mexico and a strong jet stream creating a circulating front between the warm and cold air masses. It was the perfect one, two, three-punch to spawn tornadoes, something the midsection of the U.S. expects, especially in April.

After three days of severe weather, over 240 tornadoes were reported. They killed 45 people and caused at least $2 billion in damage across 15 states. Many of the states affected are situated in Tornado Alley, a stretch of the southeast that is no stranger to twisters. But the states of the eastern seaboard, from North Carolina to Maryland rarely get a tornado to touch down let alone a cluster that devastates wide swaths of land.

The Governor of North Carolina was reduced to tears after touring the damage in her state.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is collecting the stories of survivors, the video from witnesses and any other useful information that will help the agency match computer models, satellite and scientific data to real life accounts. It also deployed teams of meteorologists from the National Weather Service to inspect the damage to determine the ferocity of this storm.

A 2011 tornado outbreak Wikipedia page is updating the information as tornadoes are confirmed.

“As the event is unfolding we all need as much information as we can possibly get. We have our radar. We have our satellites and the computer models. But we really need ground truth as the event is unfolding.” — James Carbin, NOAA Warning Coordination Meterologist

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