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Tornadoes


Rwarky

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In the city, town, or local region you live in, how often have tornadoes occured (within the past several years)? Is it very common for them to occur in this area? What type of warning systems are used to alert people of tornadoes in the vicinity? Have you ever witness or experience a tornado? Also, are certain southern communities (regions) more succeptable to these storms than others?

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In the city, town, or local region you live in, how often have tornadoes occured (within the past several years)? Is it very common for them to occur in this area? What type of warning systems are used to alert people of tornadoes in the vicinity? Have you ever witness or experience a tornado? Also, are certain southern communities (regions) more succeptable to these storms than others?

The last tornado in Chattanooga, TN that I can remember was either '96 or '97. It touched down on the West side of town in Tiftonia, then in E. Brainerd where most of the damage was done. It damaged a family member

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Huntsville's notorious for its tornadoes. We have a few warnings each year, though of course many of them are false alarms.

The worst one by far was in November 1989, when an F-4 went straight down Airport Road during rush hour. It killed 24 people and injured over 400. It took out numerous shopping centers, two schools, and a hospital, but it left the new McDonald's alone. The tornado spurred the county to create an early warning system and also inspired a local TV weatherman to start a doppler radar company (many local TV stations have a radar called "Vipir"- it was made by this company).

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Huntsville's notorious for its tornadoes. We have a few warnings each year, though of course many of them are false alarms.

The worst one by far was in November 1989, when an F-4 went straight down Airport Road during rush hour. It killed 24 people and injured over 400. It took out numerous shopping centers, two schools, and a hospital, but it left the new McDonald's alone. The tornado spurred the county to create an early warning system and also inspired a local TV weatherman to start a doppler radar company (many local TV stations have a radar called "Vipir"- it was made by this company).

Very true.. The Huntsville-Decatur Area is on the very very edge of the outer fringe of Tornado Alley. Decatur hasn't seen a tornado in the years that I've lived here. I think it's cause we're surrounded by water on three sides mainly.

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in nashville we'd have them maybe 1-3 times a year. we had one hit smack dab in the middle of downtown one year, i think in 99? in murfreesboro (30 mins south of nashville), we have 1 or 2 a year. an f-5 tore a lot of stuff up down here a few years back. we have sirens in the boro and a warning system. nashville is a bit more sporadic with the sirens.

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Have you ever witness or experience a tornado?

One time, I saw one go right over downtown Tuscaloosa, then over my house. Fortunately,

it did not touch down.

The main damage in the Tuscaloosa area from Katrina was from (seven) small

tornadoes that spun off.

There have been a few really bad tornadoes over the years :

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/significant_ev...loosa/index.php

http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/Faculty/murphy/twister/t1.htm

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/significant_ev...01_24/index.php

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A few years ago the local news reported that Shreveport was the fifth most likely city in the country for a tornado. I'm not sure of anything but what I heard as far as that study goes.

I will say, however, that we typically have at least one tornado in this area every year, and two years in a row (1999 and 2000) we had tornadoes hit on Easter Sunday. One Easter a tornado destroyed a trailer park between Bossier City and Benton, and the next year a tornado unleashed havoc on downtown Shreveport, causing quite a bit of damage but killing no one. I went downtown right after the tornado, just to see what it was like, and it was a huge mess. There were two large casino hotels under construction right next door to one another, and the tornado spread construction materials from those job sites all over the downtown area. Numerous business' storefronts were busted out and street signs and traffic signals were twisted all around. I wish I'd had a camera at the time because it was quite a sight to see. Shortly after I arrived downtown, the police started arresting looters and then they shut downtown off completely to vehicle traffic.

Back in December of 1978, Bossier City was almost completely destroyed by an F4 tornado. Granted Bossier City was MUCH smaller in '78, there was still a lot to destroy and it did. It also killed two little girls in the neighborhood I grew up in. I was born less than 2 years later. My older brother was 6 years old at the time and he actually slept through it. As a matter of fact, the house he was sleeping in was only about 1/4-mile from the house where the two little girls were killed in the storm.

Here's the link to a collection of photos I put together about the Bossier City tornado. These are all photos that I took of photos in a book I own, which is titled Bossier City Tornado, December 1978. Keep in mind that the areas shown in almost all of these photos are the areas in which I grew up. The elementary school shown in the photos as having been destroyed by the storm is actually the elementary school I started attending in 1985. It was rebuilt and even expanded before I started there. The two main neighborhoods listed in the book, 'Meadowview' and 'Swan Lake,' are the two different sides of the subdivision I grew up in and lived in until I got married at 23.

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p...amp;uid=4884268

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Speaking of tornado likelihood, I saw a study that show Huntsville, AL as the #1 most likely metro area for tornado development based on several factors. I saw another study that had Huntsville very high but had Grand Rapids, MI #1. Most people think of the Plain States as being THE tornado alley but the area from Ohio Valley, Mid Mississippi Valley, and the area from northeast Texas, eastern OK, Arkansas over to the norther halves of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama have far more deadly tornadoes than the Plain States (mainly because of denser population). The one thing I've noticed over the years is that the Appalachians seem to have a huge effect on tornadoes. I can't begin to count the number of times that LA, Ark, Miss, and Ala were having numerous tornado warnings along with confirmed tornadoes yet the systems tend to weaken dramatically as the front interacted with the Apps and the storm system would weaken as it entered Georgia and the Carolinas. Far more tornadoes seem to occurr west of the Apps.

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Speaking of tornado likelihood, I saw a study that show Huntsville, AL as the #1 most likely metro area for tornado development based on several factors. I saw another study that had Huntsville very high but had Grand Rapids, MI #1. Most people think of the Plain States as being THE tornado alley but the area from Ohio Valley, Mid Mississippi Valley, and the area from northeast Texas, eastern OK, Arkansas over to the norther halves of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama have far more deadly tornadoes than the Plain States (mainly because of denser population). The one thing I've noticed over the years is that the Appalachians seem to have a huge effect on tornadoes. I can't begin to count the number of times that LA, Ark, Miss, and Ala were having numerous tornado warnings along with confirmed tornadoes yet the systems tend to weaken dramatically as the front interacted with the Apps and the storm system would weaken as it entered Georgia and the Carolinas. Far more tornadoes seem to occurr west of the Apps.

Yea, Huntsville has had many tornadoes in the downtown area. It's very weird though. Huntsville Metro Area usually has quite a few warnings. But, the metro, right across the Tennessee River, the Decatur Metro Area, rarely has tornado warnings. I don't think that the Decatur MSA has had one this year. The whole time I've lived here, there's only been ONE serious situation. The funnel cloud never touched down though.

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Wow, great topic! Tornadoes have always fascinated me. My area has had some close calls; but nothing like what's been posted above. I can remember some scary moments as a kid.

While living less than a 100 miles from the Gulf of Mexico can be a disadvantage as far as hurricanes go(far enough inland to weaken some); the proximity to the Gulf is an advantage for Tornadoes. Tornadoes this far south tend to be weaker than the one's in northern and central Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, etc.

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About every spring and fall we have some in this area. Most common in the spring, but occasionally we get one in the fall.

Here was the round from last spring here in Nashville.

Wall cloud and horizontal funnel north of my house.

58328077.awallcloud2.jpg

Hail after it passed.

58328102.ahailstorm2.jpg

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Interstate 44 between Oklahoma City and Tulsa IS tornado alley.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_alley

The 1999 tornado that destroyed much of Moore, Ok (OKC Suburb) was the most powerful tornado ever recorded on earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_Torn...ak#The_Moore_F5

That said, with the weather reporting here and the preperation and how small tornados really are and how much warning you have, it's not very scary. I've only ever even seen one tornado.

Tornado_Alley.jpg

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Birmingham and Central Alabama is very prone to tornadoes. There was an F5 that destroyed the northwestern part of Jefferson County on April 8, 1998. Ironically, the supercell thunderstorm lifted and remained just a wall cloud over Birmingham itself, but it touched down as a F2 again in St. Clair County over Moody and remained on the ground until it reached Lincoln in Talladega County. That storm killed 32 people in all most those in western Jefferson County, but 2 were killed in St. Clair County. The storm was a true wake up call to Central Alabama because that was one of 20 tornadoes that day in a major severe weather outbreak.

There was also the back to back F3 and F4 that struck Carbon Hill in Walker County. The county was seriously damaged with the total destruction of Carbon Hill's elementary school and high school back 2002.

Other than that we've had most weak storms either F0-F2. However, we are way overdue for another major outbreak. Central Alabama tends to have major severe weather outbreaks in the fall months more than the spring time like the major of the tornado prone Southern region.

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On Huntsville, it is anomally in the South. It has a lot of weird geographic factors that have a major effects that makes it very tornado prone. First and foremost, Monte Sano is an major atmospheric lifting on the any incoming system, and usually whatever energy is lift is released on the valley, Jones Valley. Also, Huntsville also sits in a one-sided valley that tends to gets a lot of moisture from the south, i.e. the Gulf and mountains to the east. Birmingham seems to have the same problems in its Jones Valley area (western portion) to some extend but not as great a Huntsville.

Decatur isn't as being as prone has nothing to do with water, it just lucky. Decatur was very much affected by the Super Outbreak of 1974. It is close enough to the effects of the valley to be effected by it seems that the closer in proxmity to Monte Sano.

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in nashville we'd have them maybe 1-3 times a year. we had one hit smack dab in the middle of downtown one year, i think in 99? in murfreesboro (30 mins south of nashville), we have 1 or 2 a year. an f-5 tore a lot of stuff up down here a few years back. we have sirens in the boro and a warning system. nashville is a bit more sporadic with the sirens.

The F5 you were talking about is the storm that actualy hit Wayne County, which is typically not part of the Nashville region but it was part of the same outbreak that occured back in April 1998, one week after the F5 in Birmingham. That month was something else because I had just arrive home from school and watching CNN showing WTVF's tower cam with the tornado going through downtown Nashville live. I was shaking my head at as the whole thing occured before my very eyes.

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