Day 3: Violent Storms Continue

I mentioned in my last post that when I got home from work yesterday, I went straight for the Weather Channel.  They were staying on top of the action with their severe storm expert in the studio and both Jim Cantore and Mike Bettes out in the field.  They were also following a local Oklahoma news feed that had storm chasers on the ground, meteorologists in the studio and a helicopter reporting from the sky.  They have been through this drill before.  I probably watched the coverage for about an hour and I can easily say it was the most intense thing I have ever seen.  The sky was green at times, pitch black or when they were trying to catch the storm, almost bright.  The chasers often looked a bit too close to a tornado that had to be 1/2 mile wide.  When poles started snapping, they made a quick escape.  And from indications, the storm they followed and I watch was probably one of the strongest yesterday.

I drew this approximate tornado path from what I watched 

If yesterday was bad, today has been worse.  There have already been almost twice as many reported tornadoes as of 8:00 tonight then there were all of yesterday.  And now the other side of Missouri is taking the hit.  Last night I thought the area down towards Poplar Bluff was the place to watch.  It's too early to tell how bad the storms have been and what places they have hit, but tornadoes have touched down in four states and are in the process of moving east.  Just another horrible day in the mid-west.  Thankfully, things will settle down for residents by the end of the week.

The system will push east which allows the opportunity for storms to fire in less favorable and quite frankly, less prepared areas.  I failed to mention that two weak tornadoes were reported in the Pocono region on Monday.  You always need to be prepared.  Besides in video, I have never heard a tornado siren in my life, yet we receive multiple tornado warnings each year.  It can happen.

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CHECKING IN ON JOPLIN

There are many things that people not familiar with tornadoes and these areas are not aware of.  I've mentioned many of them in past posts.  Not I will mention another.  Many people, including myself, often have an image of what it would like to live in the mid-west and plains.  For instance, I tend to think of flat land and open farms.  And when I say flat, I mean flat.  Like if you stood on top of your roof, you could see the other side of town.  When we see damage like we have recently with trees disfigured and debris scattered all over the ground, it's hard to understand how different things look.  Well, this helps.

A street view from Goggle prior to the Tornado

The exact same location after the EF-5 storm