Devastating tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri

[JoMo]

Panorama that shows Franklin Tech before and After. Also Greenbriar nursing home where at least 11 perished.

http://www.nytimes.c...-panoramas.html

[JoMo]

And I just put this together. This is Franklin Technology Center before and after from a picture I took yesterday. I heard the NWS used this as one of their points of reference for the EF5 rating.

[HurricaneJosh]

Wow-- thanks for creating this side-by-side.

Can you describe the structure for us? Like was it solid brick? Was it steel-reinforced? How big? How many stories? Etc.

[Hoosier]

And I just put this together. This is Franklin Technology Center before and after from a picture I took yesterday. I heard the NWS used this as one of their points of reference for the EF5 rating.

Geez. Easy to see how one can become disoriented after a major tornado like this.

[JoMo]

Wow-- thanks for creating this side-by-side.

Can you describe the structure for us? Like was it solid brick? Was it steel-reinforced? How big? How many stories? Etc.

I'm not entirely sure even though I had classes there when I was in high school ages ago. The entire building is brick though, it was well constructed. It was only 1 story basically if I remember it right, there were no stairs leading up to a second story. There was a large auto repair area in the back which is pictured there and a lot of different classrooms that varied in size. It was partnered with the high school and some students took various classes over there for college/high school credit. It was also an adult technical school, those classes were typically at night.

If you were to look behind me in that picture, you would see nothing but debris and the only way you could tell there were homes there would be because you see driveways leading up to them.

[Amped]

This is St. Paul's. The middle of the sanctuary is scooped out but the playground equipment is perfectly fine.

This power pole was splintered.

This was a PVC pipe assembly of some kind sticking into a house that was about 2 blocks away from where the tornado hit.

A little girls shoe that I found in my yard. No idea where it came from and it wasn't there before the tornado. This really creeped me out...

The final picture I took until today was a picture of a mom and her son on the 2nd level of their house attempting to gather what was left.

We're not in Kansas anymore

[JoMo]

Geez. Easy to see how one can become disoriented after a major tornado like this.

Blurry picture since traffic was moving, there were a lot of police around that were stopping people and traffic was moving at this time but became backed up in places as well. I could have taken more pictures but camera battery was low, people were there trying to find belongings, and it all basically looked just like this. Every now and then there was a house that made it or you could tell it had been a house. I believe Pres. Obama was in this same neighborhood today.

People made signs that said "Gawkers, put down your cameras and help!!" I saw signs that said "Looters will be shot". I saw "For Rent" and "For Sale" signs that people had put up as a joke. There was a sign that pointed to a bucket that said "$15 for a picture" so I didn't really want them to know I was snapping pics because it does seem somewhat disrespectful but at the same time I wanted to capture the carnage that happened.

Basically it all looks like this in the neighborhoods with the most damage. Just blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks of this.

Shot of Home Depot. It looks like shredded cheese.

Traffic was backed up and I saw this mattress in a tree so I took a pic of it while I was waiting. This is the Hampshire Terrace apartments over by Dillons. These were 2 story apartments. In some areas the first story was still there but not the second.

[dan11295]

Updated page from Springfield, MO NWS office on the tornado identifes 4 different location along the track where EF-5 damage was determined to have occurred. Appears EF-5 damage began near the hospital and continued until the eastern end of the Commercial/Industrial area on E 20th St. We should get a more detailed report in the coming days I imagine. I am sure they are being more thorough with this report than for most other events given the severity.

[Ed Lizard]

Is anyone else getting "domain unregistered" pics for JoMo's pics? I really want to see them but I can't

I see them.

[Ed Lizard]

And I just put this together. This is Franklin Technology Center before and after from a picture I took yesterday. I heard the NWS used this as one of their points of reference for the EF5 rating.

One of JoMos pix downloaded then uploaded, the tech school...

[sojitodd]

Updated page from Springfield, MO NWS office on the tornado identifes 4 different location along the track where EF-5 damage was determined to have occurred. Appears EF-5 damage began near the hospital and continued until the eastern end of the Commercial/Industrial area on E 20th St. We should get a more detailed report in the coming days I imagine. I am sure they are being more thorough with this report than for most other events given the severity.

I wonder how a map of the damage(ef wise) would compare to the (f scale) map of damage they had for Wichita Falls? I remember the f4 damage was very wide on that one-I imagine the ef4 damage on this one would be even wider. I bet Ed M. knows well the map I am talking about.

[Ed Lizard]

I wonder how a map of the damage(ef wise) would compare to the (f scale) map of damage they had for Wichita Falls? I remember the f4 damage was very wide on that one-I imagine the ef4 damage on this one would be even wider. I bet Ed M. knows well the map I am talking about.

Our North Texas well work supervisor, much younger then (obvously), had gotten into his bathtub in WF when his mother (who only recently passed away) called from near Kamay/Valley View to say she saw a tornado heading his way, and he got out of the tub to answer it, then head back to the tub. He lost part of his roof, but was on the edge of the damage. Our well work sup. is the play by play stadium announcer for Midwestern State football, BTW. Not going to give his name.

[NavarreDon]

Hey JoMo, A little late to the game but. Glad to see you are alive and for the most part ok. Don't know if you remember but I talked to you during the winter when you guys got walloped. My Mom moved out there from Ft. Lauderdale a little over a year ago. Your obs. match up excatly to hers. She lives up off of W Zora and said as you travel south things get worse & worse block by block. She had just finished eating at the Golden Corral on Range Line when I called her to let her know of the Warning. She got home as fast as possible & less than a minute or two after she got in the house her yard was covered with golf ball to baseball size hail. She took a less traveled way home yesterday (in the damage area) and was worried she was lost. She says after the initial shock. The will & the strenght of the comm. have her in awe. She really feels at home in Joplin and no plans to leave. I guess one of the few positives about such a tragic event like this is that people like her have a new found respect for the violent side of mother nature. I no longer will have to call her and inform her of a weather warning. I don't have to bug her to have her "annoying little weather radio" set up next to her bed. For her and others I am truly happy. Thoughts & Prayers for the less fortunate not only in Joplin but, all around the country.

[JoMo]

About one week ago from today I posted this at 5:27 PM

"Pitch black out, couplet nearly on me... Joplin, MO"

After I posted that, I had enough time to shut down my desktop computer, look outside to the west and see the lowering and look at the base velocity again on my laptop before I heard the rumbling.

2 minutes later:

[jhamps10]

hard to really believe it's been a week already... I know for you it seems like the days have gone on and on this week JoMo... Here's hoping for a quiet rest of the severe wx season...

[JoMo]

Hey JoMo, A little late to the game but. Glad to see you are alive and for the most part ok. Don't know if you remember but I talked to you during the winter when you guys got walloped. My Mom moved out there from Ft. Lauderdale a little over a year ago. Your obs. match up excatly to hers. She lives up off of W Zora and said as you travel south things get worse & worse block by block. She had just finished eating at the Golden Corral on Range Line when I called her to let her know of the Warning. She got home as fast as possible & less than a minute or two after she got in the house her yard was covered with golf ball to baseball size hail. She took a less traveled way home yesterday (in the damage area) and was worried she was lost. She says after the initial shock. The will & the strenght of the comm. have her in awe. She really feels at home in Joplin and no plans to leave. I guess one of the few positives about such a tragic event like this is that people like her have a new found respect for the violent side of mother nature. I no longer will have to call her and inform her of a weather warning. I don't have to bug her to have her "annoying little weather radio" set up next to her bed. For her and others I am truly happy. Thoughts & Prayers for the less fortunate not only in Joplin but, all around the country.

Thanks and yeah I do remember that, and remembered that your mother lived here. We've experienced an EF-5 tornado and a record breaking blizzard with 19" of snow all within 4 months.I didn't experience any hail here at all, just the inflow winds to the tornado and a little bit of rain. I know some people that already mentioned they aren't staying after this and they are going back to Michigan. So.. wouldn't you know it they have tornado warnings up there today!?

It's very easy to get lost due to nothing looking like it once did. It all just kind of feels like a dream. It's going to take forever to clean all this up and once it's cleaned up it's going to look really bare. Everything has to be sorted out and looked through to make sure no body parts are in the wreckage. It's getting hot here now and everything is really going to start smelling. One thing I noticed was how close things look now. You can see things a long ways off and everything just looks like it's really close because you couldn't see it before due to the trees and houses. The area from Main street to Indiana street looks like it's about 2 blocks because you can see everything due to all the destruction.

I don't know about people taking the warnings seriously. I'm sure those who were in the effected area may be a little bit more skittish and the general population may worry about it for awhile, but I think that due to us receiving so many warnings, people will once again get used to it. A lot of people were just used to nothing really happening or they'd go and sit in the closet for 10 minutes, wait for the storm to pass, then go back to whatever they were doing before. Now some of those people don't have closets.

[dan11295]

As I listen to more and more interviews with regards to how people fared in commercial structures, if is more and more clear that buildings with freezers/coolers or similar structures within the building provided a generally effective means of shelter. CNN had an interviews with people in the Dillon's who it appears all survived by getting the the cooler. Similar story in the Pizza Hut, except for an employee who perished trying to keep the door closed from the outside. As we know sadly those in the "big box" stores did not far so well. Lack of addtiional enclosure combined with the larger concentration of people were likely both contributing factors.

[jhamps10]

As I listen to more and more interviews with regards to how people fared in commercial structures, if is more and more clear that buildings with freezers/coolers or similar structures within the building provided a generally effective means of shelter. CNN had an interviews with people in the Dillon's who it appears all survived by getting the the cooler. Similar story in the Pizza Hut, except for an employee who perished trying to keep the door closed from the outside. As we know sadly those in the "big box" stores did not far so well. Lack of addtiional enclosure combined with the larger concentration of people were likely both contributing factors.

i'm not a building engineer by any means but a LOT of these big box stores are basically a big pole barn structure with block walls on it instead of the metal.. the roof is USUALLY just thin steel with the beams, VERY easy targets for tornadoes IMO, but yeah a lot of those freezer coolers are solid steel structures that are built to last.. very much an effective safe spot from a tornado

[HurricaneJosh]

Updated page from Springfield, MO NWS office on the tornado identifes 4 different location along the track where EF-5 damage was determined to have occurred. Appears EF-5 damage began near the hospital and continued until the eastern end of the Commercial/Industrial area on E 20th St. We should get a more detailed report in the coming days I imagine. I am sure they are being more thorough with this report than for most other events given the severity.

If you're paraphrasing the report accurately, that's actually quite incredible, in that it seems to be suggesting a continuous swath of EF5 damage, which I've never even heard of. (Usually, even in the most extreme cases, the EF5 instances are isolated-- mere dots in the greater damage swath.)

Re: Wichita Falls 1979... Yeah, the really impressive thing about that one has always been that the peak damage swath (F4) was wide and continuous. It mowed down a large area and remains one of the more spectacular non-F/EF5s in American history.

[am19psu]

I don't know about people taking the warnings seriously. I'm sure those who were in the effected area may be a little bit more skittish and the general population may worry about it for awhile, but I think that due to us receiving so many warnings, people will once again get used to it. A lot of people were just used to nothing really happening or they'd go and sit in the closet for 10 minutes, wait for the storm to pass, then go back to whatever they were doing before. Now some of those people don't have closets.

It's interesting you say this because I definitely sense the same thing re: hurricanes. After 2005, everyone was vigilant and had their ducks in a row prior to the season in 2006. Having talked to our clients, even though we are very bullish on a MH landfall this year, no one really seems to be taking the threat seriously. I hope our forecasts are wrong, and if they aren't, I hope that it doesn't go into a major population center because I fear many people will be unprepared.

[JoMo]

I just noticed something. This was quoted from the Severe thread as the tornado was happening. I'm not sure if there are archived tornado warnings somewhere.

This looks bad

AT 538 PM CDT...TRAINED WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO NEAR

JOPLIN...OR 6 MILES NORTHEAST OF GALENA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

See 6 miles NE of Galena?

Now check out the map on this page showing where the first point of touchdown was.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/sgf/?n=event_2011may22_summary

It's actually SE of E of Galena.

[MGorse]

I just noticed something. This was quoted from the Severe thread as the tornado was happening. I'm not sure if there are archived tornado warnings somewhere.

See 6 miles NE of Galena?

Now check out the map on this page showing where the first point of touchdown was.

http://www.crh.noaa....11may22_summary

It's actually SE of E of Galena.

Glad to hear you are okay. You can obtain archived NWS text products from the site linked below. This archiving started on January 1, 2009. Just select the NWS WFO and the date.

http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wx/afos/list.phtml

[jhamps10]

I just noticed something. This was quoted from the Severe thread as the tornado was happening. I'm not sure if there are archived tornado warnings somewhere.

See 6 miles NE of Galena?

Now check out the map on this page showing where the first point of touchdown was.

http://www.crh.noaa....11may22_summary

It's actually SE of E of Galena.

typo maybe???? but a typo that COULD i'm not going to blame SGF for the death of 140 some odd people... but it very well could have something to do with people saying they didn't have warning... i don't know.. that's a shocking and a bit scary find there JoMo

[MGorse]

typo maybe???? but a typo that COULD i'm not going to blame SGF for the death of 140 some odd people... but it very well could have something to do with people saying they didn't have warning... i don't know.. that's a shocking and a bit scary find there JoMo

Here is the actual warning text, for reference.

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO

542 PM CDT SUN MAY 22 2011

MOC097-222300-

/O.CON.KSGF.TO.W.0030.000000T0000Z-110522T2300Z/

JASPER MO-

542 PM CDT SUN MAY 22 2011

...A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 600 PM CDT FOR CENTRAL

JASPER COUNTY...

...A TORNADO WARNING ALSO REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL FOR NORTHERN

NEWTON...SOUTHEAST CHEROKEE COUNTY...AND SOUTHERN JASPER COUNTIES...

AT 538 PM CDT...TRAINED WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO NEAR

JOPLIN...OR 6 MILES NORTHEAST OF GALENA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE AIRPORT DRIVE...ALBA...ATLAS...BROOKLYN

HEIGHTS...CARL JUNCTION...CARTERVILLE...LAKESIDE...NECK CITY...

NORTHEASTERN JOPLIN...OAKLAND PARK...ORONOGO...PURCELL AND WEBB CITY.

INTERSTATE 44 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 13 AND 18 WILL ALSO BE IMPACTED BY

THIS TORNADO.

IN ADDITION TO A TORNADO...THIS STORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE

DAMAGING HAIL UP TO BASEBALL SIZE.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM CDT SUNDAY EVENING FOR

SOUTHEAST KANSAS AND SOUTHERN MISSOURI.

&&

LAT...LON 3725 9462 3727 9434 3717 9432 3708 9430

3711 9462

TIME...MOT...LOC 2241Z 240DEG 38KT 3713 9451

HAIL 2.75IN

$$

[Ginx snewx]

If you're paraphrasing the report accurately, that's actually quite incredible, in that it seems to be suggesting a continuous swath of EF5 damage, which I've never even heard of. (Usually, even in the most extreme cases, the EF5 instances are isolated-- mere dots in the greater damage swath.)

Re: Wichita Falls 1979... Yeah, the really impressive thing about that one has always been that the peak damage swath (F4) was wide and continuous. It mowed down a large area and remains one of the more spectacular non-F/EF5s in American history.

[JoMo]

Here is the actual warning text, for reference.

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO

542 PM CDT SUN MAY 22 2011

MOC097-222300-

/O.CON.KSGF.TO.W.0030.000000T0000Z-110522T2300Z/

JASPER MO-

542 PM CDT SUN MAY 22 2011

...A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 600 PM CDT FOR CENTRAL

JASPER COUNTY...

...A TORNADO WARNING ALSO REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL FOR NORTHERN

NEWTON...SOUTHEAST CHEROKEE COUNTY...AND SOUTHERN JASPER COUNTIES...

AT 538 PM CDT...TRAINED WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO NEAR

JOPLIN...OR 6 MILES NORTHEAST OF GALENA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE AIRPORT DRIVE...ALBA...ATLAS...BROOKLYN

HEIGHTS...CARL JUNCTION...CARTERVILLE...LAKESIDE...NECK CITY...

NORTHEASTERN JOPLIN...OAKLAND PARK...ORONOGO...PURCELL AND WEBB CITY.

INTERSTATE 44 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 13 AND 18 WILL ALSO BE IMPACTED BY

THIS TORNADO.

IN ADDITION TO A TORNADO...THIS STORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE

DAMAGING HAIL UP TO BASEBALL SIZE.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM CDT SUNDAY EVENING FOR

SOUTHEAST KANSAS AND SOUTHERN MISSOURI.

&&

LAT...LON 3725 9462 3727 9434 3717 9432 3708 9430

3711 9462

TIME...MOT...LOC 2241Z 240DEG 38KT 3713 9451

HAIL 2.75IN

$

Thanks, I just found it. Yes, that warning is very wrong. I wonder what happened? All those locations are north or well north of the actual touchdown and eventual track. Were they looking at a different area?

The one before that was more correct at 5:39.

I'm not saying it would have mattered either way since the tornado was already on the ground and you could hear it or it was moving through the city.

[SmokeEater]

typo maybe???? but a typo that COULD i'm not going to blame SGF for the death of 140 some odd people... but it very well could have something to do with people saying they didn't have warning... i don't know.. that's a shocking and a bit scary find there JoMo

Tornado was still warned, on the ground, near Joplin, so IMO the warning got out fine. Now if that warning was issued when it was 10 miles west of Joplin, that would possibly be a different story. And people in every single outbreak this year have said they didn't have warning. Even during the Tuscaloosa outbreak, where there was a huge warning time, people still said they didn't have warning. But that's just my opinion, and it doesn't mean much, lol.

[Ginx snewx]

Easy to see where the continuous 5 damage is and where the actual track was in relation to the warnings discussed

[MGorse]

Thanks, I just found it. Yes, that warning is very wrong. I wonder what happened? All those locations are north or well north of the actual touchdown and eventual track. Were they looking at a different area?

The one before that was more correct at 5:39.

I'm not saying it would have mattered either way since the tornado was already on the ground and you could hear it or it was moving through the city.

The one thing that stands out to me in that SVS is that there are two warning headlines at the top. Each warning is seperate (storm-based) so the second one had to be manually added. No doubt that WFO was extremely busy during that time.

[HurricaneJosh]

Yep-- I looked it up after that discussion last night. It's d*mn impressive to see that many EF5 instances, but this in itself does not suggest that the EF5 damage was continuous between these points. That would be astonishing. (But then again, nothing surprises me about this one anymore.)

I hope they do a really detailed damage-swath map-- like this gorgeous one they did for Parkersburg-New Hartford: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/dmx/parkersburg/Final-small-PDF-PARKERSBURG-NEW-HARTFORD-IOWA-EF-5-TORNADO.pdf (Notice on this one how the EF5 instances are just dots in a swath of EF4 damage.)

I also hope in the final survey they settle on a specific max value for the winds-- rather than just "in excess of 200 mph". I'd like to know how this compares with Greensburg and Parkersburg-New Hartford (both of which were estimated at 205 mph).