What a year 2011 was when it came to weather. Blizzards, tornadoes, flooding, droughts and hurricanes. Here is a photo journal through the extreme weather of 2011 shown in chronological order. Geologic disasters (tsunami, earthquakes, etc) will be posted in a separate article, as well as the fires in the US Southwest (in which I live.) More…
Tag Archives: Joplin MO
Joplin MO: Receipt traveled from tornado all the way to Indiana Reply
More than doubles previous record from 1915 Kansas tornado
Found in town of my ol’ alma mater, Purdue University.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — An Indiana couple discovered a receipt that may have blown 525 miles from Joplin, Mo., to their porch — the longest recorded journey of debris from a tornado.
Tia Fritz contacted Ernest Agee, a Purdue University professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and tornado expert, when she and her husband discovered a receipt dated May 13 from Joplin Tire on the porch of their Royal Center, Indiana, home on Wednesday (May 25). Royal Center is in north central Indiana about 45 miles from Lafayette.
“This paper traveled more than twice as far as the longest distance recorded for debris from a storm,” said Agee, who now has the receipt. “The previous record was a cancelled check that traveled 210 miles after the 1915 tornado in Great Bend, Kansas.
The distance paper travels is directly proportional to the intensity of the tornado. This paper’s journey is a testament to the strength of the EF5 tornado that struck Joplin and what that city went through.”
In order to reach Indiana, the receipt, which was folded into one-quarter of its original size, would have to have been sucked into the tornado and then carried by the jet stream for 12.5 hours, according to Agee’s estimates using wind speeds and the distance traveled. It is not known exactly how long the receipt was on the porch before it was discovered.
The devastating tornado destroyed nearly one-third of Joplin and killed more than 132 people in the city of more than 50,000. The tornado is considered the deadliest to hit the United States in 65 years.
Joplin MO: Before and after pictures Reply
Dramatic before and after pictures of Joplin MO from the EF-5 tornado that laid a 6-mile long path of devastation.
Source: Google and MJ Harden, a GeoEye company
Source: Google/Aaron Fuhrman
Source: Google/Aaron Fuhrman
Source: Google/Aaron Fuhrman
Aerial footage of Joplin MO, destroyed by EF-5 tornado Reply
Aerial photos of the Missouri city of Joplin taken on Tuesday showed the widespread devastation wrought by the record-breaking tornado that struck over the weekend, with entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble and massive buildings levelled. The National Weather Service said Sunday’s twister was an EF-5, the strongest rating assigned to tornadoes, with winds of more than 200 miles per hour. With 122 people confirmed dead so far, it was the deadliest single twister since the National Weather Service began keeping official records in 1950 and the eighth-deadliest in US history.
Joplin MO Tornado, several footages – 75% of city gone, 89 dead, many still missing 1
Currently estimated to have been an EF4 (166-200mph winds) strength twister. Death toll currently at 89 and still counting. 75% of the city has been devastated, leveled – 2,000 buildings. Estimated to have been a mile wide. Debris found 70 miles away.
The tornado slammed into St. John’s Hospital, doing damage from the top to the bottom of the building. One witness reported seeing a victim blown out of the building when the twister hit.
Will add more video through the day as it comes in.
On the following video, from the person who took it, “The video i took while at Fastrip on east 20th street. We huddled in the back of the store until the glass got sucked out , then ran into the walk in storage fridge. Sorry for the lack of visuals but the audio is pretty telling of how intense the storm was. The tornado hits at around 1:20 seconds.”
Footage in from MSNBC on tornado damage in Joplin MO and Minneapolis MN 2
Footage in from MSNBC on tornado damage in Joplin MO and Minneapolis MN.
For several more pieces of footage, please click here
Video of damage in Joplin MO from deadly tornadoes, posted with vodpod
For several more pieces of footage, please click here
2011 Year of the Tornadoes – Pix from TX to MI tornadoes which hit Sunday May 22 Reply
Tornadoes ripped through parts of the Midwest today killing at least 24 people in a Missouri town where a hospital was damaged, and at least one person in Minneapolis.
These storms were part of a series that battered the Midwest tonight. Tornado warnings and watches were posted from Texas to Michigan.
Those storms followed a tornado Saturday night that swept through a small eastern Kansas town, killing one person and destroying at least 20 homes, as severe thunderstorms pelted the region with hail that some residents described as the size of baseballs, authorities said today.
AP Photo/The Capital-Journal, An
AP Photo/The Capital-Journal, An
AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Marli
AP Photo/The Capital-Journal, An
AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Marli
AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Marl
AP Photo/The Capital-Journal, An
Jaime Green/Wichita Eagle
AP Photo/The Star Tribune, David
Jaime Green/Wichita Eagle
Jaime Green/Wichita Eagle
AP Photo/The Capital-Journal, An
Photos from Detroit Free Press
Deadly tornado rips through Joplin MO, deaths and damage Reply
Picture above shows the damage to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., after it was hit by a tornado on Sunday
A tornado steamrolled across Joplin, Mo., Sunday night, directly hitting a hospital and causing many deaths, according to various reports.
The city, which took a direct hit from the tornado, according to the reports, was left isolated in the destruction, with telephone connections largely cut off.
“The power lines have gone down – we can’t reach anyone there,” said Bill Davis, a meteorologist at the Springfield office of the National Weather Service. He said any assessment of exactly how strong the tornado was will have to wait until tomorrow, when experts drive to Joplin, but he said that on a scale from 1 to 10, the tornado looked to be “on the 8-9 level.”
The News-Leader of Springfield quoted Ryan Nicholls, the head of the local emergency management office, as confirming that there were 24 fatalities. The number of injuries was unknown, the newspaper said. But in a separate call to the office, officials said they were still trying to determine how many fatalities there were.
The storm blew out the windows of St. John’s Regional Medical Center, a large structure on the city’s south side, and swathes of its walls were ripped off.
One Joplin resident, Donald Davis, described to the News-Leader driving through the city, saying that Joplin High School had its windows broken out and part of the roof missing. A church across the street was demolished, he said.
He also described damage to a grocery store, and a large building, the Hampshire Terrace Apartments.
“They’re flattened,” Mr. Davis said. “You just can’t believe it. There must have been 150 units. One lady had a bathrobe around her. Others just had blankets around them.”
Mr. Davis of the National Weather Service said there was a tornado in May 2008 near Joplin that “very much looked like this supercell,” it but missed the city. Still, that tornado, he said, had more than a dozen fatalities.
Check back for updates, photos and videos
Post from The New York Times
By NOAM COHEN
Published: May 22, 2011
