Weather On The Rampage Again Across The Central US

If you will turn your eyes to the accompanying National Weather Service graphics- you'll see a wide variety of weather this Saturday night- last day of April across the Central United States.

A blizzard warning across a large part of North Dakota...


Tornado warnings in northeastern Texas with Tornado watches from Texas into much of Arkansas...


Flash Flood warnings across central Arkansas....


April 2011 will go down in the record books with the Great Tornado Outbreak across the southern states and record flood crests on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

Weather watchers turn a wary eye to May.

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Southern States Tornado Outbreak Now 3rd Deadliest in U.S. History

Early Saturday morning- the ASSOCIATED PRESS reports the death toll from last Wednesday's southern U.S. tornado outbreak stands at 337.


The AP reports this as "the 2nd deadliest" tornado outbreak since the Great Tri-State Tornado of 1925 when at least 747 people were killed.

That tornado or now thought to be a series of tornadoes raked an area from eastern Missouri into southwestern Indiana- according to Wikipedia.

One ef-5 tornado has been confirmed by the National Weather Service (NWS)- the twister that struck and virtually wiped-out Smithville Mississippi.

That was the first EF-5 tornado in that state since 1966- 45 years ago.

NWS survey teams continue to check the numerous tornado tracks in the 6 other states also affected by the tornado swarm.


Other CSW posts on the April 27-28 2011 Tornado Outbreak can be found HERE and HERE.


Also- here are some additional YouTube videos recently posted:

Rainsville AL-


Blount County AL-


Haileyville AL-


Tuscaloosa AL-







Brightcove AL-


 Unknown location in Alabama (near Cullman?)-


Western Blount County AL-


Aliceville AL-


Near Cullman AL-



Cullman AL-

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New Tornado "Super Outbreak" of 2011 Could Exceed That of April 3-4, 1974

On Wedesday- April 3 1974- a tornado outbreak began over 13 central and southern U.S. states that continued into the early morning of April 4 produced 148 tornadoes that killed up to 330 people.


On April 27-28 2011- another tornado swarm occurred over only 6 states in the central- southern through eastern U.S. whose numbers of both tornadoes produced and deaths caused could eventually exceed the numbers produced during the 1974 outbreak.

See more images and videos on the original CSW post on this outbreak from Wednesday night- April 27 2011.

As of this post- the death toll is at 318 according to the ASSOCIATED PRESS- but the exact number of tornadoes is still not yet known.

The NEW YORK TIMES published a story that addresses this week's outbreak- focusing on how advances in technology and forecast methods may have kept this  outbreak's death toll from being even higher.

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CSW BREAKING: Gusty Winds Caused Tree to Fall on House in Old Northeast KC-MO

Winds gusting into the 30 m.p.h. range this friday afternoon has caused a large tree to fall on a house in Old Northeast Kansas City MO..


The incident occurred about 3:10 p.m. at Anderson and White- and initially there were reports that unknown number of the home's occupants were trapped.


At 3:16 p.m.- the fire department has gotten one of the house's occupants out- reportedly uninjured- and were searching for any other possible persons trapped.

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Does MetroRegion Kansas City Have Any Risk For a Tornado Outbreak?

The short answer to the headline question is: not in our immediate future...

However- beginning around Mother's Day (May 8) and for about a week afterwards- another weather system will enter the Central States- slow down and stall according to some of the latest long-range weather models.

Shown are images (click on all CSW images for full size) from the NWS long-range weather models using the GFS model depictions.

First image is the beginning of the new pattern at 7 a.m. CDT Mother's Day- then a model forecast image from Wednsday May 11- then the last forecast image on Friday May 13.

The Kansas City MetroRegion could have at least a couple of days during that time period when severe weather is possible- but thus far there's no indications of a weather setup that would yield many violent tornadoes like what struck parts of the Deep South and Southeastern states several days ago.


Of more concern to our area- particularily those living east and south of the Kansas City MetroRegion would be repeated rounds of rainfall- which could bring renewed flooding threats to those areas already inundated by rain this April 2011.

Of more immediate concern is a cold front that will move through the Central States over the next 24 hours- producing a "slight risk" of severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes from the Dallas TX area northeasterward to the Little Rock AR area later tomorrow (Saturday).


There is only a slight chance of a shower or thundershower here in the Metro as this front moves through early Saturday- certainly no violent weather.

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Foreign Wedding's Over- Can Americans Get Their 'NewsMedia' Back?

For at least 2 weeks with as few American newscasts as I can bear to watch- this country's so-called news media has been going on and on and on about the royal wedding in England.


You know what? As I write this post approaching 9 a.m. Central time- this wedding has been over for nearly 4 hours now- yet the foreign pomp and circumstance still pervades American news channels.

Never mind there's cursory or less coverage of one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in American history (approaching 300 dead in 6 states)- near-record fuel prices- a VERY shaky economy and the politicians making it worse- a still dangerous Japanese nuclear plant meltdown (in a quake that killed more than 20000 people)- terrorist attacks both abroad and in American political chambers- etc..


No- I guess the heads-that-be in America's news media figures why try to address those or any other of the myriad other stories affecting our daily lives- let's assault America with a fairy tale wedding in another country.


No wonder this country is becoming increasingly ill-informed....

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More Than 70 Dead in Massive Southern U.S. Tornado Outbreak

There are reported to be 15 people dead in Tuscaloosa when a massive tornado roared through the south part of that western Alabama city late Wednesday afternoon.

The Associated Press reports a total of 72 people have died in a massive tornado outbreak in Alabama- Mississippi- Tenessee- Georgia and Virginia.



Tornadoes were still occurring as of 10 p.m. CDT Wednesday night as severe storms approached Metro Atlanta GA..

Around 8:30 p.m. Kansas City time- a tornado has reportedly caused severe damage with people trapped in homes and businesses in Ringgold GA..

Ringgold is about 20 miles southeast of Chattanooga TN..

In addition to Tuscaloosa- Cullman Alabama was also hard hit when a large tornado roared into the downtown area.


At least 1 death is reported in Cullman.




The following video was shot near Philadelphia Mississippi.



More views from various videographers of the Tuscaloosa tornado...





The next video shows the Tuscaloosa tornado approaching western and northwestern Birmingham.


More images and additional videos on this later CSW post.

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Central States Weather: NWS- "CATASTROPHIC FLASH FLOODING POSSIBLE..." in Southeastern Missouri

Rarely is that term used in a National Weather Service statement on weather phenomena...

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Tonight- areas of southeastern and east Missouri- southern Illinois- southwestern Indiana and western Kentucky are under the gun for more heavy rains- this on top of 5 to 10 inches received in the past week in those areas.

Dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding is also occurring this Sunday night in southern Missouri- northeastern through northwestern and western Arkansas and east and northeast Oklahoma- and will continue into Monday.


A record flood crest is now forecast for points on the Mississippi and lower Ohio rivers in the next few days.

Among locations forecasted for record flooding are Cairo IL- Tiptonville MO and Natchez MS..

Major to moderate flood stages are also predicted on both rivers at many locations.


The current weather pattern doesn't show signs of moving out until early Wednesday- so a few more days of torrential rainfalls forecasted will only worsen conditions in the above areas.


If you're reading this and live near rivers or streams in these areas- prepare now for immediate action.