Tornado Outbreak from 2/3 March 2012
| Tornado Outbreak from 2/3 March 2012 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Storm event | Tornado Series ( Tornado Outbreak ) |
| Strongest tornado | EF-4 |
| Data | |
| Beginning | 2nd March |
| The End | 3 March |
| Number of tornadoes | 70 (confirmed) |
| consequences | |
| affected areas | Southern States and Ohio Valley |
| Victim | 41 + 2 indirect |
| Damage amount | $ 1.5 billion |
Map with all linked sites: The tornado outbreak from 2/3 March 2012 was a series of seventy confirmed tornadoes in the United States , concentrated over the Ohio Valley west of the Appalachian Mountains , killing at least 41 people, most of them in Kentucky . Tornadoes also caused deaths in Alabama , Indiana and Oklahoma . It was the tornado series with the second highest death toll that occurred in early March since reliable records began; only in 1966 a large number of people died in the candlestick park tornado during this time of year.
The most momentous tornadoes in those two days were an EF-4 tornado, killing a total of 11 people and an EF in its 79 km long path of destruction through Washington County , Clark County , Scott County , Jefferson Counties in Indiana and Trimble County in Kentucky -3 tornado that killed ten people in the 150 km track through Menifee Counties , Morgan Counties , Johnson Counties, and Laurence Counties in Kentucky, and Wayne Counties and Lincoln Counties in West Virginia. An EF-2 tornado in Laurel County and an EF-3 tornado in Grant County and Kenton Counties killed five people each in Kentucky . An EF-3 tornado in Moscow , Ohio killed three people . Two people died in EF-3 tornadoes near Salyersville , Kentucky and Holton , Kentucky , respectively . One person was killed in an EF-2 tornado in Jackson's Gap , Alabama.
Meteorological overview
The first three weeks of March 2012 had been exceptionally quiet in terms of tornadoes, but less than 72 hours before the start of the tornado outbreak on March 2/3. March there was another tornado outbreak . Fifteen people died during these cyclones, including eight residents of the city of Harrisburg , Illinois . The city was hit by an EF-4 Extended Fujita Scale tornado . On March 1, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) predicted a moderate risk of severe weather for the following day for a large area between Tuscaloosa , Alabama and Dayton , Ohio because of an intense storm system sweeping the region, which was subject to very high wind shear . Intense tornadoes were thought possible. On the morning of March 2, the SPC classified the storm risk is high, and for the center of Tennessee and Central Kentucky were weather warnings issued. These were later extended to central and south Indiana and southern Ohio. The Storm Prediction Center specifically mentioned the potential for significant tornadoes to occur. Several tornado hazard warnings were issued shortly thereafter.
The outbreak began fairly early in the morning, with the initial round of storms and tornadoes occurring in conjunction with the approaching warm front , which was associated with a rapidly deepening depression over the central Great Lakes . This brought extensive warm air masses into the region, so that the temperatures almost reached record highs for the beginning of March and thus, in combination with extreme wind shear, contributed to inconsistent weather. As a result, a much larger broken line of individual supercells formed along the Ohio River ; additional thunderstorms developed further south. These cells moved eastward over the Ohio Valley, close to Louisville , Kentucky and south of Cincinnati , Ohio, with partially devastating effects during the afternoon .
An activity isolated from it developed further south. Intense supercells also formed in central Kentucky in the late afternoon; these moved east into the Eastern Mountain Coal Fields region and weakened when they reached West Virginia in the evening . The strongest wind shear prevailed in this area, with values of the helicity which - apart from regionally lower instability values - reached up to 800 m 2 / s 2 and thus allowed a violent rotation. This caused severe damage in several towns.
The next day, March 3, which drew cold front continues towards the east coast of the United States , but the strongest activity focused on the area of the State Border between Georgia and Florida . Warnings of low storm risk have been issued for a narrow area between Cape Hatteras and the Mississippi Delta . A South Carolina Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) was responsible for hailstorm in the area, but the threat of tornadoes decreased due to lower levels of instability. Most of the tornado activity that day was affected by a system high above Florida that also triggered gusts of wind causing property damage . On March 4, most of the cold front that was responsible for the tornado outbreak had moved out to the Atlantic Ocean , and only a small thunderstorm complex reached as far as Florida, so that part of Florida was declared a low storm risk. There were occasional thunderstorms on the east coast, but no further tornadoes were reported.
Tornadoes
| Confirmed totally |
Confirmed EF0 |
Confirmed EF1 |
Confirmed EF2 |
Confirmed EF3 |
Confirmed EF4 |
Confirmed EF5 |
| 70 | 27 | 18th | 14th | 9 | 2 | 0 |
Fredericksburgh – Bedford tornado
The most momentous tornado of the eruption on 2/3 March was an EF-4 tornado that began near Fredericksburg , Indiana and then crossed the state line to Bedford , Kentucky . As a result of its effects, 11 people died and hundreds of homes were destroyed along the 79 km path of devastation. The focus of the damage was in the area of the smaller settlements of New Pekin , Henryville , Marysville and Chelsea .
The tornado hit the southern edge of Fredericksburg around 2:50 p.m. local time and immediately caused damage. The tornado moved northeast through mostly forested terrain, where it knocked down and uprooted many trees. After a few minutes, the tornado intensified into an EF-2 tornado, destroyed a metal lattice tower and broke off numerous trees. The storm intensified on Indiana State Road 135 . There he tore pieces of asphalt about seven centimeters high from the road surface and hurled them up to 25 meters away; smaller fragments of the road surface were later found up to 400 m away. After crossing the road, the tornado's trunk widened and the damage to the tree population increased sharply. Houses in this area were damaged in intensity levels EF2 and EF3. As the cyclone neared the southern edge of New Pekin, it widened and gained further strength. With an estimated wind speed of 270 km / h, the tornado reached category EF4 and cut through the south of the town. A factory was completely razed to the ground, with the debris being carried away over a kilometer along the tornado train path. Connecting bolts were bent and parts of the paneling of a metal building were torn away, apparently by inward winds of circulation. Nearby, five people from a family were killed in their mobile home . Numerous other houses and mobile homes in the area were destroyed. As the tornado approached the Clark County border , it maintained an intensity in the upper end of the EF3 and EF4 categories. He moved on through a rural area. A brick house on the crest of a hill was completely destroyed, and a caravan was blown 400 m from this point by the wind and ended up in a place where another brick building was destroyed. Here the tornado took several cows with it, the remains of which were later not found. Thousands of trees were downright mowed in the path that is up to 800 m wide here. Outbuildings and granaries were destroyed and a car was thrown 100 meters through the air. The tornado maintained EF4 intensity as it reached Clark County, where it razed several massive houses. Moving further northeast, however, the cyclone briefly lost its strength; EF2-typical damage was found on two mobile homes and EF3-typical damage was found on a house built using a timber frame construction. A man who had recently filmed the approaching tornado was killed in his mobile home. Outbuildings were destroyed and several other houses were slightly to moderately damaged. When the tornado crossed Interstate 65 , it intensified again into an EF4 tornado. Several motorists were seriously injured after their vehicles were dragged along and trucks overturned. The highway was closed for hours because the trapped occupants had to be freed from the rubble of their vehicles.
The tornado then hit Henryville east of the interstate, destroying many homes and businesses there, with some homes being carried away by the storm. In a school in the city that most of the students and teachers left in time because of the tornado, some students stayed behind and spent the passage of the tornado in the building, which was damaged in category EF4; the school cafeteria was completely destroyed. A few cars were tossed around in the school parking lot, and one vehicle was blown a beam vertically through the hood and underbody. Wind close to the ground was so strong here that they drove small pieces of debris under plastic signal strips installed in the parking lot. School buses were hit and carried away by the cyclone. The wind tore two of the bodies from the chassis and a school bus was thrown through the wall of a restaurant. A gas station and several businesses were destroyed or badly damaged, and numerous homes in Henryville were destroyed. Cars were also tossed around by the cyclone, and hundreds of trees fell or were uprooted along the tornado migration route. Some large metal industrial buildings were also destroyed. The tornado had its greatest intensity in the Henryville area and reached wind speeds that were estimated at up to 280 km / h. Experts found traces of several intense eddies in the village. The previously heavily tree-covered area around Henryville has been heavily deforested. Debris from Henryville was later found in an area stretching east to Ohio.
On its way east, the tornado then reached the small town of Marysville, demolished many houses there, and a large part of the town was razed to the ground by the wind. The wind blew several log houses from their foundations and spread the debris on the surrounding farmland, numerous trees broke off or were defoliated. Cars were overturned and numerous outbuildings were partly damaged and partly destroyed. A church was damaged in the Marysville area. Examination of the damage revealed a complex damage pattern and evidence of multiple eddies that formed well away from the main damage path before being absorbed by the main circulation or intensifying and temporarily becoming the main circulation themselves. Aerial views show pronounced straight lines in the fields outside of Marysville. EF3 damage continued east of the city, where several mobile homes were destroyed and their rubble was carried away over a kilometer. The tornado briefly reached Clark County , severely damaging two houses and knocking down electricity pylons before reaching Jefferson County . In Jefferson County, the tornado hit the small settlement of Chelsea, where the tornado dismantled some massive houses on the southern edge of the village and scattered the debris over hundreds of meters in the adjacent fields. He tore cars up to 70 m and parts of an agricultural machine 180 m. Another house was lifted from its foundation and moved 60 m, whereby it remained relatively undamaged. The whereabouts of an installed swimming pool could not be clarified. Several trees were uprooted. Another person was killed in the Marysville tornado. The tornado then crossed the state line into Kentucky and into Trimble County , where it destroyed barns and mobile homes, and knocked down numerous trees and power poles, before eventually losing strength and disintegrating.
A few days after the tornado outbreak, a resident of New Pekin set up a page on Facebook with the help of which wind-blown objects and documents such as high school diplomas that could be returned to their owners far away - as far as Cincinnati , Ohio - could be used.
Web links
supporting documents
- ↑ 20120302's Storm Reports (1200 UTC - 1159 UTC) , Storm Prediction Center , NOAA , accessed March 5
- ↑ Jeff Masters: First US billion-dollar disaster of 2012: March 2-3 tornado outbreak ( Memento of the original from April 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Susan Guyett, John D. Stoll: UPDATE 7-Rescue, cleanups continue in US tornado zone, 39 dead ( English ) March 3, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ↑ Stu Beitler: Jackson, MS Tornado, Mar 1966 ( English ) GenDisasters. October 8, 2007. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
- ^ A b Steve Goss: March 1, 2012 1730 UTC Day 2 Convective Outlook ( English ) In: Storm Prediction Center . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. March 1, 2012. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
- ↑ Rich Thompson, Elizabeth Leitman: March 2, 2012 1300 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook ( English ) In: Storm Prediction Center . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. March 2, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ↑ a b c Ryan Jewell, Jaret Rogers: Mar 2, 2012 1630 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook ( English ) In: Storm Prediction Center . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. March 2, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ↑ Corey Mead: PDS Tornado Watch 57 ( English ) In: Storm Prediction Center . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. March 2, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ↑ a b Corey Mead: PDS Tornado Watch 58 ( English ) In: Storm Prediction Center . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. March 2, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ↑ Corey Mead: Tornado Watch 56 ( English ) In: Storm Prediction Center . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. March 2, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ↑ Corey Mead: PDS Tornado Watch 62 ( English ) In: Storm Prediction Center . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. March 2, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ^ Greg Dial: Mesoscale Discussion 220 ( English ) In: Storm Prediction Center . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. March 2, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ↑ Daily Weather Maps - Saturday March 3, 2012 ( English ) National Weather Service. Retrieved on March 5, 2012. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Darrow Smith: Mar 3, 2012 0600 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook ( English ) In: Storm Prediction Center . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. March 3, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ↑ Chris Broyles: Mesoscale Discussion 228 . In: Storm Prediction Center . National oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. March 3, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ↑ Brynn Kerr: Mesoscale Discussion 231 ( English ) In: Storm Prediction Center . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. March 3, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ↑ Smith Darrow: Mar 4, 2012 0100 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook ( English ) In: Storm Prediction Center . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ↑ SPC Storm Reports for 03/04/12 ( English ) In: Storm Prediction Center . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. March 4, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ↑ a b c d March 2, 2012 Tornado Outbreak ( English ) In: National Weather Service Office in Louisville, Kentucky . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. March 6, 2012. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
- ↑ Facebook helps tornado survivors find lost items ( English ) In: Associated Press . ABC Local News (WLS-TV). March 12, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
