That Expected Blizzard Tuesday Was Bad; The Tornadoes Were Worse

A big tornado churns through western Alabama
Tuesday. Photo from television station
WBRC in Birmingham, Alabama. 

As advertised yesterday morning, the weather in much of the nation took a nasty, violent turn, with destructive tornadoes in the South, and record setting snows in the central Plains.

The worst storm was a long lasting supercell and large tornado that swept across the Mississippi and Alabama borders Tuesday afternoon

Amazingly and fortunately, this storm killed nobody, and left only some relatively minor injuries. But the tornado damaged or destroyed many houses and buildings.

There's video of it at the bottom of this post.

The worst hit town was a village called Sapps, damaging most of the houses in town, AL.com reported. One home was picked up and dropped down on the edge of a Sapps street. A prison was badly damaged, wth its windows blown out. A church was also blown apart.

Other serious damage along the large tornado's path occured in Carrollton, Reform and Fayette, Alabama, AL.com reported.

Radar image shows big torando
in western Alabama (left-most circle)
with three potential tornadoes
developing behind it Tuesday. 

One truly frightening radar image showed the intense tornado with debris lofted high in the air, along with three clear signs of rotation - possible tornadoes - lined up in a row behind the big twister, ready to hit the same towns that had just been trashed.

I hadn't seen anything like that before, though Simon Brewer, the storm chaser and meteorologist featured on the Weather Channel show Storm Riders told me via Twitter that this kind of thing happens from time to time during tornado outbreaks.

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center logged 12 reports of tornadoes Tuesday, but many of these might be duplicates, or multiple reports of that same, big long lasting tornado that trashed those communities in western Alabama and eastern Mississippi.

Today, there's a risk of severe storms and possible a tornado in a stripe from southeastern Virginia to the Florida panhandle, but I doubt the storms will be as extreme or widespread as yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Plains are digging out from yesterday's blizzard. The snow is winding down out there, but roads are still atrocious.

Several sections of Interstate highway in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota closed yesterday because of zero visibility, but they're reopening today.

Several cities had record snowfalls for the date. Sioux City, Iowa logged 12.4 inches, setting a record for the date. It was also the seventh largest snowstorm in that city's history.

Norfolk, Nebraska had 14.2 inches of snow, shattering the record for the date, which had been 3.0 inches in 1936.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota had 4.2 inches of snow, besting the record of three inches for the date set way back in 1883.

Flood watches are still scattered in quite a few areas from the Florida panhandle to New Jersey. In the Mid-Atlantic states and parts of the Appalachians, rain, high temperatures and melting snow from the big late January blizzard could easily contribute to flooding today.

The Groundhog could have been forgiven
yesterday if he didn't even bother coming out
of his burrow to check whether he'd see his shadow. 

Northern New England, especially northern and eastern Vermont, the northern half of New Hampshire and the northwestern half of Maine are facing a rough commute this morning, as the storm is spreading snow, sleet and freezing rain into those areas.

Precipitation will change to rain there, and some parts of New England and elsewhere in the Northeast could have record high temperatures this afternoon.

Today will be the tenth day in a row with above freezing temperatures in Burlington, Vermont. That's definitely a very unusually long stretch of warmth for late January and early February.

But it will turn more wintry in parts of the country that aren't so chilly now. Next week, cold air will plunge all the way to the Gulf Coast.

Plus, there's a strong possibility of a pretty hefty nor'easter in the Northeast toward Tuesday. Details on whether, or even if, this storm will form, but there is potential for a snowstorm somewhere in the Middle Atlantic States and most of New England.

Stay tuned!!

Here's a video of the big Alabama tornado and its aftermath by Kelley Williamson, with Severe Studios: