Tornado Disaster Shifts East Today. Also, A Blizzard

A tornado ripped the all and much of the
roof off a Gold's Gym in Prarieview, Louisiana
Tuesday as about three dozen people worked
out in the building. Amazingly, nobody
was hurt.  

As expected, Tuesday was a terrible tornado day across the southeastern United States.

At least three people died in the series of tornadoes that stretched from Louisiana to Florida.

The threat of deadly, destructive tornadoes continues today along much of the central and southern East Coast, with the Carolinas and Virginia under the greatest threat.

Isolated severe thunderstorms could extend as far north as southwestern Vermont, which is incredibly far north for a February storm outbreak.

I don't think I've ever seen NOAA's Storm Prediction Center entertain the admittably very slight risk of a severe thunderstorm in Vermont in February.

But this is an odd storm and an odd year. There's a slight, but better chance of severe thunderstorms in the New York City metro area, very odd for February.

Tuesday's Destruction:

The worst of Tuesday's tornadoes hit in Louisiana, where at least two people died and 30 or so people were injured when a tornado hit a mobile home park in Convent, Louisiana.

As tornadic waterspouts crossed Lake Ponchartrain, a weather station on the causeway there recorded a wind gust of 120 mph.

Another person died in Purvis, Mississippi when a tornado hit a mobile home there.

A large supercell came off the Gulf of Mexico and unleashed a tornado or tornadoes around Pensacola, Florida. Cars were swept off Interstate 10, and several apartments and homes were destroyed. Many others were damaged.

There was also a lot of tornado damage around Dothan, Alabama Tuesday night. Some videos of all this scary weather are at the bottom of this post.

Grim Tornado Forecast Today

Today, strong upper level winds and winds changing direction with height will focus on the Carolinas and Virginia, which, as noted, is the area most under threat from severe weather. The worst of it will probably be this afternoon there.

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center says there's a moderate risk of damaging winds and tornadoes, including possibly a couple strong, long lasting tornadoes in eastern North Carolina. Moderate risk is the second highest level in a five point alert scale for severe weather.

Via Twitter from @ExtremeStorms an apartment complex
destroyed by a tornado last night in Pensacola, Florida.  

Raleigh and Goldsboro, North Carolina are in this higher risk area.

Other cities under the gun for possible severe winds or tornadoes include Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia, Washington DC,  Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia.

Looking beyond today's threat, the next chance for any severe weather or tornadoes is near the Gulf Coast next Wednesday, but that possibility is very uncertain at this time. We can just hope the ingredients don't come together for more dangerous weather then.  

Also, Blizzards, Floods And Wind

Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms aren't the only problem the large, strong storm tracking over the Ohio Valley and eastern Great Lakes today.

A blizzard warning is up today for parts of eastern Illinois and western Indiana. There, up to a foot of heavy wet snow with winds gusting to 50 mph will make today an ugly one in that region

Winter storm warnings extended in a stripe from southeastern Missouri to northern Michigan for heavy snow. This is on the colder, northwestern side of the deep storm, which explains the heavy snow.

To the east the story is rain, and quite a bit of it. Flood watches are scattered through southern Ohio and along the southern and central Appalachian chain.

The heaviest rain looks like it would fall over much of New York, Vermont, northern New Hampshire, northwestern Maine and southern Quebec, including Montreal, where more than two inches of rain could fall in spots.

No flood watches are out in these areas, but some might be issued later.

In many communities in this heavy rain zone two inches of rain in a single storm is odd for February, since a lot of these places average two inches of rain or melted snow in the entire month of February.

Still, I don't think flooding will be too widespread in this area since snow cover, normally deep in late February, is close to non-existent this year.  That means melting snow won't add to the runoff much, so that would make any flooding not as bad as it otherwise would be.

Following are a few videos of the tornadic weather in the South yesterday.

A motorist in Louisiana captured rapidly swirling black clouds and then a tornado touchdown. This is the tornado that caused the deaths in the Convent, Louisiana mobile home park:




Television station WWL in New Orleans captured this very large waterspout, with two smaller satellite spouts, on Lake Ponchatrain on Tuesday:




Mark Oberley spotted the tornado in lightning flashes and power line failures as it moved into Pensacola last night: