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posted by martyb on Sunday December 12 2021, @03:45AM   Printer-friendly

At least 100 feared dead after tornadoes devastate six US states:

US President Joe Biden has pledged support to states affected by a swarm of devastating tornadoes that demolished homes, levelled businesses and left at least 100 people feared dead.

Describing the tornadoes as likely "one of the largest" storm outbreaks in history, Biden on Saturday approved an emergency disaster declaration for the worst-hit state of Kentucky, where at least 22 people have been confirmed dead.

"It's a tragedy," said a shaken Biden. "And we still don't know how many lives are lost and the full extent of the damage."

He added, "I promise you, whatever is needed – whatever is needed – the federal government is going to find a way to provide it."

The powerful twisters, which weather forecasters say are unusual in cooler months, destroyed a candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, ripped through a nursing home in neighbouring Arkansas, and killed at least six workers at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the collection of tornadoes was the most destructive in the state's history. He said about 40 workers had been rescued at the candle factory, which had about 110 people inside when it was reduced to a pile of rubble.

[...] Mayfield Fire Chief Jeremy Creason, whose own station was destroyed, said the candle factory was diminished to a "pile of bent metal and steel and machinery" and that responders had to at times "crawl over casualties to get to live victims".

[...] The tornado outbreak was triggered by a series of overnight thunderstorms, including a supercell storm that formed in northeast Arkansas. That storm moved from Arkansas and Missouri and into Tennessee and Kentucky.

Unusually high temperatures and humidity created the environment for such an extreme weather event at this time of year, said Victor Gensini, a professor in geographic and atmospheric sciences at Northern Illinois University.

"This is an historic, if not generational event," Gensini said.

If early reports are confirmed, the twister may have touched down for nearly 250 miles (400km), he said, a path length longer than the longest tornado on record, which tracked for about 220 miles (355 km) through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana in March 1925.

[...] The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said it received 36 reports of tornadoes touching down in Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi.

[...] In Edwardsville, Illinois, Fire Chief James Whiteford said at least six people were killed when an Amazon warehouse collapsed. Some 45 people survived.

[...] In Monette, Arkansas, one person was killed and five seriously injured when a tornado tore through a nursing home with 90 beds.

Also at phys.org, CNET, and CNN


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by dalek on Tuesday December 14 2021, @04:55AM

    by dalek (15489) on Tuesday December 14 2021, @04:55AM (#1204880)

    I understand the sentiment of your post, but there is at least some merit to discussing a link with climate change.

    There's a downward trend overall in tornado events in the Plains, the area historically known as Tornado Alley. Tornado frequency seems to be increasing in the Southeast, so there seems to be an eastward shift in tornado activity.

    There's also some evidence that cool season tornado events are increasing in frequency, even if there isn't a similar upward trend in the warm season. The vertical wind shear (change in wind speed and/or direction with height) was on the very high end of what would be expected in the cool season, but I don't see a clear link with climate change. That said, dewpoints were in the upper 60s in parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. You typically need a dewpoint at a minimum in the low 60s to be favorable for strong to violent tornadoes like these, and that's on the low end. One of the predictions associated with climate change is an increase in the moisture content in the atmosphere. It's highly unusual to have dewpoints in the upper 60s in that area at this time of year, but it happened. There's often abundant shear during the cool season, but moisture and instability are generally limiting factors. If there's an increase in the moisture content of the atmosphere, it might very well mean that the humidity and the instability needed for tornado outbreaks will be present more often during the cool season.

    I have a hard time attributing a single event like this to climate change. There is the precedent of the tri-state tornado, which occurred in March, and not far from where this event occurred. I don't know the return period for this type of event, but for the sake of discussion, let's say it was a once-in-a-century event. The limiting factor is that the atmospheric conditions needed for a tornado outbreak like this just don't occur very often at all. However, if climate change causes those conditions to occur more frequently, it might no longer be a once-in-a-century event.

    These trends definitely matter because there are more tornado deaths in the Southeast than in the Plains. In a place like Oklahoma City, the preparedness (e.g., building codes, systems for disseminating warnings, emergency plans at public places, etc...) and societal attitudes are different than in the Southeast. Although there's no way to be certain, I suspect that if the same storms moved through areas like Oklahoma City and Wichita at the same time of year and the same time of night, there probably would have been much less loss of life. If strong and violent tornadoes are going to become more frequent in the Southeast, the issues that already lead to more tornado deaths in the Southeast would be exacerbated. There are very important policy considerations if events like this are going to become more frequent in the Southeast.

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