This video is from the EF4 tornado that went through Tuscaloosa, AL on 4/27/11. It was taken from the University Mall parking lot. Probably the closest video to the storm your going to see.

Video of four violent wedge tornadoes from different supercells in eastern Mississippi into Alabama, including the EF-5 that occurred near Philadelphia, Mississippi, as well as the birth of the Tuscaloosa tornado. Sadly, this tornado outbreak over “Dixie Alley” was responsible for substantial loss of life and property across MS, AL, GA, as violent tornadoes struck Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and other populated areas. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this tragedy.

On May 22, 2011 a highly destructive and deadly tornado tore through the city of Joplin, Missouri. Here is video of the tornado entering the southwest side of town, filmed by TornadoVideos.net Basehunters team Colt Forney, Isaac Pato, Kevin Rolfs, and Scott Peake. The team spent hours assisting with search and rescue and transporting victims to local hospitals in personal vehicles.

NOAA announces two additional severe weather events reached $1 billion damage threshold, raising 2011’s billion-dollar disaster count from 12 to 14 events

January 19, 2012

Selected Annual Climate Records for 2011 – Green dots show the wettest, yellow dots the driest, red dots the warmest and blue dots the coolest records.

High Resolution (Credit: NOAA)

According to NOAA scientists, 2011 was a record-breaking year for climate extremes, as much of the United States faced historic levels of heat, precipitation, flooding and severe weather, while La Niña events at both ends of the year impacted weather patterns at home and around the world.

NOAA’s annual analysis of U.S. and global conditions, conducted by scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, reports that the average temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 53.8 degrees F, 1.0 degree F above the 20th century average, making it the 23rd warmest year on record. Precipitation across the nation averaged near normal, masking record-breaking extremes in both drought and precipitation.

On a global scale, La Niña events helped keep the average global temperature below recent trends. As a result, 2011 tied with 1997 for the 11th warmest year on record. It was the second coolest year of the 21st century to date, and tied with the second warmest year of the 20th century.

Key highlights of the report include:

U.S. weather and climate disasters

• NOAA has identified two additional events in 2011 that caused an economic impact of $1 billion or greater, bringing the total number of major billion-dollar weather and climate disasters to 14 (not including the pre-Halloween snowstorm in the Northeast, which is still being analyzed).



From extreme drought, heat waves and floods to unprecedented tornado outbreaks, hurricanes, wildfires and winter storms, a record 14 weather and climate disasters in 2011 each caused $1 billion or more in damages — and most regrettably, loss of human lives and property.

High Resolution (Credit: NOAA)

• Tropical Storm Lee, which made landfall on the Gulf Coast on September 2, caused wind and flood damage across the Southeast, but considerably more damage to housing, business and infrastructure from record flooding across the Northeast states, especially Pennsylvania and New York. The storm occurred in an area that had experienced high rainfall from Hurricane Irene barely a week earlier.
• A Rockies and Midwest severe weather outbreak, which occurred July 10-14, included tornadoes, hail and high winds. Much of the damage was from wind, hail, and flooding impacts to homes, business, and agriculture.
• Together, these two events resulted in the loss of 23 lives (21 from Tropical Storm Lee, 2 from the Rockies/Midwest outbreak).

Nationally

• Warmer-than-normal temperatures were anchored across the South, Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast. Delaware had its warmest year on record, while Texas had its second warmest year on record. The U.S. has observed a long-term temperature increase of about 0.12 degrees F per decade since 1895.
• Summer (June-August) 2011 was the second warmest on record for the Lower 48, with an average temperature of 74.5 degrees F, just 0.1 degree F below the record-warm summer of 1936. The epicenter of the heat was the Southern Plains, where Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas all had their warmest summer on record. The 3-month average temperatures for both Oklahoma (86.9 degrees F) and Texas (86.7 degrees F) surpassed the previous record for warmest summer in any state.
• With the exception of Vermont, each state in the contiguous U.S. had at least one location that exceeded 100 degrees F. Summertime temperatures have increased across the U.S. at an average rate of 0.11 degrees F per decade. Much of this trend is due to increases in minimum temperatures (“overnight lows”), with minimum temperature extremes becoming increasingly commonplace in recent decades.
• Despite a “near normal” national precipitation average, regional precipitation outcomes varied wildly. Texas, ravaged by exceptional drought for most of 2011, had its driest year on record. In contrast, seven states in the Ohio Valley and Northeast — Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania — had their wettest year on record.
• The past nine years have been particularly wet across the Northeast region – since 2003, the annual precipitation for the region is 48.96 inches, 7.88 inches above the 20th century average. Precipitation averaged across the U.S. is increasing at a rate of about 0.18 inches per decade.
• Precipitation extremes and impacts were most prevalent during spring (March – May) 2011. Across the northern U.S., ten states were record wet, and an additional 11 states had spring precipitation totals ranking among their top ten wettest. These precipitation extremes, combined with meltwater from a near-record snow pack, contributed to historic flooding along several major rivers across the central United States.
• Meanwhile, drought rapidly intensified in the southern Plains, where Texas had only 2.66 inches of precipitation, its driest spring on record. This led to record breaking drought and wildfires, which devastated the southern Plains. Following 2010, during which drought across the country was nearly erased, the 12 percent of the continental U.S. in the most severe category of drought (D4) during July 2011 was the highest in the U.S. Drought Monitor era (1999-2011).
• The spring brought a record breaking tornado season to the United States. Over 1,150 tornadoes were confirmed during the March-May period. The 551 tornado-related fatalities during the year were the most in the 62-year period of record. The deadliest tornado outbreak on record (April 25-28th) and the deadliest single tornado (Joplin, Missouri) contributed to the high fatality count.

Globally

• This year tied 1997 as the 11th warmest year since records began in 1880. The annual global combined land and ocean surface temperature was 0.92 degrees F above the 20th century average of 57.0 degrees F. This marks the 35th consecutive year, since 1976, that the yearly global temperature was above average. The warmest years on record were 2010 and 2005, which were 1.15 degrees F above average.
• Separately, the 2011 global average land surface temperature was 1.49 degrees F above the 20th century average of 47.3 degrees F and ranked as the eighth warmest on record. The 2011 global average ocean temperature was 0.72 degrees F above the 20th century average of 60.9 degrees F and ranked as the 11th warmest on record.
• Including 2011, all eleven years of the 21st century so far (2001-2011) rank among the 13 warmest in the 132-year period of record. Only one year during the 20th century, 1998, was warmer than 2011.
• La Niña, which is defined by cooler-than-normal waters in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean that affects weather patterns around the globe, was present during much of 2011. A relatively strong phase of La Niña opened the year, dissipated in the spring before re-emerging in October and lasted through the end of the year. When compared to previous La Niña years, the 2011 global surface temperature was the warmest observed.
• The 2011 globally-averaged precipitation over land was the second wettest year on record, behind 2010. Precipitation varied greatly across the globe. La Niña contributed to severe drought in the Horn of Africa and to Australia’s third wettest year in its 112-year period of record.
• Arctic sea ice extent was below average for all of 2011, and has been since June 2000, a span of 127 consecutive months. Both the maximum ice extent (5.65 million square miles on March 7th) and the minimum extent (1.67 million square miles on September 9th) were the second smallest of the satellite era.
• For the second year running, NCDC asked a panel of climate scientists to determine and rank the year’s ten most significant climate events, for both the United States and for the planet, to include record drought in East Africa and record flooding in Thailand and Australia. The results are at http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climate-monitoring.

Scientists, researchers and leaders in government and industry use NOAA’s monthly and annual reports to help track trends and other changes in the world’s climate. This climate service has a wide range of practical uses, from helping farmers know what and when to plant, to guiding resource managers’ critical decisions about water, energy and other vital assets.

A powerful Winter storm system currently making its way into the Ozarks and middle-Mississippi Valley region will interact with an unseasonably warm, moist Gulf airmass later this evening, prompting what is likely to be the first large-scale severe weather episode of 2012. *Forecast models http://www.twisterdata.com/ *continue to suggest that strong, southerly wind-fields in the lowest levels of the atmosphere will readily transport this uninhibited current of Gulf moisture well into the Mid South and lower Ohio Valley, allowing dewpoints in the mid to upper 60s to migrate potentially as far north as the Missouri bootheel by sunset or just thereafter; this should provide plenty of fuel for thunderstorms that are likely to develop ahead of a cold front that will sweep across Arkansas later this afternoon. Low and mid-level wind shear is very favorable for thunderstorms with sustained rotating updrafts; any storms that are able to develop along and ahead of the front will have the potential for strong, possibly long-lived tornadoes, especially, and unfortunately, after dark, as the low-level wind shear is forecast to intensify in conjunction with the arrival of the most abundant moisture from the Gulf. The possibility of a nighttime tornado event presents an especially dangerous situation for residents of central and Eastern Arkansas, west Tennessee, northern Mississippi. As always, persons in the outlined areas are strongly urged to have their severe weather plans in place, monitor local media http://www.spc.noaa.gov/ and, above all, heed warnings when they are issued–NOAA Weather Radios with fresh batteries are a must for events such as these.

The June 14, 2011 Severe Wind Event in Central Oklahoma

Photo provided courtesy of Justin Linck. Taken at I-35 and Main St in Norman looking NW.

To See a Radar Animation, Click the Above Image.

Overview

Thunderstorms quickly developed along a slow-moving cold front that was located near I-44 by late afternoon. Several locations reported wind gusts well over 60 mph, with the highest measured gust of 82 mph! Large hail to baseball size was also reported. Many communities reported damage as a result of the high winds, large hail, or a combination of both.

Synopsis

From approximately 7:20 pm to 7:45 pm, a wet downburst affected areas in and around Norman and southeast Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Intense rainfall was accompanied by hail up to golf-ball size and winds that were measured at over 80 mph. Damage was reported over much of the city, with the most intense damage occurring over the northern half of the city. Almost 33,000 residents were without power, some still without power over 24 hours later. This was due to the numerous power poles/lines that were snapped or blown down. In addition to the high wind, hail up to golf ball size fell almost horizontally, damaging siding, shattering store signs, and denting automobiles. The highest measured wind gust occurred near SE 12th and Boyd, where the anemometer recorded 82 mph before it malfunctioned due to the wind blown hail. The Norman mesonet site also measured a gust of 70 mph. A quick inch of rain occurred in about 15 to 20 minutes, which resulted in some minor flash flooding. Here are a few facts about yesterdays severe weather event:

Storm chasing highlights from the historic May 4, 2003 tornado outbreak in Kansas and Missouri. Tornadoes from three different supercells were intecepted, one of which crossed the road less than a 1/4 mile away. This incredible tornado video is complimented with summaries and radar images.

The fast-moving and incredibly violent F4 Girard, Kansas Tornado of May 4, 2003.

TornadoVideos.net storm chasers Reed Timmer and Dave Holder captured this huge, violent wedge tornado in southwest Manitoba on June 23, 2007. We were blasted by mud and flying corn stalks as the tornado crossed the road less than 200 yards away!

Below is video from the violent EF-4 tornado that touched down on the east side of Norman, OK on May 10, 2010. The video is from Fire Station #6.

More Video:
On my way home from work I noticed the funnel cloud. I was able to determine that I was not in the path of the storm, so I got out my camera and got a video.