As many of you may know, there was a catastrophic deadly tornado outbreak on December 10-11th across Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky. This tornado outbreak was the deadliest outbreak of all time in the month of December. Although this blog was a little late, it will still be useful and an important read. Why did this outbreak really happen?
This cell as you can see in the image above was just one supercell out of many in the entire storm itself. This Quad-state tornadic supercell was responsible for more than half of the deaths, damage, and injuries of the storm. It crossed 4 states and dropped multiple tornadoes including one that had a path of 165 miles long.
This is an image of all of the submitted storm reports. There were over 400 high wind reports and over 100 tornado reports. These reports are helpful to show what the storm really caused and how it effected others. These storm reports are reported by storm spotters, and this data helps with NWS warnings and local station updates since these reporters relay what’s really happening on the ground.
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Why Did This Happen?
Now many of y’all may be wondering… “Why did this happen in DECEMBER?” The reason for that is because this time of year is the responsible for some severe storms and tornado-producing storms. It is not necessarily rare to see tornadoes this time of year, but seeing a large amount wouldn’t be normal given it isn’t early spring, which is the prime time for severe weather. What happened though was incredible, for over 69 tornadoes were recorded in just one days time! The true reason is partly due to the above average temperatures much of the mid west and eastern states have been experiencing lately in these winter days. This caused a good environment for tornadic storms and provided a perfect storm opportunity.
How Many Tornadoes? = 69
Highest Ratings? = EF4 (190 mph)
Number of Fatalities? = 90
Duration of Outbreak? = 24 Hours and 11 minutes
This one EF4 tornado was responsible for 58 casualties and 168 miles of destruction. This was the tornado that caused so much damage in Mayfield, Kentucky. This storm will be a storm to remember. The damage that was caused, the lives that were lost, the people that were affected….. no one will forget this storm.
If you wish to help the lives that were affected by this storm, you can donate to Samaritans Purse, an organization that is doing a great job to provide disaster relief.
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