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Historic Tornado Outbreak: 3 Days, 241 Tornadoes, 14

States

By Meghan Evans, Meteorologist

Apr 17, 2011; 12:50 PM ET

From Thursday, April 14, 2011 to Saturday, April, 16, 2011, devastating tornadoes rampaged across
communities of the southern United States. Cities and towns from Oklahoma to North Carolina were
assaulted by the deadly twisters.

The tornado outbreak led to a total of 241 tornado reports in 14 states over the three-day period. This will
likely rank this tornado outbreak among the largest in history.

Tragically, the death toll has risen to 39 people so far with dozens of others injured. The number of
fatalities could rise as investigations continue. This tornado outbreak already ranks as the most deadly
outbreak since the 2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak.

In North Carolina alone, close to two dozen people were killed on Saturday, while seven people were killed
This image, courtesy of the National Weather
in Alabama on Friday. Service Forecast Office in San Diego, Calif., shows
tornado reports April 14-16, 2011 as of 12:00
One of the reasons for the deadly outcome of this tornado outbreak is likely due to the highly populated p.m. EDT Sunday April 17, 2011..
areas of the nation that were hit. The weather pattern can explain why these highly populates areas were
struck.

Jackson, Miss., and Raleigh, N.C., are among the large cities that were struck by large, devastating twisters.

Numerous homes, businesses, churches and even schools have been severely damaged or destroyed in the path of the tornadoes.

Setup for Deadly Tornado Outbreak

Three ingredients were in place to allow this violent tornado outbreak to occur from the southern Plains to the Southeast: a powerful jet stream, abundant
moisture and a strong cold front.

A powerful jet stream helped to enhance the thunderstorm growth, while moisture surging in from the Gulf of Mexico acted as fuel for the thunderstorms.

A strong cold front plowing across the South was the trigger that initiated the thunderstorm development.

The difference in the direction of wind in the upper atmosphere, southwesterly, and the lower atmosphere, southerly to southeasterly, added a twisting
motion that helped the severe thunderstorms to develop a rotation. Thus, the wind difference with height, referred to as wind shear by meteorologists, made
the severe thunderstorms more likely to produce tornadoes.

There are a couple of factors that are making this year a more active severe weather year compared to normal and compared to last year.

The first factor is that the water in Gulf of Mexico is warmer than last year. This means that there is very warm, moist air in supply for storm systems to tap
into and provide fuel for severe weather.

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The second is that we are in one of the strongest La Nina patterns in recorded history.

"The strong La Nina pattern means that tremendous contrasts in air masses, with cool and dry air to the north and warm and steamy air to the south, are
occurring over the Mississippi Valley. This puts many highly populated areas in the path of dangerous severe weather," said AccuWeather.com Expert Senior
Meteorologist Henry Margusity.

Ranking of Tornado Outbreak Compared to Historic Outbreaks

This mid-April 2011 tornado outbreak is likely to rank among the largest tornado outbreaks in history with 241 tornado reports.

"There has not been a tornado outbreak in history over three days with this many tornadoes spawned by a single storm system," according to Margusity.

The notorious 1974 tornado outbreak, which occurred on April 3-4, 1974, produced 148 tornadoes over the course of two days and is thought of as one of the
largest and deadliest tornado outbreak in history from one storm system.

In the infamous May 2003 tornado outbreak sequence (May 4-10), 401 tornadoes occurred. However, multiple storm systems moving from the Southwest
into the Plains triggered these tornadoes.

"In 2004, there was a two-day tornado outbreak which produced 170 twisters. In the 2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak, there was 131 reported
tornadoes in one day," added Margusity.

At this stage, an exact comparison to historic outbreaks in terms of the strength and number of tornadoes cannot be made. It will take weeks for the tornado
surveys, which determine the strength and exact number of tornadoes, to be conducted.

Related to the Story:

Death Toll Rises as Tornadoes Ransack Carolinas

Mississippi, Alabama Clean Up After Destructive Tornadoes

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19 comments Add a comment

Andrew James Sturgill — Jackson, Michigan

Got to love Michigan, the winters have been getting milder, unlimited fresh water, no mudslides or
hurricanes, just the occasional tornado. As long as you have a job that is..........
6 — Like — Reply — 7 hours ago

Donnie Lithander
that would be why were getting 3-5" of snow tonight lol
2 — Like — Reply — 5 hours ago

Tom Anderson — Works at Eventide Lutheran Homes

thats the great thing about ND! We had a snowstorm this past week but rarely any
tornadoes and plenty of JOBS!!
2 — Like — Reply — 4 hours ago

Andrew James Sturgill — Jackson, Michigan

My point is......why don't businesses relocate here! A highly trained workforce, tho
they will have to realize they no longer can get paid 30 dollars an hour to sweep
floors.....that may be a problemQ
2 — Like — Reply — 3 hours ago

View 2 more

Mihangel ∞ Cusato — Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio, Gwynedd, United

Kingdom
5 letters................H.A.A.R.P............ 'nuff said..
6 — Like — Reply — 3 hours ago

Sonia Gailey Page — Owner/Operater at Sonia's Pet Styling

I don't think HAARP can manipulate the jet steam. To do this they would have to push
trillions of tons of air and at the precise target.
1 — Like — Reply — about an hour ago

Matt Malott
facepalm
Like — Reply — 43 minutes ago

Mihangel ∞ Cusato — Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio, Gwynedd,

United Kingdom
It can be steered by creating high pressure areas on the side that they want to steer
it way from , or by heating up the upper atmosphere so it sucks the jetstream towards
the new low pressure area created by the displacement of the heated upper
atmosphere... theres not just the Alaskan Haarp at work here theres several others
that can all operate indipendantly or in phase to process a billion watts of power to
any destination or target on the globe for any purpose weather modding or quake
seeding or 3D over the horizon radar and also subterranean radar ...http://sitfu.com
/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/HAARP-MAP.jpg
Like — Reply — 32 minutes ago

Jeff Conners
HAARP
5 — Like — Reply — 4 hours ago

Edward Dzioba
It's Bush's fault....
3 — Like — Reply — 5 hours ago

Westley Jennings — None

Yeah i'm sure Bush has lots to do with the weather.
Like — Reply — 2 hours ago

Don Pettygrove — Manager at DGP Engineering LLC

Edward - you are really Barrack Obama in disguise aren't you
2 — Like — Reply — 2 hours ago

Zachary Layne Gierisch — Tarrant County College

Wow, internet people are smart...
Like — Reply — 2 hours ago

View 2 more

Don Pettygrove — Manager at DGP Engineering LLC

This is a great example of how the Weather Channel has distorted data for many to believe there
is man caused global warming. The headline "Historic Tornado Outbreak: 3 Days, 241 Tornadoes,
14 States" is erroneous. There were 241 "reports" of tornadoes. The likelihood is that many of
these were reports of the same tornado which would reduce the numbers significantly. If you look
at the mapping of these, you will see that most are in a storm track and probably are multiple

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