Ten years ago this Tuesday, multiple tornadoes tore through western Massachusetts, killing three people, injuring 200, and causing more than $200 million in damages. The most violent of the tornadoes touched down at 4:17 p.m. in Westfield, churning into West Springfield, then Springfield, leaving streets blanketed with rubble and broken glass, road signs twisted, entire…
Joplin’s EF5 Tornado: What Our Meteorologists Haven’t Forgotten 10 Years Later
Saturday marks the 10-year anniversary of the Joplin tornado, which tore a six-mile-long and up to a mile-wide path of devastation through the southwest Missouri city. One hundred fifty-eight people lost their lives directly due to the EF5 tornado on May 22, 2011. The city will commemorate the anniversary with an observance Saturday, including a…
Touch Down: La Crosse tornado remembered 10 years later
LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) – Ten years ago, 11 tornadoes tore through Wisconsin, and six touched down in the La Crosse area. One came right through La Crosse, ripping roofs off buildings and uprooting countless trees. La Crosse is not a normal landing spot for Mother Nature’s remarkable power. “Kinda knew we were gonna be…
Alabama’s day of devastation: Remembering the April 27 tornado outbreak 9 years later
It’s been nine years, and nothing has even come close to April 27, 2011, when it comes to severe weather in Alabama. Or, by some measures, even the nation. There were 62 confirmed tornadoes in Alabama on that one day alone, making it one of the largest tornado outbreaks in Alabama history. Alabama averages about…
Remembering the deadly Super Tornado Outbreak of 2011
April 25-28 marks the anniversary of one of the biggest, deadliest and most destructive severe weather and tornado outbreaks in the United States in recorded history. Some of the tornadoes during the April 2011 outbreak struck heavily populated areas. Despite alerts well in advance and short-term warnings, the storms during the 2011 outbreak took the…
One county in Alabama has been struck by a violent tornado three times. Two were hours apart.
A major tornado can change a community forever. When two occur in the exact same place — such as the monster twisters that ravaged Moore, Okla., in 1999 and 2013 — it feels like more than an eerie coincidence. But when three have whirled within a couple miles of the same spot, you can be…
One day, 199 tornadoes
In 2011, an outbreak—not of disease, but of tornadoes—slammed through a large swath of the Southern and Eastern U.S. The region saw 64 individual twisters on April 25, and another 50 the next day, but the worst still lay ahead. A head-spinning 199 tornadoes touched down on April 27, killing 316 and injuring almost 3,000.…