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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
1 dead and several injured when storm rips through Kentucky community, authorities say
SPRINGFIELD, Ky. (AP) — The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia on Friday, hours after a harsh storm hit a remote area of central Kentucky, killing one person and injuring seven others. In Kentucky, Washington County Judge-executive Timothy Graves said two or three houses were destroyed and downed trees temporarily blocked roads. 'We were fortunate this was located in a remote part of the county,' Graves said. Gov. Andy Beshear canceled a visit planned for Friday to Pulaski and Laurel counties, which were hit by a tornado earlier this month. That storm left 19 dead in the state. Officials were responding to reports of a possible tornado in Washington County, he said in a social media post. 'This level of severe weather was unexpected, with a system still moving through the state,' Beshear said. 'We also expect to see additional storms today with Eastern and Southeastern Kentucky facing a risk of more severe weather. Please be alert this morning and stay safe.' The National Weather Service's office in Louisville, Kentucky, said a crew surveying damage Friday in Washington County was following a damage path that may enter neighboring Mercer County. By midday, the crew had found 'at least' EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale tornado damage in southwestern Washington County, the office said in a social media post. Three of the injured people were taken to University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington. County Emergency Management Director Kevin Devine said the county was not expecting harsh weather Friday morning. In a social media post, the sheriff's office asked people to stay home to allow emergency workers to do their jobs. In Tennessee, multiple people were injured when severe weather hit the Philadelphia area of Loudon County, on Friday morning, the county sheriff's office said in a social media post. The weather service's office in Morristown later preliminarily confirmed in a social media post that an EF0 tornado struck near the border of Loudon and Monroe counties. Also on Friday, National Weather Service surveyors said a Thursday afternoon tornado near Atlanta reached top wind speeds estimated at 135 mph (217 kph), throwing the son of actor Tray Chaney nearly 300 feet (91 meters) from the second-floor window of his home and leaving him with critical injuries. The storm, rated EF2, damaged about a dozen houses in a subdivision in Locust Grove, about 30 miles (45 kilometers) southeast of the city. Residents told news outlets they had no advance warning of the twister, which meteorologists said dropped out of a thunderstorm that had showed weak and broad rotation. The tornado was on the ground for 5 minutes, covering 1.8 miles (2.9 kilometers). Along one street, the tornado ripped off siding and shingles, blowing out windows. Damage was worst at the Chaney home, which was destroyed except for one interior closet on the first floor where clothes were still hanging. Malachi Chaney, the son, was found in nearby woods and taken to an Atlanta hospital. Tray Chaney, best known for his role on 'The Wire,' said his son remained hospitalized in intensive care on Friday, with injuries including broken ribs and fractured bones in his face. Tray Chaney said he suffered a bruise on the head. In a video recorded shortly thereafter, Chaney said he wished he could trade places with his son, who just completed his freshman year at Savannah State University. 'I wish he was the one that was doing the video, and I was still in the ICU,' Tray Chaney said. It was the third round of tornadoes in northern Georgia this week, with the weather service confirming three weaker twisters northwest of Atlanta on Sunday and three more tornadoes west of the city on Tuesday. In addition to tornado warnings, the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for parts of North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia until Friday night. The Associated Press
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Climate
- Boston Globe
30 years ago today, a destructive tornado tore through a small Massachusetts town
Advertisement There wasn't much left of the Great Barrington Fairgrounds after a tornado struck the night of May 29, 1995. RYAN, DAVID STAFF PHOTO The sheer force of the Great Barrington tornado toppled tall trees like matchsticks on May 29, 1995. RYAN, DAVID STAFF PHOTO It was the strongest tornado that the state of Massachusetts had seen since the June 9, 1953, twister that struck Worcester. During that evening of May 29, 1995, which was the observed Memorial Day that year, a cluster of severe thunderstorms had pushed into Berkshire County and triggered a tornado warning from the National Weather Service office out of Albany, N.Y. At first, the supercell that spawned the Greater Barrington tornado actually had produced a prior tornado in Eastern New York, an F2 that traversed 15 miles. As the storms pushed over the Massachusetts state line, huge amounts of moisture and wind shear from neighboring storms helped the supercell restrengthen, spawning the larger, deadly tornado. Advertisement Numerous vehicles and buildings were impaled by flying debris from trees, fences, and other timber. Multiple buildings lost their roofs or flat-out collapsed, including the local fairground, a supermarket, and a gas station. Bud Rodgers takes a breather after helping to clear trees from the yard of his neighbor, who, along with his family, escaped injury when their roof collapsed during the Great Barrington tornado of 1995. CHIN, BARRY GLOBE STAFF PHOTO Radar imagery on the evening of May 29, 1995, shows a supercell (deep red) pushing through Great Barrington. NWS The tornado was designated as F4 strength under the original Fujita scale, which had a strict and only wind threshold to measure tornado strength. An Enhanced Fujita Scale was implemented in 2007, taking into account damages to building structures and wind and there's a good chance that the Great Barrington twister would have been deemed an EF5 tornado by today's standards. The Enhanced Fujita Scale takes into account wind speed as well as building damage. The wind speed threshold is also lower than the original Fujita scale. NOAA Tornadoes form within supercell thunderstorms with wind shear, a change in direction and speed of wind as you move higher into the atmosphere. Ample moisture will make the air light enough and be lifted vertically, which can create a rotating column of air or tornado. Changes in directional wind shear as air rises vertically into the atmosphere will initiate rotation. Boston Globe Strong updrafts will tilt the tube of rotating air upright, forming into a tornado. Boston Globe Ken Mahan can be reached at
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Busy spring severe weather season slowly wanes
The spring severe weather season is winding down, but it leaves behind a trail of destruction, following one of the most active periods for tornado activity in more than a decade. Between the start of March and the end of May, the Storm Prediction Center received over 900 preliminary tornado reports - significantly above the seasonal average of around 600, based on historical data from the 1990s and 2000s. Despite the activity, the year began on a relatively quiet note, with January only seeing 20 tornado reports, followed by 41 in February - both below average. April proved to be the busiest month of the year for tornadoes, with 351 reported across the country. The tally made the month the third most active April on record, behind only 2024 and 2011. The most intense tornado outbreak of the season occurred in mid-March, when energy from an atmospheric river event fed into a developing storm system, which produced more than 100 tornadoes, including at least three that were rated as EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Absence Of Ef-5 Tornadoes May Be Because Of Damage Assessments, Not Changes In Weather Patterns The largest number of tornadoes during a single outbreak occurred in early April, when more than 150 tornadoes plowed across much of the central U.S. The deadliest event happened in May, as violent storms swept across Missouri, Indiana and Kentucky, killing at least 27 people. The most destructive tornado during that outbreak tore through London, Kentucky, and was rated EF4, with estimated winds of 170 mph, according to the National Weather Service. Despite the devastation, the EF4 twister in the Bluegrass State was not the strongest of the year - that distinction belongs to a tornado that occurred near Diaz, Arkansas, in mid-March. Wind speeds during the EF4 were estimated to be at least 190 mph, which is just about 10 mph shy of being designated an EF5. Fortunately, the tornado spared significant population centers, and no fatalities were connected to the event. Notably, there have been no EF5 tornadoes reported in 2025, continuing a 12-year drought of the most violent category of a twister. The last EF5 tornado in the U.S. struck Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20, 2013, with winds of around 210 mph. Some researchers argue that surveying methods have led to fewer EF5 classifications, rather than a genuine shift in weather patterns. Through the first five months of the year, Missouri and Illinois have seen the highest number of tornadoes, with initial counts of 105 and 104, respectively. These totals are far above those of traditional tornado-prone states such as Kansas and Oklahoma, which reinforces a growing consensus among some forecasters that "Tornado Alley" is indeed shifting. Why Tornado Alley Is Shifting East Even though meteorological spring ends in May, severe weather threats don't disappear with the turn of the calendar. Thunderstorms can impact most of the Lower 48 year-round, but widespread events triggered by cold fronts become less frequent in the southern U.S. as summer takes hold. During the summer months, severe weather threats often stem from different atmospheric phenomena such as derechos and sea breeze collisions. Derechos are long-lived complexes of thunderstorms, which often travel along the rim of high-pressure systems. Further south, sea breeze interactions often fuel near-daily thunderstorm activity across Florida and the Gulf Coast. Later in the season, tropical cyclones may enter the picture, some of which can produce dozens of tornadoes, but tornado outbreaks associated with tropical systems are not yearly occurrences. June still remains an active month for tornadoes, especially across the Northern Plains, though there is a noticeable decline in activity by July. A secondary severe weather season typically returns to the South in November and December, as frontal boundaries make their return ahead of article source: Busy spring severe weather season slowly wanes
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
The Kentucky tornadoes spur mounting anxiety over Weather Service warning systems
Sandra Anderson didn't think the storm would be too bad. When her grandchildren asked if the dogs should be brought in, Anderson demurred, saying they'd be fine. But later that night, an alert on her phone warned her of a tornado tearing through her hometown of London, Kentucky. Seconds later, it hit her neighborhood. 'I hollered for my handicapped son to hit the hallway,' Anderson said. 'Windows were exploding. There was such a horrifying howl before it hit.' Tornadoes are measured using what's called the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which ranks them on a scale of one to five according to their wind speed and potential for damage. The mile-wide twister that blew out Anderson's windows and flattened entire neighborhoods traveled over 50 miles and clocked in at EF-4, making it a particularly violent one. Meanwhile, an EF-3 funnel cloud cut a 23-mile path through the St. Louis area. Both were part of a broader system that stretched from Missouri to Kentucky, spawning over 70 tornadoes that killed at least 28 people and leveled or damaged thousands of structures. Eastern Kentucky bore the brunt of the fury; 18 people died there. Seven more were killed in Missouri. The storms come as the Trump administration makes deep cuts to the National Weather Service, or NWS, and its parent organization, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Together, the two agencies provide accurate and timely forecasts to meteorologists and others, and play a key role in forecasting tornadoes and warning people of impending danger. Meteorologists and other experts warn that the administration's cuts to the agency could cost lives. The NWS has lost 600 people through layoffs and retirements, according to the New York Times, leaving many local weather stations scrambling to cover shortfalls. The office in Jackson, Kentucky, for example, is one of eight nationwide to abruptly end 24/7 forecasting after losing an overnight forecaster, and is now short about 31 percent of its staff. The Jackson office serves a large swath of eastern Kentucky, a rural region with patchy access to cell and internet, and which has been repeatedly battered by storms and floods over the past five years. All of this comes as the private forecasting company Accuweather warns that the United States is facing its worst tornado season in more than a decade. Even as the twister in eastern Kentucky passed, people began to speculate that NWS staffing cuts contributed to the death toll. Their suspicion stemmed from the tornado warning's upgrade to a Particularly Dangerous Situation, a designation reserved for particularly severe situations with an imminent threat to life and property. That warning, meant to convey the need to take cover immediately, came shortly before the tornado touched down at around 11:07 PM, several officials told Grist. That designation, called a PDS, came after the popular YouTube forecaster Ryan Hall Y'all, who is based in eastern Kentucky, urged everyone in the storm's path to seek shelter around 10:45 pm. Local television news meteorologists did so about the same time. 'We just have to hope we're doing a good job of getting that message out there, because otherwise nobody would know,' Hall, who does not have formal meteorology training, told his audience around 10:54 PM. Although the NWS issued 90 alerts on May 16, including warnings about flash flooding and impending tornados, someone who identified himself as an NWS-trained weather spotter left a comment on Hall's feed saying the agency issued the PDS only after he raised the issue. 'I called the NWS in Wilmington, Ohio, who relayed my report to the Jackson weather office,' he posted. 'A couple minutes after that, it was upgraded to a PDS confirmed by weather spotters.' Many commenters credited Hall with saving lives. Neither Hall or the commenter who identified himself as a weather spotter could be reached for comment. Chase Carson, a tourism commissioner in London, followed a forecasting livestream on Facebook as the storm developed. He spent the day after the twister volunteering at the city's emergency response center, responding to the crisis. 'You have people who had nicer homes but still didn't think that the tornado was going to hit their area because we didn't receive enough warning prior,' he said. 'Just a lot of X, Y, and Z's that went wrong to keep us from being able to be prepared.' The National Weather Service defended its handling of the storm and the timeliness of its warnings in Kentucky, telling Grist in a statement that its offices in Louisville, Jackson and Paducah 'provided forecast information, timely warnings and decision support in the days and hours leading up to the severe weather on May 16.' 'Information was conveyed to the public through multiple routine means, including official products, social media, and NOAA Weather Radio, as well as to partners through advance conference calls and webinars. As planned in advance, neighboring offices provided staffing support to the office in Jackson, KY. Additionally, the Jackson office remained fully staffed through the duration of the event using surge staffing. Weather forecast offices in the Central Region continue to evaluate storm damage and other impacts from this tragic event.' Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees' Organization, said the offices were fully staffed, and weather forecasting offices in multiple cities typically collaborate when extreme weather is expected. 'People make sacrifices,' he said. 'You don't have the night off, you got to come to work.' According to Fahy, that's part of the life of service NWS forecasters sign up for — which might intensify as offices lose staff. People on the north side of St. Louis were equally suspicious of the NWS response after they did not hear warning sirens go off, even though the system had been tested the day before the tornado. However, the city runs that system, and Mayor Cara Spencer blamed the problem on 'human failure' because the municipal emergency management protocol was 'not exceptionally clear' on who is to activate the system. To that end, the city tested the warning sirens again Tuesday and Wednesday, and Spencer issued an executive order placing the fire department in charge of activating the warning system. Aliya Lyons only knew to take shelter thanks to the St. Louis University emergency alert system. 'I didn't hear any sirens,' she said. 'And that was a major failure on the city's part. Lives were lost. I can't say if it was entirely because of the sirens. But it's really heartbreaking – elders may not have a cell phone, cell phones might be dead.' Read Next Trump's budget cuts could kill your local weather forecast — and put you in danger Tik Root, Katie Myers, & Matt Simon She worries that the situation will only get worse; the Trump administration has proposed cutting NOAA's budget by more than 25 percent. 'Even with the current National Weather Service, horrible things can happen — now is not the time to gut them. We should be making it more robust.' Fahy said the NWS and its union are collaborating to realign staff to meet a 'reduced service schedule.' The expectation will be that stations will work together to fill in gaps as needed. That may not do much to ease Bobby Day's mind. He is the interim police chief in London and, worked with city officials and first responders on emergency planning with city officials, days before the tornado. He's long counted on the Weather Service to do his job, and is never without his NOAA weather radio. He still recalls a wild and destructive storm that hit London out of the blue on a clear night a few years ago. The agency's forecasts and warnings were essential in timing evacuations. 'Almost to the minute they said it was going to happen, it happened,' he said. NOAA and the National Weather Service may well continue to deliver that level of precision even as the Trump administration slashes its budget and staffing. But meteorologists and others who deal with extreme weather worry that the suspicion and speculation that followed the tornadoes will only mount, undermining confidence in the agencies even as they become more vital to public safety. This frustrates Jim Caldwell, a meteorologist at local station WYMT-TV, who worries people will turn away from reputable, if strained, resources in favor of social media personalities like Hall — although Caldwell did not specifically mention him by name. Some of them are good forecasters, he said, but others favor sensationalization to calm preparation in a bid to gain viewers or virality. 'With the uprise of social media and these fake weather people out there in the weather world that are not real,' he said. 'We need more assistance from the government to issue warnings, issue watches, and to make sure that these hype-casters are cut off, because we need an official word.' This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The Kentucky tornadoes spur mounting anxiety over Weather Service warning systems on May 22, 2025.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
National Weather Service releases damage survey results from Colorado tornadoes
DENVER (KDVR) — The National Weather Service released results from a damage survey Wednesday after a tornado event occurred in the plains to the south and east of Denver on Sunday, May 18. The NWS said it tracked four separate tornadoes on Sunday. The first and last tornadoes to appear were deemed 'uncharacteristically strong landspouts,' while the second and third tornadoes were more strongly associated with a parent storm, known as a supercell. How strong was that tornado? How the EF scale works Three of the tornadoes were classified as EF2s and the other as an EF1. The Enhanced Fujita Scale classifies tornadoes into categories based on wind speeds, including: EF0: 65 to 85 mph EF1: 86 to 110 mph EF2: 111 to 135 mph EF3: 136 to 165 mph EF4: 166 to 200 mph EF5: 200 mph and over Estimated peak wind: 125 mph Path length: 0.94 miles Path width: 50 yards Fatalities: 0 Injuries: 0 Start: 1:07 p.m., May 18. 6 SSW Oea Building, Elbert County. Latitude/Longitude: 39.5584, -104,6226 End: 1:12 p.m., May 18. 5 SSW Oea Building, Arapahoe County. Latitude/Longitude: 39.5693, -104,6123 What is Colorado's most commonly misspelled wurd? Estimated peak wind: 95 mph Path length: 2.53 miles Path width: 75 yards Fatalities: 0 Injuries: 0 Start: 1:23 p.m., May 18. 2 NE Oea Building, Arapahoe County. Latitude/Longitude: 39.6614, -104.5519 End: 1:32 p.m., May 18. 4 SSW Manila Village, Arapahoe County. Latitude/Longitude: 39.6917, -104.527 Estimated peak wind: 125 mph Path length: 5.09 miles Path width: 200 yards Fatalities: 0 Injuries: 0 Start: 1:30 p.m., May 18. 3 SSE Manila Village, Arapahoe County. Latitude/Longitude: 39.7191, -104.4848 End: 1:46 p.m., May 18. 1 NMW Bennett, Adams County. Latitude/Longitude: 39.7706, -104.4394 Estimated peak wind: 112 mph Path length: 4.62 miles Path width: 400 yards Fatalities: 0 Injuries: 0 Start: 1:40 p.m., May 18. 2 NNE Bennett, Adams County. Latitude/Longitude: 39.7838, -104.4074 End: 1:55 p.m., May 18. 6 NNE Bennett, Adams County. Latitude/Longitude: 39.8397, -104.379 The NWS said that this data is preliminary and may change pending final review of the events and publication in NWS Storm Data. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
