As of this writing, 5 people are confirmed dead and an undetermined number were injured as a result of the tornadoes and severe storms that struck across the central and southern Plains and portions of the Midwest yesterday, April 14, 2012 and early this morning, April 15, 2012.
Undoubtedly, the fatality number (all of which took place in Woodward, OK - as far as current information indicates) would have been higher had folks not had advanced warning and taken appropriate action to protect themselves and their families. I am truly grateful to see that folks were able to get to a safe shelter in most cases, but truly saddened for those who did not fare as well.
Preliminary information (see map above) indicates 122 tornado reports, 88 wind damage reports and 187 large hail reports yesterday. The tornado report numbers will undoubtedly come down as surveys are complete and duplicate reports filtered out, etc., but a significant number will no doubt stand.
The image below, prepared by Corey Pieper of the National Weather Service (NWS) in Ft. Worth, shows the locations of all tornado warnings (in red) and preliminary tornado reports (in black) from yesterday and the pre-dawn hours of today. Tornado Watch areas are the grey:
The NWS issued 124 tornado warnings and 213 severe thunderstorm warnings across the Plains and Midwest yesterday.
NWS storm survey crews are out in the field today and we'll have more information forthcoming concerning specific tornado touchdowns, intensity ratings, etc. Please watch for "Tornado Chronicles" postings pertaining to each significant tornado touchdown and/or track over the coming few days. Two such postings already exist here on the blog:
Kanopolis Lake / Salina, KS Area Tornadoes
Feel free to bookmark this post as a "Table of Contents" page and check back for other Tornado Chronicles articles as they are posted.
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