A 'Tornado Chronicles' Follow-Up: West Liberty, KY - One Year Later...

This morning's chilly weather with snow flurries and temperatures in the middle and upper 20s is a far cry from the spring-like conditions that were in place around West Liberty, KY one year ago today.



While the risk of tornado development across the region was high (and very well forecast) on March 2, 2012, no one could imagine the devastation that would strike the community during the late afternoon hours of that day...

West Liberty Tornado as Photographed by Kent Nickell

The tornado struck West Liberty just before 6:00 pm EST.  The total path length was 86 miles, making it the longest tornado track in the U.S. for all of 2012, and the 2nd longest in the history of the state of Kentucky (the path length in Kentucky was approximately 60 miles).  At its widest point, the tornado stretched 1 mile across, and it killed 8 people.  The official damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service in Jackson, KY rated the tornado as an EF-3 with maximum winds estimated at 140 mph.

The West Liberty tornado went a long way toward disproving at least one tornado myth:  that the river to the West and the hilly terrain surrounding the community would protect it from a tornado.  The following video by resident Kevin Adkins clearly shows that the hills were no match for this beast:

The original, "uncut" version of the Tornado Chronicles post concerning the West Liberty tornado continues to be the most viewed article in this blog's history by a wide margin.  The post has also generated more comments, e-mails, facebook postings and other correspondence (from across the U.S. and around the world) than any other in the history of this blog.

Because of the widespread interest, I thought it would be fitting to revisit the event on this one year anniversary, and see how the recovery has progressed in the months since the disaster.

Before we jump to the present day, here are some damage photos from the days that immediately followed the event one year ago:

Crews attempt to restore power on 3-4-12

Commercial Bank on 3-3-12

Aerial view of the damage on 3-3-12

The view down Main Street on 3-2-12

Officials estimate that the tornado completely destroyed 74 commercial buildings, 19 government buildings and approximately 300 homes.  Hundreds of additional buildings and homes had significant or major damage.  The total amount of the damage is estimated at $250 million.

While still a long way from complete, much progress has been made toward recovery since the event that generated the horrific images of last year.  Here's a shot looking down Main Street today, which is in stark contrast to the last image shown above from one year ago:

Just last month, the downtown staple "Red Rooster Antiques" re-opened its doors.  Owners Eddie and Sherri Granger spent the greater part of the past year working to restore or replace the brick walls, black wood floors, and the original tin roof of the structure, which brought back at least one piece of normalcy to the streets of downtown West Liberty.

The owner of what used to be the floral shop next door decided to retire rather than to rebuild - a decision that several downtown "long timers" also made over the course of the past year.

As the saying goes, "when one door closes another one opens..." and that's exactly what resident Julie Lane had in mind when she opened the doors of West Liberty's brand new floral shop "The Paisley Posey" just last week:

Paul and Janet Franklin, owners of the 55 year old local burger institution "Freezer Fresh" struggled with the rebuilding question for a short while, but ultimately they knew that starting over again was the right thing to do for themselves and the community.  Freezer Fresh re-opened back in September, and the best burgers in town are now being served up once again.  The wait was reportedly 2.5 hours long on opening day:

Meanwhile, the signs of a continued recovery "work in progress" are all around town.  The historic Morgan County Courthouse is in the process of being renovated:

...and a mixture of other "before and after" projects lines the streets:

State officials recently announced that nearly $30 million in new financial aid is on the way to the community (albeit one year later), and plans are in place to use those funds to rebuild public/community facilities and infrastructure.  

Projects slated to use some of those funds include a new $9.4 million youth recreation and wellness center as well as a $6 million renovation of the Morgan County Office Building and Community Center.  The old courthouse will receive $2.4 million toward renovation, and a new Cooperative Extension Office and municipal parking garage are planned at a cost of approximately $6 million.

New homes have also sprung up over the last year, as a result of the efforts of the Habitat for Humanity and other agencies that have come in to help rebuild:

The West Liberty Elementary School was destroyed by the tornado, and classes will continue to be held in a refurbished warehouse while a new, permanent building is constructed:

Shortly after the temporary school opened last year, the kids had a visit from none other than the Chick-fil-A cow, who tried to make the sudden change in surroundings just a little bit easier for them:

Long time residents say that in many ways, life in West Liberty will never be the same again, which is certainly understandable.  Indeed, no one ever promised that a full recovery was going to happen overnight, but overall the community is pulling together and they are making steady progress every day.

If you would like to help the folks in West Liberty with their continued recovery efforts, please visit the following websites for additional information and resources:

Kentucky Habitat for Humanity

Morgan County Long Term Recovery Team

For more information from 'The Original Weather Blog', including shorter, more frequent posts during rapidly changing weather events, please be sure to follow me on facebook and twitter:

 

Coming March 2013:  "The Tornado Chronicles" full website!

• Interactive tornado database back to 1950 (earlier years coming soon)

• Interactive radar with live warnings and street-level zoom

• Tornado safety, preparedness and education

• Daily tornado/severe weather outlook

• Photos, videos and more!

Please show your support and follow The Tornado Chronicles on twitter and on facebook for the latest updates on tornadoes and the upcoming website!

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Update on "The Tornado Chronicles" Website...

I apologize for the relatively sparse postings over the past few days, but I've been taking advantage of the relatively quiet weather conditions to work on The Tornado Chronicles website.



In case you've missed the blurbs here and there within recent Tornado Chronicles postings here on the blog, we'll be "spinning out" (pun intended) the popular blog series to its own website effective March 1!



In addition to regular "Tornado Chronicles" postings on recent tornado events, the website will also feature a searchable tornado database back to 1950 (we're working on 1900-1950 for a later update), as well as safety and preparedness information, an interactive radar page and the latest outlook, watch and warning information.



Here is a "sneak preview" of the top of the homepage.  Keep in mind this may change a bit before launch, but it should give you an idea as to what we're working on:

Go ahead and bookmark the site if you'd like, and check back for the launch on March 1st (you never know, you may also catch us testing the site out live from time to time).

We have also created twitter and facebook pages that will include updates on actual tornado events throughout the year, as well as updates on the progress of the site over the coming weeks...

Please show your support and follow "The Tornado Chronicles":

      

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2012 Tornadoes in Review

The preliminary quality control work is now complete and the "final" 2012 tornado statistics are in.  While its wasn't the "record low" year that some were predicting in the fall, it was a below normal year indeed.  A total of 936 tornadoes took place throughout the year, which is about 80% of the "normal" of 1148.  The last time we had fewer tornadoes in a year was back in 2002, when 934 were reported.

The first tornado of 2012 took place at 8:45 a.m. CST on January 9th (EF-0 intensity near Mission Bend, Texas) and the last took place at 5pm EST on the day after Christmas (EF-1 intensity near Beaufort, North Carolina).



In total, the tornadoes were spread out over 170 days with the top 5 events being:



1.  April 14-15th:  98 tornadoes (view the Tornado Chronicles post)

2.  March 2-3rd:  75 tornadoes (view the Tornado Chronicles post)

3.  February 29:  44 tornadoes

4.  December 25th:  28 tornadoes (preliminary)

5.  January 22-23:  25 tornadoes



I've never seen a Christmas Day show up on the top 5 tornado event list for any year, which should give you an idea as to how unusual the trends were overall.  As the 2012 actual vs. normal chart shows below, the first quarter of the year started out abnormally active, which continued into April.  From May and beyond, the trend then reversed with below normal activity throughout the remainder of the year, with the exception of December (thanks in large part to the Christmas Day event):

There were 68 people killed by tornadoes in 2012 and while 68 deaths are 68 deaths too many, the fatality rate was below the 91 that we see in an average year.  The deadliest single tornado of 2012 was the Henryville, Indiana event of March 2nd, where 11 people were killed.

Henryville, IN Tornado - via Evan Bentley

While it is impossible to be sure what 2013 will bring as a whole, preliminary signs point toward an active start to the spring severe weather season.  I would encourage everyone to review severe weather safety, preparedness and sheltering tips ahead of time so that you're sure to be ready when the "regular" severe weather gets underway.  Watch for an update to the severe weather preparedness post next month.  While there won't be any significant changes made to the safety and sheltering tips, I will be making some new recommendations with regard to being prepared and receiving severe weather warnings and updates.



Also, stay tuned for an exciting new program coming this spring.  The popular "Tornado Chronicles" series here on the blog will be spinning-off (no pun intended), to its own website, including a searchable tornado database!  Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the site should be live on March 1.

For more information from 'The Original Weather Blog', including shorter, more frequent posts during rapidly changing weather events, please be sure to follow me on facebook and twitter:

 

If you are in need of highly customized, site specific weather forecasts and/or storm warnings for your business, school or event, be sure visit my professional webpage at WeatherGuidance.com.

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The Tornado Chronicles: Bodock Farms, AL (Near Montgomery) Tornado of December 25, 2012

A strong tornado touched down just to the Southwest of Mongtomery, AL, in the Bodock Farms area of Lowndes County on Christmas Day 2012.  

According to the National Weather Service (NWS) survey, the tornado touched down at approximately 8:32 pm CST about 2 miles Northwest of Hayneville and traveled North/Northeast for 9.55 miles before lifting at approximately 8:46 pm about 7 miles West of the Montgomery Regional Airport:

The maximum intensity of the tornado according to the damage survey was EF-2, with winds estimated at 120 mph.

Hundreds of trees and several power poles were bent or snapped as the tornado initially touched down and crossed State Highway 97 to the Northwest of Hayneville:

The EF-2 intensity damage took place at a farm as the tornado crossed U.S. Highway 80 to the East of Lowndesboro.  Here, two large cattle barns were heavily damaged or destroyed, including the metal supports being bent and/or collapsed:

The tornado also lofted a large steel trash dumpster and threw it approximately 250 yards across Highway 80.  Debris from the farm was found over 1/4 of a mile to the North/Northeast.

Most of the remainder of the damage along the tornado's path was EF-0 or EF-1 intensity, associated with damage to trees and/or tree limbs.  There was a roof that was partially removed on a manufactured home just to the Northeast of where the EF-2 damage took place:

The tornado lifted just to the North of the entrance to the old GE Plastics plant along CR-37.  The tornado flipped several empty semi-trailers on the property before lifting just to the North of Gate 1, to the East of CR-37.

Just like most of the other tornadoes associated with the Christmas Day 2012 outbreak, no photos or videos of the actual tornado have been provided thus far.  We'll continue to keep our eyes open and post any updates as new information is discovered.

This EF-2 tornado was the 3rd in a series of tornadoes that were produced by the same supercell thunderstorm.  The other two tornadoes were weak and very short lived.  The first touched down near Farmersville (EF-1 intensity) at 8:09 pm and the second touched down to the East of Mosses (EF-0 intensity) at 8:26 pm:

After producing the third, strongest (EF-2) and longest track tornado at Bodock Farms, the same supercell thunderstorm continued to exhibit strong signs of rotation on radar as it moved Northeast across the Northwest side of the city of Montgomery (white circled area on the wind velocity radar images below):

Fortunately, despite the strong radar indication of a tornado, no touch downs were reported as the storm moved into the much more heavily populated suburbs of northwestern Montgomery.

For more information from 'The Original Weather Blog', including shorter, more frequent posts during rapidly changing weather events, please be sure to follow me on facebook and twitter:

 

If you are in need of highly customized, site specific weather forecasts and/or storm warnings for your business, school or event, be sure visit my professional webpage at WeatherGuidance.com.

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The Tornado Chronicles: Troy, AL Tornado of December 25, 2012

The tornado that tracked to the West and Northwest of Troy, AL (also dubbed the "Conecuh River Tornado") on Christmas Day 2012 has been rated at a maximum of EF-2 intensity by the National Weather Service (NWS) survey team.

The videographer didn't do a very good job of steadying the camera at several instances, but here is a thorough aerial documentation of the tornado's path that has been posted on YouTube:

According to the survey, the tornado initially touched down at approximately 10:24 pm CST just over 1 mile West of Goshen and lifted at approximately 10:40 pm CST about 5 miles North of Troy:

The most intense damage along the tornado's path took place along County Road 11, about 2.75 miles North/Northeast of Goshen.  This is where the EF-2 intensity damage was observed by the survey team, which included mobile homes that were rolled and destroyed by the tornado:

EF-2 damage was also noted along County Road 1101, where several brick veneer homes were significantly damaged:

The tornado then weakened as it continued Northeast, producing mainly EF-0 to EF-1 intensity damage to trees before lifting near County Road 103:

Just like the majority of the other tornadoes that took place on Christmas Day 2012, there are no known photos or videos of the tornado itself that have come forward to date.  We'll continue to be on the lookout and post any new information and/or photos as they become available.

For more information from 'The Original Weather Blog', including shorter, more frequent posts during rapidly changing weather events, please be sure to follow me on facebook and twitter:

 

If you are in need of highly customized, site specific weather forecasts and/or storm warnings for your business, school or event, be sure visit my professional webpage at WeatherGuidance.com.

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