Deadly Tornado Devastation on Southern End of Winter Storm in Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina. Yes it Snowed in NY & Boston. The Two Faces of Winter. At least 23 People Dead Still Many Missing.

Picture comes from the link below.

Please read the article.

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2019-03-03/the-latest-official-2-dead-many-hurt-in-apparent-tornado

Today is a humbling day in the weather community that understands the destruction that occurred late yesterday as too many tornadoes to count sliced across the Southern landscape clearing subdivisions, government buildings and turning forests to stubble amidst the rubble. Some got lucky and survived even though their homes were destroyed, some got even luckier and the tornadoes missed their homes or they had what looks today as if it's only minor damage. Tornado damage is random in that it skips one house or block and dead on destroys the next block. And the tornadoes that started in Alabama moved through North Florida, Georgia and into South Carolina before finally fading away.

Today is about search and rescue as they are using drones that can sense heat signatures in the rubble to search for people still alive. Amazing new trick we have to save people who without medical help will die underneath rubble that once may have been their home. There are still people missing across the many towns these tornadoes tramped upon and so any death total you see is liable to climb and remember there are many people in hospitals where doctors and nurses are working to save their lives. It was mentioned several hospitals in the area had cancelled all elective surgeries for today as their operating rooms are filled with survivors as they try to keep those people alive.

Posting this above from the link below because....

I want you to see the variety of structures destroyed.

https://fox13now.com/2019/03/04/at-least-23-dead-after-tornadoes-touch-down-in-alabama-and-georgia/

Yes there were tornadoes and small homes, but there were large structures including an apartment building razed to the ground as were areas of trees ripped from the ground. This is damage you would see from more than a EF-3 I believe but that's for the NWS to decide. The quality of home construction is always taken into effect and these small towns were small towns that pepper the countryside where people live, work and are very much the backbone of America. The rural Deep South can be a beautiful place to live, friendly people and a sense of community but the homes are not the newest but they are homes never the less ... at least until a random tornado rips it from it's base leaving only the platform it was built on once upon a time.

This area is prone to tornadoes even though it's not what we consider tornado alley, but we barely began severe weather season before Mother Nature dumped a basket of curve balls down onto a region that usually worries on hurricanes and some of these towns did indeed suffer from both Hurricane Michael and Hurricane Florence.

Except for the curve of the cone like area.

You can see that many of the towns in Michael's cone.

Were under the threat from tornadoes yesterday.

The whole storm system traced the track of Michael...

Well after it moved East out of Alabama where it began.

That's simply heartbreaking.

There's a pattern there I'm not happy about...

... as we move closer to hurricane season.

That part of of the GOM is prone to early season storms.

Severe Weather in the Spring.

Tropical Storms a few months later.

The signature of the lightning below tells the story.

That site sounded like a Geiger Counter last night.

And to add to the denial perhaps yesterday was...

..a quiet 2018 where few tornadoes happened.

I find it hard to believe that some of those last night were not EF-4

But my expertise is in hurricanes not tornadoes.

Tornadoes scare me in ways hurricanes do not.

Hurricanes give you more time to prepare.

Their intensity usually not as strong as tornadoes.

Easier to fly out of an area or drive.

Or hunker down in a strong structure.

The tornado that hit Cairo encompassed the whole town.

At least on radar. 

Meteorologists immediately remember other tornadoes.

Other towns slammed by tornadoes.

It's how we think.

We connect the dots.

And that was hard for many of us online last night...

...watching in real time and knowing the weight of the reality.

Knowing what we would see in the morning.

Knowing the death toll would climb.

Knowing whole small towns may have been destroyed.

A sign was blown 20 miles away.

A rather large sign flew 20 miles away.

And as Reed Timmer said last night people need our help.

The study of meteorology is awesome.

But severe weather kills.

Hurricanes kill.

We study them and try to get better at what we do.

We learn from chasers, from drone footage and computer models.

We learn in real time.

And the goal is to give more lead time in prediction.

Getting the word out is difficult.

There is so much "noise" online in social media.

On Air Mets have very little time to get the message out on air.

You have to sift through and filter out the noise.

The NWS does not get the on air play the NHC does.

It's always been upsetting to me.

And lastly there was so much hype on who gets snow.

There is a big difference between EPIC snow and snow.

Regular old fashioned wintry snow and slush.

We had spoken on the trouble in the South with severe weather and possible tornadoes being followed by an Arctic Cold BLAST of low temperatures on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and this was the first of three storm systems forecast to blast their way across the USA in March. So not going to tell you that yes it finally snowed in Boston and that parts of NYC got slushy snow because well it's early March and it's winter and that's normal. While it's not uncommon for Alabama or Georgia to see a tornado it is not common to have a system this large, this strong decimate multiple cities across a large swath of the USA so not going to go long on the snow today.

Yes, there are chances for flakes in North Carolina and yes I will be happy if I see them. This was a wicked system filled with surprises and I tend to think it will keep on surprising as will the next and the one after that. November was cold, December was normal, February was warm and March is forecast to be cold.

What I will do is ask you to donate to charities you know are reliable such as the Red Cross or a local Church or Synagogue or Community Organization that has a good record of providing relief to people who need in times of disaster. It's easy for me to put a link to the Red Cross so I do.

www.redcross.org

And lastly I don't care what time of year it is or how nice the weather was last month or how lucky you have been avoiding a direct hit by a tornado or a hurricane. Know that wherever you live there are dangers that can happen and sometimes the earth can shake, rattle and roll as well. Learn how to prepare as best as you can for these things and without scaring your children teach them well.

More later today as details come in but when the Sheriff of a town says it looks as if someone took a knife and just cleared everything in it's path... you know it's bad and the news and death toll may climb as the hours of today move on.

Besos BobbiStorm
@bobbistorm on Twitter and Instagram

Ps Not going to post a song today. Carrie Underwood and Little Big Town do come to mind but going to post a video on how to survive a Tornado. This week in North Carolina is Preparation Week as March 1st is usually the start of the Severe Weather Season. Knowledge is power. Learn and do what you can to teach those you love how to survive severe weather when it comes calling.