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.

Death Toll Rising Like the Flood Waters. Now at 39. Where Will It Be Tomorrow? If You See A Barricade Bless the Person That Put It There and TURN AROUND. Don't Drown Please.

That's a new river in North Carolina.

It's called I-40

It's closed.

Parts of I-95 are closed in the Carolinas today.

If you are traveling be very careful.

And do NOT go around a barricade!

Follow the detour carefully!

I'm going to keep this short today as I have many things to do as tomorrow is Yom Kippur and in truth I'm a bit tired and do not want to go long as I have done that enough with Florence. I would rather write about the beauties of North Carolina and Florida and show the beautiful side of the world but today there's a muddy grimy side of the world in parts of North Carolina where the flood waters have not yet crested nor receded. They will as that is the nature of time, you just have to wait for the tide to turn.

Some kind soul drove a truck load of kosher chicken down to North Carolina from New York so that people in Wilmington would have food for the upcoming holidays, however three miles away from getting into the city they were turned away. Such a nice gesture and but the roads in were still closed and they were told to go elsewhere ...so they did and the truck of chickens ready to be cooked for the holidays are now being cooked inland and hopefully they will get there in time to those who want some measure of normal in a world that is not normal. That is the nature of life on days that are celebrated whether the weather cooperates or not. I remember a few days after Andrew a lady drove by our street with a car filled with melting bags of ice from Palm Beach. The roads into Miami Beach were closed, but she knew the secret back road trick the locals knew taking A1A instead of going across the closed causeways. She gave us and our neighbors a bag of ice which was wonderful. More so wonderful that someone took the time to load up her car and drive it down to places where ice was needed. Sometimes in life it comes down to one person making a difference and turning your life around. I never knew who to say thank you to but saying thanks now. Well we told her thanks... but at the time "thank you so much" seemed like all we could do. Looking back it always blows me away. There was no flooding in Miami Beach, but the city wanted to keep people who were just curious what happened from going in and looking around while clean up crews were out and about trying to clean up and make it safe again for those of us who lived there. I'm sure they were worried on looters and other problems as well but flooding was not a problem in Hurricane Andrew, flooding is the problem in North Carolina from Florence.

My main message here today is this one. If someone sees a barricade that people had to go out in hurricane conditions and rising water to put there for your safety, turn around and do not drive around the barricade. Several of the deaths attributed to Florence in this storm were because people drove around a barricade thinking they would be fine or thinking what I don't know. People make stupid mistakes, that's why we call them "stupid mistakes" and usually they are just awkwardly stupid like wearing the wrong outfit or telling a roomful of people while drunk what you really think of them at a wedding or losing the wedding ring on the way to the chapel. Feel free to define "stupid mistakes" in your own way but way too often they are life altering and sometimes sadly life ending. A beautiful little child not yet a year old died because for some reason.....his mother drove around a barricade and the surging water on the street slammed her vehicle into a tree and by the time she got him out of his car seat the water had risen and she was unable to hold onto him and he floated away. Near that same area an older man, maybe 83 or 88 years old, drove around a barricade and the same thing happened and he died as well.

If flooding can lift a train off it's track and demolish the tracks... think what it will do to your vehicle and anyone in the car with you at the time. Think what it will do with you. If that isn't clear enough know there are big snakes in flood waters... maybe that will scare you more than a big yellow barricade. You know who I feel most sorry for? The poor workers who risked their lives putting out barricades as the water was rising in a storm to make sure no one would be hurt and then they hear that someone went around the barricade and died. After Matthew there was a big outcry that roads were not barricaded... people got off of I-95 and I-40 and drove down roads that their GPS showed them were there and they ended up being swept away by a strong current and died. North Carolina both locally and on a state level tried very hard this time around to barricade as many roads as possible yet.. people drove around the barricades.  I don't know what more we can do. And in truth .. being a person I know this.. people do stupid things and made rash decisions and sometimes you can't take those rash decision back.

So leaving you with images from North Carolina and the power of water. Perhaps we need to EDUCATE people less on Hurricanes and more on Flooding Dangers. Maybe we need to WARN people more about the flooding dangers and tornado dangers on the main page of the National Hurricane Center rather than just showing a cone with a line down the middle and tell people not to concentrate on the middle of the cone. It's not just about a cone or an eye or the small band of near hurricane force winds swirling around in the eye more often than not it's about the flooding, the storm surge and the tornadoes in the bands far away from the eye in the center of the cone. Nuff said. Look at the pictures please.  Pass this message on to someone who you think may benefit from thinking about driving around a barricade or following the advice to "just stay home" and "hunker down somewhere safe" until the storm has passed and the waters have receded.

Mike showed a close up today of the train tracks.

The train in the picture on the right above.

Next to the picture of the baby boy who died.

IF water can do that to a train....

...what will it do to you and your loved ones in a car?

Mangled train tracks ripped from the ground...

... the power of surging, rising water..

 A view from the air... 

Twisted and ripped away from the rest of the train.

Why did the train think it was okay to go there?

I wonder on that.

A bad decision they can't take back.

A freight train but still...

Look at that ... crazy.

Two pictures side by side.

The bridge if it stands...

..will have to be inspected.

Probably repaired.

That's if it doesn't wash away...

Death toll keeps rising too.

Same picture....

Now a day later it's 32 people that have died.

There were tornadoes in Virginia yesterday.

As Florence moved North.

One of Mike's loyal fans...

..sent him this picture I believe from a plane.

Later in the video you can see it touch down.

Mike is an awesome part of the chain...

..delivering valuable information always.

Maybe he can get the point across better in his own way..

...then many on air can do. 

Or the government agencies that are trying...

I'm sorry you can't drive on I-40.

It is a river right now.

That's I-40

No way to get to school yesterday...

..Durham decided to have school that day.

 I wonder which weather sources told them that would be okay.

And lastly.....this is going on and on on and on in NC.

Flooded homes adrift from their neighbors in a sea of water. 

Do you stay? Do you go?

Will the water recede?

Many left... 

...many cannot get back.

There are so many helping in the rescues.

People in the Carolinas don't complain so much.

They reach out and help their neighbors.

It's one thing that's good in this I'll say.

This image posted by Matt Drudge says much.

Shows how fragile many of us are...

Older people, sick people.

Young people making stupid mistakes.

Old people making errors of judgement.

It's all the same.

Don't blame them.

Help them.

Learn for the future.

If you see a barricade ... STOP!

Turn around don't drown.

If you hunkered down for the storm..

stay there until it's safe to go back.

And that's life here today from Carolina.
Both Carolinas.

We really are one Carolina.

And it's flooding in South Carolina too.

This is from Dillon South Carolina below.

There were no evacuation warnings in Dillon.

Just saying.

Dillon is near South of the Border.

If you remember I wrote about it much in the blog.

I said Florence was going there.

I was worried about those parts of SC.

Florence was definitely going there.

Maybe we focus too much on landfall?

You think?

Reporters work hard to bring you the story.

IF the road is out.

Take the detour.

Follow the rules.

Stay safe.

With prayers for everyone today everywhere.

But especially in the Carolinas.

And I'll give charity today as well.

Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on Twitter..

Ps... Pass this on to anyone you think needs to know.

Stay safe ... somewhere someone loves you.