Monday, April 25, 2011
Vilonia, Arkansas Tornado
The atmosphere continues to unleash wave after wave of severe weather outbreaks. Since April 9, there have been eight days in which significant tornadoes have occurred. This evening added to that total as a long track tornadic supercell plowed across towns northwest of Little Rock. The hardest hit location appears to be the town of Vilonia. According to early police reports, the town of Vilonia is "gone". The radar image below is the 0.5 degree cut, which sampled this tornadic supercell at 800 feet above ground level.
This is one of the most impressive tornado signatures I've seen on base radar data. The SRM (using a storm motion vector of 232 degrees and 39 kt) indicated a maximum inbound velocity of 81.6 kt with a maximum outbound velocity 87.4 kt. The base reflectivity showed a debris ball signature along with very high spectrum width values collocated within the debris ball. These signatures give radar operators a high degree of confidence that a tornado is occurring.
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2 comments:
speechless...thats the only word i can describe when i see those pictures. my mother has a ranch near the town of romance just northeast of vilonia. needless to say i was terrified, i knew my mom had a storm shelter and would be safe but i soon knew i was watching history in the making. my radar signitures maxed out on the velocity for almost 30 min... incredible! once it crossed vilonia it really hit home because romance was next in line. i could not believe what i was seeing ,being obsessed with weather as i am this was almost traumatic for me, im watching the most amazing thing ive ever seen on rader , and at the same time its heading staight for my mom!after a few tense moments (even broke down... very upset) i got ahold of her on her cell. she says the damage in the area is horrific and i believe it. ive never been in such a rollercaster of emotions in such little time. on my way there!
I completely understand how you feel now. I hope your mom is doing okay!
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