Dr. Scott M. Rochette Department of the Earth Sciences The College at Brockport

Overview What are tornadoes and how do they form? How can you tell how strong (or weak) tornadoes are? What happened? Why did it happen? How bad was it? Can tornadoes happen here? Summary

What are tornadoes? Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air that are: in contact with the ground connected to a thunderstorm cloud (Photos courtesy of NSSL)

Are these tornadoes? No Yes! (Photos courtesy of NSSL, NWS, and NASA)

How do tornadoes form? Tornadoes form from severe thunderstorms Four ingredients for severe thunderstorms: moisture lift instability vertical wind shear (speed and directional) ALL FOUR OF THESE INGREDIENTS NEED TO BE PRESENT AT THE SAME TIME IN THE SAME PLACE! Large tornado outbreaks are quite rare because of this

Supercells The strongest tornadoes come from supercells (Diagram courtesy of quedoc.org)

How do you tell how strong (or weak) tornadoes are? Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale tornado strength determined by damage surveys CANNOT BE FORECASTED potential for strong/violent tornadoes can be predicted

Enhanced Fujita Scale

EF-0: weak tornado (65-85 mph) – minor damage EF-1: weak tornado ( mph) – moderate damage (All photos courtesy of NWS)

EF-2: strong tornado ( mph) – considerable damage EF-3: strong tornado ( mph) – severe damage (All photos courtesy of NWS)

EF-4: violent tornado ( mph) – extreme damage EF-5: violent tornado (>200 mph) – massive/incredible damage (All photos courtesy of NWS)

What happened? 327 confirmed tornadoes occurred in 21 states and Canada from April 2011 (record 875 in April 2011) 321 dead (out of 361 dead for entire month) Estimated $6,000,000,000 in damages

27 April tornadoes (almost twice as many as 3-4 April 1974) Fourth deadliest tornado day (worst since 1932)

Surface conditions

Lower troposphere

Middle troposphere

Upper troposphere

We knew it was coming!

How bad was it?

Tuscaloosa, AL (photo courtesy of Dusty Thompson, Tuscaloosa News

How bad was it? EF-4 damage in Ringgold, GA (photo courtesy of NWS)

How bad was it? EF-5 damage in Phil Campbell, AL (photo courtesy of NWS)

How bad was it? Satellite view of Tuscaloosa tornado path (photo courtesy of NASA)

How bad was it? Package from Tuscaloosa… (photo courtesy of hamwx.com) …landed here (50 miles away!)

Can tornadoes happen here? Yes, but… They are somewhat rare around here (about two per year) Generally very weak (EF-0 or EF-1), like most tornadoes Hilton, NY, 25 July 2009 (photo courtesy of author)

Summary 27 April 2011 outbreak due to a ‘rare’ combination of ingredients: copious low-level moisture ahead of strong cold front strong lift provided by combination of surface front, mid-tropospheric trough, and upper-tropospheric jet significant instability from warm, moist air in lower troposphere and cool, dry air aloft considerable vertical wind shear (fast southerly low-level flow vs. strong WSW flow aloft) Accurate forecasts likely led to fewer deaths Such outbreaks are rare in general, even more so here