Hello and welcome back to wild weather across the world, this is our last blog for March! Last week we discussed a tornado in LA County and hail in Hawaii. This week we are once again staying in the States, but this time it’s the Southeast. We have been tracking round after round of severe weather that has hit Mississippi hard.
EF-4 tornado in Mississippi:
We have entered the spring severe weather season on an aggressive note with over two dozen tornadoes being reported over the last weekend across five different states. As you likely heard, a devastating tornado tore through Rolling Fork, Mississippi, on Friday evening. This was a long-track, violent tornado that traveled nearly 60 miles in about an hour, ending at 9:08 p.m. The tornado produced winds up to 170 mph, which allowed debris from the surface to be lofted over 30,000 feet into the air.
Now why was this tornado so destructive? There’s several factors here. One of the main reasons was the nocturnal timing which generally will catch folks when they are in their homes and potentially asleep. It can also be more dangerous for storm chasers as the tornado can only be seen when there are power flashes, or lightning lights up the wedge. Over the past few years, we have seen an increase in severe storms in the Southeast which poses the question, has tornado alley shifted? For an answer to that, check out Frank’s weather blog from a year ago today!
More strong storms batter the Southeast:
The tornado on Friday received a ton of media coverage, but that was not the only severe weather we saw in the Southeast last weekend. A hailstorm rolled through western Mississippi on Sunday, just two days after the deadly tornado. The hail stones reached around two inches wide, which can cause significant damage to trees, vehicles and roofs. Situations like this always break my heart, it’s really hard for rescue efforts and clean up when there’s more severe weather in the forecast.
Something good:
It certainly was a heavy week in the weather world, and the spring severe weather season has just begun. I want to talk about some positives, because spring also brings joy! It’s a time of year we have bluebonnets here in Texas, and up in Washington D.C. they have their cherry blossoms in full bloom! Cherry blossoms were brought and planted in DC as a gift from Japan in 1912 as a symbol of friendship.
Stay safe always,
Caroline