© Gary Cosby Jr / APA large tornado sweeps through Limestone County, south of Athens, Ala., on Wednesday. Until now, no April on record had surpassed the 267 tornadoes recorded in 1974.
Well before the first tornado touched down, John DeBlock sensed that something horrific was brewing in the steamy Alabama air.
"The air was palpable with the potential," said DeBlock, the warning-coordinator meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Birmingham.
By the time the storms ended early Thursday, the destruction awed even veteran storm observers - 148 reported tornadoes, winds perhaps exceeding 300 mph, and at least 297 deaths from Alabama to Virginia.
Overall, it was a dramatic climax to
one of the wildest months in U.S. weather history. The atmosphere has been in a state of riot.
At least 750 tornado sightings have been reported this month, according to the government's Storm Prediction Center. Those figures include some double-counting, and the final total should be around 600. Until now, no April on record had surpassed the 267 tornadoes recorded in 1974.
What's going on?