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© National Weather Service Forecast OfficeThis image shows tornado reports from Wednesday's outbreak. There were more than 160 reports of tornadoes, most of which were in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.
It takes a very particular setup of "ingredients" for a rare event like Wednesday's to happen. What is even more rare is to have setups like this be so repetitious in April, with tornado outbreaks occurring about every few days and yielding nearly 900 reports of tornadoes for this month so far.
"In my 25 years as a meteorologist, this is the worst April I've ever seen," said AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity.
© AP Photo/Darron CummingsFlood waters from the Ohio River crash against a step of a home along the river in Utica, Ind., Monday, April 25, 2011.
The rising waters are expected to top levels set during February 1937. This mark is the middle Mississippi Valley's equivalent to the 1993 event farther north along Old Man River.
Even if rain were to fall at a normal rate for the remainder of the spring, the consequences of what has already happened in the Midwest will affect way of live, property, agriculture and travel/shipping/navigation for weeks in the region.
While the amount of evacuees currently numbers in the hundreds, it could soon number in the tens of thousands as levees are topped or breached and rivers expand their girth into more farming communities, towns and cities.
A massive thunderstorm front spawned 137 tornadoes, killed at least 180 people, and mangled sections of Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Huntsville, Ala., on Wednesday. April is now one of the most violent weather months in the region in decades.
A line of violent thunderstorms - the latest in a deadly series - rolled across the Deep South Wednesday, spawning dozens of tornadoes, razing churches and fire stations, trapping people amid debris, and finally leaving at least 180 people dead, mostly from heavily populated parts of Alabama.
A line of violent thunderstorms - the latest in a deadly series - rolled across the Deep South Wednesday, spawning dozens of tornadoes, razing churches and fire stations, trapping people amid debris, and finally leaving at least 180 people dead, mostly from heavily populated parts of Alabama.
Thursday morning, East Tennesseans along with most of the South are recovering from deadly storms.
In the 10News viewing area Cocke and Greene counties were the hardest hit. Greene County officials are reporting five fatalities. WCYB in the Tr--Cities is reporting that 7 people are dead in Washington County, VA. Bradley County was also hit hard with five confirmed dead in Cleveland.
In the 10News viewing area Cocke and Greene counties were the hardest hit. Greene County officials are reporting five fatalities. WCYB in the Tr--Cities is reporting that 7 people are dead in Washington County, VA. Bradley County was also hit hard with five confirmed dead in Cleveland.
© REUTERS/Marvin GentryOvernight tornadoes leaves part of Pratt City, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, in ruins April 28, 2011.
As day broke Thursday, people in hard-hit areas surveyed obliterated homes and debris-strewn streets. Some told of deadly winds whipping through within seconds of weather alerts broadcast during the storms Wednesday afternoon and evening.
"It happened so fast it was unbelievable," said Jerry Stewart, a 63-year-old retired firefighter who was picking through the remains of his son's wrecked home in Pleasant Grove, a suburb of Birmingham. "They said the storm was in Tuscaloosa and it would be here in 15 minutes. And before I knew it, it was here."
These incredible pictures show that while the rest of the country basked in a heatwave one Leicestershire village was actually covered - in SNOW.
Residents living in Birstall, Leics., were stunned when a huge snow and hail shower swept overhead on an otherwise cloudless day.
The 20-minute mini-blizzard at 5pm on Saturday afternoon left cars and roads under 3ins of snow and ice while just a mile away temperatures soared to 27.2C (81F).
Shocked Sian Colver, 28, captured the storm, which battered the village with ice balls the size of large marbles, on camera from her bedroom window.
The RSPCA volunteer said: "It was fascinating. I was having a lie down and heard this odd sound.
"I looked outside and hail stones were bouncing all over the road.
"I went outside afterwards and paint had chipped off the windows. The stones were the size of your thumbnail and really hard like bullets."
© Unknown
The 20-minute mini-blizzard at 5pm on Saturday afternoon left cars and roads under 3ins of snow and ice while just a mile away temperatures soared to 27.2C (81F).
Shocked Sian Colver, 28, captured the storm, which battered the village with ice balls the size of large marbles, on camera from her bedroom window.
The RSPCA volunteer said: "It was fascinating. I was having a lie down and heard this odd sound.
"I looked outside and hail stones were bouncing all over the road.
"I went outside afterwards and paint had chipped off the windows. The stones were the size of your thumbnail and really hard like bullets."
© Dusty Compton, The Tuscaloosa News, via APA car is overturned and buildings are destroyed Wednesday in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
At least 61 people were killed in Alabama alone. At least 16 more died in neighboring states - 11 in Mississippi, four in Georgia and one in Tennessee.
Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox said 15 died in his city, home to the main campus of the University of Alabama. He said sections of Tuscaloosa were destroyed and its infrastructure decimated. An additional 11 people were killed in Jefferson County surrounding Birmingham.
One twister battered the university campus in Tuscaloosa, severely damaging buildings nearby. The university turned a student center into an emergency shelter for students displaced from off-campus housing, and at least 100 people were treated at a hospital emergency room.
The university canceled classes for today and suspended normal operations on campus. TV news video showed flattened homes in the city.
© AP
Governors in Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee each declared a state of emergency as more than 20 deaths were blamed on a recurring round of severe storms this week moving eastward across the southern United States.
All three units at TVA's 3,274-megawatt Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama tripped about 5:30 EDT (2230 GMT) after losing outside power to the plant, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.
A FOX 5 viewer posted this photo of a tornado over Tuscaloosa on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 on our Facebook page
Update: 7:52pm pst: Associated Press report moves death toll to at least 64.
Photos from Fox Atlanta document the devastation. Search and Rescue taking place in Ringgold after tornado strikes.
Update: 7:41pm pst: 130 tornadoes and counting!
Update: 7:31pm pacific: A new Associated Press report has confirmed that at least 54 people are dead. My Fox Atlanta is also reporting that a government building is gone.
Tuscaloosa, Ala. - The mayor of an Alabama city hit hard by a tornado says at least 15 people have died there, bringing the death toll from severe weather to 54 around the South.Update: Cullman County Alabama has been devastated. This now being labeled one of the largest tornado outbreaks in American history. At 31 people have died.
In all, 40 people died in Wednesday's storms in Alabama.
The Weather Channel is reporting that mass fatality trailers are being brought to Alabama. Massive devastation with debris falling up to a 100 miles away.
Mass Causalities units have been requested in Catoosa County Georgia where a State of Emergency has been declared. A report on the Weather Channel indicates that a 3 story building has been destroyed in Georgia.
