Tennessee tornados: nature's incredible fury

[phantom power]

It was a night to huddle in the basement and cower in the face of nature's incredible fury throughout Tennessee last night, as another wave of deadly twisters swept through a state already reeling from last Sunday's 24 tornado deaths. At least 31 tornadoes touched down yesterday, killing 11 and creating tremendous destruction in the Nashville area. Sumner County, just north of Nashville, suffered eight dead. You can see the impressive line of storms that swept through the area in this 3-hour radar animation (1.4 Mb). The breadth, intensity, and duration of the storms covering the Tennessee Valley yesterday and last night was truly impressive to behold. With the peak of tornado season still a month away, the three major tornado outbreaks so far this year have already killed 49 people, compared to the average of 45 killed during the entire year each of the previous three years. Through the end of March, 286 tornadoes hit the United States, compared to an average of 70 for the January-March period in each of the past three years.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=336&tstamp=200604

[JohnWxy]

1. looking at the level of destruction, those were no ordinary tornados.

The destruction of homes and brick structures looked like CAt 3 or 4 tornados. I haven't heard them say anything about windspeeds as they usually do (you know, to show off how there doppler radar tells them this).

[phantom power]

2. They make final determinations based on damage.

I'm sure there were at least some F3 tornadoes from those storms.