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Monday, April 26th, 2010e-mail | Posted by Editor - Blog News Service

Tornado devastates parts of Mississippi

Tornado devastates parts of Mississippi

Tornado devastates parts of Mississippi

At least 10 people have died Saturday after a large tornado ripped across Mississippi and left communities such as Yazoo City in its path of destruction. Gov. Haley Barbour toured the damage by helicopter after declaring a state of emergency.

A tornado outbreak over the past four days that killed at least 12 people in the south, including 10 in Mississippi, put an end to what had been an unusually quiet year for severe storms and tornadoes.

From Thursday through Saturday, there were 111 reports of tornadoes in the central and southern USA. Before that, 97 tornadoes had been reported since Jan. 1, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

February set a record: only one twister.

Even with the recent outbreak, which brings the yearly total to 208 tornadoes, this year’s number is still well below the 2005-09 average of 471 tornadoes through April 24.

The next couple of days look quiet, but more severe weather appears likely by the end of the week, Weather Channel meteorologist Mark Ressler reports.

The weekend outbreak “could be a precursor to an ugly May,” he says. May is usually the most active month for tornadoes.

The primary reason for fewer tornadoes throughout the spring was El Niño, a periodic warming of Pacific Ocean water that affects weather around the world, says Greg Forbes, severe weather expert at the Weather Channel. El Niño this winter caused most storms to track south into the Gulf of Mexico, eliminating most areas from a tornado threat.

Also, cold air in February extended to the Gulf, making water temperatures there several degrees below average. This spring, chilly Gulf waters made air coming north cooler and less moist than average, which reduced the instability in the atmosphere that can cause tornadoes.

Greg Carbin, meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center, predicts that El Niño will weaken in May, coinciding with the normal increase in the heating and instability needed to fuel the thunderstorms that cause tornadoes. “So, as usual, we will expect to see an increase in storms as we move toward May,” Carbin says.

The 12 deaths recorded this weekend raised the year’s toll to 11. A man died in Pearson, Ark., on March 10. The annual average for U.S. tornado deaths from Jan. 1, 2000, to Saturday is 24.

The fewest U.S. tornado deaths in a full year occurred in 1986, when 15 people died.

Improved tornado warnings — issued by the National Weather Service when a tornado is spotted or indicated on radar — are the main reason for the decline in deaths, according to the weather service. In the early 1990s, the lead time for a tornado warning was six to seven minutes; today, it’s 12 to 13 minutes, because of improvements in forecasting and technology.

Reliable tornado records in the USA began in 1950. The deadliest year since then was 1953, when 519 people died.

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