Wild Weather!

[BronzeBrother]

First the mid April tornado outbreak, then the deadly late April tornado outbreak, now the latest deadly tornadoes to hit Missouri and here at home in Minneapolis resulting in a total of 91 deaths between both cities. Now they are forecasting another tornado outbreak to start Tuesday into Wednesday for the Midwest. Bullseye starting in Oklahoma and moving Eastward.

Not sure how much more the South can handle. We northern folks are just starting our tornado season and already there have been two deaths, two to many already. We often think that if we live in a big city we are protected from tornadoes, however Minneapolis has been hit twice in the last 3 years and we are long overdue for a large tornado (EF-3 or greater) in the metro. We all get intrigued by the awesome force of nature but as long as people ignore the warnings there will continue to be deaths...

As a storm spotter for the National weather service, I have had many chances to see the weather up close and personal. I am still in awe by the power of wind, it continues to do amazing and destructive things.

When you see storm spotters/chasers out in the thick of it, give them a wave or thumbs up to say thanks. Most of them are doing it for your safety and research to improve warning times...

Keep your eye on the sky and ear on the weather radios.

[Steve Foss]

Here's my own shout out to the storm/weather spotters. Good on yer, mates!

And here's also hoping things quiet down quickly. While my mate and I are pretty much obsessed with severe weather, to the point that when others are running for the basement we're running for the truck with the cameras in hand, we realize that tornados kill people.

[reinhard1]

throw in the terrible floods and it's off to a bad start as far as storms go. two days of sirens and tornado warnings for our family. i have everything i need in the basement to survive for quite awhile. you are right, be prepared and practice shelter drills with your family. good luck.

[BronzeBrother]

116 dead, 400 injured from Joplin tornado. 2 police officer hit by lightening today... Very sad news

[reinhard1]

looked like a war zone down there. cant realy grasp it unless your there. there was a reporter for the weather channel who broke down in tears while giving his report and could not continue. good luck.

[Jarrod32]

Yeah, and think back to last year when Wadena got hit hard. Another town further south got hit hard last year, too...I don't recall where that was, though...

[bobbymalone]

joplin is about 50 miles due west of where I grew up. there isn't much around SWMO besides joplin and springfield as far as cities go, so I'm pretty familiar with the place. Plenty of high school buds went off to school there and live in the area. I think I probably know about 2 dozen people that live there, but none of them close enough to be frantically calling. hope they are alright though.

fortunately, my folks were up here. the neighbors said it got pretty bad and the made the mad dash to the tornado bunker, wizard of oz style. but, no significant damage there. they said they knew immediately something terrible had happened because of all the mail and documents falling down in the yard with joplin addresses.

yikes. the power of nature. it looks like that town got nuked.

[Uncle Bill]

Joplin pics.

Before and after.

Joplin Missouri Damage

[tacklejunkie]

Looking at the damage in Joplin caused by weather I feel vile complaining about todays cold east winds that soured my fishing

[solbes]

Just devastating what a large tornado like that can do to an urban setting.

We stayed in Joplin for the night last summer as we drove down to Texas. Seemed like really nice people, my heart goes out to them.