Prayers for all. What is with all the tornadoes? I know these of recent areas in TX/OK tonight are prone but not usually killer twisters.Look how many have touched down just in the month of April.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornadoes_of_2011
There’s a rather unique set of conditions right now. The jet stream, cooler than normal conditions in the upper U.S. and Canada, and warmer than normal conditions from down south and over the Gulf.
The jet stream is hitting the Rockies just right, flowing over them and dropping down lower than normal. That and the two bodies of air that have wider than normal variation, plus the fact the front moving through as basically stalled, is keeping the mid-west area in the cross hairs.
Daytime sunlight heating, isn’t helping at all.
BTW, they have better tracking methods today than they have ever had. Yes they are counting more tornadoes of various sizes, but then they have a massive number of people out there tracking these days too.
New resources, more people tracking, the ability to see particulate matter in the air, not as many develop and slip under the attention of the weather service these days.
Who knows what we would have seen in past decades, if we had these new tools and this number of chasers.
Did you see them talk about the particulate matter that rose over Joplin to 18,000 feet? Wow. Amazing that it happened, and amazing that they can track it.
April/May is the prime time for Tornadoes in the US. The fact that the last several years have been unusually mild only makes this year seem more violent. This is normal.