Tornadoes aren't that uncommon in Tennessee, but this death toll is higher than usual. Why were these tornadoes so deadly?
I was on the air for almost five straight hours. The storm that produced the tornadoes that moved through the Nashville and Cookeville Tennessee started near Dyersburg Tennessee, an hour and a half or so northeast of Memphis. The scary thing about this is the storm produced two tornadoes without warning, one in Gibson County and the other in Carroll County. This storm was just outside our viewing area but was close to clipping one of our counties. In our mind there was no doubt there was a tornado with the storm based on the velocity data and near storm environment, but no warning was issued. Then a few minutes later, as the storm moved into Carroll County, a debris signature was showing up on Dual Pol. But still now warning. After myself and another TV meteorologist chatted with the National Weather Service wondering if they saw what we did, a warning was issued as it move into Benton County where a fatality occurred.
This storm continued to move east across Central Tennessee towards Nashville. About ten miles west of Nashville a new tornado rapidly developed. This the EF3 that was on the ground for over 50 miles. As the storm entered Putman County, where Cookeville is, rotation wrapped up tightly and a new warning was issued. The interesting thing that happened is the original rotation was north of Cookeville but a new circulation formed on the southern side of the storm. This circulation rapidly intensified as the original rotation weakened and this new rotation was the EF4 tornado that killed 18 people. Not sure the updated total death toll, I think it's 25. Sad, scary night.
Thanks very much Grant for that inside information from somebody who is "in the trenches" helping to keep people informed during life threatening severe weather situations like we had during this tornado event.
On air tv meteorologists, working with the NWS meteorologists are very dedicated to broadcasting timely, sometimes life saving NWS warnings and usually with a comprehensive interpretation of the dynamics so that people clearly understand the risk and are prepared to go to their safe place..........or actually do go there.
TV/NWS meteorologists have saved thousands of lives.........seriously, thousands over the last 5+ decades by alerting people to imminent deadly tornadoes. Actually, they often recognize and let viewers know about the severe weather potential days ahead of time and keep them informed all the way thru the severe weather event........which often ends in "wall to wall" coverage, like Grant spoke of........them on the air for numerous consecutive hours..........until the occurring threat to the lives of their viewers is gone.
I was one of them for 11 years as chief meteorologist at WEHT in Evansville IN.
We are very fortunate to have Grant here posting on weather:
Cape Girardeau, MO
https://www.kfvs12.com/authors/grant-dade/
From another tv meteorologist:
Grant is in SE Missouri and you can see the storm reports in his area from the same system that hit TN.
You can go to the link below and see every severe weather report, along with comments.
https://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/200302_rpts.html
Hi wxgrant
Everybody has a talent
You obviously have a talent which you used with dedication and tenacity to stay on the air for so long, providing life saving information
my sincere respects to you and the service you provide
I am sure MM was also one of the great talent
We all owe people like you a great deal of respect
Congrats and a very big thank you