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Subscribe to RSSVideo clips from storm chasers document a destructive tornado as it touches down in Indiana near Henryville. Subvortices can be seen spinning off the main funnel. (Via The Associated Press)
The tornado that devastated southern Indiana today may have shared some deadly twists with a similarly powerful storm that flattened Joplin, Mo., last year.
The Joplin tornado, which killed more than 160 people last May, was distinguished by a rare multiple-vortex structure: In such storms, the center of the wind funnel spawns two to seven smaller twisters, or subvortices, that circulate around the edge of the cloud at speeds that can range up to 100 mph faster than the winds in the main funnel. The subvortices typically last less than a minute each.
John Belski, a meteorologist at WAVE-TV in Louisville, Ky., said the tornado that ripped through Indiana's Clark County was a multiple-vortex tornado.
"Those individual vortexes are very destructive," Purdue University tornado researcher Ernest Agee told me today. He emphasized that he couldn't confirm whether the Indiana storm had a multi-vortex structure, but noted that today's tornado outbreak was clearly a "big super-cell storm."
"It's not uncommon for the stronger, more violent tornadoes to be multiple vortex," he said. One characteristic of such storms is a pattern of asymmetric damage. In some cases, one side of a structure might look relatively untouched, while the other side would be completely destroyed, he said.
The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center says multi-vortex tornadoes are probably behind most reports of multiple tornadoes hitting at once — but on rare occasions, separate tornadoes can form close to each other as satellite tornadoes.
Agee marveled at the breadth of today's outbreak, stretching up from Alabama to Indiana and beyond. But he said it looked as if the area's residents might have fared better than the victims of the Joplin storm did last year.
"A lot of the people in the area had advance notice in terms of the forecast," he told me. "I'm sure it was pretty bad for the people who were affected, but the devastation could have been a lot worse."
Update for 10 p.m. ET: Storm-chaser Skip Talbot's photo of the Henryville tornado confirms that it had a multiple-vortex structure. I've also added a video from The Associated Press' YouTube channel that clearly shows the funnel cloud spawning subvortices. To read other reports from the field, check out the Stormtrack website.
More about tornadoes:
- Why so many tornadoes are hitting U.S.
- Interactive: What causes tornadoes?
- Weather coverage from msnbc.com
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
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Half man, half bear, half pig, half tornado !!
They talk about Joplin. It's still not back. This storm was serious. I feel for all the people.
Doug-950479
Apparently you are still a very immature young man who has never been in a tornado or lost someone in a violent death.
Man up and show some compassion. But, then we are becoming a very cold, uncaring Nation. Just read the post(s). This was about violent Tornadoes, not gas, Obama, etc...
Yes, it seemed like the people filming this were getting quite a thrill, they must be very immature and/or morally bankrupt
there U go Obama, whipped by a Big Stick !!..although, i still cannot understand why good decent people, always pay for others foul mistakes..i guess; this is the World as We know it..i feel for anyone involved in these horrifying storms....
Why, why must you degrade manbearpig? Does it make you feel better?
It's all Obamas fault. Going GREEN and messing with Mother Nature.
If you are talking about going green with $4 gas (soon to be $5), Solyndra, Evergreen Solar, SpectraWatt and Chevy Volt (just shut down), then it is Obama's fault.
Keep Obama and politics the hell out of this. These people are suffering and need suport not political rhetoric!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Normally, I could'nt agree with you more. But Charlotte turned it to a viable point with the cold, non-caring statment. When the so-called "upper crust" sees the rest of us as no more than cattle and and runs our great nation to the ground by robbing us blind. It kind of sets an example. Note that I'm not picking on that foreign guy. We don't have a president right now. His birth certrificate has been proven a forgery. Nearly all of the upper elected officials were involved in the finance scandal. Didn't matter what party they are. They made large sums of money off it, then "bailed out" the banks so they could get more. I am a Missourian, and my heart goes out to these people greatly, but something has got to change soon. Nobody that is part of the system right now is going to be any help at all. Voting is a waste of time. Look up a video on you tube called Inside Job. Many interviews with "upper crusties" and narrated by Matt Damon. I'm very anti conspiorasy theory type. This is real. The good people of this country have got to get off their rumps or our offspring are in for near servatude lifestyle. There is a mental illness that seems to almost be speading like a virus among our elected officials and rich. The greed that has a grip on them posseses them and has the last word on every action they take. To them, we are less than cattle, more like sheep or pigs. All the best to the people of Joplin and the new victims of disaster in Indiana, Ohio, and elsewhere. We may not be able to depend on our elected officials to do anything but mug us, but there are still a heck of a lot more truely good people in this great nation of ours that will be there when you need them. May not seem like it at times. That's due to the bad getting so much attention. The good ones don't feel the need to be fussed over. Plenty of us here. Don't feel you're alone everyone.
i agree with you on the upper crust statement. the article on msn buisness " deadly tornado creates huge insured loss risk" pretty much reinforces that sentiment. people died and had everything they owned destroyed and the buisness community wants you to feel sorry for them because they have to pay out on all those insurance premiums. just sad, pathetically sad....
I Agreed ,Robert Popple-1912943 people are dying and they are talking about Obama . They didnt talk about the story. What is wrong with these people ?
Isn't FEMA one of the agencies the gopers want to shut down?
Thanks for the warning; and pray that they have basement shelter to protect themselves in those tornado areas.
It seems that we are in a very active cycle of storms over the past few years, but we've also in a very active cycle of storm technology. The warnings are giving people more notice and better path prediction. The local TV meteorologists seems better informed about storms and how to communicate information about them.
However, there is still room for improvement. Many of the local TV stations need to realize that they are responsible not only for their home county (usually the most populated, ) but the surrounding and out lying counties as well.
Often when these storms clear the home county, their reporting and storm track information become less frequent as they start surveying things like damage, power outages, and other ancillaries. Meanwhile, we in the outlying counties are still in the path of these storms.
Hopefully the people who were affected by these storms don't read these comment sections as there almost as bad as the destruction itself. Let me appoliguise for all the people who for whatever reason seem to think that its OK to post BS about what you folks have endured through during these storms.
To all the people affected by these storms,
I hope that you can all somehow stay safe, help each other out wherever possible and look forward to better times ahead. My heart felt condolences to all who have lost either family or friends or both. My heart goes out to you.
Hopefully the government helps out these people ASAP!!, (no matter what political affiliation!)
If our construction were just partially bermed with earth our heating and cooling would be saved as well as destructive forces that have hurt so many lives in these hard hit areas. Of course this would not work well in low water areas. We need to account for areas where we live as to how we build or if we build at all. Murfeys law and that to prepare for the hard times of the unexpected events. May God help us as we help each other.
Luckily I watched the 3 little pigs before I built my house.....families living in older homes were'nt so lucky...something to consider before buying or renting......
Paldude, Couldn't of said it any better.... you said: " May not seem like it at times. That's due to the bad getting so much attention." I can't tell you the last time I walked into a room where the news was on and heard something good being reported. Dummying down America... that's what the media is doing.
I feel so bad for the tornado victims that I'm going to ask our church to collect money, clothes, and toiletries I'm sure are needed now. I will also pray for the greedy and corrupt in this country, then turn it over to God. I know that in the end... things seen, and unseen, in this world will all come under judgment.
may God look over these people in there time of need, ease there pain, and make them stronger.
P.S. And stop sending Tornadoes.
I love how in the comments for the YouTube video that people are claiming this is all due to HAARP.