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1. We were spared in a huge way here in East Mont. Co. Checked the rain gauge this morning and it had .42″ in it. Less than half an inch. I see no evidence of heavy winds anywhere out in the yard. I the the strongest cells went to the north of us, over in Craig and Giles county. The thunder is what kept me up most of the night. I hope everyone is safe and dry! The damage from all those tornadoes is heart wrenching.

2. Doesn’t a regular Weather Journal contributor live in Washington County?

   I hope everything is well with him.

3. Accu says 231 deaths.

4. Tornado roaring down a mountain in Empire, AL.

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEr2lCnQcow

5. Last of the stuff moving thru Central VA now. Tornado warning #4 posted for Goochland Co just expired as the last squall line moved thru before the front pushes east. This storm is moving ENE at 75 mph and saw no funnel cloud or touchdown.

   As for the Farmville – Oilville #1 tornado from last night, NWS Wakefield prelim report has it as EF2-3.

6. As an aside from the severe stuff, the rains we got bring us to 6.29″ of precipitation this month (a very small amount as snow), about 2.5″ above-normal. March we had 6.14″ of precipitation (a little over an inch of snow factored in), which was about 2.3″ above-normal. I’ll have to check my past records (going back 3 years), but I believe this marks the first time we’ve had consecutive months with 6″+ of rain, and 2″+ surplus of rain compared to normal. It’s been an active weather pattern for sure.

7. I should clarify, those precipitation marks would be the first that I’ve personally recorded. I’m sure that such numbers have happened before though. The gras certainly loves it, I haven’t needed to fertilize to have a thick, lush lawn this spring.

8. For some reason, I have a feeling this is a warm up for a long, messy, and miserable summer – weather and tornado wise. I have noticed how strong the winds have been since winter came to an end.

   We probably will see a major hurricane or two making landfall this summer and more outbreak of tornadoes.

   The weather pattern reminds me of the late 90s to the early part of the last decade. Anybody remember that F-4 tornado that tore up half of the South? I think we may see another one again.

   I pray I am wrong. I want to be wrong.

9. I’m glad to have missed out on severe weather in Wytheville, but I wanted more rain. Only 0.25………must have been the least of anywhere around.

10. Kevin,
    Have you heard of any root cause to this much above average tornado season? This has been the most active spring storm season that I can recall.

    Thanks

11. John: I think you start with La Nina. It does historically tend to shift the severe pattern farther east than the typical “Tornado Alley” in the central U.S. But of course that alone doesn’t explain this level of severe activity.

    We’ve had the same basic jet stream pattern since late February, minus one week of cold in late March, that favors storm systems developing in the central U.S. and heading toward the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. As those storms develop, they pull in lots of Gulf moisture and ratchet up southeast winds. As the season has gotten warmer, the fuel for severe storms has been more explosive.

    I also think Texas’ extreme drought is allow more dry air to get entrained in these systems from the west, creating more contrast and lift colliding with the wet Gulf air.

12. I’m a native of this area, living in western Bedford county almost 60 years now. Last night reminded me of when the remnants of Hurricane Camille came through the area back in the 1960′s because last night, just like years ago, I detected that same kind of strange “muffled roar” going on in the atmosphere above us.

    Like others, I too, was riveted to local TV coverage last night from 11:00 PM onward. Where I live (in the Thaxton area), we had complete calm late Wednesday night/ early Thursday morning with only the slightest breeze stirring (as the violent storms were moving into Wythe, Bland, and points in far western Virginia.) We didn’t even have flashes of lightening or ANY other weather occurring around midnight here. It was VERY eeerry quiet. And…MUGGY ! (Our ominous “southeasterly winds” started around 1:00AM, increasing in velocity.)

    I stepped out around midnight to observe our skies and at first, I thought I heard a jet plane going over…like one high, high above. But that “low, muffled roar” just continued on and on for minutes and minutes! I went back inside and returned outside again about 20 minutes later….still no wind, thunder, or lightening, but that low-level muffled “roar” was continuing “above me”. I observed this several more occasions too, before I finally went to bed around 2:00AM.

    Yes, admittedly, I felt a bit “spooked” early this morning, recalling the stormy night Camille had represented and here I was once again hearing that distinctive strange little “roaring” going on as if it was in the upper atmosphere!

    I hesitated to even write about this, here! But, what I heard was definitely “something” and it wasn’t even “distant rain” coming in from the mountains nearby, etc. No, the view of the mountains around me was totally unobstructed, no fog, no precip underway, I could even see the broadcast tower lights (on the mountains) totally in clear view. No, this “sound” was definitely occurring—a low, muffled swooshing roaring sound….subtle, but …..”there” somehow as if high above me in the atmosphere. It’s strange to even recall, now! That “low roar” and yet total “spooky calm” being sensed as if WAITING for big storms to come(which obviously were in quite an abundance only miles west of me!)

    What do you think, Kevin? (I really don’t think my imagination was playing tricks on me!)

    btw…our big “burst” of wind/rain/thunder/lightening came through here at dawn and lasting off and on up until just after 8:00AM this morning… No more that mainly HEAVY deluges of rain and gusty winds….thankfully.

    Kevin, I appreciate your blogs and your following SW Virginia weather so much. You’re terrific….you and ALL the bloggers here!

13. 248 now reported dead and I’m mighty afraid it will still go up.

14. Just updated to 250.

15. Don: I never dismiss people, especially long-time natives, when they have that not-quite-right feeling based on what they are experiencing with the weather. For me, it was just that sinking pit-of-my-stomach feeling that “THIS IS TORNADO WEATHER.” This was the first time I’ve felt that in my 12 years in Virginia, that sense that I knew somebody would probably lose homes and maybe die because of tornadoes within a couple of hours driving distance. I thought maybe we’d escaped that til I heard about Glade Spring this morning. (Though I’m betting there’s some national forest spun down somewhere in Bland or Giles counties based on radar indications last night).

16. Kevin, I don’t think we have seen the last of thie kind of weather pattern. Like I said earlier, we might be in for a very long, stormy summer.

17. We won’t know for a while. I see some major signals we could get at least a relaxation in the pattern by early-mid May, perhaps some overall cooler weather. Personally, I think we have a hot,dry first half of summer and a much cooler, wetter second half. La Nina, often a driver for a severe weather pattern shifted more to the East than usual, is fading fast. But guessing seasonal trends is usually pretty much conjecture.

18. Here’s the 6-10 day outlook from the CPC. I’m glad the cool will come with wet. Dry and cool could mean a late freeze. Moisture and clouds would prevent that………I hope?

    http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/610day/index.php

19. I think we’ve got a genuine pattern change coming — after perhaps one more round of rain/storms early next week.

20. Kevin – someone in a sheltered valley west of I-81 is going to see Frost early Saturday morning. Do you agree?

21. Mike: That is probably true, some 30s out there by Saturday morning. I’m thinking patchy frost though rather than widespread killing stuff.

22. Your Washington County weather blogger is back on line tonight. I went to work in Abingdon today but had no internet. We were spared any major damage in Blackwell Chapel but my son lives just outside of Glade Spring and the path of the tornado was within one mile of his home. My wife’s family is there also and some are now staying with us since their power is out. What I saw this afternoon looks like something from a Weather Channel show. It is very sad and brought tears to my eyes. My brother-in-law’s first cousin was one of the four killed and his wife is in critical condition in a Bristol or Kingsport hospital. My nephew’s wife lost a great aunt in the tornado and this is the second of the four. I thank God for sparing us no more harm but please pray for all of the loss and damage inflicted upon the famalies in Washington County.

23. Wow. Sorry to hear about your losses, Michael Hoback. I’ve lost many loved ones throughout my life, and about the only words of wisdom I can offer is what someone told me when my brother died when I was 19: “Time may not completely heal the wound, but it will definitely soften the blow.” I have found that to be very true. I have seen both the video links that other bloggers have provided (THANKS to all of you folks) and also a photograph on WDBJ7 of the wreckage in your area, and any time a huge tractor-trailer gets knocked on its side, it had to be an extremely powerful wind. :>( :>(

24. One more addition to my blog. The eleven pm news reported that the Washington Co tornado was an EF3 with winds estimated at 140 mph. EF3′s are almost unheard of in this region of the Appalachains.

25. Was indeed EF-3 in both Washington and Smyth counties. Probably would have to go back to 1929 to find a similar strength tornado in the mountainous part of Virginia.

26. I drove through both Glade Springs and Ringgold, Georgia on my way home from Atlanta today. What a nightmare both scenes were, just from what I could see from the Interstate. I’ve never seen major tornado destruction up close in person before, and I hope I never do again.

27. Does anyone have an idea which storm put down the tornado in Glade Springs? There were two cells which moved over the area, the first one that hit Bristol and moved up into West Virginia, the second in line hit Wytheville and followed the ridge line of Giles/Montgomery Co.

28. Kevin, I’ve tried to find something about the track of the super cells that spawned the tornadoes, is there anything you know of that shows this? I’m asking because it seems like there could be a possible link between the tornado destruction in several places like Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Ringgold, and Glade Spring. They’re all fairly linear to each other. Though, of course, the way the storm system was aligned I suppose multiple cells could have been responsible and just been aligned that way, rather than the same cel or 2 being responsible for the destruction the whole way. I just found it interesting that they were in a near perfect straight line from SW-NE.

29. Nate: The Glade Spring tornado was around 1:15 a.m. — the same supercell that eventually moved west of Blacksburg. An earlier storm produced what is now a confirmed EF0 tornado south of Abingdon at 10:30 p.m.

    Other John: The supercell that spawned the Tuscaloosa torando formed in eastern Mississippi and diminished in North Carolina south of Asheville. Not immediately sure how Glade Spring connects to other tornado reports in Tenn or Ala. Not unusual at all for supercells of this nature to travel hundreds of miles intermittently spawning tornadoes. I’ll see what I can find.