What led to the late-April tornado outbreak in the Midwest?

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Jon Porter breaks down the conditions that led to destructive tornadoes from April 26-27 and explains how AccuWeather can help you stay prepared when tornadoes are in the forecast.

Transcript

00:00 We are continuing to again look back at the recent setup here with the severe weather.

00:06 And I am joined here by again Chief Meteorologist John Porter.

00:11 And John, thanks again for taking the time to chat with us here.

00:14 Let's look back at Friday and Saturday's setup here.

00:18 And again, this was, you know, an outbreak of severe weather we had talked about for days upon days.

00:25 And of course, we made it very, very important to push this out to the public here

00:29 for preparation.

00:31 That's right.

00:31 This one had trouble written all over it here for days in advance.

00:35 And that's why AccuWeather's expert long-range team put out a forecast about the risk for

00:40 tornadoes across the central part of the country more than a week in advance of this outbreak,

00:46 days ahead of other sources.

00:48 That's to help keep you and your family informed and safer.

00:52 And we were so concerned about it because we saw this lifting boundary, a lifting warm front

00:57 notorious for creating trouble in this kind of scenario and changing winds in the atmosphere.

01:02 The winds near the ground were coming up from the south and east.

01:05 And in the mid-levels of the atmosphere were coming from the west and southwest.

01:09 And that can create spin in the atmosphere and those thunderstorms that develop

01:12 leading to an enhanced tornado risk.

01:14 That's why we were so concerned and put out a high risk for tornadoes.

01:18 We were the only source to do that on Friday and Friday night.

01:22 And again, this was over an area that was also highly populated.

01:27 We're talking about metro areas such as Omaha.

01:30 Yes, and that was the particular concern.

01:33 We had the swarm of tornadoes across eastern Nebraska, including the Omaha area and over

01:37 toward Des Moines as well, as well as parts of southeastern Kansas on Friday.

01:42 We saw all those factors coming together.

01:44 And on Friday, AccuWeather experts issued through the Premium Plus feature of the AccuWeather app

01:49 more than five hours additional advance notice on the tornado threat increasing

01:54 before the government and other sources issued a tornado watch to keep everyone informed.

01:59 So this was a very dangerous situation.

02:00 And then as we ventured our way into a Saturday, we saw that threat stretch its way out

02:06 down into the state of Oklahoma.

02:08 And again, we continue to again enforce and again prepare again, again, all those out there

02:16 in the midst of these severe thunderstorms to again, heed the warnings, to have that

02:21 AccuWeather app handy, to have the push notifications on, and it's just that extra

02:26 layer of protection that is vital.

02:28 Look at all these tornado reports, some of them along the highly populated I-35 corridor

02:33 in Oklahoma.

02:34 And that's a key point.

02:35 There were obviously a tragic loss of life from this tornado outbreak, but so many lives

02:42 were saved.

02:43 When you look at the damage and the fact that this occurred in major metro areas, people

02:48 received those warnings and took action.

02:51 And that's why we're so passionate about taking action just as soon as a warning is

02:56 issued.

02:56 Download the free AccuWeather app, turn on those push notifications.

03:00 That's such a key way to stay informed about severe weather risks in your community.

03:04 And we were able to again, provide more advance notice than any other sources on many of those

03:10 tornado warnings through the Premium Plus feature.

03:12 For example, the Des Moines area, we provided 22 minutes of extra advance notice compared

03:17 to other sources, extra ways to stay safe and keep informed in these severe weather

03:21 events.

03:21 All right.

03:23 Thank you so much, AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter, for your valuable insight.

03:28 We thank you again.

03:29 We continue to follow severe weather as we work our way throughout the coming days.

03:33 At least right now, thunderstorms are sub-severe as they make their way out of Mississippi

03:37 and into Alabama.

03:38 There are a couple of potent thunderstorms here making their way northbound toward, again,

03:43 Interstate 59.

03:44 That's going to be south of Tuscaloosa.

03:46 some lightning out there, some downpours and some gusty winds.

Category

Transcript

Recommended