Meteorologist Britta Merwin

Hurricanes, blizzards, and tornadoes represent some of the most extreme weather that Meteorologists strive to forecast and track. It is severe weather outbreaks like the event that started on Wednesday October 17th that really push forecasters to their limits. Those years of calculus, physics, and learning how to analyze the atmosphere really count when you are trying to inform and protect the people in the line of extremely dangerous weather.

The days leading up to this past Wednesday were full of anticipation and preparation at NBC Weather Plus. The atmosphere had all the right ingredients and Meteorologists around the nation saw the large threat for numerous tornadoes to occur over October 17th and 18th. A strong southerly jet had set up over the central plains as Gulf moisture started pouring into the southern states. Soon a powerful low pressure system was raging through the Nation’s midsection.

Day one, Wednesday October 17th, the damage path from tornadoes, wind, and hail started in central Kansas and Oklahoma stretching to the border of Illinois and Indiana. The hardest hit was Missouri with 11 tornado reports and two fatalities in the town of Paris. Since the tornado in Paris occurred under dark skies it was even more dangerous. The darkness makes tornadoes hard to see and some people might be asleep and have no idea a tornado is headed for them. Unfortunately the two victims in Paris were in a mobile home. Most deaths in tornadoes are from people trapped in mobile homes which can’t withstand the extreme forces. The best defense in these situations is to have a NOAA Weather Radio which works like an alarm clock in severe weather events alerting you at anytime but especially at night when you might be asleep. Also if you live in a mobile home have a tornado evacuation plan and have a safe place to go like a storm shelter during a tornado warning. By the end of October 17th there were 17 tornado reports, 231 wind reports, and 52 hail reports. The worst news was the powerful storm system was getting more organized and it was on the move.

Day two, Thursday October 18th, the focus follows the massive storm system to the northeast. The severe weather started with strong squall lines moving into the Florida panhandle from the Gulf of Mexico producing a tornado that tore through downtown Pensacola. Soon the focus switched from the Gulf to the Midwest when a defined dry slot developed around lunch time allowing for strong daytime heating increasing the instability in the atmosphere. By the evening super cells, large independent rotating thunderstorms started popping up from Michigan through Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. For hours our team of Meteorologists monitored the radar looking for signs of rotation like hook echoes, a signature on radar that looks like a hook indicating where a possible tornado could be located. There were a total of 30 tornado reports occurring in Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. Some of the most intense super cells moved along the border of Kentucky and Indiana during the evening impacting communities of Sebree, Owensboro, and Louisville. Our very own Meteorologist Jeff Ranieri was driving to Evansville, Indiana during the severe weather outbreak reporting the massive super cells he saw developing in the area.

As a Meteorologist a feeling of amazement, terror, excitement, and horror run through your body during these events. Tracking the radar, realizing how devastating these storms are, you pray that people are aware of the storms coming their way. You hope you have reached someone with the warning and that one more person has made it safely to their basement. At the end of the experience it is hard to put words to the power of Mother Nature.