Amazing footage from the cockpit at 45,000 feet shows the supercell which led to the tornado that killed 88 Americans.
A pilot flew above Memphis to capture the video of lightning lighting up the storm clouds as they formed Friday.
A tornado ripped a path of 200 miles through six states in the Midwest, South and South. It destroyed homes and businesses, and set off an effort to locate survivors under the rubble.
Incredible footage captured from the cockpit in a plane flying at 45,000ft shows how supercells created the tornado which has claimed the lives of 88 victims.
The pilot was flying cross country at a high altitude to avoid the significant weather impacts near the Mississippi River Region when he captured the footage.
In this awe-inspiring video, which shows the severity of the storm’s impact on the ground, you can see the top cloud right in front.
Supercells are powerful storm systems that result from mesocyclones. They can cover miles and produce torrential rainfall and tornadoes.
Kentucky was the worst affected by the tornadoes, with 74 deaths confirmed after the storms ripped through the Midwest. Another 14 victims were killed in Illinois, Tennessee and Arkansas.
A pilot flew above Memphis to capture the video of lightning lighting up the storm clouds as they formed Friday.
In Kentucky, brick homes in Cambridge Shores were destroyed by the devastating tornadoes that decimated the Midwest. Several people died.
Many houses were damaged in the tornado. Roofs and balconies were also ripped away during the crazy weather at Cambridge Shores.
Mayfield was hit by a severe storm that destroyed thousands of homes as it traveled through Kentucky on Friday night.
The wreckage left behind a trail that ran from Arkansas (where a nursing home was damaged) to Illinois, which was where an Amazon distribution centre was severely damaged.
Kentucky Governor. Andy Beshear stated that the death toll may rise as authorities continue to deal with debris slowing recovery efforts.
Nearly 450 National Guard soldiers have been deployed in the state. 95 National Guard personnel are currently searching for missing persons.
Poweroutage.us estimates that nearly 26,000. homes and businesses in the state lost power, with almost all located in Mayfield.
As of Monday morning, over 10,000 houses and businesses still had no water and 17,000 more are in boil-water advisories according to Michael Dossett (Kentucky Emergency Management Director).
Cambridge Shores was among the most severely affected areas in Kentucky. Rescue workers are currently combing through the terrain to find some missing residents.
After a tornado struck Cambridge Shores, Gilbertsville, Kentucky with heavy damage and debris scattered throughout the region,
On Friday night, 30 tornadoes ripped through the Midwest and killed 14 others.
Many residents’ personal belongings were blown up to 130 miles away, and now people are reuniting devastated families who lost everything with pieces of their lives that turned up in unusual places.
Midwesterners have taken to social media to locate the owners of pictures, Bibles, baby quilts, Christmas ornaments and other keepsakes after deadly tornadoes swept across six states this weekend.
A Facebook group, Quad State Tornado Found Items, is flooded with posts detailing items – and even pets – that people have found. In some cases the owners moved 100 miles away from their property.
Black and white photograph of a mother in a sundress with a headscarf and striped sundress holding her little boy. She traveled nearly 130 miles in wind gusts that exceeded 140 miles an hour.
WHAT IS A SUPERCELL TORNADO?
Supercomputer simulations have revealed the devastating conditions within a supercell thunderstorm producing tornadoes.
In the simulation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, scientists used real-world observational data from the deadly ‘El Reno’ tornado in 2011.
A new simulation has revealed the conditions within a supercell storm that produces tornadoes.
An atmospheric sounding was performed using archived data to determine the vertical profile for temperature, humidity, wind speed, air pressure and wind speed.
There are a number of factors said to be ‘non-negotiable’ in the formation of a tornado, the researchers explained.
These include excessive moisture, instability, and wind shear within the atmosphere. A trigger that causes the air to move upwards like temperature or moisture differential, is also required.
But, this doesn’t always mean a storm will happen.
‘In nature, it’s not uncommon for storms to have what we understand to be all the right ingredients for tornadogenesis and then nothing happens,’ said Leigh Orf, a scientist with the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS).
‘Storm chasers who track tornados are familiar with nature’s unpredictability, and our models have shown to behave similarly.’