Latest local news, weather and high school sports for Myrtle Beach and Florence

By now, you've likely seen the video of the EF-2 tornado that ripped through parts of Darlington county on Sunday evening. If not, click this link to see storm chaser, Gerard Jebailey's incredible video: http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=448574.  Wind speeds near 130 mph destroyed home and mangled cars along a 17 mile path from Oats to Darlington.  Given the damage seen in the photos attached, it's a miracle no one was injured or killed.     

Unfortunately, that was not the case just 24 hours earlier in Yazoo City, MS. An EF-4 tornado, with winds estimated at 170 mph, leveled part of the city and killed 10 people.  Remarkably, the tornado goes down in history as one of the longest lived tornadoes on record.  It was on the ground for 150 miles and was nearly 1.75 miles wide at one point. 

The Doppler radar images attached clearly show this massive tornado. The image on the left is a reflectivity image. Larger and/or more numerous rain drops and hail show up as oranges and reds because they are reflecting more energy back to the radar site. The small area... in pink is reflecting even more energy back to to the radar indicating even larger particles are present. In this case, the pink area is the debris lifted into the sky by the tornado...a debris ball.

The image on the right is showing air speed and motion relative to the radar site located in the lower right hand corner of the image. Reds and pinks indicate air moving away from the radar site and greens and blues toward the radar site. Winds moving away from the radar site were measured between 85-90 kts while winds moving toward the radar site were measured at 75-80 kts. Simply put, this an area of very tight, intense rotation.

If you look carefully, there are two pixels (gates), one blue and one orange, touching each other. Think of two cars passing one another on a two lane highway...one with a speed of 85 kts and the other with a speed of 75 kts. Their closing speed is 160 kts! In doppler terms, instead of "closing speed" we call this "gate to gate shear"...the change of wind speed and direction across the two pixels of inbound and outbound
velocities.

It's fascinating how much technology has improved over the years and how much more warning we can provide. Yet, some people never get the message unless they're watching TV. Obviously, we all have to sleep so what do you do if a severe storm develops at night? Your best bet is to sign up for WeatherCall. http://www.carolinalive.com/weather/content.aspx?id=164384 If a severe thunderstorm or tornado warning is issued for your neighborhood, you'll get a call from me....day or night.  It's only $6.95 a year....a small price to pay for peace of mind!