Sunday, May 22, 2011. That afternoon was hot and humid in Joplin, Missouri. At 5:17 pm. on May 22, 2011, the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the Joplin, Missouri, area. Within 20 minutes a large and powerful tornado would plow through the city.
At 5:34 p.m. a tornado touched down west of Joplin near the Missouri/Kansas border and it was moving eastward. Initially, this was a weak EF-0 tornado. This tornado was unique, however, because it intensified rapidly on its journey toward Joplin. There were observations from storm chasers reporting multiple vortices circulating around the original tornado. The tornado strengthened to an EF1 and then EF2 as it entered the first subdivisions of Joplin. The tornado became a large wedge, nearly a mile wide, as it strengthened to an Ef-4 as it entered a more commercial area. Within a minute, it was an unbelievable EF-5 unleashing incredible destruction.
Businesses and medical buildings were gone in an instant as concrete walls came smashing down. Steel girders were ripped away and twisted like pretzels. More vehicles were thrown around and some were found wrapped around trees. Concrete parking stops were picked up and thrown some 60 yards away.
The most prominent building was the St, John’s Regional Medical Center which ended up with missing windows, walls and ceilings. A life flight helicopter on the roof was completely blown away. Five people lost their lives there. The nine-story building was so damaged that it had to be torn down.
Vehicles in the parking lot were tossed around and crashed beyond recognition. One large truck was thrown 125 yards and wrapped around a tree. Every house in the vicinity was totally destroyed. The tornado paraded eastward (as an EF5) damaging every building in its path. It barely missed the downtown area to the south, however. There was more extensive damage to homes and parts of concrete driveways were destroyed. Vehicles continue to be tossed around. Some residents never did find their vehicle after the tornado passed by.
The tornado became rain wrapped and difficult to see as it moved toward the southeast side of the city. The damage was catastrophic. At a Pizza Hut restaurant, the store manager took four employees and fifteen customers to a walk-in freezer. He couldn’t completely shut the door, however, and as he was holding the door shut he was sucked out and killed as the tornado hit. Nearby, a Walmart Supercenter was totally destroyed.
An industrial park and several subdivisions were destroyed as the tornado departed Joplin and over toward Interstate 44. The tornado then weakened and finally dissipated at 6:12 p.m.
Over 150 people lost their lives in the event and overall damage of three billion dollars. According to the American Red Cross about a quarter of the city was destroyed. There was damage to three-quarters of the city with 2000 buildings destroyed. Nearly 7,000 houses were destroyed and over 800 were damaged. This happened is a span of 38 minutes.
Welcome to Met Summer As this extended Spring season should come to a end (I hope)
Here in Michigan almost all of the active weather has been to our south so far this year.While many locations now have reached 80 this year Grand Rapids has yet to officially reach 80° yet this year (it did reached 79 on Friday). The latest first 80° on record is June 12 way back in 1924 and this year looks will be the latest since at least 1997 when the first 80 day happened on June 9th the average first 80° day over the years is April 30th and this year will join 1997, 1983. 1947 and 1924 as the only years where it did not reach 80 or better before June.
Slim
We’re in Charlotte. Getting nickel sized hail.
60 mph winds I’m guessing. Most intense storm I’ve seen in years.
The gust front with this storm is pretty feisty – my neighbor’s lawn furniture got scattered, the lid on my deck box blew off. Trees are still upright, though 🙂
Getting 1/4″ hail and high winds
Oooh – hang on, lower west Michigan…….
The sky looks very dark here. Thunder & lightning. Moving to the basement.
15 seconds of hail in Ada following a clean lightning strike, and now Fire Dept sirens. Hail larger than pea size…maybe Lima bean? 😉
Incredible looking storm clouds rolling through today! Haven’t seen that in a while!
http://oi65.tinypic.com/dqheo4.jpg
Nice !
Oh yeah…very nice. Right spot, right time.
🤘
It’s almost like the shelf cloud was creating lenticular clouds??
Let it snow let it snow let it snow ..INDY!
Get your furnace tuned up and ready to run! Low Sunday night around 40 degrees! Indy your furnace will be needed in June! Absolutely incredible! What a stretch of cool weather!
Ha ha I refuse to run it…Turned it off May 14th on my Birthday don’t ever remember running it this late and now it’s June UNBELIEVABLE! INDY!
I’m with you. It’s been almost a month since I’ve used our furnace. If you get chilly at night, throw on a blanket.
Welcome to June and the start of meteorological summer. I had my first real thunderstorm last night and it dropped 0.24″ of rain. It is now official Grand Rapids has now had 5 months in a row of below average temperatures. And as the official high for Grand Rapids yesterday was 79° 2019 will become the 5th time in recorded history that Grand Rapids did not officially reach 80 or better before June. (note there have been other years where it did not reach 80 or better in May but other then the years of 1997, 1983, 1973, 1947, and… Read more »
Wow 5 months in a row with below normal temps and no 80’s in May! What an incredible stretch of cool weather! Will June make it 6 months in a row?
Note there is a correction for the posted list of past years were it did not reach 80 or better before June at Grand Rapids as I will have to add 1973 to the list as the first 80 day did not happen that year until June 2
Slim
We have been lucky in the Otsego/Plainwell area in regards to tornadoes missing us. We have had weak ones move to the north and south of the area over the years – I can’t imagine what would happen if one would move down M89 – lives would change in a few minutes of destruction.
Just goes to show and remind us of our mortality and how fast things can change in a matter of moments removing us from our comfort zones.
Decent rumbles in the distance as of 2am…