Tornadoes tear across the Great Plains, Midwest and warnings issued as far as NYC

The United States is on the verge of entering ‘uncharted territory’, experts say, as the country stands on the verge of breaking an unfavorable record of tornado activity this week, as more warnings are issued from the Great Plains to the East Coast.

The deadly spate of weather has already killed one and injured hundreds more, but the slurry of volatile weather shows no signs of letting up anytime soon.

On Monday, the US tied its current record of 11 consecutive days with at least eight tornadoes on each of those days, said Patrick Marsh, warning coordination meteorologist for the federal Storm Prediction Center.

Counties across Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have already been ravaged by the barrage of gusting winds and powerful storms, but now residents as far as New Jersey and New York City have been told to brace themselves for impact.

‘We are flirting in uncharted territory,’ Dr. James Marsh of the federal Storm Prediction Center said of the prospect of the storm streak entering an unprecedented twelfth day. 

‘Typically, you’d see a break of a day or two in between these long stretches, but we’re just not getting that right now.’ 

The deadly spate of weather has already killed one and injured hundreds more, but the slurry of volatile weather shows no signs of letting up anytime soon (pictured: Tornados touching down in Kansas on May 28, 2019)

Counties across Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have already been ravaged by the barrage of gusting winds and powerful storms, but now residents as far as New Jersey and New York City have been told to brace themselves for impact

Counties across Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have already been ravaged by the barrage of gusting winds and powerful storms, but now residents as far as New Jersey and New York City have been told to brace themselves for impact

Lightning flashed across the skies of New York City on Wednesday as the storm activity approached from the West

Lightning flashed across the skies of New York City on Wednesday as the storm activity approached from the West

The National Weather Service received more than a dozen reports of tornadoes on Tuesday evening, officials said, suggesting that the record for consecutive days could be broken.

The reports follow 53 tornadoes touching down on Monday across eight states as waves of severe weather swept across the nation’s mid-section.

So far, one person has been killed and more than 130 others injured.

A tally of storm reports posted online by NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, shows that 14 suspected tornadoes touched down in Indiana, 10 in Colorado and nine in Ohio.

Six suspected tornadoes were reported in Iowa, five in Nebraska, four in Illinois, three in Minnesota, while one suspected tornado was reported in Idaho in the West. 

Every county in Oklahoma remains under a state of emergency. 

New York City 

Late Tuesday evening, the National Weather service issued tornado warnings for several counties surrounding Manhattan, urging those in the ‘dangerous storm’s’ path to stay inside.

The service said that strong winds and possible flash floods may result from the storm, along with a chance of a hail ‘the size of quarters’ falling from the sky.

More than one million residents across State Island and the greater metro area now remain under tornado watch. The projected affected area includes 250 schools and 14 hospitals.

‘Flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without shelter. Mobile homes will be damaged or destroyed. Damage to roofs, windows, and vehicles will occur. Tree damage is likely,’ NWS said in a statement.

‘This Tornado Warning replaces the Severe Thunderstorm Warning issued for the same area,’ the service added.  

All flights out of the city’s LaGuardia airport were also grounded as a result of the incoming storms. 

Though the airport is situated in Queens – which wasn’t included in the warning – all flights were halted as a precaution. 

The airport is now up and running with a reduced services, were flights are expected to be delayed by as much as four hours, officials have said. 

Late Tuesday evening, the National Weather service issued tornado warnings for several counties surrounding Manhattan, urging those in the ‘dangerous storm’s’ path to stay inside

Late Tuesday evening, the National Weather service issued tornado warnings for several counties surrounding Manhattan, urging those in the ‘dangerous storm’s’ path to stay inside

New Jersey

Also included in the East Coast’s tornado warnings were parts of northeastern New Jersey, including Hudson County, Union County and southern Essex County.

Officials have since responded to a number of widespread power outages, downed trees and at least one sighting of a tornado.

The NWS announced that one of its spotters reported seeing a funnel cloud at the base of a rotating thunderstorm in Mendham.

In Sussex County, emergency crews were summoned to Lenape Valley Regional High School to reports of ‘possible tornado damage’ ransacking the building’s structure.

At the time between 50 and 100 people were inside the school attending a track team dinner in the cafeteria when the storm struck.

Two people were injured in the ordeal after a tree reportedly fell onto a vehicle. The pair only suffered minor injuries and nobody was taken to hospital, a representative of the local sheriff’s office said.

Others attending the event took shelter in the gymnasium until emergency crews told them it was safe to leave.

The campus had ‘significant wires down and trees uprooted’ with lesser damage to the front of the building, school Superintendent Paul DiRupo told NJLive.

The school will remain closed on Wednesday as investigators will inspect the full extent of the damage.

So far, officials have not yet confirmed whether a tornado has struck in the area.

More than 14,000 customers of Jersey Central Power and Light are without power as of Tuesday night, a spokesperson revealed, after a series of power lines fell down in Morris and Sussex County areas. 

Pennsylvania 

The near entirety of Pennsylvania was also placed on tornado watch on Tuesday, as powerful storms barrelled into the region from the Midwest.

The extreme weather surge brought with it a number of severe phenomena, including hail stones the size of golf balls, flooding, and a number of unusual cloud formations.

Hail was captured falling in large clumps over Lake Winola, with other surrounding areas including Lancaster County and Schuylkill County also reportedly being hit.

A fearsome tornado was sighted forming on the ground in Berks County, near Reading.

Meanwhile, a funnel cloud – the core of a tornado – was documented swirling into formation above the skies of West Nantmeal Township in Chester County. 

Hail was captured falling in large clumps over Lake Winola, with other surrounding areas including Lancaster County and Schuylkill County also reportedly being hit

Hail was captured falling in large clumps over Lake Winola, with other surrounding areas including Lancaster County and Schuylkill County also reportedly being hit

One resident in Western PA is pictured Kayaking through her backyard after swift storms caused flash flooding in a number of areas

One resident in Western PA is pictured Kayaking through her backyard after swift storms caused flash flooding in a number of areas

Ohio 

Ohio officials said earlier on Tuesday that several ‘rapid-fire’ tornadoes left five million people without power in the state alone. 

Authorities also confirmed one death in Celina, Ohio, about 75 miles northwest of Dayton. 

The Town’s Mayor Jeffrey Hazel said that 81-year-old Melvin Dale Hanna died when a Chevrolet Station Wagon was blown into his house while he was sleeping.  

Hanna’s next-door neighbor, Wendy Knapke, said she watched on as the vehicle was picked up by the tornado, flew over her house and crashed into the back half of Hannah’s home. 

Recently widowed, Hanna lived alone and his body was discovered in his bedroom. He was described as ‘an incredible father and an incredible man’, to the Columbus Dispatch.

Authorities said the most severe damage was reported in Celina. Hazel said there are ‘areas that truly look like a war zone’ in the city of some 10,000 people. 

Weather officials said an EF3 tornado hit Celina, but its speed is still being surveyed. 

Celina Fire Chief, Douglas Wolters, said as many as 90 homes have been damaged by the tornadoes that pounded through the region. Wolters estimates that 40 of the homes have significant damage and some were knocked off their foundations. 

Most people are staying with family or friends, but some went to a shelter in nearby Coldwater.

A Tornado Watch has been issued in four states after 53 twister touched down in the Midwest overnight, leaving one dead and more than 130 others injured, as every county in Oklahoma is under a state of emergency. Debris is strewn about the front sidewalks of destroyed homes at the River's Edge apartment complex in Dayton, Ohio

A Tornado Watch has been issued in four states after 53 twister touched down in the Midwest overnight, leaving one dead and more than 130 others injured, as every county in Oklahoma is under a state of emergency. Debris is strewn about the front sidewalks of destroyed homes at the River’s Edge apartment complex in Dayton, Ohio

The fourth-grade classrooms are exposed at the Grafton Kennedy Elementary School in Dayton, Ohio

The fourth-grade classrooms are exposed at the Grafton Kennedy Elementary School in Dayton, Ohio

A dog peers out from the door of a home that was destroyed by tornadoes that touched down in Brookville, Ohio

A dog peers out from the door of a home that was destroyed by tornadoes that touched down in Brookville, Ohio

Residents of the Westbrooke Village Apartment in Trotwood, Ohio, are seen gathering items that they were forced to leave behind as they evacuated their homes

Residents of the Westbrooke Village Apartment in Trotwood, Ohio, are seen gathering items that they were forced to leave behind as they evacuated their homes

Residents of Idaho, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, are still not in the clear as severe weather is forecast to continue through Tuesday and into Wednesday. This photo shows another aerial view of the Westbrooke Village Apartment building in Trotwood, Ohio

Residents of Idaho, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, are still not in the clear as severe weather is forecast to continue through Tuesday and into Wednesday. This photo shows another aerial view of the Westbrooke Village Apartment building in Trotwood, Ohio 

A Jeep is surrounded by debris from a destroyed building near Wagner Ford Road in Dayton, Ohio

A Jeep is surrounded by debris from a destroyed building near Wagner Ford Road in Dayton, Ohio

The kitchen cabinets are left standing in Ron and Marlene Snider's home in the Wheatland Acres subdivision in Celina, Ohio

The kitchen cabinets are left standing in Ron and Marlene Snider’s home in the Wheatland Acres subdivision in Celina, Ohio

Susan Smith removes the dishes out of her sister-in-law's home that was also destroyed in the freak weather phenomenon

Susan Smith removes the dishes out of her sister-in-law’s home that was also destroyed in the freak weather phenomenon

Since 2012, tornado numbers have seen a lull across the US, with counts tracking at or below average each year and meteorologists still working to figure out why.

‘A lot of people are trying to answer that, but there’s no definitive answer,’ Marsh said.

The recent surge in tornado activity over the past two weeks was driven by high pressure over the Southeast and an unusually cold trough over the Rockies that forced warm, moist air into the central US sparking repeated severe thunderstorms and periodic tornadoes.

Scientists also say climate change is responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme weather such as storms, droughts, floods and fires, but without extensive study they cannot directly link a single weather event to the changing climate.

‘Neither one of these large systems —the high over the Southeast or the trough over the Rockies— are showing signs of moving,’ Marsh said. ‘It’s a little unusual for them to be so entrenched this late in the season.’

Those conditions are ripe for the kind of tornadoes that have swept across the Midwest in the last two weeks, said Cathy Zapotocny, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Valley, Nebraska. Zapotocny said the unstable atmosphere helped fuel many of the severe winter storms and subsequent flooding that ravaged Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri earlier this year.

‘We’ve been stuck in this pattern since February,’ she said.

Zapotocny said the number of tornadoes this year was ‘basically normal’ until the surge this week. May is typically the month with the highest incidence of tornadoes, usually in the Plains and Midwestern states collectively known as Tornado Alley, where most of this year’s twisters have hit.

The National Weather Service has received 934 tornado reports so far this year, up from the yearly average of 743 observed tornadoes. More than 500 of those reports came in the last 30 days. The actual number is likely lower, however, because some of the reports probably come from different witnesses who spot the same twister.

Most of the confirmed tornadoes were rated as less-intense EF0, EF1 and EF2s on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. But 23 were classified as EF3 tornadoes, with wind speeds of 136-165 mph. The strongest confirmed tornado this year was the EF4 tornado that killed 23 people in Alabama in March.

So far this year, 38 people have died in 10 tornadoes in the United States, including a combined seven within the last week in Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma and Ohio.

The relative quiet in recent years followed the massive tornado that killed 161 people and injured more than 1,100 in Joplin, Missouri, in 2011. The EF5 storm packed winds in excess of 200 mph and was on the ground for more than 22 miles.

Monday’s outbreak was unusual because it occurred over a particularly wide geographic area. Eight states were affected by two regional outbreaks, in the high Plains and the Ohio River Valley.

Some parts of the country may see relief in the next few days. Missouri remained under a severe weather threat Tuesday night, barely a week after a massive tornado ripped through the state capital of Jefferson City, but the high pressure system that raised the risk is set to move out of the state by Thursday.

‘The main threat is going to be tonight and tomorrow,’ said Cory Rothstein, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Springfield, Missouri.

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