The Good Friday Storm

I hate to say a statement like this at this early stage in my meteorology career but I have never seen quite a tornadic storm come across the St. Louis area in my entire life. Good Friday 2011 started off with thunderstorms early around central and eastern Missouri. A few were severe with large hail, but the storms moved out and temperatures were still able to climb into the 80s for afternoon highs despite quite a bit of cloud cover. However, the cloud cover did nothing essentially as a warm front lifted far enough north and southerly winds warmed temperatures up and brought more additional moisture in to add more fuel that thunderstorms can feed on. Sure enough, I was getting ready for the 5 PM Newscast anticipating some severe weather. Meteorologists Michelle Bogowith and Eric Aldrich were also on duty in case any storms got really serious.

3:30 PM rolled in and after I finished taping teases for the upcoming 5 PM newscast, our weather crawl popped up on the air to let us and the viewers know that we just went under a tornado watch until 10 PM.

Shortly after, around 4:00 PM, we started to see a thunderstorm fire up southwest of Sedalia in west central Missouri. Other thunderstorms started to ramp up around the Lake of the Ozarks and they would eventually be issued severe thunderstorm warnings. However, the storm that formed around Sedalia really got going around 4:30 PM when the first tornado warning was issued. Eric and Michelle were miked up while I was driving the radar. The video below picks up a few minutes before the 5 PM news was supposed to begin...

The TiVo stopped at 5:30 PM but we stayed on the air because the storm was showing an impressive structure as it continued into Callaway County and eventually put new tornado warnings up for Osage, Montgomery and Gasconade Counties. The TiVo kicked back into action a few minutes before the 6 PM news began but of course, Mother Nature kept us busy and made sure we didn't have a newscast...

After the TiVo let off at 6:30 PM, we kept going until about 6:57 PM right up until the tornado warning for Montgomery County expired at 7 PM. After the storm left the viewing area, I kept watching it hold together and head right for northern St. Louis County. It was that point I realized that we spent the last 3 hours tracking the beginning of the Good Friday Tornado that would hit St. Louis. I was watching streaming coverage from the local CBS station in St. Louis while watching the storm itself on the radar back at KOMU.  My mouth dropped to the floor when the radar picked this up...

First off, I have never seen that strong of a rotation on radar come into the St. Louis area EVER! What's more amazing is the debris ball that the reflectivity was picking up. There are times where if there's enough debris being drawn into the storm and into the circulation, the radar can pick it up. What's more scary is that this tornado was actually reported by Lambert International Airport and it was doing damage to a heavily populated area.

Here's what was unveiled after the storm passed through St. Louis as seen on KOMU and eventually news sites and TV channels around the world.

Beaverton Drive in Bridgeton, MO. EF-3 Damage.

Concourse C at Lambert International Airport

One photo I found that really stood out to me was taken by KMOV Chief Meteorologist Steve Templeton. He was surveying EF-4 damage in another community in Bridgeton and found a house reduced to rubble. But, have a look at the picture.

Look at how the stairs and some of the inner walls are pretty much left intact. This is why I or any other meteorologist on the air tells you to either to get underground and hide under something sturdy like heavy furniture or under the stairs or to put as many walls between you and the outside as possible.

Having a day off work on the following Monday, I decided that I wanted to see the damage for myself. I grabbed my camera and here's what I found...

If you're interested in seeing the results of the survey results of the tornadoes around St. Louis that night, the National Weather Service has everything compiled into one neat page you can go to by clicking here.

It's amazing that a strong tornado hasn't moved through the St. Louis area since 1967 and caused this much damage. What's truly amazing is that after all the damage and destruction caused by the tornado, not a single life was lost on Good Friday. That is what I call a true Easter miracle...