Friday, April 22, 2011

Damaging Tornado in North St. Louis



One or more tornadoes has caused extensive damage and apparent injuries across Northern portions of the St. Louis metro area.  Scanner and other sources indicate heavy damage from St. Louis International Airport (Lambert Field) on to the East/Northeast.  A concentration of reports of buildings / homes being damaged and persons being trapped is centered just East of the airport at this time.


Preliminary storm report map below.  Please note it does not yet include all reports from North St. Louis:




Lambert Field has been closed by the FAA until further notice, due to extensive damage on the airport grounds.


I'll have more detailed information on this, including archived radar and detailed track maps, tomorrow.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

May I ask where you got the map of the storm damage in St. Louis? I live in Central Texas but have a sister in St. Louis, and I can't reach her. She lives in North St. Louis County. Thanks.

webjock said...

I'd like to know about this map as well. Did you generate it yourself based on reported data, or what was your source? Thanks!

Rob White said...

Anonymous & Webjock, thanks for the note. The map is generated by a program on the Iowa State meteorology website, which you can find here:

http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/

I have been trying to pull the latest data from the site this morning, but they appear to be having a problem with their server.

You have to use some amount of caution with this source because the map only shows reports that have been documented by the local NWS office in the effected area. It is often more revealing 12 or more hours after a major event than during the heart of a major event.

Below is a link to my latest post on this tornado, which provides more detailed damage location information:

http://originalweatherblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/more-on-north-st-louis-tornado-of-4-22.html