(Click for larger image.)I grabbed this image from my home computer about 15 to 20 minutes before a tornado moved through Memphis. You can see a very impressive Bounded Weak Echo Region (BWER) This was on Tilt 2.
I will update this article as I get confirmed reports of damage.
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Searching the net, I found the Memphis radar image which Mr. Daniel loaded on this site.
This Tornado was sort of a mystery for some time. I never saw the original warning but saw on a local station that it might have been the first one issued in Memphis.
I found this out after the event in my area, near the end of its run.
By all accounts, the tornado formed right at the tip of the hook in the picture. It passed just NW of the dot named Capleville, right where US78 zig-zags and continued on toward the dot at Germantown. It lifted before it got there.
I live in the Hickory Hill area which is due SE off the I240 loop in the photo and WSW of Germantown. I live two short city blocks from the intersection by the mall where the wall was torn off the Sears store. It went across the intersection and tore down large power poles and gutted some fast food businesses. At this point, it was at its closest point to me; about 11/2 short blocks as the crow flies.
The tornado had done much worse damage to the SW of the mall all the way to where it's at in the image. It tore up several warehouses and there were fatalities.
The tornado went by without me knowing that the warning had been issued. Nobody seemed to be talking about it. The event took less than five minutes from a basic calm, through the event and back to calm. Having been in aviation, it seemed like a super cell downburst to me since it was hittting the east side of my unit and it was short lived and severe. It started with wierd puffs of thunder in rapid succession. It sounded more like muffled artillery "booms" than thunder. Next came some lightning and then the event.
The wind and rain was as hard as I've ever seen and I thought I was going to lose my sliding glass doors. They were slapping in and out against the tracks.
After it was over was when the local station mentioned that my storm was the one with the original warning. A comment was also made that it looked like the area was dissipating. They should have been with me!
I was waiting for an even bigger Super Cell, coming from the SSW, but I lost my power just as they were looking at five areas of rotation heading almost right at me.
It's tough sitting in the dark.... waiting! I was lucky..it passed me by. A later look at radar loops seems to show this super cell as the one that tracked up to Jackson, TN and hit the college bad. I'm just glad I got a near miss. That's as scary as you ever want it to be!
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