Over a dozen dead as violent storms slam Southeast U.S.
At least 16 people were killed and dozens injured as an unusually widespread outbreak of severe weather tore across the Southeast United States. The severe thunderstorms spawned numerous tornadoes, leaving damage and destruction in their wake.
The severe weather is the result of a larger storm system that has barreled across the Southeast all weekend, with the tornado threat slated to move up the East Coast toward the Carolinas by late Sunday night.
The storm system is also expected to bring windswept rain to New York and Boston on Monday, where winds could gust as high as 70 miles per hour. Several locations in the Southeast, including Atlanta, were close to setting records for the lowest air pressure on record for the month of January. In general, the lower the air pressure is, the stronger the storm.
"Particularly Dangerous Situation"
By Sunday evening, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) had issued tornado watches across Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, including cities like Orlando, Jacksonville, Savannah, and even eastern parts of the greater Atlanta metro area.
The threat of severe weather on Sunday night extended as far west as Mississippi and as far north as Virginia. The SPC said that Sunday's outbreak was a "Particularly Dangerous Situation" (PDS) which, according to the SPC, is "used in Tornado Watches for rare situations when long-lived intense tornadoes are likely.... PDS watches are issued, when in the opinion of the forecaster, the likelihood of significant events is boosted by very volatile atmospheric conditions."
Already on Sunday, tornados had touched down across the South, including in Auburn, Alabama and across Georgia, kicking up debris and causing damage.
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At least 16 dead
An apparent tornado blew through a mobile home park early Sunday in southern Georgia's rural Cook County — sheering off siding, upending homes and killing seven people, local authorities said. An eighth death was reported in Cook County by state officials, although it was unclear whether that victim lived in the park.
In addition to eight deaths in Cook County, four people were killed in adjoining counties Sunday. Another four people were killed in Mississippi by an EF-3 tornado on Saturday, bringing the weekend death toll to 16.
In all, there have been around three dozen reports of tornadoes so far during this outbreak, with more to come.
Where the storm came from and where it's going
This particular storm is riding a strong subtropical jet stream blowing across the southern tier of the U.S. from the Pacific Ocean. A dip, or trough, in the jet stream in the Southeast is helping to churn up a large amount of moisture and atmospheric instability in the high-warn area.
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The jet stream is helping to create a very favorable environment for tornadic thunderstorms in places that don't usually experience them at this time of year, and an area that tends to see an average-to-below-average number of tornado watches throughout the entire year.
The jet stream will carry the storm northeastward with warmer, moist air which will collide with colder air from a high pressure system in Canada, setting the stage for high winds, coastal flooding, and freezing rain and sleet that could cause plenty of havoc for transportation in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Monday into Tuesday.
Additional reporting by Andrew Freedman and the Associated Press
Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
