Animation Shows 5 Days of Tornado-Generating Storms in U.S. Midwest [HD Vidoe]

The U.S. Midwest was hammered by severe storms for the last several days and this animation of satellite imagery from the GOES-13 satellite shows the progression of storms from May 20 to 25, 2011. This animation includes the storms that spawned the deadly Joplin, Missouri tornado on May 22 (around 5:30 p.m.) and the Oklahoma tornado event (Oklahoma City and Piedmont, Oklahoma) on May 24, 2011.

The video shows the progression of the May 24 storms moving from Arkansas, Illinois and Missouri into Mississippi, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. The May 24 event killed people in Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, according to the Associated Press. The National Weather Service reported that several twisters touched down in Oklahoma City and some of its suburbs.

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite called GOES-13 covers weather events over the eastern U.S. and the Atlantic Ocean. The GOES series of satellites is operated by NOAA, and the NASA GOES Project creates images and animations from the GOES series of satellites. This movie is in a large-format 720x1280 H264-encoded digital movie from the GOES-13 satellite.

Movie Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project, Dennis Chesters
Caption: NASA/Rob Gutro

Credit: NOAA/NASA GOES Project

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

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Comments and faves

  1. ★

    Val in Sydney, bswise, particular particules, dodagp, and 40 other people added this video to their favorites.

  2. This photo was invited and added to the Diverso - P1/C2- 1 post daily group.

  3. dodagp (24 months ago | reply)

    Dynamic !

  4. trrhodes [deleted] (24 months ago | reply)

    Spectacular video, thanks for sharing this!

  5. webcolors [deleted] (24 months ago | reply)

    thank you for sharing
    seen in Diverso www.flickr.com/groups/diverso/

  6. Chuck Sutherland (24 months ago | reply)

    Would be above cool to have tornado centroids indicated by a bright red, moving dot. Though I'm not sure how one would easily reference that into the timing of the animation. I could totally do that if I had the data, and was paid for my time. :)

  7. oskarmilde (24 months ago | reply)

    chuck the data is freely downloadable. GOES!

  8. ♫ Lion ♫ (24 months ago | reply)

    Wow

  9. Road2Nowhere (24 months ago | reply)

    Wow. Watching those storms from this angle and checking out those nasty clouds inch near my city . . . no, no go the other way!!

  10. Captain Chaos (24 months ago | reply)

    There's a typo in your title. I assume you meant to say "HD Video", not "HD Vidoe"...

  11. mr robbit (24 months ago | reply)

    Wow! It looks like as if volcanoes were forming and smoking up from the Plains, creating clouds out of thin air!

  12. auglove5 (24 months ago | reply)

    wow.

  13. dvonklose (24 months ago | reply)

    Wow is right!

  14. Chuckaluck1 (24 months ago | reply)

    I never thought I'd ever see our atmosphere explode, but there it is...

  15. solidkid4 (24 months ago | reply)

    Wake up people.... Google H.A.A.R.P... this is it hard at work....

  16. szymon7 (24 months ago | reply)

    hey

  17. ragtopcaddy (24 months ago | reply)

    To me, it calls to mind the Hawaiian island chain and the volcanoes that feed it. It's like the "tectonic plates" of air mass are moving over a "hot spot". Typically, these kinds of volcanoes are caused by plates moving in opposite directions. I wonder if that might be a useful analogy for tornado formation?

  18. WindDancer6 (24 months ago | reply)

    I have been a Volunteer Storm Spotter before & currently a weather observer for CoCoRaHS but, looking at this video just blows my mind what damage & destruction Mother Nature can do in a short amount of time. I just hope & pray everyone has a plan should they have a Tornado in there area of the USA. Stan CoCoRaHS MO-WB-13

  19. cosmic_flurk (24 months ago | reply)

    Interesting video, but, I think some sort of circle around the tornado might be helpful. I can find the time of the storm, and even the place, but don't really know what to look for.

  20. A.D.Wheeler [deleted] (24 months ago | reply)

    Could the storms have been spurred on by the good-sized coronal mass ejection (CME) that roared out into space (May 20-21, 2011?

  21. MTspaceInEar (16 months ago | reply)

    Amazing 'vidoe' ;)

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