Tornadoes kill at least 290 in six U.S states

some of the footage is just staggering, it was almost like the tornado was tying to out do the tsunami in battle of how much damage an be inflicted.

My cousin said they are forecasting snow for where she lives in Minnesota on Sunday. The people in Winnipeg have to be going absolutely crazy with cabin fever. WOW!! Canadians, from Manitoba and Ontario, how you all doing? Are the lakes still froze over? What's it like? . Give us the details, please.

Taka (14 year weather guesser for the Navy, occasional weather geek)

Floods, earthquakes, tsunami, and now tornadoes ....one very major natural disaster for every month since the new year. I thought April will pass peacefully with only glorious Royal Wedding to enjoy ,wrong again. I had a hard time to control my feeling when just few minutes ago seeing devastations caused by monster tornadoes on TV and then wonderful scenes in London . RIP for the victims and best wishes for America to recover speedily.

@Smorkian: Naa.

@YongYang

My post did not testify to this being an unprecedented event, unique in history, simply that Climate Change is fact. Which it is. Plus, 'How did the region now known as the Sahara Desert' would much better reflect what has already been said. Not how did the Sahara, which is a desert, become what it already is. I understand though, logical sequencing can be tricky.

Have you ever searched for the definition of the word "pedantic"? It could be enlightening.

Something that i read earlier in an article from NASA that according to a theoretical calculation performed by a NASA research scientist based on estimates from the United States Geological survey; the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that occurred just off the coast of Japan may have shifted the earth's "Figure Axis" (the axis about which Earth's mass is balanced) by about 17 centimeters (or 6.5 inches). If so, this could explain the weather here in the southern states of the U.S. I do have my own theory as to how this could be connected to climate change, (perhaps the glaciers melting from densely packed ice into free flowing liquid caused the weight of the earth to shift), however I'm no scholar, and I'm straying off topic. As a resident of southern U.S, I can say that as far as i can remember, my town has seen only one instance of a tornado, that is, before these recent storms. Now that i have seen these terrible storms, and the giant storm cells dance across my television screen as it broadcasts a message that i am to seek shelter, i do wonder, where am i to go? The article made a clear point, and the fact is, that we are not prepared. of course no one is fully prepared in terms of nature, however the southeastern states do not seem as prepared against tornadoes as the Midwestern states, whether or not it is a lack of sustainable shelters and structures, or a lack of tornado drills and storm protocols and procedures that i find as the basis for my reasoning. Either way, we must learn to adapt to our surroundings in an effort to survive, my heart and my prayers go out to those who have lost their lives and to those who have survived and those who continue to survive the circumstances seen globally.

Have there been any "divine retribution" comments from either right wing religious nuts or our Muslim brethren. Weather in US has been going nuts of late.

Another fact, it's the warmest it's ever been, going back at least 2000 years (based on ice core samples).

NO scientist on the planet is denying that the Earth is in a period of rising average temperatures. Where the true debate centers is the CAUSE of these rising temperatures. My comment about conservatives was made to point out they habitually miss this distinction. As the CAUSE of the temperature rise is irrelevant to my point that rising temperatures will mean harsher winters and more devastating Summer storms, I did not try and lay blame on any particular cause or group of causes. I'm sure the tornado victims don't care right now what caused the tornado onslaught.

Another really terrible natural disaster. Is it true that it is only the beginning of the tornado season? My deepest condolences to all those who lost loved ones.

@Wolfpack: There is now --on average-- more latent heat, thus energy, in the atmosphere than there was. This sees the mechanism of the atmosphere redistributing this energy in more events, such as, tornadoes. The planet we live on IS warmer than even decades ago. Fact.

@Smorkian, what are you pointing out other that already allured to. My post did not testify to this being an unprecedented event, unique in history, simply that Climate Change is fact. Which it is. Plus, 'How did the region now known as the Sahara Desert' would much better reflect what has already been said. Not how did the Sahara, which is a desert, become what it already is. I understand though, logical sequencing can be tricky.

Global warming isn't a political debate. It's a scientific one

I guess that's why the lead global warming scientist's used tricks to prove their 'science' and blackballed the publication of the views of scientists with contrary scientific viewpoints.

But back to the subject at hand. These terrible tornado's over the past week to ten days have been devastating - I have never heard of so many people dying from tornadoes.

It's not global warming, that has now been dropped for the more accurate Climate Change

Climate has changed for all of recorded history. How did the Sahara become a desert?

This is just a horrible event. I feel awful for the people who suffered from this. Tornado outbreaks are absolutely terrifying...

Please take heed of storm warnings, keep safe people.

It's not global warming, that has now been dropped for the more accurate Climate Change. Which is fact.

LFRAgain, apparently this is the worst Tornado season in 4 decades. Meaning, there was a worse one 40 years ago. How does this show anything about GW?

RIP to the poor souls who died in this.

Unlike an earthquake, you cannot build to protect your house, but a strong basement shelter is a must.

. . . says one of the most vocal conservative posters here at JT. :-)

Global warming isn't a political debate. It's a scientific one. Your take on it as a political one speaks volumes about precisely why conservatives are loathe to accept the science -- their political donors won't have it; It would cut into their corporate profits too much.

Meanwhile, Fadamor makes a valid point -- These storms, which will go down as the worst on record so far, were indeed predicted by climatologists and seem to be unfolding, just as anticipated.

Since we seem hell bent on ignoring global warming, man-made or otherwise, we're going to have adopt some different strategies to deal with these severe weather systems.

first RIP to all of the souls that were lost. there was a time when in tornado areas, people built storm cellars. but not so much now. this is not about climate change as it is about weather cycles. and politics has nothing to do, with this. lets take a moment to pray for those who lost lives as we pray for the survivors. and still pray for our families in Japan.

At the risk of angering conservatives

Why just conservatives? Dropping in political debate on 178 deaths from a freak storm would anger just regular, sensible people.

At the risk of angering conservatives, this IS one of the predicted effects of global warming: Storms (both in Summer AND Winter) will become more extreme in force. It could have just been a coincidence that this storm happened after continually rising world temperatures, or they could be related. We won't have a better idea until a few years from now when trends can be plotted with more accuracy.

It just goes to show that especially in this day and age you simply cannot predict when freak and extremely bizarre weather conditions will strike a region. In the last six months alone, while you can't qualify earthquakes as 'weather', we've seen so much death and destruction from natural disasters that it really makes you wonder why it's all happening at the same time (or feels that way).

I cannot believe the number of articles I've read about tornadoes in the past few days and how many lives they've taken, let alone affected. RIP to those lost, and my hearts go out to their loved ones.

Thanks, Taka. That's the first time I've ever been scared by a storm.

John,

I'm glad you were able to come away unscathed.

Taka

I've lived in eastern Tennessee for 15 years, and have never seen anything like this. The storm was ridiculously strong and came in wave after wave. I had no damage to my home or car (which was in the garage), but lots of my friends had windows and vinyl siding broken by hailstones as big as tennis balls. And most cars I'm seeing today are covered in dimples.

CNN is now saying more than 220 people lost their lives in the storm. This El Nino is a real bitch.

Taka

It's unreal how many have died in this storm. With modern satellite technology most places now have ample advance warning of such storms and precautions are taken, yet this one still claimed almost 200 lives.

Shows how fragile our lives can be, my thoughts and prayers to those who lost loved ones and the people who lost their lives. The number is now over 200 this is so sad.