Tornado Expert News Today

portions of mississippi and alabama or live in the weather center. awarding to the west, vladimir putin says he will station nuclear weapons in belarus. and risking it all for the american dream, a rising number of pregnant women and minors make the dangerous trek through panama for a chance at asylum in the us from cnn center. cnn newsroom with laila harre. we begin with a massive cleanup underway in the southeastern us after powerful storms that spawned deadly tornadoes barreled thro...

A little less clear. joining us right now is a tornado expert and professor at northern illinois university. professor, so great to see you. >> hi, fred. great to be with you. thanks for having me. >> wonderful. so why is it so difficult to connect tornadoes to the climate crisis? >> great question. its really their small scale. think of the size of a hurricane, like hurricane ian that hit florida earlier this year, very large storm, kind of easier to track, easier to forecast. these tornadoes l...

Maybe three-inch thick, that is really dense, really heavy, thats not going to fly through the air very easily. >> thank you dr. greg forbes, the premier expert on tornado damage. theres a tree over there thats been debarked, and a giant piece of plywood was thrown through the air and basically that tree stabbed it. you see things that just stun you, that just dont seem like they should happen. youve got a car thats up on the house, this is a pick-up truck right here on top of another vehicle. t...

These buildings are built with usually concrete, reinforced concrete or cinder block. these have very, very strong buildings and theyll look at the degree of damage. and they can estimate what the wind speed will be. our tornado expert dr. greg forbes who is literally the worlds expert in tornado damage surveys. he was with us yesterday, he says no doubt in his mind this will be rated an ef-5 tornadoes with winds, that means, brian, in excess of 200 miles an hour. he says there was an oil tank a...

Know, everywhere you look, you know, you could be looking at tornado damage. were with our tornado expert the weather channel dr. greg forbes and dr. forbes, kind of the question is, how big is this tornado, how far did it go? what is your sense. >> my sense of the total destruction is its about three blocks of this subdivision neighborhood, so its probably about a quarter mile wide of total destruction. we were down a little bit on the south edge of the tornado. there most of the houses are sti...

That something very devastating has happened. the only other time that i have personally witnessed damage like this is when we were in joplin, missouri, two years ago, it was may 2011. and 161 people lost their lives in that tornado and we fear this may come very close if not exceed that tornado. its one of those situations wherever where you look, you could be looking at tornado damage. were with our tornado expert at the weather channel, dr. greg forbes. how big is this tornado? how far did it...

Unaccounted for an potentially have parished in the tornado. we know the medical examiner has confirmed 37 fatalities. were only a couple of hours into this. but certainly when you see the scene behind us you know that something very devastating has happened. the only other time ive witnessed damage like this is when we were in joplin, missouri two years ago, may 2011 and 161 people lost their life in that tornado and this may come close if not exceed that tornado. its one of those situations wh...

Of this field of work. hes a structural engineer and tornado expert at the same time. he helped develop the enhanced fujita scale, the scale we use today. he doesnt have official word of what this tornado was which came from mississippi, through tuscaloosa, just barely missed birmingham and headed into north georgia. likely an ef-3 if not ef-4. we have determined there is an ef-5 with winds of 200 miles an hour across smithfield, mississippi. so its been quite an outbreak with so many large, pow...