Tornado Warning North of Atlanta; Breaking News: Tornados Spotted in Alabama, Georgia
WHITFIELD: All right. Following up on breaking news now. Ominous weather activity in Atlanta. Our Chad Myers keeping a close watch on what could be tornadic activity right there beyond the Atlanta skyline?</s>MYERS: Exactly. I think the word is could be, not issued yet. But let me well you, this is so significant I just called my parents who live under this storm and said you need to cover. I want to tell you to take cover. If this accumulative anywhere from about the Lubbock School to Sandy Springs and into Dunwoody, I need you to be taking this storm, even though it's only a severe thunderstorm warning on it, I need to take a tornado warning on it. There's a tornado vortex signature right there, and that means the storm has rotated significantly enough that the computer models believe there could be a tornado. Let me draw this out for you here. Here's hard to see where we are. Let me get a different graphic here so you can see what I'm talking about. Here and then there and then there. There we go. So now we're drawing the city all the way around. Up here's 575. Here's 75 down through and into Atlanta, Georgia. North Buckhead up into Roswell, up into Sandy Springs. This is where the storm is spinning enough that I'm concerned enough to call my parents on up toward moving toward Duluth in the next couple of minutes. The rotation is significant and expanding in size and getting tighter along the ground, meaning a potential for a very strong storm with a potential tornado does exist. Now, it's not there. It's not warning on it, but it takes 30 seconds for these things to pop up. It takes a couple of minutes for the weather service to put out the warning. Take cover like you have a tornado going on right now, north Buckhead, part of Vinings, Smyrna, into Sandy Springs and into Roswell and even up -- as far north -- farther into Dunwoody in about the next 15 minutes. Take cover now. Get away from the windows. Keep the kids inside. We'll keep you advised if a warning does pop up. It's significant enough for me to worry about.</s>WHITFIELD: Absolutely. Particularly unsettling because when we talk about Buckhead and Vinings, Sandy Springs area of Atlanta, densely populated --</s>MYERS: Absolutely.</s>WHITFIELD: -- no matter what time of day, a lot of people on the road, a lot of people in their taller office buildings, et cetera. So is it likely that this is a matter of minutes in which this kind of storm system could change and pick up speed? Or is it a matter of over the next couple of hours you're going to be watching this?</s>MYERS: It started just to the south of Austell, and the school over toward Trinity, and it's moving over Oakdale. This would be Vinings Estates right through here and then across the river very close would be Canoe Restaurant, the Lovett School, over towards Trinity. And now moving towards the north here, this would be like the Long Lake (ph) here. This would be Roswell Road, Sandy Springs and across the perimeter on up and maybe toward Norcross and Duluth. The rotation, I don't believe, in the middle of Oklahoma would warrant a warning. But when you're talking about a million people being affected, I have to go out and tell you about this. I'm getting this handed to me right now, National Weather Service indicating a tornado warning -- there we go -- for northwestern DeKalb, Fulton, and central Gwinnett County. This storm was near Sandy Springs there and there. And there finally is the pink box. This is what I'm talking about, Fred. Warnings can happen. It takes a couple of minutes for them to print this out. Warnings happen. Tornadoes come on the ground very quickly. That's why I wanted to get you advised on this. If you are anywhere from about Chamblee, Doraville, Norcross, up toward Duluth, Suwannee (ph), Lawrenceville, and right now Sandy Springs, and Dunwoody, you need to be taking cover for the potential of a tornado on the ground -- Fred?</s>WHITFIELD: Chad, there was a time when people would think a metropolitan area, downtown areas, it wouldn't be hit by tornadic activity until a couple of years ago, in particular, where a tornado came right through near the downtown area. In fact, impacting a portion of the CNN building here and a number of other sky-rise -- tall sky-riser-type buildings and hotels, and even a big loft community, as well. So Atlanta now knows and feels rather conditioned that this could happen. It's not certainly the first time even a couple of years ago. But it hasn't happened that often.</s>MYERS: Right. And you know, it's always a point when I lived in Oklahoma City years ago, a tornado could never go through the city because there's this heat dome. Well, we know that doesn't happen. That is not the case. Cities are not protected. In general, there's just more land that's not a city that is a city, so it's a lottery where these things go. And that's why you can never count on where you live being in a valley or a hill to stop a tornado from hitting you. It has nothing to do with that. And this will prove it now as that tornado warning, watch where it's going. Looks like now it's moving quite quickly to the east. I would say Vinings, Smyrna, Mableton, you're out of it, into Sandy Springs, Duluth, Lawrenceville, you're in it. That's how quickly these things continue to move and how quickly a tornado can come to the ground. I'm going to go back to my colors here. This tells me a lot more than that old graphic does. This is much more updated than that. Here would be Doraville. Here's Chamblee, I-85 through here. This is the north-end perimeter and where the signature is right now. Let's move it ahead. The Doppler doesn't update, oh, maybe every three to five minutes here. We'll move it ahead. This is about Norcross. That's Mount Bethel, all this, Smyrna, Oakdale, you are all in the clear. You can come out of your hiding places, safe houses right now, safe places. From Norcross, Duluth, up here, this would be the Peachtree area, up here into Norcross. And this here, that road is I-85. This rotation will move to you within the next 10 to 15 minutes. You need to be taking cover right now. We also had that tornado last time, the one you talked about. I'll get to a different map so people can understand. This is hard for people to look at home, but I need to use it so I know what's going on. The next -- the storm we had a couple of years ago that moved over the CNN Center came down from Rome and Cartersville and kind of came into Atlanta like this. This storm is coming in from a different direction, coming in from Douglasville, across to the south of Ostell, right over Vinings, right through Sandy Springs and into the Duluth metro area and up into Buford. This pink box shows the tornado could be on the ground there. And the rotation, I think, is still significant enough you should be taking cover anywhere from if you're outside the perimeter now -- this is Doraville, the Doraville metro stop there and up into I-85 and the northeast of there. This rotation here, this spin, a little bit less intense than it was earlier, and we don't have that triangle anymore with that tornado vortex signature. The computer doesn't believe that anymore, at least. And we'll see. Here's another report from Dave. Thank you, buddy. "I'm a meteorologist out of Nashville visiting Atlanta." This is from the Twitter feed. "I just witnessed a very weak funnel cloud along the Chattahoochee River near 285 and 75, 10 minutes ago, strong updraft, visible lifting small leaves and small leaves from trees into the air. Took video. Do you still have an e-mail"? That will be coming into our iReport there from our Twitter feed from Allison Chinchar (ph). She lives close to my parents up there in the same general vicinity. That would be Vinings. That would be all the way from Vinings into Sandy Springs and up to the north and to the northeast now as you're moving up into Duluth, take cover for a tornado. This is not an F-5, not an F-4, this is not the Kansas tornado picking you up and sending you down in Texas, but enough of wind damage, wind, trees, things falling on your car, falling on your house. The kids inside, pets inside, because winds even at 70 to 80 miles per hour could certainly do damage to you, your home, and your property.</s>WHITFIELD: Chad, you were talking about two systems in tandem, the Auburn, Alabama area is one you were closely watching, along side watching what's taking place in Atlanta. How is that Alabama activity?</s>MYERS: Let's go back to that. Guys, if you can hear me in the control room, this won't move. My control. I'm in the weather office here. Slide me all the way down I-85, down toward Opaleka (ph) and the storm that came out of Montgomery. Here we go, this is great. Thank you, guys. To the north of Tuskegee into Auburn, Alabama, we know there has been damage in Auburn, and now moved across to the north of Phoenix City, south of Lynette and then moving up toward the northeast. This would be moving south of Atlanta proper, probably south of Peachtree City. There is Thomaston there, LaGrange, south of LaGrange, this would be Bucks County, Peachtree City, probably south of there. Back up again, take me back and go to the south, guys. That will tell you the next storm system that will be moving very close to Phoenix City. This one here, rotation is right here and Phoenix City, right there moving across the river or the lake, depending on where you are here in phoenix city and then back into Georgia. All of the storm, also tornadoes on the ground, creating damage throughout much of the early afternoon. We don't expect them to slow down any time soon, probably not until after dark, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: My goodness. This is a long haul then, people need to take cover or come one their emergency plans it wasn't long ago you and I were talking about having those emergency kits ready and hopefully, this is -- this is a case in which people were listening about that warning, getting those emergency kits and they have those at the ready. Meantime, Chad, you mentioned that one weather person who was from Nashville, visiting Atlanta, took some pictures, likely to be sending that in. We are encouraging anyone who is in the Atlanta suburbia area, perhaps the Alabama, Auburn, area, to send in your iReport images. Don't put your life on the line. Don't take any unnecessary risks which to do so.</s>MYERS: Absolutely.</s>WHITFIELD: If you have that kind of video or interesting stories to tell about what you're experiencing, what you're seeing, you need to send them to ireports.com.</s>MYERS: Here is the rub with that today, Fred, is that these are called H.P. storms, high-precip storms. A lot of rain with the rotation. And even when this storm went over Montgomery, Alabama, and rotated all the way into Auburn, Alabama, you couldn't see it unless you were right under it unless you were in it, because there was so much rain going around it, it was shielded, it was curtained by the rain. So, you didn't know you were in trouble until you were already there. So, iReports probably going to be few and far between here unless you were in it. If you are in it I want you to be away from the whip dose. If you can see it, you're in the wrong place. I want you in a closet, away from this. This would move you ahead, see where we are going here. This would be Norcross. This looks like I would say the rotation tightening up a little bit here from Norcross, now moving into Duluth and that's why the tornado warning continues right there. When we see colors that are different, this is the Doppler Effect. The Doppler effect came about and was called the Doppler effect by the Professor Doppler. If you listen to a train, as you're sitting there at a train track and you're waiting for the train to go by as it goes by, you hear the train coming at you and it is a different sound than when the train is leaving. When the train goes by, the sound of that raining, the whistle, goes down, it gets lower, lower in frequency. That's the difference that the radar can listen for and see whether the rain is moving this way or this way. Now, if all the rain is moving in one direction, there is no issue. If the rain is moving like this, louder here, or lower, higher, lower, higher, that means there's rotation in the storm. That mean there is a potential for tornadoes in the storm and that's when the Doppler effect happens and when tornado warnings are printed out -- Fred?</s>WHITFIELD: Wow. Fascinating stuff. Potential dangers here, we are talking about this storm didn't just start, particularly in the Atlanta area. It's raining quite heavily overnight, all morning long. We're talking about very saturated grounds. Trees coming down, snapping power lines, all that in addition to this potential tornadic activity, or at least high winds.</s>MYERS: Yes, and it's -- the threat here is not that we have a large tornado on the ground. The threat is that we have a small tornado in the midst of a very populated area. Even an F-1, with 100-mile-an- hour wind or 80-mile-an-hour wind, even a zero, will do damage and take the roof from your neighbor and throw it into your house, break your windows. and if it would do that in the middle of Clinton, Oklahoma or Watonga (ph) or Edmund, even where I used to live -- it's a bigger place than it used to be -- but you wouldn't get as much damage because the houses are farther apart, the population farther apart. This is a major metro area, I can't count -- maybe four to five million people just in that big red square right there. That is why it is such a significant storm at this point. That's why if because of the difference in color here and here, and it is moving towards this way, right up into Duluth, right along I-85. This would be Satellite Boulevard, the Mall of Georgia. Eventually, you get up toward there. This is the area you need to be taking cover now. If you are in the mall, don't go outside your car. Cars are terrible places to be. If your kids are in school, don't get them. You don't want to be in a carpool line get them. Let the kids in school, the officials, administrators know where to put these kids. They're probably safer in school than your car, for sure and probably safer than your home, because they know where to put the kids. Fire officials tell them exactly the safest place in the schools. Let the kids there -- don't pick them up until after school or this is over -- Fred?</s>WHITFIELD: Again, Chad, while you're not saying we are talking about confirmed tornado on the ground or anything of that nature, talking about high winds, potential for tornadic activity. Take me back to a couple years ago when there was confirmed tornado activity, F-1 tornado coming through downtown Atlanta. What preceded it? What can we glean from that experience and how do we use that to anticipate potentially what could unfold today?</s>MYERS: You know, I don't think we even have any idea what could have happened to that tornado in Atlanta, had the game -- there was a basketball game, it was an NCAA tournament going on in the Georgia Dome that went into I believe it went into overtime. Had that -- that game been over on time and people were in the streets, hundreds of people would have been cut by flying glass. Here at CNN, we lost over 400 windows. The Omni Hotel from south to north tower lost hundreds, if not thousands of windows a building downtown. The Westin, that didn't have windows halfway in it for about two years until they could figure out how to put new windows in it. This was a big storm in downtown Atlanta. And if you consider how many people were downtown at that time, but they were in the Georgia Dome. The Georgia Dome had a tear in the roof. They didn't get hit, could much paired to the people walking to the car. All the shingles and glass flying around -- would have been a devastating storm for the people.</s>WHITFIELD: Live pictures of Atlanta. If we can look at the skyline one more time.</s>WHITFIELD: What we are looking at is a portion downtown and looking to midtown. You look at that, it doesn't look that ominous. It doesn't look that frightening. But north of this scene here is what we are talking about, when we say the Buckhead community, Sandy Springs, Duluth, et cetera. It is kind of in the horizon there, where it is dark.</s>MYERS: Yes.</s>WHITFIELD: Just beyond that skyline.</s>MYERS: That skyline now pointing off toward the northeast and that would be the direction you would see something, maybe even off toward the east. But you can't see anything because it's raining. The rain -- even if we had a tornado on the ground, you would never see it that is why you don't want to go outside and try to look for it. You don't want to go take a picture. I want you away from the windows, in the basement of your home, in the safest place that you know. Duluth, Norcross and on up to the northeast from there follow the I-85 corridor all the way up to Discovery Mills Mall. I want you in the basement, away from windows. The kids where they are if they are in school, bring the pets inside, kids inside if they are at home. You need to stay away from this storm because it is still rotating significantly. I have two different colors right next to each other, just about one mile northeast of Norcross, downtown Norcross right now -- Fred?</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Chad. We will continue to keep a close watch on this potentially dangerous activity in the Atlanta area, as well as south of Atlanta, in the Auburn, Alabama, area. And then, as you were hearing Chad explain, that system is moving kind of northeast. We will keep a close watch on it. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Thanks for being with me this hour. Brooke Baldwin will be up right after this.