Nashville

Drivers in Tennessee have been using Tennessee 511 in increasing numbers since TDOT launched the system in 2006.  In addition to real-time traffic information on Tennessee’s interstate and state highways, travelers can access weather conditions, Amber Alerts, TDOT’s Record-A-Comment phone line and the 511 systems in neighboring states, such as Georgia, Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina.

Motorists may dial 511 from any cell phone and use either the phone’s keypad or the voice recognition feature to access information.  Remember to keep safety first.  If possible, drivers should have a passenger in the vehicle make the call to 511 or pull to the side of the road to safely use the system.

People may also dial 511 from any land line phone or visit the Tennessee 511 website at http://www.tn511.com/ to access this information before leaving home.  TDOT is also on Twitter.  For statewide information you can follow www.twitter.com/TN511.  For regional information follow one of the following: www.twitter.com/Knoxville511, www.twitter.com/Chattanooga511, www.twitter.com/Nashville511, www.twitter.com/Memphis511.

As always, motorists should practice common sense safety precautions when using any of these services.

Josh Loy throws the football to Taylor Hull Jr as Michael Gray looks on.

Rainbows were visible over the city on April 20th. (Debbie Boen)

• Wednesday…Partly sunny. Highs in the upper 60s. West winds 10 to 15 mph.
• Wednesday Night…Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 40s. Light and variable winds.
• Thursday…Partly cloudy with a chance of showers. Highs in the upper 70s. South winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30 percent.
• Thursday Night…Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 50s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.
• Friday…Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 80s.
• Friday Night Through Monday Night…Partly cloudy. Lows in the mid to upper 50s. Highs near 80.
• Tuesday…Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70s. Chance of rain 30 percent.

This Weather forecast is courtesy of The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The dark purple of a pansy against the snow.

What a difference a day makes! On Tuesday the region basked in 80 degrees of summer-like warmth and sunshine. Barbecue grills were dragged out and fired up, just as area residents hustled to find “cool” clothing to don for this brief taste of seasons yet to come.

Adhering to the adages of the weatherwise, if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.

So it is that northern Middle Tennessee saw temperature drop by 50 degrees, viewed a sky of thickening  clouds, and watched in awe as winter took what may be its last punch of the 2008-09 season.

Snow. Sleet. Freezing rain. Salt brine and sanding trucks, even a snow plow on Fort Campbell Boulevard.  The snow line moved south over the course of the day, arriving in lower Clarksville in mid-afternoon, some time after north Clarksville was already eyeing light accumulation.

In New England, this kind of snowfall is “sugar snow,” a late season wet snowfall that comes even as the springtime rush of sap is surging through the sugar maples, sap that is gathered in buckets, pouring into wood-fired arches to boil — 40 gallons of sap makes a gallon of syrup in a 24/7 marathon that only works in late winter on the cusp of spring, when days are warm and nights are cold. Light golden Grade A syrup is considered the finest, with the dark amber B (or less) syrup as the “end of season fare (I actually like the darker richer taste of the Grade B). Today’s snow was a light coating of “sugar snow.”

I miss New England, and this snowfall was a gift of sorts. Being out in it was, for me, a treat.

Snow-covered bridge at Billy Dunlop Park

The National Weather Service gave the region ample notice. Though it was a bit later getting her, once it started, the winter storm  revved up quickly, piling over an inch of snow (of the wet snowman-making kind) across downtown, somewhat more  toward the Kentucky border.

A spider web on the bridge at Billy Dunlop Park

Having already transitioned my closet from winter-ready to summer-anticipation, I rummaged hastily  for something “warmer” to wear, something to layer as I prepared for a photographic circuit of Clarksville.

Even as the storm was shifting between snow, sleet and freezing rain, and winding down from the west, Clarksville Online captured images of a wonderland that will be gone with tomorrow’s predicted 45 degree high.

On the cusp between winter and tornado season,

[Show as slideshow]

Courtesy of WSI (www.wsi.com)

Despite the near-balmy mid-40s temperatures today, the cold is coming. Bitter cold.

This frost/freeze  map posted on Intellicast, a weather forecasting service, indicated bright blue in every single state on the continental U.S.  Only Southern California, the very edges of the Gulf states, and the southern tip of Florida will be unaffected by sub-freezing tempertures over the next few days.

While early morning lows will approach the -0- mark,  daytime highs will remain in the 20s for the next few days, so it could be worse in Middle Tennessee. Northern Vermont and upstate New York, Michigan and Minnesota — most of the states in the northern tier — are in for some minus-40 readings, not counting the windchill.  Even sunny California, about 2/3 of it, will  be below that pivotal 32 degree mark.

Dress appropriately, especially if you have to remain outdoors for any length of time.The only thing that will high through Saturday is the amount of heat it will take to stay warm. Higher fuel bills will be an inevitable consequence.

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The greater Clarksville area seems to have skipped autumn altogether, moving strait from hot humid lingering 80s to winter. The proof is in the mittens, mufflers, wool caps, boots  and winter parkas popping up all over town. Even a quick sprint from parked car to supermarket entrance requires a bit of bundling. Waiting for a bus can be a challenge in this blustery cold weather.

Dress warmly and layer clothing

• Bundle up! Your wardrobe should contain a warm jacket or coat, sweaters, sweatshirts, sweatpants, and long pants. Mix in some items that can easily add layers of warmth. Turtlenecks and thermal underclothes are ideal. If you need to be outdoors, dress in layers, with a windbreaker or parka to insulate you from the wind.
• Always wear a hat, scarf, and gloves or mittens when going outdoors. Don’t skip the gloves just because they don’t fit your gnarly fingers perfectly. In that case, mittens are a good alternative. Just be sure your hands are covered.
• As for boots, forget about being a fashionista: Get boots that are waterproof. You must keep your feet dry if you are going to keep warm. Thick lug soles will keep your feet warmer than those wafer-thin soles on higher-heeled boots.
• To be blunt, women’s long underwear often has less warmth and texture than men’s.  In this age of leggings, wear a warm close fitting knit legging under pants and skirts.
• Smart Wool and other high tech socks cost more up front, but wear exceptionally well; they have wicking abilities that keep feet dry as well as warm (Ed: My first pairs of Smart Wools lasted six New England winters of wear — not bad for $12 a pair.)

Don’t scrimp on heat

Escalatingb utility costs notwithsatnding, this is not a time to scrimp on heat (especially for the elderly, who are more susceptiable to hypothermia and pneumonia). Scrimping on heat is not an option for arthritis patients. Lowering the thermostat may save money now, but could cost quite a bit more later.

• Keep the thermostat at a reasonable setting — a setting that you determine is comfortable. Consider a programmable thermostat that you can set lower for the hours you are away from home, and adjusts to a higher temperature right before you come home. While it’s efficient, a programmable thermostat assures you will have a warm temperature when you are at home.
• Instead of raising the thersmostat, you can save money by dressing warmly inside your home; top off that  T-shirt or housedress with a sweater; keep your socks and shoes on (or wear houselippers).
• Close drapes and/or curtains at night to keep heat in; open them to let sunlight in during the day.
• Caroets and area rugs can mitigate the chill of cold linoleum or tile floors.
• Make sure that storm windows are tightly fitted.  Caulk drafty windows and use weather stripping around doors and windows.  Use plastic storm windows inside your home if you do not have exterior storm windows.
• Plug in some warmth with an electric blanket or heating pad. The electric blanket is more effective for keeping you warm while you are resting or sleeping. For those with arethritis, heating pads are more useful for localized areas where joints have become stiff and painful from the cold weather. Many different electric blankets and heating pads are available. Rice packs (microwaveable now) can be tucked in the foot of your bed for a “bedwarmer” effect.

Think twice before going outdoors

Put on a jacket to run outside to get the mail or to  dash into your car for a quick trip to the store or post office.  All you get cold. So, no quick trips out into the cold without proper clothing and outerwear.

Treat yourself

That steaming cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate can really warm you up from the inside out. Hot beverages are soothing, comforting, and warming. Start your day or end your day with a hot drink. Hot tea or hot chocolate should be considered staples. Always have them on hand.

The National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement calling for “snow showers” and the possibility of a slick dusting of snow overnight tonight and into Monday. The statement reads in part:

“Colder temperatures will change lingering rain showers to snow showers tonight. Snow showers will continue on Monday with temperatures remaining in the 30s. Light accumulations possible over Middle Tennessee. Tonight’s low will hover at the freezing mark of 32, with a west wind at 15-20 mph.”

Snow showers are “likely” on Monday with winds gusting to 25 mph and the daytime high hovering in the mid-30s.

Weather service forecasters noted that there has not been “measurable snow” in November since 1996, and the average date of the first half inch of snow in this area is January 3.

“Our readers think of the Almanac as a reliable friend that they can turn to for advice, novel ideas, and a clever, witty, or amusing item,” says Janice Stillman, editor of The Old Farmer’s Almanac. “These days, countless distractions compete for people’s thoughts and time, and information sources abound. The benefit of the Almanac is that it can be enjoyed both today, in the moment, and in the weeks and months to come. In fact, it’s the one book you can read all year long!”

• The 2009 Old Farmer’s Almanac features all-new stories guaranteed to be fun and factual, interesting and entertaining. Here are a few highlights: “Tastes and Trends”: This comprehensive and colorful section reports on and forecasts fashions, food, hobbies, home amenities, farm and garden interests, collector markets, and more for the year, with comments from experts.
• “Is Global Warming on the Wane?”: Convincing evidence suggests that an extreme cooling period is imminent or already under way. Don’t miss this chilling account!
• “About Trout”: Going fishing? Take along these handy hints for catching and cooking some beauties.
• “Foot Notes”: Got tender feet? Is your arch your enemy? Are you a pronator or a supinator? Here is where you can find your best footing and sample a few pedi-cures.
• “Directions from the Dark Side”: Your dreams are trying to tell you something! Learn how to capture, decode, and benefit from the symbols, settings, and situations that play in your mind at night.
• “Butterflies for Free”: Monarch butterflies love milkweed and so should you. Having this plant in your garden practically ensures that a flutter will follow.
• “How to Live to Be 100 or More”: Life expectancy may be at its highest point ever, but why leave your longevity to chance? Take this advice from centenarians.
• “Tomato Love”: Meet a man who annually harvests 4,000 pounds of heirloom tomatoes,  from his own one-acre garden and learn how to grow a ton-or just a few pounds-of your own.

While the Almanac is known for its garden, home, food, and feature stories, everybody is interested in the weather.

“Brides, city managers, business owners, event planners, farmers-people from all walks of life-use the Almanac every year for the weather,” says Stillman.

So, what does The 2009 Old Farmer’s Almanac say about the weather year ahead?

• Cooling is on the radar for Winter 2008-09, with heavy snowfall from southern New England southwestward into the Ozarks. Temperatures will be below average throughout much of the nation.
• Spring 2009 will bring cooler temperatures to the Southwest and West. Rainfall will be above normal in Florida and the Southeast.
• Hot will describe Summer 2009 in Florida and an area from the Great Lakes southwestward into New Mexico. The rest of the country can expect below-normal or average temperatures

The Old Farmer’s Almanac is produced by Yankee Publishing Inc. of Dublin, New Hampshire. The Almanac family of publications also includes themed calendars for 2009: Gardening, Country, and Weather Watcher’s (for wall display); Every Day (in the page-per-day format); and a spiral-bound Engagement Calendar.

Created for cooks (and anyone who likes to eat) is the just-released Old Farmer’s Almanac Everyday Cookbook. This collection features more than 400 home-style recipes, including updated classics and family favorites passed down through generations.

Also available is The Old Farmer’s Almanac for Kids, Volume 2. Released every other year, this colorful book was created with the wit and wisdom of its parent publication, but for kids ages 8 and up. This newest edition features wacky and fascinating (not to mention educational) facts, stories, and projects that will keep kids occupied for hours.

The 2009 Old Farmer’s Almanac is now available for just $5.99 from Almanac.com or wherever books and magazines are sold. Look for it on the newsstand or in the reference section of bookstores. The 2009 Old Farmer’s Almanac is available wherever books and magazines are sold. Folks who can’t find it in bookstores, supermarkets, or hardware stores can order individual copies or subscriptions at Almanac.com* or by calling 800-ALMANAC.

Did you know the Almanac.com is loaded with even more recipes, trivia, and advice than the Almanac. Try the home-page personalization option, the podcasts, the blogs, and the newsletter-free! Be sure to visit Almanac4kids.com, too.

One unlucky homeowner on Powers Street fared less well than most, as mature tree had a huge portion of its limbs torn off by Ike’s windpower.

A Osage orange tree has fallen into the yard of a home on Powers street in Clarksville, TN

In the New Providence area, CDE workers worked to restore power to the Eva Drive area. Northern Middle Tennessee spent most of Sunday under a high wind warning as Ike, after meandering through the Caribbean and the Gulf ofMexico, before taking out entire sections of the Louisiana and Texas coastline, began is run over dry land. In its aftermath, Clarksville and surrounding communities have enjoy a spate of cooler, breezy weather, refreshing after the heat of summer.

A CDE Electrical truck in the backyard of a home doing electrical repair work after the storm.

The tenth such system, Josephine, is on the map with three months left to go in the hurricane season.

As southern states and many islands learned in a painful lesson last week, a storm doesn’t have to hit hurricane strength to do its damage. tropical Storm Fay broke all records with four separate landfalls in Florida, dumping double-digit rain across the region, flooding, well, just about everything. As if storm surge isn’t enough, Fay’s copious rains brought alligators and snakes out of their normal habitat to ride the rainfall torrents all over the state. Fay was barely a blip on yesterday’s radar when along came Gustav, three years almost to the day after Katrina.

Big, burly Gustav was a nasty chunk of tropical weather, claiming lives and destroying property across the Caribbean and Cuba before taking aim at the Louisiana shoreline and New Orleans. The largest evacuation in history carried millions from the Big easy and its surrounding parishes; watching a Cat 3 or 4 storm approaching scared the daylights out of everybody, and the evacuation, an exhaustive process, was also a success. At the eleventh hour, New Orleans escaped the brunt of catastrophe as the storm — as tropical systems do — diminishes a bit and squiggled a tad more to the west. Not having a replay of Katrina’s 2005 devastation may make some people less apt to listen and leave should another such potential crisis emerge.

But that’s not all folks! The NOAA maps show a series of storms just lining up to take aim at the islands, Cuba and the southern mainland and gulf shore. Hanna was wiggled a bit but now seems to be tracking parallel to the still draining Florida Coast with a potential landfall in Georgia or its South Carolina Border by the weekend. A week after than Ike should be flexing its muscles in our direction, follow in a bout a week by Josephine.

I’ve never seen the kinds of imagines I’m seeing now on the NOAA site; the red, greens and yellows of wind outflow overlapping each other. It’s reminiscent of riding in the wind of a tractor-trailer on the highway. They’re just pulling and pushing each other along. Or so it seems on the maps.

We are all grateful that another Katrina catastrophe was averted, and we regret the devastation that Fay and Gustav have wreaked for hundreds and hundreds of miles. We are glad, though, that people listened and left. We hope that should another such storm take aim, they will not be complacent; they will up and leave. One Katrina, one Fay, one Gustav, was enough.

National Hurricane Center map shows the projected path of Gustav, which is expected to be a Cat 3 or higher storm when it makes landfall. In its path, New orleans, which is already preparing to evacuate parts of the city.

Last week hurricane-savvy Floridians learned the kind of devastation a tropical storm, albeit a persistent one, can do. Fay ambled leisurely across the state with three landfalls and rain measured by the foot. Now tropical storm Gustav, currently cruising the shores of Cuba, is poised to hit the warm Gulf of Mexico waters and exploded into a Category 3, possible a Cat 4, storm before it rocks the coastline of east Texas or Louisiana.

Today is the 3rd anniversary of Katrina and its first levee breach. Louisiana  officials, fearing a repeat performance,  have already pre-declared a state of emergency for Louisiana and have 750 buses on tap to evacuate at least 30,000 people from the most vulnerable areas. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has faith in the levee repairs and rebuilding. But the fact is that New Orleans is a below sea level basin and is especially vulnerable to anything at or over a Cat 3 storm, especially if Gustave gets lazy and decides to hang around a bit. That’s what Fay did to Florida last week. Louisiana has activated 5,000 National Troops to deal with preparation for the storm and to do whatever needs to be done in its wake next week.

Texas followed suit with a disaster status for its eastern coast, and Mississippi, which will be on the stronger easterly side of the storm, has declared a state of emergency. All this nearly four days before the storm breaks over land. Offshore oil rigs are running with minimal crews and may be fully evacuated as the storm develops. The oil market is reacting to the potential disruption of the Gulf oil flow with a rise in crude oil prices.

The eye of the storm will pass west of New Orleans, but close enough to New Orleans that it will be a true test of just how well rebuilt levees and canals will do with that treacherous eastern edge of a storm.

New Orleans may be closing its floodgates at Lake Ponchatrain Saturday, putting a halt to Union Pacific and other rail traffic.  Union Pacific is the largest railroad in America, is routing trains through Memphis TN and St. Louis MO.

National Hurricane Center 5-day projection of wind from the Gulf storm, Gustav (left), and the Atlantic storm, Hanna

Complicating this picture is a second tropical depression, Hanna, churning up and gaining strength in the Atlantic. Hanna is nearing hurricane strength, and the five day cone puts it on an easterly track with a bend toward the Carribead Island by Monday.

National Hurricane Center five-day wind charts show Hanna’s winds overlapping Gustav’s by Monday, which could make from some interesting weather across Florida as the outer bands of these potentially giant storms collide.

Tennesseans need to be aware of Gustav’s approach, since hurricane winds and residual rain could drift up in the aftermath of a Louisiana landfall. We need rain; we probably don’t need a Fay-like deluge from a slow-moving or stalled storm.

Waiting in the wings, deep in the Atlantic waters, are two more areas  “of interest” that meteorologists are keeping an eye on.

While skeptics say Gustav isn’t even a hurricane yet, state and federal officials, having already watched Fay wreak havoc, are willing to look ahead with a conservative eye and prefer to err on the side of caution. No one wants a repeat of the Katrina tragedy.

Warming so far, about two degrees Fahrenheit over land areas, seems almost innocuous, being less than day-to-day weather fluctuations. But more warming is already “in- the-pipeline”, delayed only by the great inertia of the world ocean. And climate is nearing dangerous tipping points. Elements of a “perfect storm”, a global cataclysm, are assembled.

Climate can reach points such that amplifying feedbacks spur large rapid changes. Arctic sea ice is a current example. Global warming initiated sea ice melt, exposing darker ocean that absorbs more sunlight, melting more ice. As a result, without any additional greenhouse gases, the Arctic soon will be ice-free in the summer.

More ominous tipping points loom. West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are vulnerable to even small additional warming. These two-mile-thick behemoths respond slowly at first, but if disintegration gets well underway it will become unstoppable. Debate among scientists is only about how much sea level would rise by a given date.

In my opinion, if emissions follow a business-as-usual scenario, sea level rise of at least two meters is likely this century. Hundreds of millions of people would become refugees. No stable shoreline would be reestablished in any time frame that humanity can conceive.

Special interests have blocked transition to our renewable energy future. Instead of moving heavily into renewable energies, fossil companies choose to spread doubt about global warming, as tobacco companies discredited the smoking-cancer link. Methods are sophisticated, including funding to help shape school textbook discussions of global warming.

CEOs of fossil energy companies know what they are doing and are aware of long-term consequences of continued business as usual. In my opinion, these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature.

Conviction of ExxonMobil and Peabody Coal CEOs will be no consolation, if we pass on a runaway climate to our children. Humanity would be impoverished by ravages of continually shifting shorelines and intensification of regional climate extremes. Loss of countless species would leave a more desolate planet.

If politicians remain at loggerheads, citizens must lead. We must demand a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants. We must block fossil fuel interests who aim to squeeze every last drop of oil from public lands, off-shore, and wilderness areas. Those last drops are no solution. They yield continued exorbitant profits for a short-sighted self-serving industry, but no alleviation of our addiction or long-term energy source.

A price on emissions that cause harm is essential. Yes, a carbon tax. Carbon tax with 100 percent dividend is needed to wean us off fossil fuel addiction. Tax and dividend allows the marketplace, not politicians, to make investment decisions…..

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TwentyYearsLater_20080623.pdf

Accompanying slides:

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TippingPointsNear_20080623.pdf

About the author: Dr. James E. Hansen, longtime director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said in a January 29, 2006, New York Times interview that officials at NASA headquarters had ordered the public affairs staff to review his coming lectures, papers, and postings on the Goddard Web site and requests for interviews from journalists. Since 1988, he has been issuing public warnings about the long-term threat from heat-trapping emissions, dominated by carbon dioxide, that are an unavoidable byproduct of burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center “projected climate conditions point to a near normal or above normal hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin this year. The prediction was issued at a news conference called to urge residents in vulnerable areas to be fully prepared for the onset of hurricane season, which begins June 1.” NOAA’s Atlantic hurricane season outlook will be updated on August 7, just prior to what is historically the peak period for hurricane activity. The season runs through November 30.

In reality, the first Pacific storm of the season,Tropical Storm Alma, heavy wind and rain struck the Central American coastline Thursday after becoming the first such storm of the eastern Pacific season. With sustained winds of 65 mph, it was a hurricane when it struck Nicaragua.

While hurricanes themselves are a lesser threat to inland states such as Tennessee, major storms can move inland and stall, dropping copious amounts of rain in combination with strong winds and possible tornadoes.

The Climate Prediction Center outlook calls for considerable activity with a 65 percent probability of an above normal season and a 25 percent probability of a near normal season. This means there is a 90 percent chance of a near or above normal season.

For 2008, the outlook indicates a 60 to 70 percent chance of 12 to 16 named storms, including 6 to 9 hurricanes and 2 to 5 major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale).

“The main factors influencing this year’s seasonal outlook are the continuing multi-decadal signal (the combination of ocean and atmospheric conditions that have spawned increased hurricane activity since 1995), and the anticipated lingering effects of La Niña. One of the expected oceanic conditions is a continuation since 1995 of warmer-than-normal temperatures in the eastern tropical Atlantic.” — Gerry Bell, Ph.D., lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.

The day after a night of storms dawned with many families still without power and emergency response teams pouring into Montgomery County to undertake the task of restoring power, removing downed trees from power lines and roadways, and setting the process of recovery in place. Weather officials estimate that four F-1 tornadoes touched down across the county, three hitting the Palmyra area. The fourth hit Clarksville. F-1s have winds ranging from 86-110 miles per hour.

No place was the pressure felt more than at the Clarksville-Montgomery County Chapter of the American Red Cross, which just two weeks ago sustained a disaster of their own when an arsonist torched the agency’s Emergency Response Vehicle [ERV] filled with disaster response equipment. Faced with the devastation of a tornado, its victims, and a horde of emergency responders to assist, Red Cross volunteers rallied, utilizing many of their own resources in the first hours after the disaster.

Emergency Services Director Cecil Stout was at the Red Cross office within minutes of the storm report, facing the challenge of no power, no computers, no working phones, and no way to easily find the supplies and equipment needed to respond. Stout found himself literally feeling his way in the dark, hand over hand, as he located a battery-operated power source and tapped into that, ultimately using a projector as the main light source.

The midnight tornado was a reality check, Stout said, noting that the absence of the ERV created some delays in responding to this crisis, just as its presence would have made the delivery of services “much easier and more efficienct.” Stout said Nashville was sending a truck to Clarksville “for two days” to assist in recovery efforts. “But this shows us just how desperately we need a fully equipped ERV.”

In the back rooms of the Red Cross, volunteers were assembling “comfort kits” for victims, pulling together first aid and other supplies, and handling the flow of victims and survivors in need of assistance.

“They can’t wait until we have a truck or get our power back on,” Stout said. “They [victims] need us now.”

Volunteer Sharon Black noted that despite the challenges, the Red Cross had served over 100 meals and provided services to three families by morning. Red Cross is now asking for volunteers with chain saws to help residents clear debris, since power company crews will clear power lines but will not cut away the hundreds of trees and limbs covering homes and yards.

As the Red Cross seeks to both replace its ERV and meet this newest demand for assistance from disaster victims, it is asking the community for help. Donations can be made to the Clarksville Chapter of the American Red Cross for either general operating funds [which includes funds for direct assistance to victims] or for the needed Emergency Response Vehicle by making a check to the agency. Checks can be mailed to the Red Cross at 585 S Riverside Drive, Clarksville TN 37040. For more information, call 645-6401.

~~ The Storm ~~

With forecasters eyeing a strong front that ran from Chicago to Texas, it was no real surprise that severe weather would eventually land in Tennessee. Throughout the day the news was full of reports from Missouri and Arkansas of killer storms. Severe thunderstorms began in this area by late day with a tornado watch issued through midnight Friday (May 2). The storm front slowed, seemed to stall at the Mississippi River and over Land Between the Lakes, before sliding into Middle Tennessee.

Once here, it began to wreak its fury, first with fiery bursts of lightning and blasts of wind, then long rumbling rolls of thunder. A few “meso cyclonic” indicators were noted, and the tornado watch was extended a half hour to 12:30 a.m. At three minutes past midnight, the sirens wailed and the storm was already here. The front itself was stuck fast, dumping more and rain before finally sliding east after 2 a.m. So much for the “storm moving at ‘xxx’ miles per hour.” It was, but then it hit the brakes. Over Clarksville.

~~ Palmyra ~~

As for the storm, it first hit on Harris Circle in Palmyra, a winding hillside road that today was littered with debris from a skyline of shredded trees and badly damaged mobile homes.

Jeremy Durkin never heard it coming. Asleep in his bed at midnight, he never heard the wind. His girlfriend, Jennifer Rewczuk did. She bolted from her bed and raced to her son’s room, throwing herself over him as the tornado struck, tumbling the mobile home from its foundation, rolling it across the road, where it came to land on its side against two trees. Jeremy was able to crawl from the trailer, but Jennifer and her two-year-old son “J” ["just "J"] were trapped. The bedroom windows were crushed against the ground; the door leading out to the hall was now the ceiling. Jeremy had to demolish the wall of the trailer to get them out. Apart from bumps, bruises and scratches, they were relatively uninjured.

“Jeremy just kicked the wall out,” Jennifer said. “But we had no warning. Nothing. It happened so fast, and it was over in a minute.”

For Jennifer, this is the second disaster in two years; in 2006 her home was completely destroyed by fire. “We lost everything in that fire,” she recalled, adding that she almost feels like an expert in disaster. That doesn’t keep her from feeling “numb,” for stepping back and look at the remnants of her home with a dazed, disbelieving stare. In the neighbor’s driveway, a few bags and boxes hold all that was recoverable from the wreckage, all that is left of their lives. Their family cat was (as of 2 p.m. Saturday) still trapped in the wreckage. Amid fears that the rest of the mobile home would collapse, it was deemed too dangerous to try and reach the animal.

Next door, Cody Lasley was stading inside what was left of his home, his blond head clearly visible where things like a wall, a ceiling, and a roof should be. Instead, the home was in sections, sliced in half by a tree trunk that cut through his bedroom. The mobile home was surrounded and all but covered by debris.

From inside, Cody simply shook his head, slowly picking through the pieces in search of something to salvage. The pickings were slim.

~~ The Fairgrounds ~~

Splinters. That just about all that’s left of the pavilion at the Clarksville Fairgrounds. At one corner, a two story chunk of storage and office space stands roofless and open to the elements, a stairway now wide open and rail-less, coming and going nowhere. The parking lot is cordoned off for utility vehicle only: phone, electric, and assorted repair and or demolition crews with cherry pickers for high wire work.

Pieces of the building have been pushed into a pile not unlike a tossed up package of children’s “pick up sticks.” Lumber littered the roadside and a good portion of the pavilion was blown across the street, pieces blended in a Cole Slaw mix with tree limbs and downed power lines. The finely shredded roofing shingles were generously laced throughout the chain link fence at both the fairgrounds and the neighboring Clarksville Jaycees.

The Kiwanis Rodeo was curtailed Friday because of the pending line of severe thunderstorms approaching the region; it was lucky break for rodeo fans who would otherwise have been caught in heavy thunderstorms and possibly the tornado itself, with potentially fatal implications. The bleachers in which fans would have been sitting sustained considerable damage, though the livestock brought in for the rodeo, huddled in pens beyond the pavilion area, were unharmed. On Saturday, in light of the destruction and lack of power, a convoy of trucks was loading up the horses and bulls, heading out to their next location.

At the duck pond, the deck designed for handicapped accessibility to the water was damaged, some of its railings ripped apart. One portable toilet sat at a 45 degree angle on the water’s edge, while another appeared to be submerged mid-lake with a dozen turtles happily sunning themselves on its roof. The ducks and geese waddled their way through debris, oblivious to the chaos all around them.

On the highway, hundreds of cars passed by with area residents wanting a peek at the damage.

A new mini mall under construction a few lots down from the fairground had most of its tin roofing twisted up pretzel-fashion, hanging from its roof line to the ground. A power pole and three transformers at Gary Matthews Motors were blown down, draping hot wires over 2008 SUVs. On Saturday, Pike Co. drilled the old post from the ground and replaced it with new transformers. One of the old transformers had split apart; when asked about the potential for PCB contamination, it was learned the new transformers use a soybean oil rather than PCBs.

~~ Hickory Ridge ~~

Driving through Hickory Ridge was a challenge, since several streets were still completely obstructed by downed trees or trees suspended in the hammock of power, cable and phone lines on Saturday.

Shaun Azlin walked along one road, working with the buzz of his leaf blower in his ear, sweeping the nozzle from side to side, blowing smaller pieces of debris from the road. Trees took out power to his home, but the gas-fired tool gave him other clean-up options for his neighborhood.

For Johnny Keykendahl, it was another story: he was watching TV, watching the storm line “move toward us.”

“I just heard a roaring sound, and as I watched the rain went from straight down to coming in sideways,” he said. “From somewhere outside it sounded like someone was shooting machine guns…”

Keykendahl looked out his back window and saw, “well, I’m not sure what I saw. Maybe a funnel. Blue, with lightning… I didn’t waste anytime figuring it out.” Within a matter of minutes, his trees tumbled through his roof and into his home, followed by torrents of rain that left three inches of water in his home. “It all happened within five minutes,” he said, still visibly shaken, but grateful to be alive. “The [tornado] lasted just a minute, then it was gone,” he said. Leaning against the tailgate of a pick-up truck, he spoke with animated hands and a tired look on his face as his sons and neighbors moved about. “I just couldn’t believe it.”

Alan Goldstein, the vision behind Photography by Alan, fare better than many of his neighbors; his home had little structural damage, just a lot of debris to be racked up or bundled up. Cable lines hung loosely at the edge of the road by his driveway. “I just heard an enormous noise,” Goldstein said. “And then it was over.”

His neighbor Doris Hodess wasn’t as lucky.

Doris was at work when the storm hit, and was met halfway home by a friend who wanted to “prepare her” for the destruction on her property.

My whole [chain link] fence is down with a tree in,” she said, noting that a neighbor’s tree now covered her back yard. Another tree straddled her garage. Cracked and broken tree limbs were scattered everywhere and both home and property sustained far more significant damage than Goldstein, who voiced support for his distressed neighbor.

“I have no power, I don’t know if I can sleep here tonight,” Hodess said. “There’s a tree on my house.”

We found Sherry Nolen outside her daughter’s home, where their gas grill had been effectively relocated to a neighbor’s yard along with a basketball hoop. “There’s quite a lot of damage behind the houses,” she said, noting that she was originally planning to help her daughter, Tina Milton, move this weekend, since the house had been sold. behind the home, the heavily wood land was a tangled mire of wood shards and vines.

Apart from the obvious streetside damage, the view in the heavily wooded backyards of the Hickory Hills neighborhood was a spectacular display of Mother Nature run amok. Many trees were sheered off halfway up, with branches of different trees tangled together in a chaotic web.

~~ High Street – Madison Street – Downtown ~~

The last area to sustain significant damage was the High Street area and sections around Crossland and Madison. As the storm blew through, sirens wailed but with barely enough lead time to wake residents, many of whom said they “never heard the sirens.”

“What sirens,” said CO Publisher Bill Larson, who dropped work to dive under his computer desk as the roaring wind passed overhead. “Then the power went out.” Across the street, Greg Schlanger’s children popped bike helmets on the heads and dove into the cellar. A few blocks away, this writer, who couldn’t keep her eyes open, awoke from sleep and flew out of bed at the howling wail of the tornado siren, hitting the floor of the hall closet/shelter at a dead run. The storm took out a number of trees but left the homes unscathed. Larson and Schlanger were just one street away from much heavier damage. [In the absence of power, Larson and I opted to survey the damage, posting our first report at 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning -- with photos.]

In those first minutes after midnight, it was a different story one street over, where felled trees blocked roads and punched holes in roofs, where power lines looked like spaghetti on a plate. The music of the day Saturday was the buzz of chain saws, the sound of rakes and shovels, and not a little groaning from people with increasingly achy backs.

Barbette Norfleet and her daughter Rebekah, 12, were cleaning up their yard.

“I never heard it,” said Rebekah, who slept through the storm. Barbette did, though, and for her it was a scary night. As she worked to clear her home of rubble Saturday, she was very careful of her hands, which, as a massage therapist, are her stock in trade. “I have to make a living with my hands,” she said, using caution as worked. While the storm was severe, Barbette said that “after [the tornado in] 1999, this was a lot easier.”

The tornadic activity stopped just short of the downtown district.

Photos by Bill Larson, Aerial photos by Bobby Melton

[Show as slideshow]

In the dark of night, lit only by shards of lightning, families in the High Street area surveyed the damage from what at this writing appeared to be a tornado strike just missing downtown Clarksville. Several homes were damaged by trees; power lines, downed signs, blown transformers littered the landscape. Widespread power outages were noted throughout south Clarksville. Initial reports from police and fire crews indicate that at least one twister may have touched down. No injuries were reported at this time.

Along Highway 13/48, the fairgrounds pavilion was demolished and its debris effectively relocated across the street by Mother Nature. At Gary Matthews, transformer poles and power lines were blown down and draped over brand new 2008 SUVs. Police cordoned off the road to all but emergency vehicles as they worked close to the fairgrounds section. Red and blue flashing lights brightened the night sky across the area.

Just a few minutes after midnight, after a day of waiting for the slow moving storms to arriv in Middle Tennessee, sirens roared to life even as the tornadic winds instantly killed power to homes and businesses. CDE, Cable, Highway Department and police and fire crews will have their hands full with clean-up operations in the wake of the storm, which dumped several inches of rain and triggered flash flood warnings for southern Kentucky counties.

In looking over the damages early this morning, Clarksville Online publisher Bill Larson took this gallery of photos. We will continue to follow this developing story.