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CNN Live At Daybreak

More Severe Weather on Way for Midwest?

Aired May 05, 2003 - 05:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's head right up to the weather center and check in with Chad -- more severe weather on the way for the Midwest?
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, today, Carol. Another what we call moderate risk day. Typically there are about 10 of them per year. We do have high risk days, usually about four per year, and then slight risk, which is about every day in the spring. But, yes, a moderate risk. We're in the middle today.

Here's what yesterday looks like. Every red dot you see a tornado. There are 82 dots on this map -- I've just put them all on there -- from southwest of Nashville, east of Memphis right through Missouri. Missouri very hard hit yesterday, especially around Leavenworth County, Kansas, not that far from Kansas City.

Some pictures here of what the tornado did to a very upscale neighborhood. Many of these homes well in the 2,000, 3,000 square foot range, really demolished by this storm. And what really gets me, that these homes have a lot of acreage. They're not that close together. They're fairly far apart but yet every house seems to be damaged, at least a little bit, which means that storm was very wide. If this was an F1 or a little F2, one house would be gone, the house next door would still be standing. But when you get storms like this to knock down every house in a neighborhood, you know the width of that storm at the base was very large, and obviously they're going out there today.

The numbers really don't matter, whether it's an F2, F3, F4. It's all about the damage. And obviously people picking up pieces of their lives and finding parts of their lives down the street and then neighbors bringing it, and they said this is a picture of you and then they swap things that just get blown around so far in the wind.

In fact, when I was in Oklahoma, hit in Oklahoma, a school bus was actually picked up and thrown one mile away. It was after school. Nobody in it. But that's the damage, that's the force an F5 tornado can have, throw a school bus in the air one mile. So you can imagine what it can do to a picture frame or whatever else.

Rain showers from Ohio through Indiana right on back down into Kentucky and Tennessee today. A tornado warning for Marshall County down in parts of northwestern Mississippi. That storm right there, just to the south of Memphis. In fact, even a bedroom community of Memphis. A lot of commuters do drive from that area on up into Memphis. You need to be on your guard this morning and here you go, rain showers, thunderstorms, Indianapolis right on down through Louisville. No rain in Louisville on Saturday, but certainly coming down yesterday and it's coming down right now. More scattered rain showers from Nashville right on up eastward into Cleveland.

Not as much of a severe weather threat here today because of the rain. It's going to rain all day. Severe weather wants dry air. It wants lots of sunshine in the afternoon and it wants to get going with a cold front and that's south of the Mason-Dixon line today, really, from about, oh, Tennessee and Kentucky right on down into Mississippi, Alabama and even parts of Georgia -- Carol, more coming up in six minutes.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired May 5, 2003 - 05:23   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's head right up to the weather center and check in with Chad -- more severe weather on the way for the Midwest?
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, today, Carol. Another what we call moderate risk day. Typically there are about 10 of them per year. We do have high risk days, usually about four per year, and then slight risk, which is about every day in the spring. But, yes, a moderate risk. We're in the middle today.

Here's what yesterday looks like. Every red dot you see a tornado. There are 82 dots on this map -- I've just put them all on there -- from southwest of Nashville, east of Memphis right through Missouri. Missouri very hard hit yesterday, especially around Leavenworth County, Kansas, not that far from Kansas City.

Some pictures here of what the tornado did to a very upscale neighborhood. Many of these homes well in the 2,000, 3,000 square foot range, really demolished by this storm. And what really gets me, that these homes have a lot of acreage. They're not that close together. They're fairly far apart but yet every house seems to be damaged, at least a little bit, which means that storm was very wide. If this was an F1 or a little F2, one house would be gone, the house next door would still be standing. But when you get storms like this to knock down every house in a neighborhood, you know the width of that storm at the base was very large, and obviously they're going out there today.

The numbers really don't matter, whether it's an F2, F3, F4. It's all about the damage. And obviously people picking up pieces of their lives and finding parts of their lives down the street and then neighbors bringing it, and they said this is a picture of you and then they swap things that just get blown around so far in the wind.

In fact, when I was in Oklahoma, hit in Oklahoma, a school bus was actually picked up and thrown one mile away. It was after school. Nobody in it. But that's the damage, that's the force an F5 tornado can have, throw a school bus in the air one mile. So you can imagine what it can do to a picture frame or whatever else.

Rain showers from Ohio through Indiana right on back down into Kentucky and Tennessee today. A tornado warning for Marshall County down in parts of northwestern Mississippi. That storm right there, just to the south of Memphis. In fact, even a bedroom community of Memphis. A lot of commuters do drive from that area on up into Memphis. You need to be on your guard this morning and here you go, rain showers, thunderstorms, Indianapolis right on down through Louisville. No rain in Louisville on Saturday, but certainly coming down yesterday and it's coming down right now. More scattered rain showers from Nashville right on up eastward into Cleveland.

Not as much of a severe weather threat here today because of the rain. It's going to rain all day. Severe weather wants dry air. It wants lots of sunshine in the afternoon and it wants to get going with a cold front and that's south of the Mason-Dixon line today, really, from about, oh, Tennessee and Kentucky right on down into Mississippi, Alabama and even parts of Georgia -- Carol, more coming up in six minutes.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com