The ongoing winter storm that brought heavy snow to the Western mountains and the Northern Plains has also unleashed violent thunderstorms and tornadoes across the South. Mayfield, Kentucky, was ground zero for the violence, the site of widespread destruction and many deaths.
Like giant, counterclockwise pinwheels, these massive storms race across the U.S. Ahead of the storm, southerly winds pull up warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico which, in the cold air north and west of the central zone of low pressure, produces heavy snowfall. South and southeast of the low, the storm's cold front knifes into the warm, humid air and it is in this clash zone that the violent weather is spawned. Furthermore, intersecting winds, coming from the west and the south, create wind shear that triggers rotation in the thunderstorms and, as a result, tornados form. Generally tracking southwest to northeast, they leave paths of destruction that may stretch for many miles.
As residents of Mayfield sift through the remnants of their city, the storm continues to push eastward and its cold front is now raking the Southeast where more severe thunderstorms may yet develop. Beyond the human misery that they cause, these violent storms remind us that our effort to harness the power of nature is pure folly; we can only get out of the way or retreat to our storm shelters.
