Twin States Weather Blog

A Year in the Books...

* Today marks the one year anniversary of my first day here at WTOK. The title of this post is "A Year in the Books", but it could just as easily have been "A Year FOR the Books". 2005 offered many significant weather events. We started quickly, with numerous severe weather episodes during Spring. The most significant was the April 6 event, which included an F3 tornado destroying a school in Mize. Damage was extensive across central Mississippi. Here's a link to NWS Jackson's summary of that event:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jan/events/April062005/index.html

We also had glancing blows from several tropical systems. Tropical Storm Cindy and Hurricane Dennis both affected us in some capacity.

But, the event that will forever be remembered was Hurricane Katrina. Katrina struck in late August, bringing widespread devastation along the coastlines of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. The swath of damage extended well into central Mississippi and western Alabama. A mind-boggling 100% of our area was without power for at least some time - some people in rural areas were without power for weeks.

Following that, we dealt with Hurricane Rita. Rita brought a significant outbreak of tornadoes to our area, including damage in Marion and northern Lauderdale County. The La-Z-Boy plant in Newton had signficant damage from one of these tornadoes.

* Thank you for watching over the past year, and I look foward to serving the needs of this community over the next year. I'm hopeful that 2006 will not offer as many weather disasters as 2005 - but, we have to be prepared. Now is a good time to check the batteries in your NOAA Weather Radio. And, if you don't own a NOAA Weather Radio - buy one. Add it as a late New Year's Resolution - you resolve to keep you and your family well-informed about severe weather!

posted by WTOK Weather Staff @ 2:14 PM