Joplin tornado

Joplin's St John's Regional Medical Center is all but destroyed.

It is really hard for me to get my thoughts around the severe weather this spring across the US. So far nearly 500 tornado fatalities have occurred in 2011 surpassing that of the last 5 years combined along with billions of dollars in damage. The latest outbreak is currently ongoing as a severe weather sweeps across the Midwest and portions of the middle Atlantic and even into southern Ontario. The hardest hit region yesterday was southwest Missouri including devastated Joplin. The death toll is at 116 after and EF-4 twister swept through the city of 50,000. The damage is complete including a hospital, several churches, schools and thousands of homes. More thunderstorms are occurring today hampering rescue and recovery efforts. A few of the storms have drifted into southern Ontario and some may rumble through Montreal with heavy rain and gusty winds overnight.

North Carolina
Here in North Carolina we had a record high yesterday of 83F surpassing the previous 82F set in 1995. It was in the mid 80's today and quite humid, with thunderstorms flaring up in the Piedmont and moving into the coastal area just west of my location here on Hatteras Island. Winds are blowing quite strong off the Atlantic, gusting in the 15-25 mph range. Heavy thunderstorms are producing strong winds and rain in northeast North Carolina and southern Virginia, and they may drift over the Outer Banks overnight. If they do I will have the camera ready. There are even tornado warnings here in North Carolina, northwest of my location.