Atlanta Tornado Five Years Ago Today

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For decades, there has been a mythology that tornadoes will not hit downtown areas. As Atlantans learned five years ago today, tornadoes don't care about building density as an F-2 tornado moved through their downtown. Here is a path map from the National Weather Service in Atlanta.

I placed an arrow to point out the Georgia Dome where a basketball had gone into overtime when the tornado struck. The television coverage is below. While the Dome was missed, the building shook and the fans could hear the roar of the tornado.

Dr. Marshall Shepherd, the current President of the American Meteorological Society and a Georgian, believes the game going into overtime saved lives. If those people had been outdoors going to their cars they could have been struck by flying debris.

Lesson learned: Tornadoes will cross rivers, strike downtowns, climb and descend mountains and do pretty much anything they want to do. 

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