you have this cold air that s much colder than normal into the northwest and it s got a 200% snow pack in the mountains there and you have record setting heat into the southeast. temperatures are not even southeast but washington, d.c. is 90 degrees for the first time this year already. and right on the edge between that unusually cold air and warm air, you have a powerful jet stream so where that air clashes you have this amazing lift to create these strong thunderstorms. that clash zone, that zone where the storms are developing is not moving. not for tonight. not for tomorrow. not for tomorrow night and probably not for the following day. so exactly what we have tonight is what these folks will have to endure for two, maybe three more days. hearts go out to these people. sam, if you could just stand by for a moment. i want to bring in jeff who is a storm chaser. you were actually chasing this very storm.
really added to the impact that it had on the ground. sam, i mean, we re hearing reports that debris x-rays from the hospital for example, being found up to 70 miles away in people s driveways. it seems extraordinary. reporter: exactly what anderson just said. this thing seems to have been moving in slow motion at some points and then picked up speed and moved on but it was very slow as it moved across that hospital zone. when you look at the damage there, you can really tell that it stayed around for a while because there s a rolling form to the damage. that s where everything is crunched up in a ball. things were just completely tossed and tossed and tossed and then that tornado picked up and ran and it now turned into a splinter kind of debris like where we were on top of the hill all across the area. that where it was slow and then it did pick up and move. we can see lightning flashes
tying it for single deadliest to hit american soil since the national weather service began keeping records 61 years ago. today survivors wander through rubble of neighborhoods today while police and firefighters from four states dig through the wreckage. they found seven people alive today and hope to find more but many fear the death toll will surely rise. these extraordinary pictures show you just how bad the situation is. you are looking at what used to be joplin s walmart. superstore took a direct hit from a tornado and reduced to nothing but rubble at a time when the store was crowded with weekend shoppers. st. john s regional medical center took a direct hit scattering x-rays as far as 70 miles away. i want to go straight to joplin live and sam champion. sam, i mean, scenes of utter catastrophe in joplin. bring me up to speed with the latest news there. reporter: i tell you, it s a hellish out in joplin tonight.
really. it s an incredible setup. you have this cold air that s much colder than normal into the northwest and it s got a 200% snow pack in the mountains there and you have record setting heat into the southeast. temperatures are not even southeast but washington, d.c. is 90 degrees for the first time this year already. and right on the edge between that unusually cold air and warm air, you have a powerful jet stream so where that air clashes you have this amazing lift to create these strong thunderstorms. that clash zone, that zone where the storms are developing is not moving. not for tonight. not for tomorrow. not for tomorrow night and probably not for the following day. so exactly what we have tonight is what these folks will have to endure for two, maybe three more days. hearts go out to these people. sam, if you could just stand by for a moment. i want to bring in jeff who is a storm chaser. you were actually chasing this very storm. what did you see?
national weather service began keeping records 61 years ago. today survivors wander through rubble of neighborhoods today while police and firefighters from four states dig through the wreckage. they found seven people alive today and hope to find more but many fear the death toll will surely rise. these extraordinary pictures show you just how bad the situation is. you are looking at what used to be joplin s walmart. superstore took a direct hit from a tornado and reduced to nothing but rubble at a time when the store was crowded with weekend shoppers. st. john s regional medical center took a direct hit scattering x-rays as far as 70 miles away. i want to go straight to joplin live and sam champion. sam, i mean, scenes of utter catastrophe in joplin. bring me up to speed with the latest news there. reporter: i tell you, it s a hellish out in joplin tonight. there s lightning dancing in every direction across the sky.