Nearly 200 Dead in Yesterday's Tornado Outbreak...So Far. UPDATE: Over 200

And the number will rise:

The death toll from severe storms that punished five Southern U.S. states jumped to a staggering 178 after Alabama canvassed its hard-hit counties for a new tally of lives lost.

Alabama's state emergency management agency said early Thursday it had confirmed 128 deaths, up from at least 61 earlier.

"We expect that toll, unfortunately, to rise," Gov. Robert Bentley told ABC's "Good Morning America."

Mississippi officials reported 32 dead in that state and Tennessee raised its report to six from one. Another 11 have been killed in Georgia and one in Virginia.

UPDATE:  Death toll now up to 271.

I was following the play-by-play as the storms developed via Twitter, and later ended up watching The Weather Channel for several hours. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Watching a mile-and-a-half wide wedge tornado level parts of the Northern Birmingham, AL live on TV was almost unbelievable. It was like something out of one of Al Gore's climate horror movies.

Only this was based in reality.

I posted several videos from the storm as it hit Tuscaloosa here.  Just awesome power.  I posted this on Twitter last night:

To all those people who believe mankind has the ability to control the climate, please see Alabama.

Yesterday could end up being the biggest tornado outbreak in U.S. history. The tornado that his Tuscaloosa and went on to Birmingham was on the ground for something like 200 miles. The record for a long-track tornado was set in 1925 at 219 miles. Further study by the experts may result in a new record.

More storms on the East Coast today, though there won't be as many tornadoes. And let's not forget, this is only April. The peak month for tornadoes is usually May. This could end up being quite a year.