Greensburg Tornado Data From May 4, 2007

Researchers from the University of Oklahoma have been studying the data from the May 4, 2007 Greensburg KS tornado. The research is expected to go on for another two years according to KAKE TV.

Preliminary results have been released, and the data and images are very impressive. Mobile Doppler on Wheels (DOW) read wind sheer inside the storm reaching 250-300 miles per hour. That's horrific.

Thanks to Tyler at TornadoNerds.com for the heads up.

The Tornado Turtle

Last year, an email went around the local spotter group poking fun at the Tornado Turtle. It was self described as your "family's personal protection". Their web site is gone, but you can view a cached version of it here. I wonder why their business isn't booming?






One of our local veteran spotters (N0XJJ) came up with a list of why this kind of protection is so great.

1. 1)"If you can see it, it's too late!" Why not say, "if you see it, who is your next of kin to contact to pick you up in a metal casket?" NOTE: People in this container are ready for burial.
2. A metal container that can conduct electricty as furious lightning occurs during a tornadic storm. Hmmmm, a good Shake-n-Bake commercial comes to mind.
3. Only 2-3 ft high in the center, not too much room there to swim should it be place in a low area where rain could possibly flood the container, which will make it even more conducive to lightning. Now we're cooking with steam, that always makes the meat fall off the bones real easy, medical exaiminers would love picking you out of this sardine can.
4. I don't think you would survive having a large tree fall onto the Tornado Turtle, and if a tree were to fall on top of this structure, who's to say the the door would open for you, not to mention flying debris that could penetrate the sides.
5. If the ground anchors don't hold, the FAA frowns upon not having the proper makings on your vessel during the flight. Happy landings in the next county over.
   

All in all, I'd rather take my chances with a good concrete structure above ground. But, the Torndao Turtle would make a good smoker for a cookout in the back yard for pork, chicken, beef, or members of the family. I think they're selling this product for the wrong purpose.

Severe Weather...Without Warning? Not Usually.

The Tulsa Oktoberfest was affected by the severe weather yesterday, as 30+ people were injured when a tent collapsed in 60+ MPH winds. One is in critical condition, and six in serious condition. The responsibility of public safety falls directly on event coordinators when weather watches and warnings are issued. Ignoring them and assuming nothing will happen works out fine when nothing does. But when things do happen, that doesn't mean they are "caught off guard" because "it usually doesn't".

Reporting on the injured crowd at Tulsa's Oktoberfest, News Channel 8 says, Organizers say they knew about the weather forecasts and thought the winds and storm would pass. Rain and hail made the situation worse and came so quickly that no one had time to prepare." What I don't understand is how these two sentences can be put together.

1. There was a slight risk for severe weather forecasted 2 days before
   
2. There was a moderate risk for severe weather forcasted the day before
3. There was a moderate risk for severe weather all day the day it happened
   
4. There was a tornado watch from about 7:45am until 10pm
5. There was a thunderstorm warning issued at 7:08pm
6. The storm hit at 7:30pm

Now granted, most normal people wouldn't follow number 1 through 3. However, 4 and 5 are pretty blatant. There was plenty of time to prepare, and there was plenty of time to protect the public. The people that were there do hold some of the responsibility too, but that's a different rant.

October 17, 2007 - Severe WX

The good news is that things didn't get as bad as they could have on Thursday 10/17/07. The bad news is there were indeed tornadoes as predicted, and at least one that struck SW MO destroyed three homes and caused other damage to property. At the time of this writing, there aren't any reports of injuries in SW MO. Unfortunately the same can't be said for the Columbia area where two people were killed in a mobile home.

The spotter coverage was impressive last night. Michael Rains (K0RFI) did a great job with his first contact reports of the tornado near Mt. Vernon. He did a great job reporting factual information in a professional manner. There were many other spotters out in the field, strategically located during this widespread storm event. I was at home with the kids last night, and wasn't able to get out mobile until after 9:30 p.m. Fortunately that later line didn't put the smack down on us again.

KY3 has quite a bit of video footage and pictures of the event. Check it out.

Severe Storms Possible - October 17, 2007

A significant severe weather event is expected to develop on Wednesday, October 17th. This is a spring like setup, that will be capable of producing long lived tornadoes. The Storm Prediction Center has already issued a Moderate Risk box that borders on the east in the Springfield area.
At this time it's likely the system will reach the Springfield Metro area in the evening, but the night time conditions may not diminish the tornado threat. From the Day 2 Outlook: "STORMS SHOULD CONTINUE/SPREAD EWD ACROSS MO/AR AND PERHAPS INTO THE MID MS VALLEY REGION OVERNIGHT. GIVEN MOIST BOUNDARY LAYER AND STRONG MIXING...NOCTURNAL STABILIZATION MAY BE LIMITED ENOUGH THAT A TORNADO THREAT CONTINUES WELL INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS AS CONVECTION SPREADS EWD."

Update: Conditions are coming together for this event to fire earlier than expected. A tornado watch has now been issued with Greene being on the eastern edge.



Be safe everyone. I'll update this post as the time draws closer.

Severe Storms Possible - October 2nd, 2007

As expected, severe storms are possible today. The Storm Prediction Center has issed a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 10pm from areas in Central OK, all the way up through NW MO. My wife works tonight, so I'll be helping however I can from the house.

Be safe all.

September 30, 2007 - Severe WX

Well, it looks like we may get to see a good comparison between the old warning system and the storm-based warning system in one week's time. September went out with a bang. Sunday 9/30 brought some severe weather to the Ozarks.
Polk county went under a radar indicated tornado warning for a storm north of Bolivar. The hook echo persisted for several frames of radar, and it was pretty well defined. However, I don't think anything ever touched down there.
At around 9pm, the SkyWarn folks asked for spotter information from the Christian County panhandle for a "storm of interest". I was prepared to go mobile all day, so I headed towards Clever immediately. As I got out of Nixa, I hit very heavy rainfall which made it hard to see. I was following a truck that was about 1/4 mile ahead of me, and as I crossed the river before Clever I hit a very large blue bag that took up most of the lane. It appeared to be filled with sticks and such. That scared the crap out of me. I was faced with the decision to swerve (not a good one) or to drive through it. I drove through it, and obliterated the bag. How do I know I obliterated it you say? Well, on the way back to Nixa, all that was left was a bunch of leaves and sticks in the road. Monday night, I drove out and snapped a picture of what was left of the bag on the side of the road. I just wanted to make sure I didn't run over an old lady hiding in a bag or something. In all seriousness, this bag was so large and full, I was scared my airbag was going to deploy when I hit it. I just had to go back and see it.
Anyway, after getting back to Nixa, I saw LOTS of lighting south of Nixa in what appeared to be an escalating storm. I checked into SkyWarn again and offered to stay mobile stand by in case something else popped, but they said I could wrap it up. As soon as I cleared, I hear "Stand By" come across. Sure enough, that storm did develop and a Severe Thunderstorm warning was issued for Christian and Norther Taney.
I headed to 160, then south about 6 miles, but was unable to intercept this storm. There were a few guys on it, so I headed home for the night, still a bit shaken up from what I feared was going to be a very bad outcome from hitting that large object in the road.