Tornado Watch

We are under a Tornado Watch here - which is quite unexpected. On the watch tonight for possible severe weather. It's unusual to have one this time of year.

Severe Weather Season Official Begun

Even though there were devastating severe weather events in late winter and early spring, the Official Severe Weather Season is here.

The Virginia tornados of Monday night April 28th kicked off a flurry of news stories in regards to Severe and Tornadic weather. I'm sure more will be reported on the impact of these tornados. With the devastation I saw and from reports coming in, there appeared to be at least one EF3 tornado with winds of 135 mph. Most people don't realize this, but tornado classification happens the day after using a pre-specified checklist of what damage occurred. Although, it is possible to speculate and make an educated guess of the tornados intensity based on what the tornado looks like at the time and, of course, the devastation viewed after the fact.

There are many types of tornados such as, a rope tornado which was what was seen in The Wizard of Oz, (which, by the way, was an incredible feat to do that in the 1930's in a studio), to stovepipe tornados, (which are slightly larger) to a wedge tornado, which is what devastated Greensburg, KS. That particular tornado was an EF5, the largest tornado and strongest wind speeds that can occur, and was 1.75 miles in diameter according to Reed Timmer on the link I posted below. I'm sure there are many more "shapes" of tornados, but the wind speeds in the tornado are the most important element.

My favorite tornado chasing team, Tornado Videos.net (www.tornadovideos.net) has been spot on in their prediction of where the tornadic supercells will be forming. I am constantly amazed and impressed at their accuracy. When they predict an outbreak I follow along throughout the day and almost with 100% accuracy they are at the location where the tornadic supercells fire up. Although, it looks as though nothing is happening on radar, it's the atmosphere, which radar doesn't show. Reed Timmer is a PhD candidate in Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma so he knows his stuff - or to put it another way he's an expert, as I'm sure are many other meteorologists, but, he's the guy listen to and follow their chases.

Tuesday morning, April 30th, after the Virginia outbreak on Monday night April 29th, Reed Timmer of Tornado Videos.net was on the CBS Early Show talking with national meteorologist Dave Price about the Greensburg, KS tornado which devastated and flattened that town a year ago on 4 May, 2007. Here is a link to that video reporting on tornados - lot's of great footage and information:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=4054215n

And, for those of you who watch this video and think Reed is always that calm as he is on the video - think again! He gets very excited and animated when weather situations are happening. Just take a look at a few of the videos on his site. And also, I want to recognize the other members of the tornadovideos.net team - because Reed isn't the only one working to chase, report, and keep things moving in their organization! Reed is the most visible - but there are many that work behind the scenes. I think it's important to acknowledge the entire team for allowing us "computer weather watchers" to follow along watching their Live Chase Cam, reading their blogs, and getting reports from the field, and of course, to keep the website working at all times. And also the devoted people who post on Reed's site - I would be lost without it!

Also, I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate Greensburg, KS for making a comeback in a big way by rebuilding and doing it right by going Green. In the link to the video above, they said Greensburg, KS has been hit eight times in the last ten years! That's pretty incredible!

One of the reasons for this post today is that tomorrow is gearing up to be severe weather, with possibly tornadic weather even tomorrow in Kansas Missouri and Oklahoma. My guys will be chasing and I will be watching!

One important thing to remember about storm chasers, is that they also call in reports to the National Weather Service as well as local authorities and serve as experts and trained-storm spotters. The tools the NWS and other weather reporters receive is only computer generated information, which they are highly trained at interpreting. However, it is a necessity to have trained-storm spotters out in the thick of things to report on what is actually happening. There are quite a few of these storm spotters / chasers out there on high-probability days and I applaud all their efforts to assist in keeping people informed so they can make the right choices to take cover to save lives and property - as much as possible.

And, to the people out there in high-risk areas - PLEASE keep yourself informed in whatever way possible and take these threats SERIOUSLY. Fatalities due to tornados are definitely down from what they were 30 years ago, but as can be learned from the Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky tornados earlier this year - fatalities are ALWAYS possible and still happen and nobody wants that. Take it seriously and take cover.

SEVERE WEATHER AGAIN . . . Just The Beginning of the Season

Last night a Super Cell Thunderstorm, or possible Tornado hit Downtown Atlanta, Georgia. It definitely looked like "tornado-like" damage based on the reports and pictures after the fact.

I began watching the weather about 2 pm today CST, 3 pm EST. Since then, there were tornado warnings around the Atlanta and northern Georgia area, and now in South Carolina. The tornado watch box was extended to include the southern North Carolina area.

Right now I'm watching a Live Weather Feed from Columbia, Richland County, South Carolina on WLTX online. This poor weather guy is reporting on SO MANY TORNADOES it's incredible! He is doing a great job keeping up with the MASSIVE OUTBREAK of this kind of weather in South Carolina. These newscasters get people on the phone, but then can't hear them because their phones are breaking up. Just as I was wondering when the last time this kind of weather moved into their area, they said it had been since 1984!!!

A report just came in from a person who reviewed damage in the small town in "Elgin" city, not far from the Columbia, South Carolina. Warehouse moved off it's foundation, 17,000 power outages state-wide in SC. A confirmed tornado touched down in Newberry County, SC. Hail up to 1-3/4" reported and hail so thick on the ground that it looks like a snow storm came through. THIRTEEN counties in South Carolina were issued Tornado Warnings since 3 pm EST today - in the past 4 hours.

As of 7:15 EST, the Tornado Watch has been issued for the East Coast area of North Carolina.

On a side note: I have to say that I kind of like the "accents" of these people who call in to the TV station, (mainly Sheriff's from different counties). I always loved the Texas accent of my older family when I was young and this SC accent sounds surprisingly similar. I wouldn't be so surprised, but these states are half a county away from each other.

The bottom line here, supports my previous blog about the communities NEEDING TO HAVE THEIR OWN SEVERE WEATHER ALERT SYSTEM AMONG THEMSELVES. Communities CANNOT rely ONLY on TV and radio media because storms cause power outages.

Something ELSE needs to put into place ESPECIALLY for these SOUTHERN states that are not USED to having these types of storms occur. Tornado frequency in the south has been increasing these past few years. What with the damage and lives lost in the horrible tornado outbreak in Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky last month, obviously the systems that are now in place are not enough, although I acknowledge that the media is doing it's very best putting consistent live coverage on TV. But, my question is, how does that help those that do not have power?

I feel so strongly about this, because if it has been nearly 25 years since a tornado outbreak occurred in South Carolina and some of these other states, they DO NOT KNOW how much damage these tornadoes and severe thunderstorms can cause. People become complacent about weather and have no idea what is coming.

Media severe weather and tornado alerts can only go so far - they can't reach and cover everyone in every county in every state.

PEOPLE NEED TO HELP PEOPLE.

Update - State of Emergency Declared in Atlanta, GA - 6:45 pm CST. $150 to $2 Million Dollars damaged in Atlanta.
Update - 25,000 without power in the state of South Carolina.
Update - 93-year old Church severely damaged in Elgin, SC.
Update - So far, 22 Confirmed Tornado's in SC.

Severe Weather

Today, March 2, 2008, it is currently 70 degrees in the midwest. While we most likely will not be getting severe weather here, I just checked my FAVORITE severe weather web site and they are forecasting probable severe tornadic weather in Texas and Oklahoma.

These guys are the greatest when it comes to posting about ALL kinds of severe weather, but they started out as Tornado Chasers. It was started by Reed Timmer and the site is called Tornado Videos: http://www.tornadovideos.net/

I first found this site due to the devastating Greensburg, Kansas tornado of last May in 2007 which flattened this town in mid-south Kansas. 95% destruction of everything and close to a 1/2 mile wedge tornado hit after dark. These guys didn't catch video of that tornado, but they have a ton of other incredible videos in their archive. They've been featured on CNN last year and are getting more and more recognition.

It's not only that Reed and team are tornado chasers, they cover all kinds of weather from hurricanes to ice and winter storms. Reed updates the the site almost daily using meteorologic terms that I don't understand - yet. Which, makes sense since he is a trained meteorologist.

There is just something about weather phenomena that fascinates some of us people. The disclaimer here is that I certainly don't want anyone hurt or property damaged. But, when severe weather strikes, normally something or someone gets hurt - but being excited by the weather isn't about that. It's the unpredictability of it all which makes it exciting.

Which leads me to my next point. After the devastating and incredible property damage and lives that were lost during the early February tornados in Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky (and a few other places), I am wondering why in the world, the "warning systems" are not more up to par to save lives. I mean, WE KNOW that severe and possibly killing tornados are going to hit somewhere, every spring and summer and now apparently winter. Recently Florida had some bad weather, so it happens everywhere - not only in America, but across the world.

I know there are programs for community volunteers to be trained to assist when devastating weather occurs to help the people afterwards. Although, I don't think there is enough of them, and my belief is every community should have an action plan for ALL to be involved both BEFORE and after this devastation. I live in a subdivision of about 100 houses which could easily be assigned as a "community area". With this area, chances are there are nurses or doctors, and assuming they are off-duty, there role would be to triage all injuries, etc. Also, a community leadership severe weather team would be assigned - perhaps one volunteer family on each block to ENSURE that ALL house they are assigned are NOTIFIED IN ADVANCE of the potential for severe weather. Not everyone has the TV or Radio on at all times - this is my point.

This is especially more important in rural communities. A "communications" network needs to be set up to ALERT in ADVANCE these people of the HIGH PROBABILITY of killer tornados heading their way. To me, this whole thing seems inexcusable that we are expected to ONLY rely on the TV stations and Radio and not take care of these things ourselves as a community. There are City and County Emergency Managers for each place and why in the world can't they organize something like this?

The other problem is people not taking the potential for severe weather serious enough. I admit, I have gone out on my lawn to look for potential tornados when the sirens go off. ALTHOUGH, I am also watching my TV and know EXACTLY where in my county - which is quite large - the threat really is. A note about that though - one never knows during severe weather when a tornado can drop down - so that isn't the best way to go about it. I believe I protect myself to a certain degree by knowing where possibly rotation is in my area - but that doesn't protect us 100% due to severe weather coming out of no where.

The alerting people of potential tornadic activity that very well might be headed in a direction that will affect them personally, is the NEW ACTION I want to see taken. The people in the Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky areas should have been WANRED MUCH sooner than they were - by others who were watching these storms develop as I was. I knew the severe weather was heading their way - to a certain degree. I mean, the storms typically move from west to east - and then can take a northerly or southern track from there. These storms in early Feb began in Arkansas and the people in Northern Tennessee and southern Kentucky had plenty of time to be warned as these storms were EXTREMELY ACTIVE with tornados for many, many hours prior to them being hit in those areas.

And, don't EVEN get me started on the trailer homes in trailer parks! People living in these trailer parks need to have a MUCH more advanced FOREWARN system than other people due to the nature of their housing. With plenty of warning and a VERY safe shelter to put people in well in advance, the deaths due to tornados destroying these homes and lives, will be greatly reduced. Designated leaders in their mobile home parks should take heed and create their own community advanced warning system for themselves. We can't ONLY rely on the media to save our lives. Property can be replaced - lives can't.

So, as you can see, not only do I get very excited about the weather, I get very excited about people doing something to protect themselves - much more than we've seen even this year.

(If someone wants me to remove the photo of Greensburg, KS, I will. Thanks.)