Tornado Alley - Advances in Technology

[TheTman]

I live in Kansas, and I guess yesterday had the conditions for the "perfect storm". Nearly 100 tornados touched down here and OK and NE, but with all the new technology we have there were very few injuries and no loss of life that I've found.
Just in case, I did put most of my guns in the safe room, but I watched TV most of the night and this new technology is very cool, they can actually show where the tornado's are by watching the direction of the wind, how they pick that up I have no idea, but they would show an area with winds moving in opposite directions right next to each other, which means rotation, and sure enough the storm spotters would see a tornado if they were able to get to that spot. I bet that info saved a lot of lives from the damage I've seen. Of course it had to hit some mobile home parks, and there were many demolished homes, but if you were watching the coverage, you could track the main tornado in my area for over an hour, see where it was heading and have plenty of time to take cover. The closest anything came to me was maybe 15 miles or so, I didn't get any hail or anything at all, a little wind and some rain. I wish they'd had this new technology out when Joplin got hit as it probably would have saved a bunch of lives.
Not that this has anything to do with shooting or guns, but just thought I'd mention the technology has come a long way in a year, or else they've got it in place now or whatever. We had over 24 hours notice that things may get bad and people were very prepared for it this time.

[Longitude Zero]

Five were killed in Woodward OK. The area also suffered massive damage.

[TheTman]

I'm sorry to hear of that tragedy LZ, I had not heard of that, it was not reported locally. I fear the loss would have been much greater had the warnings not been so precise and in most instances in time for residents to seek shelter. The Ellsworth and Salina area of Kansas had 3 tornados follow almost the same path. Greensburg almost was hit again with a tornado going just north of town, just a few years after the town was mostly destroyed. I hope there were no other fatalities i've not heard about.

[Longitude Zero]

Between the three tv channels here in OKC they had over 40 spotters on the two storms. Of the fatalaties 3 were small children.

[TD2K]

I blame the "crying wolf" effect a lot. The local "storm horny" guys preach doom and gloom so often that we get immune to it. Then if there is a real threat, I think we take light of it all too often.

At least that's the case with me.

We were in St. Louis and missed all of the action in Norman. I had some friends drive by my house and they told me it was still there, so I was relieved.

[Longitude Zero]

The coverage does at times get to be excessive. Then you include all the ignoramus "tornado tourists" and it can be a real circus on the road. Last year one of the big name chasers you hear about all the time that I have known for decades sent me a pic of over 80 vehicles in a parking lot. Over 60 were the tornado tourists.

The pros who are affiliated with the stations really get sickand tired of all the wannabes that clog up the works.

[TD2K]

just announced, a 6th fatality from the Woodward tornado

[jeepster09]

I blame the "crying wolf" effect a lot. The local "storm horny" guys preach doom and gloom so often that we get immune to it. Then if there is a real threat, I think we take light of it all too often.

At least that's the case with me.

We were in St. Louis and missed all of the action in Norman. I had some friends drive by my house and they told me it was still there, so I was relieved.


I agree, our sirens go off for heavy rain :40:
I wish they would only use yhem when real threat in area.

[TheTman]

Their were hardly anything on tv here Saturday, except storm coverage, which is pretty unusual in these parts. The new radar was extremely accurate in showing where the tornados were, only they couldn't tell if they were touching down or not. That was where the trained storm spotters came in, to tell if they were on the ground or not.
We had the same tornado tourists blocking roads and fire vehicles were unable to get to a house fire in a timely manner because of those idiots.
Our weather folks are pretty responsible, and don't go overboard with the doom and gloom stuff, they save it for real emergancies. They are implenting a new siren system that will only sound in the areas that are in immediate danger, it's not all in place yet, so the sirens went off city wide, but a quick look at the TV showed where the immediate danger was, and it was also covered well by the radio stations for those without power. I can't hear the sirens from my house, so I rely on TV and radio.
My prayers go out for the families in Woodward OK.

[kb2wji]

The technology behind storm prediction is pretty awesome. We defenitly have come a long way. It's such a necessary evil nowadays....it seems the storms are much more frequent, widespread, and severe. I'm not starting a global warming debate, but things have been scarier than usual over the last decade or so. Glad you guys made it through !

[les strat]

Down in ALabama, there has been talk of going to a seperate "unsurvivable" tornado warning, meaning they didn't just see rotation on DOPLAR, it's bee seen on the ground and headed your way.

We have become one of the leading tornado states in the last couple decades, and our terrain (foothills, ridges, mountains) does not let us see it until it's on top of you. And many folks had gotten lax with the constant warnings, that is, until last April. Folks don't play around anymore. Especially when you've seen the basements of houses sucked out of the ground.