It's only a matter of time before a major downtown area gets hit. Thankfully, last night wasn't that night
This is the most impressive damage I’ve seen since Vilonia. I think the house on the left at the 32 second mark is the best case for high end EF-4 I’ve seen so far. Debris blown 50 yards down wind and debarked trees everywhere. The house at the beginning must have been anchored with Elmer’s glue.
One thing that needs to be applauded is the warnings that people are getting on tornadoes these days. I think Jefferson City, Dayton and yesterday’s Kansas tornado are mass casualty events just a few years ago. I think the tornado warning directly to our phones are saving countless lives. I’m honestly shocked at how few deaths and even injuries have occurred this month. The Lee County, AL EF-4 seems to be the outlier as it was a violent tornado that went through a mobile home prevalent area.
This is very true. And the proliferation of streaming options, etc. makes it even better. I was able to keep watching on my phone in a closet in the basement to keep track of the storm. Still some goddamn morons out there. Everywhere I turned yesterday was warning of imminent danger, but you have guys like this guy, especially considering he lost his wife to a tornado.
You’re finally getting your first real tornado breakout month since you’ve started working for the NWS
As someone who stays very weather aware, it really pisses me off when people take things lightly and are outside on their deck posting on FB "sirens going off, should I be inside? hardy har har" One woman posted on our neighborhood FB page: "Anchor down what you have. Tornado will be over us in 2 hours. It's going to hit us." Followed by several "Really? Ok we will." Then followed by a "All I see is a Tornado Watch until 10 pm, let's not work people up over nothing."
Growing up in Kansas the first 22 years of my life, I have been through countless tornado "warnings", but was lucky enough to never see/be effected by one. I imagine that applies to a whole lot of folks in this country, and because of that, don't react like we necessarily should. I'm sure a lot has to do with me being older, having a significant other and animals I care for, but this last week had me paying a lot more attention to all of this to be safe. As has been mentioned, it's awesome that technology has assisted to help alert people ASAP.
Pretty much this. I've seen a few, but always from a safe distance. The magnitude of yesterday's, especially with it being rain-wrapped, and the proximity to home had me running for cover when I usually would at least take a cursory glance out the window. But with a kid and dogs, I figured better safe than sorry. The ability of the news crews to pinpoint precise locations helps immensely but it's not worth taking chances getting caught without the ability to find cover. It also helps that I live in a neighborhood surrounded by massive trees so I couldn't see shit coming in from the West anyway even if I wanted to.
Pretty much this, I went outside a few times knowing it was still 15 minutes away and I couldn’t see shit anyway
Yea it went pitch black here at Gentry before it started rotating. Just a little thunder and some heavy rain.
Lots of reported power outages in Rogers where it working but I have power here. My knwa weather feed just went out, so maybe they lost power. Jk it’s back now
By the way we have had almost an inch of rain in the pre-storms. The random cells dropping rain in front of the line here in Plano.
Standing outside looking at it - haven’t heard sirens go off over here yet, but I think the rotation is gonna be north of me
Yea its looking like it has moved up into the Denton area. I think you are just about to get hammered with rain.
The warning was extended into the Lewisville area and The Colony. If it keeps its track it will be heading right at me or directly to the north of me.
Linwood tornado given a preliminary EF4 with 170 mph winds. Survey still ongoing, but wouldn’t expect an EF5.
Raining sideways in philly. Had to get off and now get to spend an hour in ikea. It’s the only garage I knew close by under cover. Quarter size hail and 60 mph warning
4 tornado warning in Iowa and no watch in place. I’ve always curious why that happens. Isn’t the wording for a watch basically that conditions are in place to produce a tornado and storms are expected. If most storms are rotating why not issue a watch even if it’s a short lived threat?
Ultimately, SPC decides if they want to issue a watch. The local office collaborates and can try to push SPC in that direction, but the ultimate decision lies with SPC. Oftentimes (at least where I am), it's "marginal", yet storms dictate whether they've severe or not. By the time you get well within warning ops without a watch, it doesn't make any sense. By that point, the local office doesn't give a shit about the watch, cause we're already busy.
Yeah, we've had a few EF3s locally, but this is the first big period since. Especially crazy, to me, given the 27 April 2011 outbreak is what pushed me back to meteorology