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2013 US Tornado Season

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Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
I always wonder who they are trying to warn during tornado coverage. 50,000 people without power and they keep yelling at people in the area to seek shelter...

Some news stations also broadcast on AM radio.
 

dorkimoe

Gold Member
The radar looks scary as fuck... hope people can get to safe locations in time

Some news stations also broadcast on AM radio.

yeah i was more talking about CNN interviewing a OK state trooper, i feel like she should be calling the radio stations instead of CNN. AM radio stations are life savers in storm situations though
 
There's a city about 15 minutes from me in Illinois that gets tornadoes every year, but they never seem to make it over to my town. Anyone know why that may be? We're a little bit closer to Chicago, but only by 15 minutes. I always thought it was strange that my friends from the next town over have seen multiple tornadoes in their lives and I've only seen one despite being in practically the same geographical area.
 

dorkimoe

Gold Member
There's a city about 15 minutes from me in Illinois that gets tornadoes every year, but they never seem to make it over to my town. Anyone know why that may be? We're a little bit closer to Chicago, but only by 15 minutes. I always thought it was strange that my friends from the next town over have seen multiple tornadoes in their lives and I've only seen one despite being in practically the same geographical area.

Same thing here. Im in illinois and they always miss my town by like 50 miles or so
 

Metaphoreus

This is semantics, and nothing more
I always wonder who they are trying to warn during tornado coverage. 50,000 people without power and they keep yelling at people in the area to seek shelter...

I don't know what source you're referring to, but some obvious possibilities: people listening online on their phones; people using weather radios or battery-powered radios; people who still have power; and so on.

My parents called and told me there had been a tornado a few miles south of the town where they live (a southern Kansas town about an hour from Tulsa). Thankfully they were OK. This has been an insane week for weather.
 

Somnia

Member
I'm in Central IL. Sangamon county, there's a Tornado Warning here now, but its for Southern Sangamon and I'm at the very top northern edge of it, my town is not listed thank god. We have a severe thunderstorm warning till 10:00pm CST though which could produce tornado's =(
 

hokahey

Member
Some of the greenest skies I've seen in a long time. Tornado touched down about 10 minutes from me for about the 10 time in my life.
 

ChaosXVI

Member
I'm on the border between Kankakee/Iroquois counties in Illinois, there was a pretty massive storm here earlier as well, winds reported over 80 mph, also heard there was a funnel cloud spotted at one point but nothing touched down...phew.
 

K.Sabot

Member
Wind and hail shattered my windshield, my father is stuck in OKC but we just heard he's okay.

80 miles from the storm (multiple tornadoes hidden by the rain/hail apparently) and our power was out for 4 hours, which was odd.
 
Norman-GAF checking in.

We lost power in the Physical Sciences Center.

Campus is a CIRCUS right now. Idiots left their cars everywhere and no one can get out. Someone even parked right in the entrance to the parking garage, literally in the entrance lane.

Crazy thunderstorm outside right now.
 
Took this pretty crappy picture on campus around 7:45

4fVtGig.png



To the cute girl in the Sooners hat carrying the cat whom I held the door for, I should have talked to you!
 

Goreomedy

Console Market Analyst
Norman-GAF checking in.

We lost power in the Physical Sciences Center.

Campus is a CIRCUS right now. Idiots left their cars everywhere and no one can get out. Someone even parked right in the entrance to the parking garage, literally in the entrance lane.

Crazy thunderstorm outside right now.
Flooding will be so bad in Norman the next few hours, you might as well go to a bar north of campus, and wait until last call.
 

Goreomedy

Console Market Analyst
Mary Fallin asked what she would say to Oklahomans who are paranoid, fed up with this weather. "Keep the faith!" Sigh....
 
NOAA presentation on the overpass myth, which got started from anecdotal evidence similar to Pristine_Condition's post:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=safety-overpass

Yeah. You kinda misread that report and/or what I was talking about.

First, I clearly was talking about what would be your final option in case you were stuck in a car, in traffic preventing you from leaving the scene.

That's not what the report is talking about. It's talking about how people used to think that was one of the safest places and would a actually leave their homes (which would be safer) to go to an overpass, or would park their still mobile car and wait up to ten minutes under the overpass while the tornado came, when they could have just sped away in their cars.

That's not what I was talking about. I was talking about imminent danger when you are trapped in traffic away from adequate shelter.

Pristine_Condition said:
Not if you can't drive though. If you're stuck in traffic, you're better off trying to wedge yourself under an overpass, into a culvert, or a ditch of a tornado is coming right at you. You certainly don't want to be standing out in the middle of a road getting pelted with debris.

The report itself echoes my statement:

Meanwhile, we need to emphasize that the first option for people in vehicles should be to GET OUT OF THE TORNADO PATH! If this is not possible, people should abandon vehicles and seek shelter inside a well-constructed building. When doing so, practice the aforementioned safety recommendations. As a final, absolutely last resort (which should ALMOST NEVER BE NEEDED if the first two options are available), the final options of a ditch or overpass, or staying in a vehicle are all that remain. It needs to be emphasized with great urgency that, apart from getting out of the tornado's path, there really is NO GOOD option - PERIOD. Being in a tornado's path is deep trouble!

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=safety-overpass-slide24

So just take it easy on me, OK? I was clearly answering a specific "worst case scenario" question.
 

Thaedolus

Gold Member
Jesus Fuck, my grandmother lives about 45 minutes outside of Joplin... She was in that hospital that got hit just days before the tornadoes a couple years ago. We are driving out to visit in a couple weeks...I hope the area is still standing...
 

Vyroxis

Banned
It's gonna be a wet, wild year. Makes me want to be a storm chaser.

Prayers to everyone who doesn't want to be in these storms though. Hope they all make it through.
 

LegoDad

Member
Yeah. You kinda misread that report and/or what I was talking about.

First, I clearly was talking about what would be your final option in case you were stuck in a car, in traffic preventing you from leaving the scene.

That's not what the report is talking about. It's talking about how people used to think that was one of the safest places and would a actually leave their homes (which would be safer) to go to an overpass, or would park their still mobile car and wait up to ten minutes under the overpass while the tornado came, when they could have just sped away in their cars.

That's not what I was talking about. I was talking about imminent danger when you are trapped in traffic away from adequate shelter.



The report itself echoes my statement:



http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=safety-overpass-slide24

So just take it easy on me, OK? I was clearly answering a specific "worst case scenario" question.

So much wrong in this post..

NEVER EVER STOP UNDER AN OVERPASS...
 

syllogism

Member
Yeah. You kinda misread that report and/or what I was talking about.

First, I clearly was talking about what would be your final option in case you were stuck in a car, in traffic preventing you from leaving the scene.

That's not what the report is talking about. It's talking about how people used to think that was one of the safest places and would a actually leave their homes (which would be safer) to go to an overpass, or would park their still mobile car and wait up to ten minutes under the overpass while the tornado came, when they could have just sped away in their cars.

That's not what I was talking about. I was talking about imminent danger when you are trapped in traffic away from adequate shelter.



The report itself echoes my statement:



http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=safety-overpass-slide24

So just take it easy on me, OK? I was clearly answering a specific "worst case scenario" question.
The "worst case scenario" is essentially a scenario that never occurs. Lying flat in a ditch/ravine or even open ground is a better option than the overpass. It's not advice that is ever useful.
 
What an unlucky weekend to visit my girlfriend's parents in and around St. Louis. We were on the road by Highland when her dad called and told us to get off at an exit and wait. We were stupid since the rain hadn't started and kept going. About 5 minutes later, the horizontal rain kicked in. Got bad enough we had to pull over under a bridge and wait.

At about 9:20 PM we started moving again. Didn't look too awful as we passed through Overland Park and eventually Sycamore Hills where her dad lives. But waking up this morning---damn. McDonalds around here with the golden arches ripped off. Tree limbs all over. Hope everyone else made it out all right from the flooding and fallen trees.
 

KingGondo

Banned
I've never seen that much rain in OKC. We got 3+ inches in an hour, and it kept going hard all night. My backyard is a damn swamp right now, haha.
 

Branduil

Member
http://news.yahoo.com/frightened-okla-residents-opt-flee-tornadoes-193124867.html

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — It's a warning as familiar as a daily prayer for Tornado Alley residents: When a twister approaches, take shelter in a basement or low-level interior room or closet, away from windows and exterior walls.

But with the powerful devastation from the May 20 twister that killed 24 and pummeled the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore still etched in their minds, many Oklahomans instead opted to flee Friday night when a violent tornado developed and headed toward the state's capital city.

It was a dangerous decision to make.

Interstates and roadways already packed with rush-hour traffic quickly became parking lots as people tried to escape the oncoming storm. Motorists were trapped in their vehicles — a place emergency officials say is one of the worst to be in a tornado.

"It was chaos. People were going southbound in the northbound lanes. Everybody was running for their lives," said Terri Black, 51, a teacher's assistant in Moore.

After seeing last month's tornado also turn homes into piles of splintered rubble, Black said she decided to try and outrun the tornado when she learned her southwest Oklahoma City home was in harm's way. She quickly regretted it.
When she realized she was a sitting duck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, Black turned around and found herself directly in the path of the most violent part of the storm.

"My car was actually lifted off the road and then set back down," Black said. "The trees were leaning literally to the ground. The rain was coming down horizontally in front of my car. Big blue trash cans were being tossed around like a piece of paper in the wind.

"I'll never do it again."

smh
 
Terrible news :(

Storm chaser, Tim Samaras, his son Paul and crew member, Carl Young were killed Friday in a tornado that ripped through El Reno, Oklahoma.

http://www.examiner.com/article/discovery-channel-s-storm-chaser-tim-samaras-killed-el-reno-tornado

People might be familiar with Tim from seeing him on Discovery's Storm Chasers series, the TWISTEX team that was using probes to obtain research data. He always seemed quite safety conscious. The tornado's sudden change in direction took people off guard.
 
Ironic and sad. He was indeed more safety concious than the two teams in the armored cars. I bet it will make storm chasers think extra hard on how dangerous this profession/hobby really is.

Is the program still on btw? Just now the storm seasons get more extreme, Dutch Discovery seems to have taken it out of rotation.
 

ElRenoRaven

Member
Terrible news :(



http://www.examiner.com/article/discovery-channel-s-storm-chaser-tim-samaras-killed-el-reno-tornado

People might be familiar with Tim from seeing him on Discovery's Storm Chasers series, the TWISTEX team that was using probes to obtain research data. He always seemed quite safety conscious. The tornado's sudden change in direction took people off guard.

Oh that sucks. Just got power last night and went to bed. After Almost 24 hours of no power as a result of that Tornado and storm I was tired as hell. The flooding that came with the tornado was insane. We live up on a clay dirt hill next to an oil well and it was even flooding up here.

The Vo-tech here was just demolished. I see it taking them awhile to get it repaired. All together about 10 people died from it. It could have been so much worse if it hadn't jumped over south of I-40 before it got here.

Hell this is one of the medium sized hail stones that came with it.

487276_10201096996808013_2030366597_n.jpg
 

Jburton

Banned
Terrible news :(



http://www.examiner.com/article/discovery-channel-s-storm-chaser-tim-samaras-killed-el-reno-tornado

People might be familiar with Tim from seeing him on Discovery's Storm Chasers series, the TWISTEX team that was using probes to obtain research data. He always seemed quite safety conscious. The tornado's sudden change in direction took people off guard.


Shit, Tim and his crew seemed like really nice guys and Tim is a legend within the chaser scene ......... he was one of the more careful ones.

RIP TIM and the other members of Twistex that lost there lives.
 
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