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Surviving Tornadoes
SharkJumper writes "We here in central Oklahoma, USA are just climbing out of the wreckage of another series of tornadoes. Unlike the tornadoes of May 3rd, 1999, which killed 47 and injured more than 800, we now have much better tornado information and prediction technology. Largely because of this, there have been far fewer injuries, and (as of this morning) no reported deaths. Here in the greater Oklahoma City area, we can even register our storm shelters with the city. After a severe storm, GIS technology is used to create a map for rescuers detailing location and type of the shelter as well as emergency contact information. Rescuers can then use these maps to search for survivors that may be trapped by debris in their shelters."
Don't live where they happen.
*ducks*
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
We had Tornado shelters in South Dakota.
Storm cellers, basements, crawl spaces. It's all good.
Bathtubs are good not because of the material, but because it's one piece, they usually survive and it's a place you can get down and cover your vital organs and noggin while having some side protection.
Tubs usually were cast iron with a porcelain coating over them, now they are usually fiberglass.
I would think you wouldn't want to be near porcelain at a time like that...
I'd be wishing I was near porcelain, since the alternatives involve begging rescue-workers for a clean pair of pants...
Mod early, mod often.
I suppose. But being a wide-load also makes you a bigger target for flying debris.
I live in Stillwater, OK and was watching the news very closely yesterday afternoon/evening just to make sure those twister weren't headed my way.
Sure, the early warning systems are better, but the main improvements are:
(1) Modern variants of doppler radar (and software for it) that can better identify wind velocities in terms of rotation and likelihood of funnel formation. However, the radar can rarely (if ever?) tell for certain if a rotation in a storm is actually a tornado or if it is on the ground.
(2) Communication. The National Weather service and the Severe Storm labs in Norman work closely with radio and TV to get the info out about severe weather. But too often, they know to report actual tornados only after an eyewitness has called to report one on the ground.
The one thing they do know fairly well is the conditions that could lead to tornado formation. But the presence of those conditions (as we can sense/interpret them now) does not tell us that there *will* be a twister or *where*.
The 1999 tornado in Moore Oklahoma killed so many not because there wasn't enough warning, but because it was the most powerful tornado every recorded. It was listed as an F5, the nastiest class of tornado, but many meterologists say that the F5 classification doesn't fit, because the 1999 tornado was off the scale.
That tornado was so powerful it removed the foundation of the homes and left barren earth. Unless you had a dedicated storm shelter underground, you were at risk.
I'm from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I saw the devestation too. There was plenty of warning about this tornado, but when they are this nasty, this powerful, this devestating, sometimes there isn't anything anyone can do.
That same storm cell went up I-44 and hit Tulsa a few hours later. The tornados by then were not nearly as powerful, but that was the first time in my life I was actually scared of a tornado. I was 21 at the time, have lived in Oklahoma all my life, but when they show a street level map of you neighborhood and show the path of the tornado coming right at you, it is unnerving to say the least. (Especially after seeing what this storm cell did to the poor folks in Moore.)
Our home did not get hit, as the tornado hit the Arkansas River and went back up into the wall cloud. It touched down again across town.
Here, tornados are a fact of life. Most people who live in "Tornado Alley" accept this, and just pray it never hits them. My heart goes out to those who have suffered losses from this tornado.
...just not right before.
I've lived in Oklahoma all my life and take most of this for granted. It wasn't until I started traveling and found that most places across the nation had pathetic weather technology.
The thing that is most strange is that in some places I would bet the average Oklahoma/Texas/Kansas person would have more knowledge of weather and how to read radar. We know what a "hook echo" is, can point out a "wall cloud", and know that the green tint means hail.
Oklahoma isn't much for technology but if you want cutting edge radar tech, no place is better. They recently did a study near here to see if airborne particles (like would be released from a terrorist crop duster) could be detected on our radar. Never will know the results but.. We also have Tinker AFB, home of the AWACS (the ultimate flying radar).