robsam
1721
Students were drowned in a basement, I hope this report is about the same school where the “two dozen” kids were killed and not a different school. Unclear reporting. If it is the original school children I almost feel better in a strange way, the adults took them to what is logically the safest place and it didn’t work out. I’ve seen at least two people interviewed that survived in underground shelters covered in mud, saying the mud and water was sucked into the seams from the tornado. (Conspiracy theorists unite! Clearly they were actors and the tornado didn’t happen.) Alan, have you ever heard of a tornado sucking water from the ground like this? I don’t think the survivors were talking about rainwater flooding, they were amazed that their shelter was flooding and spitting mud at them through the seams that were buried underground.
One local news station in OKC saying that as many as (NVM, until I can get a better source to confirm that this is what they said.)
Mizzou guy shot this video from what he reckons is about 5 miles from where the tornado touched down. He says they shot it and then took cover because it looked like it was headed for them.
The average commercial airplane is hit by lightning once per year.
From another Tiger living in the area:
“Hey guys. I work in OKC for KOCO. Right now the death toll is 51. It’s not going to stop there. Please send all your prayers our way.”
Damon Lane @KOCOdamonlane 39m
Debris from Moore Oklahoma falling in Branson, MO. 250 miles away #okwx
robsam
1727
I find that impossible to believe trig…Not this soon.
I do too, kind of, although the storm is now in St. Louis, which is almost 500 miles away.
robsam
1729
I’m not going to argue this point, if your buddy thinks he’s seen debris from OKC in his town 250 miles away he must believe it. Or is tweeting for fun. Most likely tweeting for fun. When my town got hammered in 2011 (close to Chattanooga) it took a few days at least before people in Knoxville began reporting and sending back personal items that dropped into their yards. Like I said, too soon. Maybe your friends are better at collecting random debris and declaring it came from the latest tornado tragedy.
Oh, that’s not my buddy. That’s the meteorologist at KOCO in OKC. Dude I know is an engineer there.
I don’t think a meteorologist in OKC is thinking that anything involving this tornado is “fun”. What an odd characterization.
robsam
1731
And what a nice disconnect you maintain between being a normal person with empathy and being an internet asshole. What an odd dysfunctional personality.
EDIT: Leaving the original post, adding apology. I have some personal baggage regarding tornado damage that makes me go insane on the internet at times.
Sorry trig for my personal attack comment.
robsam
1732
This thread deserves better than this, I’ll gladly continue in PM’s if you want to triggercut.
It was the same school they were reporting about; my take is that there were probably water pipes in addition to surrounding rain bands that contributed to this tragedy. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a basement, though how exactly they got to this point is in question if many of the other kids were huddled in the halls (as they are taught to do since day one).
As for mud and water, it’s entirely possible. This story sounds familiar, but generally people are spattered with mud and moisture because tornadoes spread that around like confetti. Ground is frequently cleared of vegetation down to ground soil, and combined with moisture in the air or already in the ground as i, that can create lots of flung mud around (view some upright vehicles sometimes and they have spats of mud embedded in their sides). Inside of a basement however, I can imagine that the ground is already moist (especially red clay), perhaps due to earlier rains or general composure of materials, and massive pressure differences can cause something like this to perhaps happen (combined with high, swirling winds). I can’t really say for certain. Low pressure drops that come with tornadoes passing overhead or close by and cause some pretty strange things.
Just to note, there was talk that debris from Moore was falling in Tulsa, which is entirely possible.
— Alan
North Central Texas, including the D/FW metroplex, up through the ArkLaTex region up to Little Rock, is under the gun on Tuesday.
FORECAST SOUNDINGS AT 00Z/WED FROM LITTLE ROCK SWWD TO AROUND THE
DALLAS FORT WORTH METROPLEX SHOW MLCAPE VALUES OF 2500 TO 4000 J/KG
WITH 0-6KM SHEAR OF 45 TO 55 KT. THIS ALONG WITH 850 TO 500 MB LAPSE
RATES AROUND 7.5 C/KM SHOULD RESULT IN A POTENTIAL FOR SUPERCELLS
WITH LARGE HAIL. HAILSTONES OF GREATER THAN 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER
WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THE MORE INTENSE SUPERCELLS. IN ADDITION…THE
MORE DOMINANT SUPERCELLS SHOULD BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING TORNADOES AS
THE LOW-LEVEL JET STRENGTHENS. A FEW STRONG TORNADOES COULD OCCUR
NEAR THE LOW-LEVEL JET AS BOUNDARY LAYER SHEAR BECOMES MORE
FAVORABLE DURING THE EARLY EVENING. THE MODELS SUGGEST CELLS MAY BE
DISCRETE AT THE START OF THE EVENT WITH A TRANSITION TO A
SQUALL-LINE. THIS WOULD MAKE THE WIND DAMAGE THREAT INCREASINGLY
DOMINANT AS A LINEAR MCS ORGANIZES EARLY THIS EVENING.
As systems transition from discrete cells and supercells to squall lines and linear and quasi-linear convective systems, the risk for tornadoes drops and straight-line high winds goes up as the system feeds itself propelling forward in a clustered line of wind, rain and hail, rather than rotating by themselves as mesocyclones tend to do. (This is not to say that tornadoes cannot spawn from these systems, but they are not nearly as strong or long-lasting.) So the danger are these individual cells that fire up, start spinning from the upper level winds (mostly the jet stream), and enter extremely unstable air (given as a measure of energy in joules per kilogram of air, or J/KG).
— Alan
Holy crap! I just seen the news footage of this and that is unreal. It’s still early days in all the relief efforts but i’m waiting on some reputable charities to open lines for donations, these folk are going to need lots of help to recover from this. My families thoughts and best wishes are with all those caught up in it. Just horrible.
From wikipedia:
The word “Tampa” may mean “sticks of fire” in the language of the Calusa, a Native American tribe that once lived south of today’s Tampa Bay. This might be a reference to the many lightning strikes that the area receives during the summer months. Other historians claim the name means “the place to gather sticks”.[22]
Afternoon thunderstorms, usually generated by the interaction of the Gulf and Atlantic sea breezes, are such a regular occurrence during the summer that the Tampa Bay area is recognized as the “Lightning Capital of North America”. Every year, Florida averages 10 deaths and 30 injuries from lightning strikes, with several of these usually occurring in or around Tampa.[66]
That’s pretty awesome; get used to seeing crazy lightning stuff if you’re going to live in Florida.
Although it’s an arguable title: http://www.tampabay.com/news/bizarre/data-disprove-tampas-lightning-capital-claim/1238171
Guarantee you’re gonna go ‘awwwwwww’ if you watch this…it’s pretty good:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50147264n
That is awesome. Good thing the news crew was there interviewing her, as I can pretty much guarranty that hearing her voice was what brought that dog up out of the rubble to where the crew could see her moving.
The rarest of good news: death toll revised down to 24. Apparently there was some double-reportage from first responders. Great news.
A squall line is passing through the I-35 corridor in North Texas now; however, conditions are not ripe for tornadoes in the area as it’s a fairly linear system with a nasty gust front blasting out in front of it. Morning clouds have also restricted instability, and the rain-cooled air will further nix tornado conditions. However, extremely strong winds and some hail is expected.
That being said, as the cold front pushes into NE/E Texas, conditions will change where few clouds and afternoon heating has been mostly uninhibited and it is expected to intensify greatly. The front isn’t the tornadic danger, but cells that brew up, spin and get caught up in the gust front may be particularly dangerous. There’s already a tornado warning for a cell near Texarkana.
— Alan
