Kurt Wayne
EF0
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2005
- Messages
- 34
I live in Bentonville, AR and my house was right in the path of one of the tornadoes from the March 2006 Missouri/Arkansas/Oklahoma outbreak (killer T's near Sedalia and Columbia, MO in that one, Bentonville got hit hard as well).
There were at least three reports by trained spotters (according to local news) of tornadoes in this area last night including one in the SW Bentonville limits, but no damage reports. I saw what appeared to be a wall cloud/developing funnel north of my house but could not determine the extent of rotation. Our county was tornado warned at least five times last night before I went to bed, and the two worst storms (in terms of wind and rain) hit our house after I went to bed at 11:00 pm. First time I can ever remember tornadoes interrupting the national championship football game. To further demonstrate how prolonged this event was, around 10:00 the meteorologist at the local NBC affiliate (KNWA-TV's Dan Skoff, who seems like a genuinely caring man) said with a sigh, "OK, this looks like it's winding down, there's only two tornado warnings right now."
I know there are some NW Arkansas storm chasers on this forum so maybe you all can talk me out of my concerns.
NW Arkansas, including Benton County, has seen tremendous growth this decade. There may be more people in this metro area than in the Springfield one, and studies show there may be 1 million people here before the midpoint of this century.
And they're building "slab home" after "slab home" after "slab home" here with NO basements, and I don't see evidence of very many backyard underground shelters being built. Compared to nearby Springfield (where I grew up) I think we'd be astonished how many homes without shelter below ground level there now are here. And, historically, this county is right on the track for many tornadic storms moving from Oklahoma into southwest Missouri.
Someday (and I pray to God I'm wrong) I fear we're going to see an incredibly tragic disaster here when an F3 or greater strikes the Bentonville/Rogers area on a spring afternoon...
There were at least three reports by trained spotters (according to local news) of tornadoes in this area last night including one in the SW Bentonville limits, but no damage reports. I saw what appeared to be a wall cloud/developing funnel north of my house but could not determine the extent of rotation. Our county was tornado warned at least five times last night before I went to bed, and the two worst storms (in terms of wind and rain) hit our house after I went to bed at 11:00 pm. First time I can ever remember tornadoes interrupting the national championship football game. To further demonstrate how prolonged this event was, around 10:00 the meteorologist at the local NBC affiliate (KNWA-TV's Dan Skoff, who seems like a genuinely caring man) said with a sigh, "OK, this looks like it's winding down, there's only two tornado warnings right now."
I know there are some NW Arkansas storm chasers on this forum so maybe you all can talk me out of my concerns.
NW Arkansas, including Benton County, has seen tremendous growth this decade. There may be more people in this metro area than in the Springfield one, and studies show there may be 1 million people here before the midpoint of this century.
And they're building "slab home" after "slab home" after "slab home" here with NO basements, and I don't see evidence of very many backyard underground shelters being built. Compared to nearby Springfield (where I grew up) I think we'd be astonished how many homes without shelter below ground level there now are here. And, historically, this county is right on the track for many tornadic storms moving from Oklahoma into southwest Missouri.
Someday (and I pray to God I'm wrong) I fear we're going to see an incredibly tragic disaster here when an F3 or greater strikes the Bentonville/Rogers area on a spring afternoon...
