2011-04-16 DISC: NC, SC, VA

[Mike Smith]

I'm counting 24 fatalities in North Carolina Saturday.

That is a high number for the 2000's but is much lower than the (apparently) smaller outbreak in March, 1984. There were 57 fatalities then.

What made this event unusual to me is the way the storms started out as a nearly solid line around noon then split and evolved into supercells during the afternoon. This was well anticipated by the SPC supercell and SIGTOR tools.

I posted a tribute to the meteorological profession for what I believe was great work during a record event: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2011/04/some-thoughts-on-carolinas-tornadoes.html

Mike

 

[Dan Robinson]

This event could top many, if not all but 11/10/02, in the past ten years on several counts (tornado density, towns/cities impacted, damage, significant tornado counts, casualties).

Damage photos seem to indicate multiple high-end EF3 instances, possibly higher.

I had family involved in this event, along with nowcasting for chaser friends - and as such had quite an intense and stressful afternoon. My brother (who has chased the Plains with me several seasons) and his wife suffered a direct tornado strike to their home near South Saunders in Raleigh.

Some more thoughts and an account of the day: http://stormhighway.com/blog2011/april1711b.shtml

 

[Zack Hargrove]

What I saw is that the line was entering an environment that was starting to reach 1500+ CAPE, 600+ storm relative helicity, and excellent speed shear. If a line enters an environment like that, it is most likely going to break up and the individual cells will start rotating. I may be wrong in that assessment, but I don't believe I am. I've never quite seen anything like it. I was personally scared during some of our chase moments, and I haven't been scared chasing in a while. SPC nailed the forecast today and they need major kudos. I am praying for the families affected. This was a bad day for Eastern NC and parts of VA/SC.

 

[jshields]

Mike, where did you see 24 fatalities in North Carolina alone? The stories online I'm reading now say 35 fatalities total since the tornadoes started in OK on Thursday. 7 in AR and AL, 3 in VA, 2 in OK, 1 in MS. Still a devastating 3 day outbreak though, and likely to get higher today as more damage is searched in NC and VA.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110417/ap_on_re_us/us_severe_weather_63

I'm counting 24 fatalities in North Carolina Saturday.

That is a high number for the 2000's but is much lower than the (apparently) smaller outbreak in March, 1984. There were 57 fatalities then.

What made this event unusual to me is the way the storms started out as a nearly solid line around noon then split and evolved into supercells during the afternoon. This was well anticipated by the SPC supercell and SIGTOR tools.

I posted a tribute to the meteorological profession for what I believe was great work during a record event: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2011/04/some-thoughts-on-carolinas-tornadoes.html

Mike

 

[Timothy Schaffer]

Mike, where did you see 24 fatalities in North Carolina alone? The stories online I'm reading now say 35 fatalities total since the tornadoes started in OK on Thursday. 7 in AR and AL, 3 in VA, 2 in OK, 1 in MS. Still a devastating 3 day outbreak though, and likely to get higher today as more damage is searched in NC and VA.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110417/ap_on_re_us/us_severe_weather_63

WRAL out of Raleigh has got the figure up to 22. CNN is stating 23. From what I've read there are at least 3 missing. Bertie County alone lost between 10 - 14 people. Just horrible.

This one really strikes near to home for me. I live in Richmond, VA but have family in Durham, NC. My prayers go out to all effected by the storms of the last 3 days.

Interestingly, it appears a tornado cut the power to the nuclear reactors at the Surry power station in VA, forcing the reactors to shutdown.

Reed

http://www.wral.com/weather/story/9455587/
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/17/severe.weather/index.html?hpt=T1
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/apr/17/apparent-tornado-causes-surry-nuclear-reactors-shu-ar-978675/

 

[Robert Keller]

Watching the news media reports the only thing hit was a Lowe's store. The ONLY thing! Got tired of watching that over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and

 

[E. Clark]

Watched James Spann's Ustream on the 15th when Arkansas was getting hit. He stayed on green-screen radar -with one other guy assisting- for 8 hours. He did not miss a single hook. He gave clear instructions as to location and heading for every signature. I am sure he saved many lives.

On the other hand, yesterday I had live radar up and WRAL and WTKR live broadcasting (flipping between the two) and I was literally pulling my hair at seeing three large, well defined hooks near heavily populated areas and between both news stations they were actually;
a. asking folks to send in storm photos and
b. talking about game cancellations.

I listened to WRAL's talking heads go on for 40 minutes showing damage pictures and cutting back and forth from a talking head they had in the field looking at broken trees back to the talking heads who were not meteorologists blabbering about 'ohh wow there are cars upside down' WHILE THERE WERE ACTIVE TORNADOS ON THE GROUND ON RADAR.

They finally cut to their weather guy and he said "We still have warnings up for 3 counties." This after 40 minutes of nothing but 'dramatic showmanship' by news guys and 'field reports'. The meteorologist had time(barely) to mentioned the counties under warning, but no track, no locations and then the camera immediately cut to the 'stars' of the show - the evening news guy and his partner.

WRAL gave their meteorologist about 3 minutes to talk at a time about every 15 minutes or so- no radar view - no lower third on either channel running warning areas.

The people on the NC stations had no clue how to handle this situation - they were treating it like a 'show' with no substance whatsoever.

Getting up today and seeing the death toll in NC just makes me want to scream. Sorry for the rant but I am very upset about this. We have the greatest technology in the world, but in the hands of idiots people still die.

 

[ahaberlie]

Also noticed that on the stream.. they had a screen up for a minute or so telling people about what channel they could watch some golf tournament on because there were complaints..

1) They were simulcasting on 2 radio stations and are the main TV news source in Raleigh which took a direct hit from one of the tornadoes.. why are they breaking away from a once in a quarter century storm with several supercells impacting heavily populated areas in their coverage area?

2) Who the %&^ is calling in to complain they can't watch golf as this is all going down?

This is one of the things that worries me about tornado outbreaks in areas that aren't used to this kind of thing.. in Oklahoma.. this IS the news.. in North Carolina.. its shtick.. The meteorologists were pretty helpful..but the anchor just kept repeating useless information like "there was debris everywhere.. *literally* debris falling out of the sky" where? when? Who knows..? He was at his most intense when he was telling people to tune into digital channel 105.2 to catch the who cares memorial golf open.. I was shocked.

 

[E. Clark]

....

2) Who the %&^ is calling in to complain they can't watch golf as this is all going down?...He was at his most intense when he was telling people to tune into digital channel 105.2 to catch the who cares memorial golf open.. I was shocked.

Advertisers - that's who. Hope they are all happy this morning.

 

[Mike Smith]

Watched James Spann's Ustream on the 15th when Arkansas was getting hit. He stayed on green-screen radar -with one other guy assisting- for 8 hours. He did not miss a single hook. He gave clear instructions as to location and heading for every signature. I am sure he saved many lives....


I listened to WRAL's talking heads go on for 40 minutes showing damage pictures and cutting back and forth from a talking head they had in the field looking at broken trees back to the talking heads who were not meteorologists blabbering about 'ohh wow there are cars upside down' WHILE THERE WERE ACTIVE TORNADOS ON THE GROUND ON RADAR.

They finally cut to their weather guy and he said "We still have warnings up for 3 counties." This after 40 minutes of nothing but 'dramatic showmanship' by news guys and 'field reports'. The meteorologist had time(barely) to mentioned the counties under warning, but no track, no locations and then the camera immediately cut to the 'stars' of the show - the evening news guy and his partner.

WRAL gave their meteorologist about 3 minutes to talk at a time about every 15 minutes or so- no radar view - no lower third on either channel running warning areas.

The people on the NC stations had no clue how to handle this situation - they were treating it like a 'show' with no substance whatsoever.

Getting up today and seeing the death toll in NC just makes me want to scream. Sorry for the rant but I am very upset about this. We have the greatest technology in the world, but in the hands of idiots people still die.

First, You meant "Alabama" as Jim is in Birmingham. I completely agree that he did an outstanding job and I linked to him on my blog while the storms were in progress: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2011/04/live-coverage-of-alabama-tornadoes.html

Second, I believe you were watching WRAL later in the storm situation. Because I was a television meteorologist in a former life who handled two very big outbreaks (Oklahoma, June 8, 1974; Wichita-Andover, April 26, 1991, 20th anniversary coming up) similar to Saturday's in the Carolinas, please let me explain what is occurring behind the scenes in these situations.

I was watching WRAL and for the first couple of hours they focused almost entirely on the tornadoes with little anchor on air time. After the tornado hit Raleigh they started -- to a greater extent -- blending in the damage reports with the tornado warnings. This is because people in areas that have been hit expect to see reports on the damage and because meeting cancellations, etc., are germane to their coverage. So, yes, they were doing that as well as covering the tornadoes still in progress.

There are more practical considerations: Ever try talking for hours at a time nearly nonstop? Your mouth gets very dry. They need to step off the set for a few moments to get a drink. They need to use the restroom, etc. So, the anchors go on to cover the storm from a news standpoint and to give the meteorologists time to handle this, reset computers, etc.

It is very easy to second guess coverage in these crisis situations. I can assure you that adlibbing (there is no script) for hours at a time when you are concerned about your family, your home, your friends, etc., is incredibly stressful.

If you would like to learn more about what this is like, get a copy of Warnings and read the "The Day TV Weather Grew Up" chapter.

Mike

 

[Mike Smith]

Advertisers - that's who. Hope they are all happy this morning.

Oh, please. Advertisers are not calling -- viewers are. Especially since they were outside of tornado alley, they likely didn't realize at the time what a big event this was going to be.

As I was on the air while the Wichita-Andover tornado was still on the ground the KSNW TV newsroom put through a call they shouldn't have (they were only supposed to put through calls relaying information pertinent to the storms). It was a woman who was very upset that I was broadcasting over a NBC Jane Pauley special about "Hollywood's Lost Youth" -- which told a story about young TV stars who went astray as adults. I tried to explain to her the magnitude of the disaster that was unfolding and she would not hear anything of it. She wanted to see her program!

If anything advertisers do not want their ads associated with disasters.

 

[E. Clark]

I have read it - and yes I understand that it can be very stressful. And yes I meant 'bama - I'm a 'Fan of Spann'. I was just very upset when I wrote my rant after getting up and seeing the loss numbers from this storm. I was upset watching the newscasts yesterday. They had two main 'newscasters', two in the field, and one meteorologist. The meteorologist got the least amount of airtime. And regardless of what they think people want to watch (death, destruction = ratings?) they needed to focus on what people needed to hear: there were tornadoes on the ground, where they were, and any other possible dangerous returns and where they were.
Three counties under warning and for over 30 minutes broadcast time I would not have known from watching the newscast. I surmised it from my radar- and finally they cut to the meteorologist to confirmed it- but still didn't give locations other than counties.

 

[Mike Smith]

Here is who you should contact with your concerns about WRAL TV's coverage: Jim Rothschild, the station's operations manager. The contact form is here: http://www.wral.com/wral-tv/aboutus/page/1010704/

I've known Jim since we worked together at KTVI in 1979 and he is a very good and smart guy who will take your feedback seriously.

 

[E. Clark]

... I was broadcasting over a NBC Jane Pauley special about "Hollywood's Lost Youth" -- which told a story about young TV stars who went astray as adults. I tried to explain to her the magnitude of the disaster that was unfolding and she would not hear anything of it. She wanted to see her program!

If anything advertisers do not want their ads associated with disasters.

Yes, I know there would be people out there who would complain. But I have also worked in broadcasting/advertising and those people drop millions on a simple one shot banner ad behind the first tee. These people are driven by huge dollars want that 'impression' to get air-time no matter what else is happening.

Regardless, I truly hope that other stations in the U.S. review this outbreak and make game plans in accord with positive changes that save lives. I have a theory that tornado outbreaks such as this will become more common in areas lesser known for tornadic events.

Thank you for the info. I may give him a call.

 

[Scott Hammel]

Oh, please. Advertisers are not calling -- viewers are. Especially since they were outside of tornado alley, they likely didn't realize at the time what a big event this was going to be.

As I was on the air while the Wichita-Andover tornado was still on the ground the KSNW TV newsroom put through a call they shouldn't have (they were only supposed to put through calls relaying information pertinent to the storms). It was a woman who was very upset that I was broadcasting over a NBC Jane Pauley special about "Hollywood's Lost Youth" -- which told a story about young TV stars who went astray as adults. I tried to explain to her the magnitude of the disaster that was unfolding and she would not hear anything of it. She wanted to see her program!

If anything advertisers do not want their ads associated with disasters.

I've worked in broadcasting for the past 7 years and it's very true, advertisers want nothing to do with disasters. For example, I believe it is standard protocol for every network that whenever there is a bad plane crash, all airline commercials are pulled from air immediately.