2011-04-27 MISC: AL,TN,MS,KY,OH,IN,WV,GA

[Michael Riedl]

Apparently EMS have just reached a housing district in Tuscaloosa, moans are coming from the rubble and EMS has asked for a cold storage unit to come.

Source is WHNT.

 

[Kevin Bowman]

The unusual appearance (due to its size) of the very fast moving tornado, best described by the witnesses along most of its path as an amorphous rolling fog or boiling clouds on the ground, fooled normally weather wise farm owners (and people in general) who did not sense the danger until the storm was upon them

Credit to Dwest for image

Watching the coverage and seeing just a huge black mess, it reminded me of the accounts of the Tri-state tornado of 1925

 

[Drew.Gardonia]

Verbal warning messages and such are great ideas, but the first step absolutely has to be a tremendous Dixie Alley awareness campaign using the images from Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. I had the illusion that Dixie Alley residents were somewhat aware of the high threat of tornadoes in their region, and that their high tornado fatality rate compared to the Plains was due to a higher population density and a tendency for Southern twisters to move quickly and be hidden by rain, darkness, and terrain. Yesterday shattered that perception, as it was a daytime outbreak of non-HP supercells moving at high, but not extreme, speeds. People ignored sirens and were unaware of tornado emergency issuances, and there were reports of Birmingham drivers heading straight into the monster on Interstates. Most frustratingly, there were numerous mobile home fatalities. The NWS offices and the SPC were spot-on yesterday, so clearly there's a disconnect along the intended chain of events that leads from warning issuance to residents finding safe shelter. The only points at which that could happen are warning dissemination and public response to warnings.

I just wrote an article for the MTSU Sideline on the fact that people need to take these WARNINGS SERIOUSLY. Tuscaloosa should be an example of why people need to follow the warnings.

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?27436-My-Severe-Storms-Article-was-Published!

 

[Warren Faidley]

I preformed a lecture for a world disaster conference years ago, and was asked to provide feedback as to why people are killed and injured by storms in a modern society. I came up with the following theories, which are elaborated upon in my "How to Survive any Storm" book."

Why People Become Statistics - The Six Deadly Factors
Death and injury from severe weather generally occurs for six reasons:

1: The individual was unaware of the threat. (By negligence or lack of communication).

2: The individual was aware of, but choose to ignore the threat.

3: The individual did not know what to do and took inappropriate action.

4: The threat was realized, but action was taken too late.

5: The individual took appropriate and timely actions but the physics of the threat overcame the actions. (e.g., an underground shelter collapsed).

6: The individual had little or no control over his or her own safety. (e.g. Disabled or hospitalized individuals, children and the elderly).

Many weather-related fatalities result from a combination or series of these factors.


###
W

 

[jeremy wilson]

Drew, come on man.


I think they've gotten incredibly better this year when severe weather is imminent. Yesterday they were absolutely great in their coverage. Who better to have detailing an outbreak than Dr. Forbes? I sat here in Oklahoma and was glued to Dr. Forbes analysis of the situation. Between 33/40 and TWC this thing was covered from all sides. Dr. Forbes pinpointed every supercell and told exactly where the tornadoes would be. Not to mention the day before this event TWC was crying "outbreak right here!!!"

Not a joke in my opinion.

 

[Andrew Burnett]

Map with reports and media images on CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/04/weather/map.google.980.severe.weather/index.html?hpt=T1

 

[Bryan Wood]

here's a reason I hate the Weather Channel....when the SPC puts out notices like yesterday's PDS, they hardly mention anything along the same lines. They never use the words Tornado Outbreak, all they say is "potential for severe weather". Most people watch the Weather Channel, and unfortunately, all that channel is, is a ridiculous joke of an excuse for a weather reporting station.

I'm not the biggest TWC fan, but they did a great job warning people yesterday. Even the most ignorant person watching TWC yesterday would've realized the seriousness of the situation. They were covering all storms, including mentioning ones in Virginia and New York that went tornado. I honestly don't see how they could've done better given the rapid nature of movement, development and the sheer multitude of supercells.

 

[Robert Dewey]

I applaud TWC's coverage of this event. It was wall-to-wall Greg Forbes showing GRLevel2 AE (including velocity scans) + live tower cams. I heard him use verbiage like "tornado emergency," "high risk," and "particularly dangerous situation." I'm not really sure what they could have done differently. Any suggestions, Drew?

 

[Will Campbell]

here's a reason I hate the Weather Channel....when the SPC puts out notices like yesterday's PDS, they hardly mention anything along the same lines. They never use the words Tornado Outbreak, all they say is "potential for severe weather". Most people watch the Weather Channel, and unfortunately, all that channel is, is a ridiculous joke of an excuse for a weather reporting station.

I think the NWS needs to begin regulation over all civilian/corporate weather agencies both on tv, radio and internet, so that the Warnings, Watches, and Severe Weather Outbreak Outlooks are all UNIFORM and the SAME. that way there is no confusion, and people won't be able to say "we really had no clue this would happen".

In addition to be a meteorologists, they should have to go through some courses given by the NWS and become certified (kinda like with Microsoft) to NWS standards. It won't mean they can't make their own forecasts still, but they should still have to summarize NWS Convective Outlooks for potential for severe weather outbreaks.

Civilian/Corporate Meteorology has become very flawed, and Ive known of several tv stations both here in Nashville and back home in Kansas City, who dropped the ball repeatedly during outbreaks (5/4/2003 WDAF-TV Fox News made no mention of severe weather potential, they just said some thunderstorms would hit, when the SPC had issued an outbreak advisory 3 days prior). Nashville stations did the same thing here during the Good Friday tornado, when the SPC issued a Special Weather Statement the night before, but not ONE of those local stations said anything about possible severe weather or tornadoes.

I am typically the last person to back up or defend media meteorologists, but I will give credit where it is due. Dr. Forbes has been absolutely fantastic for all of 2010 and 2011. I don't know if you didn't watch TWC because you were in the field, or just he said she said reports, but they CONSTANTLY emphasized how dangerous the situation was, frequently referenced the PDS watch texts and meanings, on multiple occassions used "tornado outbreak of historical proportions" during their telecast, and (although still somewhat laughable to me) issued a 10/10 on their little "TOR:CON" toy. While I think tor:con is nothing more than a media stunt to an extent, I have to say that the research and forecasting that Dr. Forbes puts into those indexes has yet to be proven highly unreliable.

In summary, I think that TWC should be commended for their coverage. With the exception of a few webcast local stations and local affiliates in the area being affected, no other major news venues covered the situation as it was occurring, or at least that I saw. Fox, CNN, all of the other major news networks were covering political and business topics while the south was being annhilated. I am in no way comparing this to 9/11, but try to find a major network not covering that on the afternoon of that somber day...not happening. While this event is relatively pale in comparison, it should still be at least PIP'd on the other new networks IMO to give the best chance of bringing the situation to the attention of those that will/may be affected.

 

[Jordan Bell]

I will also echo that TWC did a great job. They were the only national cable channel that did any coverage in real time. Dr. Forbes and the other Mets did a great job. The shot with Jeff Morrow over looking Birmingham was a great addition as well. They stressed how serious it was. Channel 33/40 out of Birmingham also did a fantastic job with their tower cams and their Chief was on air stressing how serious it was.

 

[wsanders]

Don't forget how fast the storms were moving. I was watching CBS 42 from my desk in California and took screen shots as the tornado moved through Tuscaloosa. It was through town in less than 10 minutes.

 

[Dave Gore]

The Weather Channel's coverage yesterday was outstanding, and at one point zero commercial breaks for what seemed like an hour or longer. They should be commended, especially Dr. Forbes for the way he presented the situation. They were on there trying to save lives, and were doing everything they could to display the danger and the seriousness of what was unfolding. I'm usually not the biggest fan of TWC, but their severe weather coverage has been greatly improved, and they did another fine job yesterday. Many times they mentioned "historical tornado outbreak", "life threatening situation", "tornado emergency", "high risk", etc. Anyone watching, especially those that were in the areas of risk, are thankful for the way TWC handled yesterday's outbreak.

 

[rdale]

I think the NWS needs to begin regulation over all civilian/corporate weather agencies both on tv, radio and internet, so that the Warnings, Watches, and Severe Weather Outbreak Outlooks are all UNIFORM and the SAME. that way there is no confusion, and people won't be able to say "we really had no clue this would happen".

That's funny stuff.

In addition to be a meteorologists, they should have to go through some courses given by the NWS and become certified (kinda like with Microsoft) to NWS standards. It won't mean they can't make their own forecasts still, but they should still have to summarize NWS Convective Outlooks for potential for severe weather outbreaks.

Many private sector meteorologists are better trained than NWS meteorologists when it comes to severe weather. What do you do in that case? Why should a TV meteorologist "summarize convective outlooks" anyways?

Civilian/Corporate Meteorology has become very flawed, and Ive known of several tv stations both here in Nashville and back home in Kansas City, who dropped the ball repeatedly during outbreaks (5/4/2003 WDAF-TV Fox News made no mention of severe weather potential, they just said some thunderstorms would hit, when the SPC had issued an outbreak advisory 3 days prior). Nashville stations did the same thing here during the Good Friday tornado, when the SPC issued a Special Weather Statement the night before, but not ONE of those local stations said anything about possible severe weather or tornadoes.[/QUOTE]

 

[Brandon Jenkins]

I don't think I can fault a single piece of coverage from yesterday except the gentleman who decided to instruct people that it would be wise to park under an overpass. I thought TWC had great coverage and I thought the local affiliates did everything humanly possible to convey the seriousness of the situation at all times. If being live on air streaming a giant wedge tornado as it enters the city isn't enough, nothing ever will be.

 

[N. Shaw]

I was a little surprised by the lack of national media coverage outside of TWC. Granted I wasn't watching at the height of the outbreak, but an hour or two later - when it was clear that this was an event on a historical scale - there was nothing about it on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, etc. It was mostly coverage of the wedding or standard political stuff.