2012-04-14 MISC: TX/OK/KS/NE/IA

[Eric Birch]

Looks like Riley KS is next in line up north though lowest scan velocities are weaker. Upper scans showing very strong rotation so it would appear by time storm is over Riley it might be organized again.

 

[PDailey]

Woodward twister - http://twitpic.com/99zq54

 

[Robert Bone]

In that Woodward twister video it looks like that police car gets blown off the road at the end. Not sure that's what happened but it looks that way.

 

[Eric Birch]

That sucks. As soon as that storm hit Woodward it folded up. Only slight rotation remaining by Freedom OK now.

I'm calling it a night finally.

 

[rdale]

Yeah, they did RDale...call it a severe weather statement or whatever you want, but it was clearly picked up by local media in Wichita and reported as a catastrophic impact - surely not something they just made up.

Not at the time you posted. You may have misheard or maybe one of the TV stations did it on their own. I was in the chat room and nobody mentioned it there either until the bulletin came out that I posted.

 

[JamesCaruso]

This is the strongest language I've ever seen posted by a WFO. I really hope we don't wake up to a Greensburg situation.

Adam, I couldn't find the particular warning you excerpted from. If you have the entire thing could you post it, or let me know the issuing office and approximate time? I looked at every ICT warning from about two hours prior to your post but couldn't see it...

Thanks,
Jim

Edit: sorry, just saw an earlier post with full text and realize it's a special weather stmt, not a warning...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[rdale]

James - they did issue a full TOR emergency warning for Wichita itself later.

 

[Joshua Nall]

After falling behind the Wichita storm near the OK/KS state line and heading over to I-35, I was listening to a radio station that I assumed was out of Wichita. They were describing what they were seeing on radar and they would break in and talk to people in the field at times.

A couple of comments on what I heard. When the core of the storm was coming into Wichita and passing over the radar site the media person said they could no longer see signs of a tornado and he kept referencing a debri ball… whether or not one was there. He would also take calls from people in the field and they said that they could not see a tornado even though they did affirm that one might be occurring.

One thing everyone needs to be aware of is that when heavy rain/hail passes over a radar site the reflectivity is going to be diminished. It will look like the storm is losing intensity. It is a mistake, is it not, to try and discern details from reflectivity, such as a hook or a debri ball right at the time the core is passing over the radar site. This needs to stressed to those who are relaying information based on radar details and trying to determine the existence of a tornado… if they feel they should be doing that at all.

Also, the in field reporters were probably not in position to see a tornado most of the time. It seems their reporting of not being able to see the tornado made the situation less urgent, even though they did caution one could be occurring. Just two minor points of constructive critisicm on a situation that was handled well.

 

[Jeff Duda]

One thing everyone needs to be aware of is that when heavy rain/hail passes over a radar site the reflectivity is going to be diminished. It will look like the storm is losing intensity. It is a mistake, is it not, to try and discern details from reflectivity, such as a hook or a debri ball right at the time the core is passing over the radar site. This needs to stressed to those who are relaying information based on radar details and trying to determine the existence of a tornado… if they feel they should be doing that at all.

Otherwise known as attenuation. This storm provided a splendid example of what very heavy precip and/or hail can do to a C-band TDWR (TICH). See facebook photo (sorry if you're not FB friends with me).

 

[Chad Ringley]

One thing everyone needs to be aware of is that when heavy rain/hail passes over a radar site the reflectivity is going to be diminished. It will look like the storm is losing intensity. It is a mistake, is it not, to try and discern details from reflectivity, such as a hook or a debri ball right at the time the core is passing over the radar site. This needs to stressed to those who are relaying information based on radar details and trying to determine the existence of a tornado… if they feel they should be doing that at all.

And on this note, this fact was sadly lost on Dr. Greg Forbes. I had tuned in to TWC to see a close friend of mine from ICT at work with their live shot from the office (still not sure where that came from), and left maddened by his constant reference to the storm "weakening" as it approached the radar site. He even went as far to start highlighting gust-front generated tornadoes rather than the new massive circulation that spawned the long-track tornado near McConnell AFB. Not sure why I was surprised.

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

On our way home Sunday morning, we followed the damage path of the Woodward tornado from Woodward back to Arnett. Damage path was 1/4 mile wide for most of the 30 mile path we followed. Found 2 houses completely leveled, but also found double wides that survived direct hits barely damage in the middle of its life cycle. Saw lots of crazy and strange stuff along its path. Talk to one of the residents who lost their home. They were rather upbeat and taking it quite well. They ever offered us to come take pictures up close, which blew me away anyone would even offer that. We passed on the offer of course as we were trying to stay as far out of the way as possible. Didnt want to invade their space. The farmer was upset most about that his brand new John Deer got flipped over. The other house we saw I think may have been where 2 people were killed. That farmstead there had pretty significant damage as well, if not the worst we saw. One of the turbines on that windfarm right next to that location look like it must have got shut down or broke by the tornado.

Here is the link to some 250 pictures from along the damage path - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100727374058447.2687529.9609344&type=3&l=37b118093e

 

[Mike Smith]

Remember Those Maxed-Out SPC Day 1 and 2 Probabilities Friday and Saturday?

I have a report as to how well they verified on my blog: http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-did-those-maxed-out-probability.html

Short answer: Very well. If anything, Saturday's were too low.

 

[rdale]

Well Sunday's were WAY too high so it all balanced out

 

[Matthew Crowther]

So, will the OK tornadoes that many chasers documented in OK on the Waynoka-EMP storm ever get into the official record? It looks like there were at least 7 or 8 tornadoes in OK, but there are only 4 in the OUN LSR (I saw 4 myself and missed all the Waynoka-area hoses and any up near the KS border). Also, on Friday there were two pretty-well documented tornadoes in SW OK (Blair and Cooperton) that never made it into the record either. I have tended to notice this with the OUN office, with reports either late or missing altogether.

 

[Lee Smith-Whaley]

I'm wondering if someone can clarify something for me. I keep seeing a couple on FB people referring to 2 EF-4's on Saturday. The first one being the Chase/Kanopolis Lake/Marquette/Salina tornado. The second one though is always referred to, but never named. I can't seem to find record of a second EF-4 on Saturday. Can someone please point out the tornado I'm missing.