2013-05-31 EVENT: KS, OK, MO, IL

[Brian McKibben]

I think everyone seems to be forgetting that this was a Friday evening. While some businesses allowed their employees to leave early, most did not. Peak rush hour in OKC is from 5 to 7pm. Put that on top of all the extra traffic you get for a Friday and things were going to be bad. Gary England literally threw his arms up in the air when he heard that OHP wasn't able to shut down I-35 between I-40 and I-240. He knew those cars were going to be sitting ducks.

Perhaps, we as chasers need to realize the realistic threat that citizens in a populated metropolitan areas face during violent tornado outbreaks. People are scared after the Moore tornado. I have been through Briarwood and seen the complete devastation first hand. 75% of my old neighbors lost their homes. I will never, ever, ride out a tornado event with the ingredients we had today inside of an interior closet. For years, I loaded the family up and got the hell out of the way. Luckily for me I got my shelter yesterday. But, I still know people who would simply not survive EF-4 tornadoes because they can't get below ground.

So rather then get mad at them for contributing to chaser convergence, we should consider the ethical approach as a chaser and stay away from Metro areas. The last thing people need when a violent tornado is headed at them is a storm chaser blocking their flee to safety. We should hold ourselves to a higher standard than the local yahoos. See this section I started on wikipedia with references to Doswell's and Edwards' take on chasing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_chasing#Ethics

In metro areas there are already plenty of chasers with the TV stations to provide realtime updates to the public and NWS. Our presence in metros likely will not add any more value to the general public.

Another part of the problem (beyond chasers) is that the general public needs to take precautions immediately. It is our responsibility as weather enthusiast, storm chasers, and meteorologist to inform everyone we know in harms way that the weather conditions look bad. For example, if you see that a tornado will head into Yukon within 40 minutes, inform everyone you know in Yukon of the situation. Make a plan for them to seek safety.

The TV stations told people to get underground or out of the way. However, when the tornado was too close, say 20 minutes out, they advised people that fleeing was no longer an option. At that time they were told to find a shelter with a neighbor or get into an interior closet. As many walls as possible and cover up with pillows, blankets, helmets, etc.

It is unfortunate, but tornadoes don't care about the man-made boundaries between urban and rural areas. No matter what happens, urban areas will always have more problems during tornadoes than rural. So, make sure you preach weather awareness on days of heightened risk.

 

[Joshua Nall]

With Moore fresh on everyone's mind I don't think it would have mattered what media said in regards to fleeing. If you don't have substantial shelter, then fleeing seems like the safer alternative. Leaving sooner isn't really a good option unless you are going to travel a long distance. Weather is unpredictable and where an individual updraft will spin up is extremely unpredictable. What if one formed where you had evacuated too? I just hope chasers don't get into bashing the actions of local folks too much considering chasers are the ones that really don't have any business being in the area and on the roads.

 

[Mike Johnston]

Don't understand why there is only one tornado report for Oklahoma on the SPC Storm Reports for yesterday, and that was in Nowata in the northeastern section of the state. No reports at all for the OKC metro. There were obviously numerous tornadoes on video and even 5 deaths reported in the media. At any rate, seemed like the motions and HP nature of these storms yesterday certainly had many experienced chasers rattled. Watched some of the coverage on KWTV and Gary England seemed to be having trouble keeping his own staff of chasers calmed down and focused, at one point even scolding them for getting too close.

 

[Sean Ramsey]

I started out chasing yesterday but had to change plans with the tornado on a direct path to my house. We bought it 6 months ago and it has no storm shelter, so moving out of the way is the primary plan. So, I dropped east, picked up the wife and kids and moved south. My biggest concern in doing so was the traffic and how it would react knowing there was a large wedge moving towards the metro (radar showed a huge hook and reports over the radio were saying mile wide tornado), especially with Moore fresh on the minds of people. We were able to drop south with some congestion, not a lot, but that was before the public reacted so there's no telling how bad it would have been had we moved down 15 minutes later. I talked to a couple of people in Chickasha who had done the exact same thing due to their houses being in the direct path. My wife and I had discussed her taking the kids to my parents house in western OK out of the danger zone, but by the time she got out of work the weather stations were saying initiation would be taking place within 30 minutes and I didn't want to send her down I-40 driving into something that I knew would blow up quickly. So we had a plan, it worked...but only because we reacted sooner than the public as a whole.

I can't blame the public, I did the same thing. It's a smart move on a small scale basis, but when a mass exodus takes place that where the danger lies. On the other hand, how do you tell folks who have inadequate shelter to sit in the way of a large tornado?

 

[Stan Rose]

Good question, Sean--i dunno, what percentage of residents have "inadequate shelter"?

Yep...hopefully this will be a wake up call to some chasers who would don't seem to mind putting their lives in imminent danger just to "get the shot that no one else got". I get the feeling, though, that too many people escaped the situation without too much damage and no lesson will be learned.

Amen. I also don't buy the media BS about 'doing a public service' by broadcasting up close video to supposedly make the danger 'real' to the public so they take the warning seriously. Seems to me, the ramping up of weather porn is having the opposite effect, sending more people out on the roads to hopefully get their crappy video broadcast.

 

[Coy A. Wilhelmy]

Exactly. We had a local yokel get in front of the St. Charles, MO tornado while running video. He let himself get ran over by the outer circulation. All of the local media were treating him like he was a fearless hero. He wasn't a chaser, but "his friend" told him the tornado was near him so he thought he would go "check it out".

 

[Lee Smith-Whaley]

I can't find a news article but in a phone interview I heard Friday night with either the Mayor, or the Governor, they mentioned that they had put notice up on all the traffic message signs earlier that morning and/or Thursday afternoon. Not sure exactly what the message stated but I gathered it was something they had never done before until this system.

But it appears a lot of last minute decisions were made by a lot of the public ... decisions to "evacuate". If evacuating their homes was going to be a viable option for some and given the advance warning, it would seem many would have bugged out much earlier in the afternoon rather than wait until the storms were at their back door.

They have used the signs in the past to let motorists know of a particularly dangerous situation. One thing that bothers me is that Mike Morgan said on live TV for people to head south if they couldn't get underground. However the roads were already backed up. He is lucky that he didn't accidentally cause hundreds of deaths.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX7uzdfktB4&t=180s

 

[Hannah.Taylor]

I started out chasing yesterday but had to change plans with the tornado on a direct path to my house. We bought it 6 months ago and it has no storm shelter, so moving out of the way is the primary plan. So, I dropped east, picked up the wife and kids and moved south. My biggest concern in doing so was the traffic and how it would react knowing there was a large wedge moving towards the metro (radar showed a huge hook and reports over the radio were saying mile wide tornado), especially with Moore fresh on the minds of people. We were able to drop south with some congestion, not a lot, but that was before the public reacted so there's no telling how bad it would have been had we moved down 15 minutes later. I talked to a couple of people in Chickasha who had done the exact same thing due to their houses being in the direct path. My wife and I had discussed her taking the kids to my parents house in western OK out of the danger zone, but by the time she got out of work the weather stations were saying initiation would be taking place within 30 minutes and I didn't want to send her down I-40 driving into something that I knew would blow up quickly. So we had a plan, it worked...but only because we reacted sooner than the public as a whole.

I can't blame the public, I did the same thing. It's a smart move on a small scale basis, but when a mass exodus takes place that where the danger lies. On the other hand, how do you tell folks who have inadequate shelter to sit in the way of a large tornado?

Good post Sean. I'm just wondering, how is it homes in Oklahoma have no basements? These types of storms aren't new to Oklahoma, I'm just kinda surprised ALL homes, businesses, schools and buildings of any type aren't mandated to have some sort of underground shelter or basement. This thing is a fairly common occurence in Oklahoma, you'd figure they'd be use it and that preparations as such would have already been made years (30-40 years ago) in advance.

 

[William Monfredo]

News networks talking about how professional & safe the videos and chasers are that they show? For ex. Mike Bettes does a dis-service getting a vehicle demolished: too close, too irresponsible, way too ratings-crazy. I've been at this since 1996, even subscribed & contributed to the StormTrack paper version. But, it's not about me, it's about the fact that during the last week, we've reached a new low, because people are putting themselves in positions to get hit by tornadoes, & then saying Ooops, & providing the media with torn-porn. Frankly, it's an embarrassing time to be a chaser.

 

[Jeff Duda]

Good post Sean. I'm just wondering, how is it homes in Oklahoma have no basements? These types of storms aren't new to Oklahoma, I'm just kinda surprised ALL homes, businesses, schools and buildings of any type aren't mandated to have some sort of underground shelter or basement. This thing is a fairly common occurence in Oklahoma, you'd figure they'd be use it and that preparations as such would have already been made years (30-40 years ago) in advance.

There's currently some debate going on as to the actual reason for this. Many people will say that the soil in C OK is very impermeable and clayish so that water doesn't soak into it very well and that will lead to higher maintenance costs and water leaking into the basement. While there is some truth to that, I've also heard it's just a money and effort issue. I have also been told that if you have a basement, you need to keep the soil within a foot or so of the foundation constantly moist because dry soil shrinks away from the wall and can leave the foundation unbalanced or prone to damage. People don't want to pay for the extra construction (apparently due to the soil issue, it is a bit more expensive compared to other parts of the world). Given Oklahoma isn't the wealthiest state in the country, I think many people and businesses would just rather save money. Hopefully someone more knowledgeful than me can chime in on this, though, as I'm only providing second- or thirdhand information.

 

[Hannah.Taylor]

There's currently some debate going on as to the actual reason for this. Many people will say that the soil in C OK is very impermeable and clayish so that water doesn't soak into it very well and that will lead to higher maintenance costs and water leaking into the basement. While there is some truth to that, I've also heard it's just a money and effort issue. I have also been told that if you have a basement, you need to keep the soil within a foot or so of the foundation constantly moist because dry soil shrinks away from the wall and can leave the foundation unbalanced or prone to damage. People don't want to pay for the extra construction (apparently due to the soil issue, it is a bit more expensive compared to other parts of the world). Given Oklahoma isn't the wealthiest state in the country, I think many people and businesses would just rather save money. Hopefully someone more knowledgeful than me can chime in on this, though, as I'm only providing second- or thirdhand information.

Wow. I bet some of the families that have lost loved ones that didn't have basements would tell you it's not worth it to save a few hundred or few thousand bucks.

I could understand if the land was rocky like in Tennessee where it's difficult almost impossible to dig a basement due to all the hard rock beneath the surface, but they don't get hit with the vast number of tornadoes that those living in Oklahoma experience.

 

[Jeff Duda]

Wow. I bet some of the families that have lost loved ones that didn't have basements would tell you it's not worth it to save a few hundred or few thousand bucks.

Hence the recent rise in popularity of individual storm shelters. They're only a few thousand dollars, which is much cheaper than maintaining a basement over the course of a lifetime.

 

[jmarc Pourcelet]

Que pensez-vous d'un abri béton ou acier dans la maison? Bien sur c'est plus cher mais les vies sont précieuses.

 

[Sean Ramsey]

Good question, Sean--i dunno, what percentage of residents have "inadequate shelter"?

I guess that opens the question as to what defines "adequate shelter". Just my personal opinion, but I don't care if it's an EF-0 tornado bearing down on the house I don't want to be sitting in a closet waiting for it to hit me which unfortunately is the case at this moment if I decide to stay in place. Adequate shelter to someone like me, who respects the power of tornadoes and storms in general is anything that will get you through the most violent tornado. Just a guess, but I would bet a few dollars that 75% of residences don't have this in place. It's a cost/risk thing for many people and it will continue to be that way.

I also get irritated with the glorification of getting super close to tornadoes. I take photos, spiffy them up and show them off. I understand the desire to get a good shot, and the satisfaction that comes with people enjoying your work. But now we're getting to a point where people are unnecessarily driving into tornadoes to get shots for movies, getting the closest video with debris all over the place, national weather channels sending teams out to stand in the way of a tornado.....all because people watch it and can't get enough of it. I'm not even sure those getting this close are making that much money from it, if any. People are attracted to others taking risk and living to tell about it, and seeing things that they would never see in their lives if not for the crazy folks who drive into them. Unless this changes, it will only get worse and has over the last couple of years. I think chasers have an important place in the world to create weather awareness and for reporting purposes, but there's absolutely no reason other than attention that requires someone to be up in it.

 

[Marcus Diaz]

I couldn't agree more fully. News networks talking about how professional & safe the videos and chasers are that they show? For ex. Mike Bettes does a dis-service getting a vehicle demolished: too close, too irresponsible, way too ratings-crazy. I've been at this since 1996, even subscribed & contributed to the StormTrack paper version. But, it's not about me, it's about the fact that during the last week, we've reached a new low, because people are putting themselves in positions to get hit by tornadoes, & then saying Ooops, & providing the media with torn-porn. Frankly, it's an embarrassing time to be a chaser.

This. So freakin this. I dread telling people I chase because the same stupid questions arise. "Have you been in one? Have you seen that guy from Storm Chasers? When's the next tornado supposed to hit?" I can easily and leisurely answer those questions without sounding like an asshole, but most times I'm not. I find it more fitting to say I'm a weather photographer, because I really don't like being rolled into the same ball as those other chasers that push it too close. I'm out there for the storms and the experience, not for the money.