Anybody else annoyed by this?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nick Dawson
  • Start date Start date
The definition of "large" (i.e. the size that constitutes the "large" designation) seems to vary from person to person (chaser to chaser, spotter to law enforcement official, etc).... I've seen some so-called "large" tornadoes that were certainly not what I would call "large". I think >1/4 mile wide when I think of a "large" tornado, but that's just me.


So, this is a thread hijack, admittedly, but this aspect does seem to come up too often. When individuals are reporting a large tornado - this generally does lead to enhanced wording in warnings, etc... and should not be abused to the extent possible. One problem that I think comes up too often is that large tornadoes seem to be reported on occasion when the viewer cannot actually see the ground contact of the circulation. When a large, low to the ground rotating wall cloud develops, from a distance this may appear to be a large tornado. However, sometimes this is not the case, where only a small or no tornado actually exists at the time. So, size estimates should best be reserved for when you can clearly see the ground contact of the tornado. Then, you have to try and best estimate how big it is using whatever measures are available, like # of telephone poles, trees, etc...
 
Just curious as to Shane's location. We also saw 2 at the same time. We were at I35 and Hwy 51. We saw the first one and then the 2nd formed just to the North East of the first. The 2nd one was alot harder to make out.

I don't mean the two simultaneous tornadoes.....before those, I saw what looked like two tornadoes south of there, closer to Orlando. I was about a mile east of I-35 on OK51 looking WNW. Maybe the ground was lower than what I could see, but there was violent rotation and full condensation to the ground (from my vantage point) on both. These two tornadoes were not simultaneous, they were a few minutes apart.

A friend of mine was two miles west of me (west of I-35) and saw them as well. Maybe somehow we couldn't see the ground, but regardless I can't imagine these things weren't at least 3/4 to the ground.
 
Shane,
we were also about a mile east of I35. a couple of guys that were there said we had just missed 2 tornadoes a few minutes before our arrival.
we tried to head north from there on 86....sadly, so did at least 60 other vehicles.
i did have to chuckle at the helicopter from kansas....they flew right over us, not much higher than the power lines.....it looked like they were watching all of us as if we were nuts.....and i think a few people confirmed that for them:)
i couldn't see the ground but i think you're right...at least 3/4 to the ground.
 
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