Scary Situation at Daytona 500

[Mike Smith]

The Speedway was in a tornado warning but the circulation, predictably, passed to the north.

HOWEVER, there was a strong circulation about 7 mi. south of the Speedway and a tornado warning was issued to the Speedway's south. A photo was taken from the stands that appears to show the tornado. http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2014/02/tornado-visible-from-speedway.html

I checked earlier photos taken during the rain delay and the circled feature was not visible.

This, of course, evokes the "nightmare scenario" of a tornado striking a large venue with an event in progress. The Fox announcers were a joke, almost everything they said was wrong. The safety rules to the fans were not particularly "safe." http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2014/02/update-on-daytona-500-weather.html

The bullet was dodged, again. Eventually, luck is going to run out.

 

[Zack Cooper]

Click first link again, the picture was a fake apparently. But still, was a scary situation.

 

[Mike Smith]

Correct: It was a photoshop but it was pointing the right direction at the right time.

 

[Chris Frost]

Yeah I couldn't agree more with you about the horrible Fox coverage. I don't think I even heard them mention the tornado warning once. Then, as you mention, everything that they did mention was about Bass ackwards. From what I could see though, it didn't look like there were too many people hanging in the bleachers at storm time. I'm just glad not to have witnessed anything horrible on the account of Fox not wanting to lose viewership.

 

[rdale]

Chris - I'm not seeing the connection with Fox. Are you saying that Fox required fans to stay in the stands?

 

[Chris Frost]

No, what I was saying is that if one was watching the broadcast of the race one would have never guessed that the area was under a warning. My thinking in all of this is that the producers, directors, etc for Fox who were working this event were blatantly neglecting to inform the audience of the actual weather situation to keep viewers tuned in. I'm not talking about the crowd (although I see how a person could've inferred that). I don't think it falls on anybody but the track and its officials to inform the crowd of such weather.

Basically what I'm saying is they don't want to tell you how hard it was storming/raining because they don't want you to watch something else. I just happen to find that peculiar.

 

[rdale]

I don't think the way they described the weather has any impact on who watched what. I highly doubt any NASCAR fan would turn to golf if Fox mentioned a tornado warning was in effect

 

[Chris Frost]

I don't think the way they described the weather has any impact on who watched what. I highly doubt any NASCAR fan would turn to golf if Fox mentioned a tornado warning was in effect

I hear ya lol it's just that you'd figure that something like that would be pertinent information. In the end though, it all worked out!

Especially if you're a Jr. fan like myself

 

[Mark Ellinwood]

Weather Channel is getting into the fray: http://www.weather.com/news/nascar-daytona-500-severe-weather-did-track-officials-do-enough-20140223

 

[rdale]

Good for them! I'm surprised local media didn't pick it up. This is a big story. NWS seemed to have crossed some lines too, as they went over the boundaries of the private public partnership.

 

[Shane Adams]

Weather Channel is getting into the fray: http://www.weather.com/news/nascar-daytona-500-severe-weather-did-track-officials-do-enough-20140223

TWC is just regurgitating AP stories to keep themselves in the spotlight, still reeling from the bitch slap they got from DTV. Maybe they'll spin it so that "if DTV hadn't dropped us, we would've informed you what was happening."

 

[rdale]

I've not seen that insight on the AP wire - I'd like to check out what they wrote! Got a link?

 

[David Biggar]

Surprisingly, this time it was not a wire story.

Also not sure about the timeline of everything. Some stations around the area made it sound like they warned fans (and some fans even refused to leave their seats) at the right times.

 

[Shane Adams]

I've not seen that insight on the AP wire - I'd like to check out what they wrote! Got a link?

No, but I'm taking every opportunity to take shots at TWC for anything they put out there regarding safety/responsibility (or lack thereof) in severe weather. I have no clue if it was an AP piece, but I've seen it on other sources. That TWC is jumping onboard is just the latest example of their hypocrisy.

 

[rdale]

Thanks, for clarifying. I still can't find any other sources with more derail than TWC and I'm writing something up on the event. Can you point me to those links?