Tornado Emergency Training

[rdale]

WDTB now has "Tornado Warning Best Practices" including a section specific to the TE product.

http://wdtb.noaa.gov/courses/warning-bp/index.html

On a related note, I talked to HQ about the "NWS mets are tracking a tornado..." when they actually are looking at a storm on radar that might have a tornado. The initial response from HQ was that it was within the regulations to do so, but our concerns would be passed on to the Southern Region HQ.

 

[Jason Bolt]

Curious the mention of forecaster problems specifically on 2.2.2008. Does anyone have a link to a paper or report on the finding for that day?

And actually they have the date wrong. It was 2/5/08.

Found it for anyone else interested. http://www.weather.gov/os/assessments/pdfs/super_tuesday.pdf

 

[Robert Dewey]

On a related note, I talked to HQ about the "NWS mets are tracking a tornado..." when they actually are looking at a storm on radar that might have a tornado. The initial response from HQ was that it was within the regulations to do so, but our concerns would be passed on to the Southern Region HQ.

I really hope they address that issue. I guess it could be argued that people should be taking cover regardless.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

I also found it interesting that the CTA text for drivers in remote areas was to either exit the vehicle and find a low lying are or to shelter in place inside the vehicle. This goes against a lot of the old advice about always exiting the vehicle to seek a low lying area to lay in. While tornadoes are well known for turning cars into pretzels, I've often wondered how well an unshielded person laying 10 feet from said pretzel-car in the grass would have fared. I know windspeed drops as you get closer to the ground, but with tornadoes scouring the gravel off of the road, you've got to believe any winds strong enough to lift and toss a car is going to do some very unpretty things to a human body.

 

[rdale]

Good news! Southern Region realizes the confusion involved with that wording, and have (or will soon be?) published a "best practices" document for their offices to address that concern.

 

[Chris Nuttall]

I also found it interesting that the CTA text for drivers in remote areas was to either exit the vehicle and find a low lying are or to shelter in place inside the vehicle. This goes against a lot of the old advice about always exiting the vehicle to seek a low lying area to lay in. While tornadoes are well known for turning cars into pretzels, I've often wondered how well an unshielded person laying 10 feet from said pretzel-car in the grass would have fared. I know windspeed drops as you get closer to the ground, but with tornadoes scouring the gravel off of the road, you've got to believe any winds strong enough to lift and toss a car is going to do some very unpretty things to a human body.

That CTA is because of the new guidelines jointly issued last year by NWS and the American Red Cross.
http://www.weather.gov/om/severewea... Joint Statement on Tornado Safety_062209.pdf

 

[Rob H]

Good news! Southern Region realizes the confusion involved with that wording, and have (or will soon be?) published a "best practices" document for their offices to address that concern.

Great! I'm glad to hear I wasn't the only one confused by that wording.