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Spring 2014 Banter Thread


jm1220

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If this area ever truly saw a severe weather outbreak with tornados, large hail and damaging winds, similar to what occurred in Alabama and Mississippi last week, a majority of people here would crap their pants.

As a transplant from Oklahoma to Massachusetts, I agree 1000%. I had just moved here in July, 21 years ago. I was going outside from my office and there was a fairly dark cloud coming in from the west, bit of wind, a little thunder, but really pretty wimpy by my standards. Everybody thought I was nuts for going outside and they knew just any minute I was going to be sucked up in a tornado. I laughed and told them not even close to anything to worry about. They were scared witless.

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As a transplant from Oklahoma to Massachusetts, I agree 1000%. I had just moved here in July, 21 years ago. I was going outside from my office and there was a fairly dark cloud coming in from the west, bit of wind, a little thunder, but really pretty wimpy by my standards. Everybody thought I was nuts for going outside and they knew just any minute I was going to be sucked up in a tornado. I laughed and told them not even close to anything to worry about. They were scared witless.

I agree. I've been to Kansas many times. Was at a restaurant during a tornado warning in May 2004 with sirens blaring and people were just eating like nothing was happening. When I see a supercell on radar and read the severe weather statement I get scared just reading it. 80 mph winds, baseball size hail, get indoors immediately. You know they mean business 

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I think what people dont understand who dont live in The Alley is that these things are isolated to smaller areas. You'd be suprised how many run of the mill people know how to watch a radar and understand what they are seeing. Every TV  met down there has a state of the art doppler that can pinpoint a hook echo within a half block.  I could be 1 mile from a F0-F3 thats on the ground and if it's moving away from me on doppler, I dont worry about it. (F4 or F5, I'm headed to the cellar). So when the sirens go off, you need to look at where it actually is before you panic. Nobody  worries to much about a little straight wind or hail. If it beats the roof off, call Allstate.

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I think what people dont understand who dont live in The Alley is that these things are isolated to smaller areas. You'd be suprised how many run of the mill people know how to watch a radar and understand what they are seeing. Every TV  met down there has a state of the art doppler that can pinpoint a hook echo within a half block.  I could be 1 mile from a F0-F3 thats on the ground and if it's moving away from me on doppler, I dont worry about it. (F4 or F5, I'm headed to the cellar). So when the sirens go off, you need to look at where it actually is before you panic. Nobody  worries to much about a little straight wind or hail. If it beats the roof off, call Allstate.

I pretty much agree with all of this, it's like anything else. The more frequent something occurs the more awareness people have about it. A general severe supercell in tornado alley is a common occurrence.

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Eh... last year's mass exodus out of OKC suggests this may be a slight overestimation of the general public's wx knowledge.

Those outbreaks last year were pretty well advertised and OKC was put under PDS tornado watches. PDS tornado watches are still uncommon, even for OKC.

 

For a great write up on PDS watches.

 

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/publications/dean/pdswatch.pdf

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OKC was bullet that was dodged in historical perspective. The death toll from that monster tornado ripping through the heart of OKC wouldve ranked it one of if not the highest death toll from a natural disaster on record in the US. 2.6 mile wide and winds at the strongest part being doppler radar indicated at 293mph it wouldve not been a sight to see thats for sure. Just looking at the satellite image of the ground scar and seeing it in such close proximity to OKC is hair raising. Mother nature spared us a momumental weather disaster that day narrowly....

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I think what happened in Joplin, MO reinvigorated tornado awareness. It was one of the first F5's to destroy a densely populated area during the modern twitter era where everyone had instant access to photos and video.

Got a youtube video of first responder storm chasers on scene after it ripped through from the interstate going through joplin. One of the chasers saying "dont be surprised if we start seeing dead bodies" was creepy. Looking at it you saw the intensity from the tornado with the damage, tree debarking complete, a ford expedition WRAPPED around a tree and also some pavement scouring as well

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OKC was bullet that was dodged in historical perspective. The death toll from that monster tornado ripping through the heart of OKC wouldve ranked it one of if not the highest death toll from a natural disaster on record in the US. 2.6 mile wide and winds at the strongest part being doppler radar indicated at 293mph it wouldve not been a sight to see thats for sure. Just looking at the satellite image of the ground scar and seeing it in such close proximity to OKC is hair raising. Mother nature spared us a momumental weather disaster that day narrowly....

That tornado hit a very populated area anyway. It would be like a tornado going through a Long Island town.

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If a tornado of that magnitude ever hit a populated town on Long Island the casualties would be in the thousands.

 

Most people in this area ignore tornado warnings.

Well that's not surprising since over 99% of them don't verify (they don't get that much tornado warnings regardless). People know tornadoes can happen around here but since they are usually very weak or infrequent then it's not a major concern compared to a flood, a blizzard/nor'easter, or even a hurricane (only because of recent occurrences otherwise it would be ignored somewhat). 

 

I actually would like to know if an EF 4 or 5 tornado is even possible in say the state of NJ since there's never been a recorded case of one. 

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If a tornado of that magnitude ever hit a populated town on Long Island the casualties would be in the thousands.

Most people in this area ignore tornado warnings.

Like i said it wouldve been more than a katrina type death toll. Anyway, one of the best advancements they've made in tornado warnings is the polygon boxes. Instead of warning an entire county they warn the parts MOST LIKELY to be hit by the actual tornado. El Reno was a rarity in that it really did shift its path quite alot compared to other large® tornadoes, other than that the polygon tornado warnings have been a pretty good advancement in warning the public. Biggest problem by far though is how many people still go by the tornado siren mentality, in a high risk tornado area an NOAA radio is always your best bet. No power no sirens so that logic MUST BE STOPPED

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Well that's not surprising since over 99% of them don't verify (they don't get that much tornado warnings regardless). People know tornadoes can happen around here but since they are usually very weak or infrequent then it's not a major concern compared to a flood, a blizzard/nor'easter, or even a hurricane (only because of recent occurrences otherwise it would be ignored somewhat).

I actually would like to know if an EF 4 or 5 tornado is even possible in say the state of NJ since there's never been a recorded case of one.

I know PA and somewhere in NE have before
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If a tornado of that magnitude ever hit a populated town on Long Island the casualties would be in the thousands.

 

Most people in this area ignore tornado warnings.

I meant in terms of population density. Most people here don't listen to warnings of any type. That's why I was so surprised no one died in my town despite the destruction left by Sandy.

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That was one case where all the media hype actually helped out.

Didn't help my town out. :lol:

 

Not many people evacuated prior to Sandy because of the talk of it being part-nor'easter, and how Irene didn't do much besides flood some streets and basements. "There can't be hurricanes on Halloween" was one line that made me want to bash my head through a wall.

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Didn't help my town out. :lol:

Not many people evacuated prior to Sandy because of the talk of it being part-nor'easter, and how Irene didn't do much besides flood some streets and basements. "There can't be hurricanes on Halloween" was one line that made me want to bash my head through a wall.

Well yes some media was a little skeptical I think is the right term.
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Didn't help my town out. :lol:

 

Not many people evacuated prior to Sandy because of the talk of it being part-nor'easter, and how Irene didn't do much besides flood some streets and basements. "There can't be hurricanes on Halloween" was one line that made me want to bash my head through a wall.

A storm that actually lives up to the hype can have negative connotations as well moving forward just as much as Irene had asserted complacency when it came to Sandy. Now every time there's a remote threat of a tropical system for us, there will be too much hype and perhaps too much worry from the public. We saw something similar the years after Katrina in New Orleans. I'd rather have people be prepared than complacent though. 

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