Tornados!!! Again, And again 9/5/11

[transplant99]

Yup...really good to hear PIM is allright.....some freakin ugly ass damage all over the place...cant imagine a tornado staying on the ground long enough to cover 200 miles....just unreal.

Over 200 tornados they think in the last 24 hours and that system is STILL spawning warnings up North.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Yup...really good to hear PIM is allright.....some freakin ugly ass damage all over the place...cant imagine a tornado staying on the ground long enough to cover 200 miles....just unreal.

Over 200 tornados they think in the last 24 hours and that system is STILL spawning warnings up North.

Tuesday was the 20th anniversary of the Andover tornado in these parts that killed some 30 or so. That one was on the ground for over 100 miles. That's the tornado with the infamous footage of it coming down the flightline at McConnell AFB just SE of Wichita. Hit a trailer park in Andover where it killed I believe 28 people which is why it is referred to as the Andover tornado.

Seems like the last week of April and first week of May are particularly harsh historically.

[Knut]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

This video was taken from the University Mall parking lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ohIV...eature=related

I still can't determine what side of the mall it was taken or direction, but that's awfully close to the hotel you mentioned.

edit: Looking at the video, it looks like it was shot from the SW corner of the lot (judging by the plane at 5:27). This means the tornado passed on the other side of the mall to the NE. I'm not going to judge how far to the NE though, as I don't want to know.

Hoping he's just busy cleaning up.

That video is insane... Just look at the power of the thing.

Glad to hear that PIM is ok

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

Tuesday was the 20th anniversary of the Andover tornado in these parts that killed some 30 or so. That one was on the ground for over 100 miles. That's the tornado with the infamous footage of it coming down the flightline at McConnell AFB just SE of Wichita. Hit a trailer park in Andover where it killed I believe 28 people which is why it is referred to as the Andover tornado.

Seems like the last week of April and first week of May are particularly harsh historically.

That deadly OK city twister was in early may as well IIRC.

They are saying this is by far the most active tornado season since 1974.

CNN saying now at least 230 deaths reported.

[FlamesKickAss]

Glad to hear he is okay, Thanks Nicker for the update

[transplant99]

Damn...Tuscaloosa has lost most of their garbage trucks, a fire station, the emergency management center, some water tanks, a bunch of police vehicles and some of the offices.

All of which will hamper clean up and rescue/recovery efforts. Cadaver dogs are arriving.

They are calling it a "historic" storm with F5 level damage...which means there arent even piles of rubble left, just everything is gone.

A place called Ringgold Georgia got smoked as well...a 3-story Super 8 collapsed among a bunch of other things.

[Art Vandelay]

Above is a radar image at the time the Tornado(s) hit Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa is in the middle of the image where is says TCL, right under the cell that has an echo top of 61,000 feet (which is very high)!

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by transplant99

That deadly OK city twister was in early may as well IIRC.

They are saying this is by far the most active tornado season since 1974.

CNN saying now at least 230 deaths reported.

I believe it was May 3rd...can't remember the year. Greensburg was May 5th.

[flamingreen]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Damn...Tuscaloosa has lost most of their garbage trucks, a fire station, the emergency management center, some water tanks, a bunch of police vehicles and some of the offices.

All of which will hamper clean up and rescue/recovery efforts. Cadaver dogs are arriving.

They are calling it a "historic" storm with F5 level damage...which means there arent even piles of rubble left, just everything is gone.

A place called Ringgold Georgia got smoked as well...a 3-story Super 8 collapsed among a bunch of other things.

That tornado was so powerful people are finding debris 100+ miles away.

[KevanGuy]

Originally Posted by Art Vandelay

Tuscaloosa is in the middle of the image where is says TCL, right under the cell that has an echo top of 61,000 feet (which is very high)!

That is insane, 18/19 km tops. When we get serious storms here they are usually in the 12-15 km range, rarely over that. 18/19 is incredible.

[nickerjones]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

I believe it was May 3rd...can't remember the year. Greensburg was May 5th.

May 3rd of 1999 ... I remember it like yesterday. I was in the middle of it ... I still remember the sound of the thing going over the place I was hiding in... Nothing will ever replicate it , I would like it to laying right underneath a set of train tracks when freight train is passing over at full speed. Tornados are scary business. I am glad Ok has gotten a break this year so far.

My Calgarian wife hates Oklahoma this time of the year. She had her share last year with softball size hail crashing through her window while she was driving , getting home , pulling into the driveway and having to hide because a reported tornado was on us.

[red sky]

It just blows me away that people choose to live in these areas. No disrespect obviously but in all the places in America, why choose a place such as Tornado Alley to live. Unlike cities that are on faults that have a higher chance of earthquakes, tornados are a certainty. It is just the quanity and magnitude that is unknown. Scary business.

[Displaced Flames fan]

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/...ex.html?hpt=T1

Great map here showing where tornados from this storm were reported.

[worth]

People are born there, it's their homes, it's what they know. It's hard to move to a completley new area, especially if you have a decent job and can make some money. Why throw away a job for uncertainty and starting if you don't have to?

[nickerjones]

Originally Posted by red sky

It just blows me away that people choose to live in these areas. No disrespect obviously but in all the places in America, why choose a place such as Tornado Alley to live. Unlike cities that are on faults that have a higher chance of earthquakes, tornados are a certainty. It is just the quanity and magnitude that is unknown. Scary business.

You have blizzards and snow ... car accidents caused by them. Its not if it happens , it is when. Just the quantity and magnitude of the snow that is unknown. No place is perfect man. I love Oklahoma . I even love Tornado season. If its my time to go and thats the way it happens, then that is the way it happens. Im not gonna give up my home , the place where I have always been just because there is a chance of a tornado hitting. I have survived them for 29 years and God willing another 29 ( at least) as well.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by red sky

It just blows me away that people choose to live in these areas. No disrespect obviously but in all the places in America, why choose a place such as Tornado Alley to live. Unlike cities that are on faults that have a higher chance of earthquakes, tornados are a certainty. It is just the quanity and magnitude that is unknown. Scary business.

I think reality is the opposite actually.

You can't get away from earthquakes. They are rare but when the big one hits, as we've just seen on a grand scale, they are beyond devestating.

Tornados are random. You could live in the middle of tornado alley your entire life and never see one, or you could get hit two or three times in a lifetime. It is rare for someone to die in a tornado relative to how many occur. They are more and more predictable every day and the number of deaths has decreased dramatically thanks to technology. Earthquakes? not so much.

I would much rather spend my life in tornado alley than in downtown San Francisco. That said, I would prefer to live somewhere else altogether!

[KevanGuy]

Watching that video in the parking lot again, there are no sirens going. Seems pretty unusual given the size of the thing. And I believe they had warning as well, storm chasers were all over the thing before it hit Tuscaloosa.

And here is another insane radar pic. Just unreal. http://www.tornadovideos.net/images/...tuscaloosa.png

[puckluck]

That youtube video is unreal. Looks like it's straight out of a movie.

[krynski]

They now say 250 as per CNN/CBC

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2...eath-toll.html

http://us.cnn.com/2011/US/04/28/seve...pt=T1&iref=BN1

[red sky]

Originally Posted by nickerjones

You have blizzards and snow ... car accidents caused by them. Its not if it happens , it is when. Just the quantity and magnitude of the snow that is unknown. No place is perfect man. I love Oklahoma . I even love Tornado season. If its my time to go and thats the way it happens, then that is the way it happens. Im not gonna give up my home , the place where I have always been just because there is a chance of a tornado hitting. I have survived them for 29 years and God willing another 29 ( at least) as well.

I appreciate your response but I don't think you can compare snow and driving to something that can rip your house to peices. I understand that it is a part of you life and that you are accustomed to it. I was expecting that answer. It is similar to people in Australia who say they are more freaked out about bears while Canadians say the same about sharks.

I suppose it is the fear of the unknown and I am basing this on the distructive tornados that are portrayed in the youtube clip that I am sure are very rare.

Going back to the snow comment, as I look out my office window I see snowflakes going upwards from the wind and I have been asking myself why I still live here... every city has its issues I suppose.