Storm Following

I use the title of that post in two different aspects for the post today.  I am personally tracking storms for our area today, and also took a lot of time on Friday to follow what was unfolding in Oklahoma City once again.  Little did anybody know what would be the result from that day.

I knew Friday was going to be an interesting day for the central part of the country.  Once again Oklahoma appeared to be targeted as chasers lined up all over the state waiting for storms to form.  I also sat patiently waiting with my updated radar system that I will get to later.  By late afternoon the storms were firing with heavy rains and winds and tornadoes out in front of the leading edge.  I generally pass on The Weather Channel but in times like these they are constantly on air using all of their available features which is what should be happening.  Then word got out that a large tornado was on the ground headed towards Oklahoma City as well as Moore.  Not even two weeks later and another tornado is crawling towards your doorstep.  Welcome to Oklahoma.

Between studio coverage TWC would link in with actual tornado chaser video as well as resources with the local media.  I have to say they did a very good job.  Throughout the month of May the channel also had their own team of meteorologists chasing storms.  The chase ended with something completely out of the ordinary.  As the night progressed it was learned The Weather Channel chase car had been caught up in the tornado.  My initial reaction was not terribly surprising as the outflow from storms or inflow of winds wrapping around a tornado is easy to come across when researchers are in the field.  What wasn't made so obvious at first was they were literally in the tornado.  Their car had been lifted, picked up and rolled multiple times to the tune of ending up 200 yards away.  That's not something to sneeze at.  There are pictures of the aftermath and even videos from inside the car as Mike Bettes (Weather Channel met) shouted instructions and video from outside of the car (camera was sucked out the window, landed in the grass and kept filming) as it was picked up and tossed.  It is really stunning news for me because if the highest profiled weather company with all of their data gets surprised by a tornado, what chances do anybody else have?

Below is an image I was able to capture during the storm off radar.

I took this to get a feeling of life in the plains.  Obviously we know what happened in Moore.  Here we are less than two weeks later and this is on your radar.  The purple diagonal line to the north of town is part of a box that signifies a tornado warning in place.  The purple line that runs more north to south sitting west of the city is another warning.  The triple colored line of pinkish color and black in the middle is a tornado emergency box which is the highest warning you can get.  In essence Moore was in three different tornado warnings at the same time.

Then this morning I learned of terrible news to the weather community.  It was reported that members of Twistex were among those killed by the tornado on Friday in El Reno (to the west of the map above).  It was an instant shot to me.  I followed this team when Discovery ran the show Storm Chasers to which I followed religiously.  The team was involved in chasing fueled by gaining knowledge through science and research with a more old school approach as compared to some of the younger chasers.  They were out there to help better predict these storms and instead were caught by the unpredictable nature of them.  I think all chasers know of the risk associated with doing the job.  This day cost the community some people on the front line of tornado research.  Let's also remember it is these people who report back to the weather service confirming that there are indeed tornadoes on the ground and telling people which way they are moving and at what location they are at.

For now we press on.  I just looked at the prediction center outlook for this week and the good news is it looks very low for tornadoes or outbreaks.  At this point that can only be a good thing.  By the way, if it sounds like I am very fascinated by these events, I am.  I spent an entire semester in college during a science writing class working on the topic of tornadoes.  He said to pick something science related and there is a lot of science behind these monsters.

ON GOING NEWS


I mentioned earlier about a new radar program that I might start working with that is illustrated in the Moore map.  Similarly like winter storms, I really start getting into the dynamics of summer storms and with hurricane season approaching and our own severe thunderstorm season kicking off later this summer it might be time to get on board. 

I am also considering revamping the front page.  The original design only allows me to do so much before I can't change anything.  In an effort to make it more visually appealing in the main section I might decide to go with something a little different that allows pictures to fit better as well as text.  I guess it depends on how much time I want to put in and right now it's not a lot.