I'M SORRY

[guido911]

If I ever mocked stormgasms by our Oklahoma media. I am reading 23 children died in Moore. Please be wrong. Not a bucking thing funny about stormgasms right now.

[Hoss]

If I ever mocked stormgasms by our Oklahoma media. I am reading 23 children died in Moore. Please be wrong. Not a bucking thing funny about stormgasms right now.

Moore seems to have the worst luck with tornadoes.  I heard someone say that after the 1999 storm that would be a '400 year storm', meaning only happening once in four hundred years.  They've now had three in 14 years.

Incredible.  And right now, the confirmed number I've heard out of that school is 10.  But likely to go up soon.  One of my best friends dodged it; his mother is undergoing cancer treatment down there and she lives in Norman.  My friend has family in Shawnee, but escaped last night's destruction.

Thoughts to all involved, from last night to tonight.

[guido911]

I can no longer take the coverage of this toll on our children. Turning off the news now...

[AquaMan]

It seriously hurts. Seven found dead in a pool of water near the school. Twenty more missing in rubble and presumed dead. Thirty seven total. Gary and channel nine did a fine job of warning people but it was just awesome big.

My son just built a house at 149th and Sooner Road. He made sure it had a safe room but his family is visiting in Idaho right now. The 'nado went within a half mile of them but no one knows the damage yet.

The rescue/recovery effort will be huge. They have plenty of volunteers right now but no one can even get in there.

[Ed W]

We watched the television coverage and listened to the Owasso PD frequencies. I was surprised to hear a "State EOC" call as well as calls from various other city EOC operations.  I didn't know we had a state wide radio net, but it's a good thing to have.  Apparently they can tap into local radio nets when necessary.  I'll have to learn more about this.

Honestly, the communications and radar network in Oklahoma are outstanding.  I know there are occasional calls to privatize the National Weather Service, but given the fact that they deploy the very latest in radar technology here, and the speed and accuracy of that technology saves numerous lives, I'd be loathe to turn over that function to a private, for-profit enterprise.  But this isn't the time for that discussion.

Owasso PD is taking donations of blankets, food, water, baby wipes, sunscreen and more.  The need will be vast and on-going so even if you can't donate anything immediately, please consider helping over the next few weeks. The Salvation Army and Red Cross will take donations also.  My personal preference is SA, but that's another subject for another time.

[Hoss]

We watched the television coverage and listened to the Owasso PD frequencies. I was surprised to hear a "State EOC" call as well as calls from various other city EOC operations.  I didn't know we had a state wide radio net, but it's a good thing to have.  Apparently they can tap into local radio nets when necessary.  I'll have to learn more about this.

Honestly, the communications and radar network in Oklahoma are outstanding.  I know there are occasional calls to privatize the National Weather Service, but given the fact that they deploy the very latest in radar technology here, and the speed and accuracy of that technology saves numerous lives, I'd be loathe to turn over that function to a private, for-profit enterprise.  But this isn't the time for that discussion.

Owasso PD is taking donations of blankets, food, water, baby wipes, sunscreen and more.  The need will be vast and on-going so even if you can't donate anything immediately, please consider helping over the next few weeks. The Salvation Army and Red Cross will take donations also.  My personal preference is SA, but that's another subject for another time.

When I went to my Skywarn spotter class in February, they went through the very latest in radar technology...the dualpol (standing for dual polarization) system.  It took them 2 years to deploy it.  Tulsa was in the last third of the stations to get it (actually, the Tulsa radar is out off of 412 in Inola).  I have software that can read the dual pol, and it'd definitely a step up.  It allows you see vertically within the construct of a storm since the radar beams are not just horizontally polarized, but both horizontal AND vertical -- hence "DualPol".  It allows the radar to read the shape of precipitation, which makes it easier to tell what is falling.  If water is falling at  a heavy rate, then the droplets are wider than they are tall.  The new radar can see this and report it back.  Hail, however, is typically the same width as tall, as well as snow, ice pellets, sleet..etc, etc.

Point being, there will be very little guesswork now on the radar side of things.  I'm still learning how to read it properly.  You have to read more than one product to deduce what you're looking at if it's not obvious from just the base reflectivity scans.

Sorry, that was my weather geek peeking out there momentarily.

[Conan71]

When I went to my Skywarn spotter class in February, they went through the very latest in radar technology...the dualpol (standing for dual polarization) system.  It took them 2 years to deploy it.  Tulsa was in the last third of the stations to get it (actually, the Tulsa radar is out off of 412 in Inola).  I have software that can read the dual pol, and it'd definitely a step up.  It allows you see vertically within the construct of a storm since the radar beams are not just horizontally polarized, but both horizontal AND vertical -- hence "DualPol".  It allows the radar to read the shape of precipitation, which makes it easier to tell what is falling.  If water is falling at  a heavy rate, then the droplets are wider than they are tall.  The new radar can see this and report it back.  Hail, however, is typically the same width as tall, as well as snow, ice pellets, sleet..etc, etc.

Point being, there will be very little guesswork now on the radar side of things.  I'm still learning how to read it properly.  You have to read more than one product to deduce what you're looking at if it's not obvious from just the base reflectivity scans.

Sorry, that was my weather geek peeking out there momentarily.

Is that some of the new "tops" graphics they were using last night?

Makes sense, if the uplift is going to 50-55,000 feet it's going to be a bad night!

[Hoss]

Is that some of the new "tops" graphics they were using last night?

Makes sense, if the uplift is going to 50-55,000 feet it's going to be a bad night!

Nope, not the "tops" graphics.  Anytime they mentioned 'debris ball' however, that was directly from the Skywarn Class and the DualPol.  I know they've talked about being able to see it in the radar in the past, but the DualPol makes it so much easier to see it.  Many of the local meteos were in attendance at that (Faurot, Threlkeld, Mike Collier, the guy from Fox23).

I heard Faurot mention DualPol several times last night.

[YoungTulsan]

Being able to see that, yes, this is indeed an EF-4+, is only part of the solution.  Anyone in that path is dead.   You need mobilization.  In the case of schools, perhaps cancellation might be the only solution as I don't think you can mobilize that many people with 5 minutes notice.  This isn't a case of a random tornado watch, this was known for about a week that a major outbreak was eminent.   Only on certain special circumstances such as the past 2 days are EF-4 and EF-5 tornados going to happen, and perhaps the preperations should be an entire level above what we know about taking cover.   Taking cover doesn't work with this.

[Callahan]

We watched the television coverage and listened to the Owasso PD frequencies. I was surprised to hear a "State EOC" call as well as calls from various other city EOC operations.  I didn't know we had a state wide radio net, but it's a good thing to have.  Apparently they can tap into local radio nets when necessary.  I'll have to learn more about this.

After the 1993 tornado east of Tulsa, "Bruce's Truck Stop Tornado"  

APR 24, 1993 5:50 pm 7 dead 100 injured
This tornado, largely hidden by rain and dust, hit Tulsa and western Rogers County.

http://www.tornadoproject.com/alltorns/worstts.htm

There became a county and state wide communication system so that OHP, county sheriff, and local police, fire, and ambulance, had the capability to have common communication. After 9/11/2001 the combined communications for all EOC's became a priority. A lot of it was behind the scenes, and it went unnoticed. The communication between cities, and more importantly local agencies is so much greater now. Is it perfect? Won't ever be, but compared to years gone by, it's the best there is.

[Gaspar]

I think perhaps it's a good idea to look at how our schools are designed.  Apparently there was no "safe" place in that building(s).  They had quite a warning that the storm was slowly moving their way, yet they had to "shelter in place."  I can't help but think a simple shelter or re-enforced hallway or storage room should have been available.

[Conan71]

I heard somewhere last night that the Park Tower Elementary building is about 40 or 50 years old.  You can be certain whatever replaces that building will be the latest state-of-the-art in storm protection.  If you look at the news feed, there are interior walls still standing, however when the roof collapses and outer walls are blown out, all bets are off. 

There is also a lesson that sometimes nature throws un-surviveable curve balls regardless of what you did to prepare.  One of my former school mates had his above-ground safe room sucked off the slab in the Piedmont tornado while his neighbor's stayed completely secure.  Fortunately Kelly was not home at the time it happened so he wasn't in the projectile his safe room became.

I often see bid requests from school systems for safe rooms in the construction news, but I also see bid requests for indoor softball and baseball practice facilities in 2A & 3A school systems.

As long as school administrators have priorities like Stillwater Pioneer stadium rather than student safety, this is where our money is spent.  The photo really does not do this Taj Mahal justice.

[heironymouspasparagus]

KFOR is streaming all the time right now....if you can stand it...!!  So hard!  The babies are heartbreaking....

Medical Examiner coming on now....


http://kfor.com/on-air/live-streaming/

[Townsend]

Photos of Tornado Damage in Moore, Oklahoma

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/05/photos-of-tornado-damage-in-moore-oklahoma/100518/

[BKDotCom]

The elementary schools I attended had in-ground shelters.
One had a tunnel system that was underneath the school (Topeka, KS)
Another had in-ground bunkers located outside the building (Ardmore, OK).