Tornado slip thru the cracks?

[patric]

I'm just west of yale. It came out of nowhere and while they say nothing west of yale was hit by the tornado, I'm not sure I believe it. I had stuff against my house, in a corner, under an overhang, where the wind can barely blow thrown out into my yard. Healthy trees twisted and snapped. It was sudden and it sounded like a disaster movie.

Thats the point; there was no warning... at least none we have become accustomed to.

NWS reported it formed between sweeps on the radar and they realized they had something when the picked up flying debris over Harvard ave.
It sailed out of the city by the time they were ready to start the wheels turning.

Im not thinking in terms of laying blame, but rather someone much smarter than I coming up with a tighter surveillance-to-response procedure for heat islands like Tulsa.

[Hoss]

Thats the point; there was no warning... at least none we have become accustomed to.

NWS reported it formed between sweeps on the radar and they realized they had something when the picked up flying debris over Harvard ave.

Which would never have been possible to see without the advent of DualPol (Dual Polarization) radar that was implemented about five years ago.  Just five years ago this likely would never have been a warned storm in Tulsa County.

[Ed W]

Weather radar isn't what we think of as a live image. Successive antenna sweeps are performed at different angles, cutting a thunderstorm like a layer cake. Then those images have to be combined into a composite. This can take several minutes. In those minutes, a tornado can form and touch down. It happened here and it happened in a similar way in Ft. Smith.

NWS puts on a free weather seminar that covers the limitations of radar. It's intended primarily for amateur radio operators who act as spotters, but if I recall right, it's open to the public.

[Townsend]

It was sudden and it sounded like a disaster movie.

I believe this.  sgrizzle screams like Jamie Lee Curtis

[Hoss]

Weather radar isn't what we think of as a live image. Successive antenna sweeps are performed at different angles, cutting a thunderstorm like a layer cake. Then those images have to be combined into a composite. This can take several minutes. In those minutes, a tornado can form and touch down. It happened here and it happened in a similar way in Ft. Smith.

NWS puts on a free weather seminar that covers the limitations of radar. It's intended primarily for amateur radio operators who act as spotters, but if I recall right, it's open to the public.

It's the spotter training class and that usually occurs in February as a runup to severe weather season.

[Hoss]

Weather radar isn't what we think of as a live image. Successive antenna sweeps are performed at different angles, cutting a thunderstorm like a layer cake. Then those images have to be combined into a composite. This can take several minutes. In those minutes, a tornado can form and touch down. It happened here and it happened in a similar way in Ft. Smith.

NWS puts on a free weather seminar that covers the limitations of radar. It's intended primarily for amateur radio operators who act as spotters, but if I recall right, it's open to the public.

However, right now it IS better due to two new radar modes that have been implemented in just the last couple of years.  It tries to help address the issue of QLCS tornadoes (Quasi-linear convective system...which is a fancy way of saying a tornado embedded in a squall line as opposed to in a discrete supercellular storm).

AVSET: https://www.roc.noaa.gov/wsr88d/NNOW/AVSET.htm

SAILS: http://www.weather.gov/gsp/sails

[patric]

Newest map shows the tornado formed at 36th & Gary... I cant get it to link from the Tulsa World though.


The first tornado blazed a nearly seven-mile path through midtown Tulsa, starting about 1:20 a.m. Sunday. It developed over a neighborhood east of South Harvard Avenue and south of East 36th Street South, according to the National Weather Service in Tulsa.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/businesses-damaged-after-three-tornadoes-touched-down-in-less-than/article_c8f0fa32-a8f0-5c39-8356-25df38c826c1.html

Had a major power bump at 1:16:12 at my house, just northwest of that.

[swake]

Newest map shows the tornado formed at 36th & Gary... I cant get it to link from the Tulsa World though.


The first tornado blazed a nearly seven-mile path through midtown Tulsa, starting about 1:20 a.m. Sunday. It developed over a neighborhood east of South Harvard Avenue and south of East 36th Street South, according to the National Weather Service in Tulsa.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/businesses-damaged-after-three-tornadoes-touched-down-in-less-than/article_c8f0fa32-a8f0-5c39-8356-25df38c826c1.html

Had a major power bump at 1:15:42 at my house, just northwest of that.

We had a short outage at that time in Jenks too.

[Hoss]

Newest map shows the tornado formed at 36th & Gary... I cant get it to link from the Tulsa World though.


The first tornado blazed a nearly seven-mile path through midtown Tulsa, starting about 1:20 a.m. Sunday. It developed over a neighborhood east of South Harvard Avenue and south of East 36th Street South, according to the National Weather Service in Tulsa.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/businesses-damaged-after-three-tornadoes-touched-down-in-less-than/article_c8f0fa32-a8f0-5c39-8356-25df38c826c1.html

Had a major power bump at 1:15:42 at my house, just northwest of that.

Surprisingly for me, in an area that seems to have power outages in severe sunshine with moderate wind, I had but one minor blip...not enough to even reset my clocks but enough for my Tripp Lite UPSs to reset.  Just once though.  I was amazed but not saying anything at the time for fear of jinxing it.

[heironymouspasparagus]

The "best" of both worlds...

[patric]

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Inspectors have now condemned 10 businesses that sustained structural damage when tornadoes swept across midtown Tulsa and other parts of northeastern Oklahoma.

Notices were posted by city inspectors Monday prohibiting the structures from being occupied or used after they were heavily damaged by an EF2 twister early Sunday. The businesses were AT&T and Woodcraft stores, AspenDental, Panera, CarTec, Whataburger, TGI Fridays, The Flame Broiler, Vintage Stock and H&R Block.

It will be interesting when they recover surveillance video from any number of cameras in the area.

[patric]

Here is the interactive map on which this is based:
https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=c816a5369e204f04ad77ad0b8a11353c

You can zoom in on an area, and click on a spot to show images of damage and details of the survey at that point.

[Breadburner]

We sure had to listen to all those channel 6 "Warn Weather Radar" commercials for the last 6 months.....They missed the boat on this big time....

[patric]

I'm just west of yale. It came out of nowhere and while they say nothing west of Yale was hit by the tornado, I'm not sure I believe it.

The amount of residential damage does seem under-emphasized.  

Some of the perimeter control defies reason.  Leaving a doctors appointment driving eastbound on 41st approaching Yale, I passed numerous TPD vehicles blocking side streets to the north.  Cones were set up so you cant turn left (to go north) on Yale so you are funnelled thru the shopping center parking and right into the very neighborhood thats supposed to be blocked off.

I decided against that and back tracked, but clearly it was a cluster.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Weather radios are replaced by smart phone apps, but they become useless when the cellular network is congested or damaged.

That's why you get the weather radio anyway.  No excuse in this state is good enough not to have one!