tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7965215084022057128.post4958390511236470840..comments2024-03-27T10:20:55.246-05:00Comments on MSE CREATIVE CONSULTING BLOG: Joplin and Minneapolis TornadoesMike Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17435605216805307424noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7965215084022057128.post-50525487841193315312011-05-23T13:33:00.683-05:002011-05-23T13:33:00.683-05:00The F5 Smithville tornado apparently traveled a mi...The F5 Smithville tornado apparently traveled a mile or so right along the Tenn-Tombigbee waterway before striking Smithville. Have there been any studies of tornadoes moving over large bodies of water? The Smithville tornado increased in forward speed and the damage intensity seemed to increase.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7965215084022057128.post-19058796444462538082011-05-23T10:32:17.297-05:002011-05-23T10:32:17.297-05:00We had our own tornado adventure last night (with ...We had our own tornado adventure last night (with a French foreign exchange student): http://presteblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/22/le-national-weather-service-a-emis/. We didn't have an actual tornado (one was called in going over someone's house southwest of here, heading this way, but the storm passed to the south).<br />I wonder if the STCOPAT warnings (which are more frequent than actual tornadoes here) have caused warning fatigue and ignoring warnings. You'd think this video would change minds, but ...The Prestebloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13667671319546711881noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7965215084022057128.post-60863656631586995552011-05-23T09:14:37.510-05:002011-05-23T09:14:37.510-05:00WWW.dutchsinse.comWWW.dutchsinse.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7965215084022057128.post-40935908253826591192011-05-23T07:53:30.920-05:002011-05-23T07:53:30.920-05:00"maybe nearly a hundred and counting Joplin r..."maybe <b>nearly a hundred and counting</b> Joplin residents wouldn't have died."The Monsterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15291546809967159683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7965215084022057128.post-37027731038150843452011-05-23T00:02:45.186-05:002011-05-23T00:02:45.186-05:00Last night, my weather alert radio kept sounding o...Last night, my weather alert radio kept sounding off. I'd check the latest warnings about the tornadoes near Reading or Pomona, then go back to what I was doing. The Bride of Monster was starting to get tired of the alerts, but I told her it was no big deal -- you hear an alert, you check the details to see if it affects you.<br /><br />Then when the tornado warning was issued that clipped the corner of Johnson County, KS, Time Warner Cable here in KC put a red box at the top of every channel and replaced the program audio with the details of that warning. The Johnson County sirens all went off, and we could even hear them where I live, a half mile into Wyandotte County. The local KC NBC affiliate pre-empted SNL to track three separate areas of strong rotation, which made sense, because Johnson County is one of the five core counties of its viewing area, and even if the storm would only potentially affect a corner of the county, it's the right thing to do.<br /><br />I thought back to what you'd said about the all-or-nothing alert to Douglas County earlier in the day, and while I agree that we could fine-tune the granularity of these alerts somewhat, I'd rather have the system set off sirens in too many places than too few. I suspect the county emergency officials take the same position -- they won't be fired for sounding the sirens over the whole county, but let them ever fail to sound one where a tornado warning is in effect, and they're guilty of not doing their jobs.<br /><br />If people would have just reacted to the sirens as I did to the weather alerts, by <b>getting more information</b> rather than simply ignoring them, maybe two dozen Joplin residents wouldn't have died. With the growing use of smart phones, there's no excuse for not setting down the golf club, checking for weather warnings in your area, and then making an intelligent decision about what to do about it.The Monsterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15291546809967159683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7965215084022057128.post-91968514091226848072011-05-22T22:35:52.842-05:002011-05-22T22:35:52.842-05:00Thanks. These urban legends are a constant source ...Thanks. These urban legends are a constant source of frustration to storm warning meteorologists.Mike Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17435605216805307424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7965215084022057128.post-40262710796100506442011-05-22T22:34:50.348-05:002011-05-22T22:34:50.348-05:00My city, on the Mississippi River, was last hit by...My city, on the Mississippi River, was last hit by a tornado in the mid-1940's. The city is located on a high bluff and our version of the urban legend is that the city cannot be hit by a tornado because it won't be able to travel up the bluff/the bluff protects us, etc. Anytime I hear this I reference the buildings destroyed in the 1940's tornado. No one ever attempts a rebuttal. The past is easily forgotten/ignored, even when documented pictures remain in local history books.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com