Multi-day outbreak of May 25-31

[Alyono]

of curse and underground shelter is the best. if not that, a safe room built to bank vault-like standards.

As for fleeing early in the morning of a severe weather day, that simply is not practical. People would be fleeing 50 times a year!

This debate is very necessary as there really are no good options during violent tornadoes if you have no underground shelter or true safe room. Different mets have different opinions.I favor fleeing if one can do so correctly. Others favor sheltering in place.

And yes... if I have word a violent tornado is coming at me, I am gone since I don't have a safe room or below ground shelter as I live in an apt. I also know I likely only have to go a mile at most to be out of the path. I'd have analyzed it carefully on radar first though before deciding which road to take

[CrazyC83]

I was worried about that. So heartbreaking and tragic. Prayers for everyone in the weather community...

[CrazyC83]

Also about cars - even an EF-2 tornado can do serious damage to them and be deadly to everyone in their path. The same EF-2 (or even EF-3) tornado would be very much survivable in their homes without a basement if they are in an interior room or closet, covered. Even in EF-4 and EF-5 tornadoes which are pretty much unsurvivable above ground, usually only a small part of the track gets that level of damage. If the entire Joplin track had EF-5 damage across its entire width, for example, the death toll would probably be several thousand. Typically the EF-4+ damage is less than 100 yards wide and often intermittent. However, the EF-2 and 3 damage path is much larger and more persistent typically.

If an intense tornado had hit the Interstates directly with the traffic jams, we would be possible talking about a death toll over 1,000.

[SouthDadeFish]

of curse and underground shelter is the best. if not that, a safe room built to bank vault-like standards.

As for fleeing early in the morning of a severe weather day, that simply is not practical. People would be fleeing 50 times a year!

This debate is very necessary as there really are no good options during violent tornadoes if you have no underground shelter or true safe room. Different mets have different opinions.I favor fleeing if one can do so correctly. Others favor sheltering in place.

And yes... if I have word a violent tornado is coming at me, I am gone since I don't have a safe room or below ground shelter as I live in an apt. I also know I likely only have to go a mile at most to be out of the path. I'd have analyzed it carefully on radar first though before deciding which road to take

While this may be a good plan for you, a true meteorologist, does this work for the average person? Can they accurately interpret radar? Will they even take the time to look at the radar or just get the heck out of there? Does this work in a situation such as OKC where you have a large metro area? You cannot tell everyone in a tornado warning to evacuate when that warning is for hundreds of thousands of people. When you do, you get what we saw the night of May 31st. We are truly blessed that a violent tornado did not move through the city and over the interstates or else we would have seen death tolls comparable with the Tri-State Tornado. My point is, while evacuating may be successful if you can actually get out of the may, many times, especially in large cities, it is not practical. The risk of being stuck on the road far exceeds the risk of the tornado moving over your house. As studies have shown, it is very possible to survive an EF-4 even without a storm cellar/basement.

[artist]

from watching it on tv from the helicopter and storm chasers as it was happening, there were several times when tornadoes were dancing around each other in circles, just dropping like flies from the overall circulation. It was crazy.

[WeatherGuesser]

Also about cars - even an EF-2 tornado can do serious damage to them ...

Cars and trucks get blown off the road quite often by 50-60 MPH crosswinds, even on sunny days. It doesn't have to be a major storm.

[SouthDadeFish]

By the way, here are the preliminary ratings for the May 31st outbreak in Oklahoma:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=events-20130531

The El Reno Tornado was given a preliminary EF-3 rating.

There were also two tornadoes given a preliminary EF-3 rating in the St. Louis area.

[RL3AO]

This is my understanding of what happened.



The tornado was embedded in an unusually large mesocyclone (the yellow circle I drew), in which the tornado was rotating around counter-clockwise while the entire mesocyclone was moving east-southeast. Its very similar to vorticies you sometimes see in the eye of a hurricane. The vortices rotate around the eye while the overall storm continues to move in one direction.

You can see how the storm moved NE suddenly towards and over I-40. I'm betting that is where Samaras' team was located. They figured they were in a safe position north of a tornado that was moving east-southeast.

[Hurricaneman]

Im thinking, but what if from a safe distance like 5 miles that these scientific storm chasers send in a remote controlled drone, just change the TIV or Dominator remote controlled and put equipment and cameras in it so you can safely get your shots and get all the data, but the main problem with this would be major costs but it could be the future of storm chasing

[CrazyC83]

From the most dangerous to safest situations, here is what I think they are:

1 - Outdoors near trees, buildings or other debris

2 - Inside mobile homes

3 - Inside motor vehicles

4 - Inside a permanent house or building, unprotected or weak

5 - Outdoors in open areas or in a ditch

6 - Inside a permanent house or building, lowest floor protected location such as closet or bathroom

7 - Inside a standard basement of a house or building

8 - Inside a very large, protected building (such as a high rise concrete structure), in the central area

9 - Inside a certified storm shelter or cellar

[MGC]

I visit OK often and tornado coverage is intense by the media when one threatens OKC or Tulsa. The media sends out the chasers on the ground and in air almost as soon as rotation is noticed on radar. Now,if were me and I had a massive wedge coming at me, and based on media reports people know almost to the street the tornado is tracking along, and if I didn't have a shelter, I'd flee. It is human nature to remove oneself from danger. Remember these folks have had nonstop news of the Moore tornado. The same thing happened with Hurricane Rita. People had been watching the Katrina news and now the same thing was coming for them. Time to run, just like I did for Katrina...MGC

[Alyono]

From the most dangerous to safest situations, here is what I think they are:

1 - Outdoors near trees, buildings or other debris

2 - Inside mobile homes

3 - Inside motor vehicles

4 - Inside a permanent house or building, unprotected or weak

5 - Outdoors in open areas or in a ditch

6 - Inside a permanent house or building, lowest floor protected location such as closet or bathroom

7 - Inside a standard basement of a house or building

8 - Inside a very large, protected building (such as a high rise concrete structure), in the central area

9 - Inside a certified storm shelter or cellar

I believe the Red Cross now recommends staying inside a vehicle and not going into a ditch http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_19417.html

it does make some sense as one would have air bag and seat belt protection. Now, it is an AWFUL place to be in a tornado, but may be better than exposed in a ditch

[EF-5bigj]

This is my understanding of what happened.



The tornado was embedded in an unusually large mesocyclone (the yellow circle I drew), in which the tornado was rotating around counter-clockwise while the entire mesocyclone was moving east-southeast. Its very similar to vorticies you sometimes see in the eye of a hurricane. The vortices rotate around the eye while the overall storm continues to move in one direction.

You can see how the storm moved NE suddenly towards and over I-40. I'm betting that is where Samaras' team was located. They figured they were in a safe position north of a tornado that was moving east-southeast.

So it took the turn that no one saw coming we know it also caught Mike Bettes off guard to when it did that turn.

[CrazyC83]

In any storm, I think that freeways are the worst roads to be on. Simply put, there is nowhere for them to turn easily or get off of from them if severe weather is approaching. At least on side roads, they can turn or pull off.

[RL3AO]

So it took the turn that no one saw coming we know it also caught Mike Bettes off guard to when it did that turn.

Guys with experience like Bettes and Samaras don't get caught in tornadoes unless something very unusual happened, which it appeared to do.

[Texas Snowman]

From the most dangerous to safest situations, here is what I think they are:

1 - Outdoors near trees, buildings or other debris

2 - Inside mobile homes

3 - Inside motor vehicles

4 - Inside a permanent house or building, unprotected or weak

5 - Outdoors in open areas or in a ditch

6 - Inside a permanent house or building, lowest floor protected location such as closet or bathroom

7 - Inside a standard basement of a house or building

8 - Inside a very large, protected building (such as a high rise concrete structure), in the central area

9 - Inside a certified storm shelter or cellar

I believe the Red Cross now recommends staying inside a vehicle and not going into a ditch http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_19417.html

it does make some sense as one would have air bag and seat belt protection. Now, it is an AWFUL place to be in a tornado, but may be better than exposed in a ditch

In light of that last statement, this was just reported by KOCO:

http://m.koco.com/news/deputy-fire-chie ... ce=dlvr.it.

If I'm reading that right, that's seven MORE people unaccounted for and likely deceased.

In addition to the current toll of 10 tornado deaths and two flash flooding deaths.

[Alyono]

From the most dangerous to safest situations, here is what I think they are:

1 - Outdoors near trees, buildings or other debris

2 - Inside mobile homes

3 - Inside motor vehicles

4 - Inside a permanent house or building, unprotected or weak

5 - Outdoors in open areas or in a ditch

6 - Inside a permanent house or building, lowest floor protected location such as closet or bathroom

7 - Inside a standard basement of a house or building

8 - Inside a very large, protected building (such as a high rise concrete structure), in the central area

9 - Inside a certified storm shelter or cellar

I believe the Red Cross now recommends staying inside a vehicle and not going into a ditch http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_19417.html

it does make some sense as one would have air bag and seat belt protection. Now, it is an AWFUL place to be in a tornado, but may be better than exposed in a ditch

In light of that last statement, this was just reported by KOCO:

http://m.koco.com/news/deputy-fire-chie ... ce=dlvr.it.

If I'm reading that right, that's seven MORE people unaccounted for and likely deceased.

In addition to the current toll of 10 tornado deaths and two flash flooding deaths.

That is why the Red Cross advises not leaving a car in a tornado if you cannot get out of the way or find a safe shelter. You have no protection in a ditch

[Texas Snowman]

Tornado death toll from Friday evening now stands at 13 people according to KOCO with an undetermined number still missing.

That makes 37 tornado deaths from the 5/20/13 Moore EF5 and the 5/31/13 El Reno EF3 storms. While two events, that's as many fatalities as the 5/3/99 Moore storm.

So tragic and terrible for the OKC suburbs.

[HurricaneBill]

Tornado death toll from Friday evening now stands at 13 people according to KOCO with an undetermined number still missing.

That makes 37 tornado deaths from the 5/20/13 Moore EF5 and the 5/31/13 El Reno EF3 storms. While two events, that's as many fatalities as the 5/3/99 Moore storm.

So tragic and terrible for the OKC suburbs.

36 deaths, actually. They lowered the Moore death toll to 23.

[Texas Snowman]

Another chaser death from Friday's El Reno tornado:

http://newsok.com/article/3841315