Today we look at tornado emergencies, why they are issued, their history, and differentiate watches, warnings, and emergencies. How Tornado Emergencies Work
I remember these false tornado emergencies being issued and looking at the velocity scans while thinking, “are they seeing something I’m not because this does not look like an extremely violent tornado.” Falsely issuing a tornado emergency can be really consequential because that is the highest level of warning in all of weather, so it should only be used in VERY rare occurrences when needed.
Yes, I agree. If too many warnings are sent out and too many are WRONGLY sent out, then people will become desensitized to the warnings and not pay as much attention to them
Fully agreed that emergencies should be saved for... Well, emergencies, but 2 things: 1) in at least one of the instances, the storm was in the middle of a zone where the nearest radar couldn't see the whole thing, as mentioned in the video. Plus, 2) paired with #1, it was very possible that the radar really was missing something, and the WFOs had nothing to indicate that the reports were definitely or even likely wrong, so "eyes on the ground" wins over radar. With what they knew at the time, you could argue that a PDS warning would've been a better reaction but there were also fairly big cities in the margin of error (like Jonesboro), so maybe not that unreasonable after all.
Yeah i feel like you really ought to have a debris signature on radar as well as a very strong velocity couplet if your going to issue a damn tornado emergency.
@@supertornadogun1690 I live in that area. The meteorologists thought the tornado was too close to radar to see a debris ball. I think it passed within a couple of miles of the radar site.
I'm, to be frank, not a fan of the term Tornado Emergency. I admit, when used appropriately, is far more helpful than the sensationalist naming of winter storms. However, it all goes back to hyperbolic presentation of the weather, to a "Boy Crying Wolf". Prudence, humility, and meekness. . .strength within control. . .are most assuredly needed in weather reporting and life saving.
The reason a tornado emergency was issued for greensburg was the fact the tornado and the signature and velocities on radar was wider than the town itself
What I remember the most about the Greensburg, Kansas tornado on May 4th, 2007 is the coverage of the storm by Dave Freeman; the chief meteorologist for Wichita's NBC affiliate KSNW Channel 3. Dave knew that because it was a Friday night many kids in Greensburg would be either home alone or with a babysitter due to their parents being out to dinner. Keeping this in mind; Dave addressed any children who were either at home alone or with a babysitter and no doubt scared out of their minds that if they followed his advice they would be safe. Dave told them that he understood they were scared; but they had to be brave and turn up the volume on the TV or the computer speakers or the radio so they could hear him as they took shelter from the storm. Dave also told these kids to take shelter in a basement underneath a workbench or the stairs to the basement if the stairs were in the center of the basement. Dave also explained to the kids that if their homes don't have a basement they should take cover in a bathtub or in a closet and they should cover themselves using blankets, pillows, and mattresses along with telling them to put on sturdy shoes and a helmet to further protect themselves. Something tells me that the kids who followed Dave's advice that night are now parents themselves and use his advice with their own children to keep them safe in the event that they are home alone or with a babysitter in a severe weather situation.
One of the reasons tornado emergencies exist is because of an EF5 tornado that touched down in August of 1990 in Plainfield, IL. The warning wasn't even issued until it was too late. Twenty-nine people died and 353 were injured.
Maybe, but it wasn't until the Moore F5 of May 3, 1999 that anyone at the NWS felt that there was a need to issue something greater than a tornado warning. That tornado was posed to move through the heart of a major city, all the while sporting winds in excess of 300mph.
We chased on the 15th! The whole ordeal was, there was a clear wall cloud but it was hard to tell if there was a tornado due to rough terrain and dense tree coverage. We witnessed power flashes inside of walnut ridge, and got slammed by RFD winds just south but it was incredibly difficult to make or confirm a report on that night. Unfortunate situations for all spotters involved, and all weather stations involved. Really difficult night the 15th was.
I think in situations like these, it's warranted for the NWS to issue a tornado emergency. Better be safe than sorry, especially if everything looks like there's a tornado on the ground
@@Leo7s1822 Luckily for you you've just commented on a video that can tell you about that. You should give it a listen, they cover the subject pretty well.
i was in the EF 5 tornado in norman, probably the scariest moment in my life knowing that 600 kids were crammed in multiple little rooms and hearing everybody crying , the wind picking up, i believe it went right over our school, broke half the elementary, unfortunately it’s something i could never forget
From what I understand the May 3rd, 1999 tornado occurred in the early evening; touching down at 6:23 PM Central Time and dissipating at 7:48 PM, eighty-five minutes later. By that time of day schools are empty and kids are at home. However the May 20th, 2013 tornado touched down when schools in Moore, Oklahoma were getting close to dismissal time. This tornado touched down at 2:56 PM Central Time and dissipated thirty-nine minutes later at 3:35 PM.
Ive always explained the watch v warnings as: "Watch out" or be watchful for a Tornado when there's a watch declaration. When there is a warning, you are being warned of the existence of a Tornado. As a Midwesterner, it's quite important to know the difference.
Being from Ohio I can say from my observations that the people of Alabama take the following five things with great seriousness: 1.) Weather reports from James Spann. 2.) Church attendance. 3.) Nascar races. 4.) College football games involving the University of Alabama as well as Auburn University. 5.) Bake sales at their churches.
Very surprised to learn that Joplin did not receive an Emergency label, I never really thought about that. Just shows how quickly the storm formed, caused immense destruction, and dissipated. Hope you do a full breakdown on that specific event, it definitely has some unique aspects that are video worthy!
Believe me it would be interesting if he did a video that profiles the Joplin, Missouri tornado on May 22nd, 2011. Someone on Quora asked in a comparison between the Joplin, Missouri tornado of 2011 and the Moore, Oklahoma tornado on May 20th, 2013 why more people were killed or injured in Joplin compared to Moore even though both were rated as an EF5 by the National Weather Service offices in Springfield, Missouri and Norman, Oklahoma respectively. This comes down to six key factors: 1.) The Joplin tornado formed too quickly for the National Weather Service office in Springfield, Missouri to issue a Tornado Emergency for Joplin even though they had issued a Tornado Warning for Jasper County MO. 2.) The Joplin tornado rapidly grew into a wedge tornado in approximately twenty seconds. 3.) It formed right outside of Joplin and cut right through the city before dissipating upon leaving Joplin. 4.) When the tornado sirens in Joplin were first sounded at 5:17 PM Central Daylight Time it gave the residents of Joplin a woefully insufficient amount of seventeen minutes to take shelter. By the time the tornado sirens began wailing a second time at 5:34 PM it was too late for the National Weather Service to do anything because the tornado had already entered the west side of Joplin and was causing damage on the west and south sides of the city. 5.) The tornado was hidden by very heavy rain which made it difficult to see. 6.) Prior to May 22nd, 2011 Joplin, Missouri hadn't been hit by a tornado since May 5th, 1971; so the residents of Joplin were somehow convinced that their city wouldn't be hit by a significant tornado a second time due to their belief that the hilly and mountainous terrain of the Ozarks in southwestern Missouri functioned as a natural shield from tornadoes. By comparison the residents of Moore, Oklahoma are extremely weatherwise and aware of how quickly tornadoes can form as well as how bad they can get. This is due to the fact that their city is practically synonymous with large, violent and destructive tornadoes; such as the one on May 3rd, 1999. When the National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma issued a Tornado Watch for much of central Oklahoma at 1:10 PM Central Daylight Time on May 20th, 2013 three of the major TV stations in Oklahoma City (NBC affiliate KFOR Channel 4, ABC affiliate KOCO Channel 5, and CBS affiliate KWTV Channel 9) immediately suspended regular programming and went into wall-to-wall coverage of the weather; with the city's Fox affiliate KOKH Channel 25 and their Telemundo affiliate KTUZ Channel 30 beginning their own coverage of the weather when the first thunderstorms erupted southwest of Oklahoma City.
@@michaellovely6601 It blows my mind that a Tornado can go from a newly formed EF0 to a high powered EF4 in less than a minute. Weather is scary and powerful. But also really cool and interesting. I hope I get to see a tornado in my lifetime.
@@michaellovely6601 you absolutely nailed it, 100%. I experienced the hair-raising tornado emergency in Moore, and everyone Absolutely Had Their Shit Together. Everyone moved smoothly and efficiently to evac the area, get into shelter, and hunker down. But in Joplin, they had little to no warning. It was like the tornado warnings I experienced as a child in the 80s, with 7 sirens going off in Northridge, OH (outside of Springfield) just before a tornado dropped down and demolished our entire barn and backyard. We got into the crawl space only *just* in time. The tornado in Joplin developed and moved so rapidly that I was honestly surprised that more people weren't killed.
@@terriblegamerdotexe1527 While it is indeed mind-boggling how quickly tornadoes can become so deadly; I feel perfectly fine with tracking the storm on The Weather Channel.
@@MegaKat I have watched a TV show on The Weather Channel called "Tornado Alley" and under the secondary title of "Real Time Tornado" there are six episodes. Two episodes profile the tornadoes that struck Joplin, Missouri and Moore, Oklahoma (May 22nd, 2011 and May 20th, 2013, respectively) with the four other episodes profiling tornadoes that struck Tuscaloosa, Alabama on April 27th 2011, Henryville, Indiana on March 2nd 2012, Hattiesburg, Mississippi on February 10th, 2013 and Washington, Illinois on November 17th 2013. Each episode had different stand-out stories that really captured my attention. In the episode on the Moore, Oklahoma tornado; I was just bewildered by the story of a man named Sam Peña. Sam displayed nearly superhuman abilities to keep his son Benji along with several of Benji's friends and classmates safe by using all of his physical strength to hold up a cinder block wall as they took shelter from the storm in a boys bathroom of Briarwood Elementary School. In my opinion; Sam should have been awarded a Medal of Valor by Moore's mayor Glenn Lewis for risking his life to save the lives of not only his son but also his son's friends and classmates. Also interviewed for the episode was Damon Lane; the chief meteorologist for Oklahoma City's ABC affiliate KOCO Channel 5. Damon lives in Moore and he was personally affected by the tornado. Damon talked about how he was juggling two roles on May 20th: chief meteorologist and husband. He was also text messaging his wife and urging her to get herself and their dogs into the storm shelter. His colleagues Justin Cox and Chance Coldiron were reporting on the storm as they were in the field and tracking the tornado to provide visual footage of it to viewers with Damon tracking it in the studio via Doppler radar scans.
I live in Mountain View, Arkansas and was here when that EF4 tornado came through. Most of the town including myself and family were taking shelter at the school safe room, which is just a rebar anchored cinder block walled room. I was young at the time but I can still remember the freight train like roar as the tornado missed the shelter by less than a quarter mile to the east. Our town got pretty lucky considering it hit the Far East side and didn’t directly strike the town center. However it did destroy a lot of homes, a Chevrolet dealership, one of our fire departments, and did considerable damage to our towns only hospital. I’ll never forget it.
It's kind of a double edge sword, the risk of over-warning being they aren't taken seriously and the risk of under-warning being lives could be lost. Issuing PDS warnings and emergency warnings do work at activating people more than a traditional warning does my a decent margin, but it's hard to tell when exactly that risk is needed in some of these fringe situations like the 15th. Personally, despite knowing the flaws with the system and the inherent risks, I would rather have a false report labeled as an emergency rather than have a destructive tornado under-warned or outright missed, especially in areas that are effective radar holes like NE Arkansas. Was it a jump the gun reaction, most likely, but it was also a calculated risk that a meteorologist took based on the information they have and I applaud them for making a call rather than dragging their feet. I may be biased since I have family in the Walnut Ridge/Hoxie area and lived there for several years. The biggest problem I have is not with the misuse of any particular warning level, but it's how some of the more arm-chair meteorologists on social media who berated people and even trained spotters for "deliberate false reporting" and "being stupid" during the 15th event. I'm not talking about trained spotters and people with any legit weather experience, more the types that watched Storm Chasers and have a basic understanding of radar interpretation and believe themselves to be as qualified as NWS personal, and take the time to more or less gatekeep the community. We should use these situations as learning tools to better understand things like spotting under duress and storm structure identification, but when we have people who go out of their way to put down the untrained populous for misinterpreting storm features and belittle the intelligence and skills of trained spotters we can end up in a situation where we get less reporting from the general public (again, a double edge sword) and the same distrust that we would get from over-warning less intense cells.
This phenomenon is also known as the Plainfield Syndrome. Due to the Plainfield Syndrome; the National Weather Service is in a "Damned if we do and damned if we don't" situation.
I live in cabot arkansas which is just north of where that tornado emergency was. I drove down to our local bowling alley which was reportedly destroyed once the “tornado” passed and there was no damage. We have had problems with false Tornado reporting here in arkansas. There where reports that the tornado was over a mile wide and it was destroying anything it went over. It’s sad that people are false reporting tornado’s but, thank god no one was hurt or killed.
When a tornado happened near my school I wanted to find out moore about tornados and ended up finding your channel. I've loved you're videos keep up the great work.
I'll never forget when I saw the Tornado Emergency issued for Burlington County in NJ for the supercell that spawned the Mullica Hill EF3 in 2021. I'm still upset i was stuck at work instead of witnessing a historic tornado for my area.
There were several huge wedge tornadoes several days ago (if you're reading this in the far future, hi from April 2024), and there were several PDS and Tornado Emergency warnings mainly in Iowa and Nebraska iirc. And even though at least 40 or 50 houses were completely leveled, as far as I'm aware there were no fatalities (there might have been a few eventually reported (though I desperately hope not) but even then it wasn't a mass-casualty situation like it would have been without those warnings). I mostly credit the PDS and Tornado Emergency warnings for people getting to shelter in time, because even those who sought shelter due to someone reaching out to them personally were probably indirectly warned by the weather service, as the people who warned them were almost certainly aware due to seeing the warnings themselves. I know that if I'd known anyone in those areas I would have reached out to them to make sure they were taking shelter, because I was definitely paying attention to the weather over there even though I live in a state that hardly ever gets tornadoes. I was watching the Ryan Hall stream which showed all the warnings and stuff in real time. The footage those storm chasers got was incredible, beautiful, and terrifying all at once.
Another reason why the Joplin, Missouri tornado was so deadly is because it was hidden by very heavy rain which made it difficult bordering impossible to see the tornado.
True! I remember watching a video from a tornado tour group led by Roger Hill as they were in Joplin and in the video you could barely see the leading edge of the tornado as it was coming into town
@@brizzle3903 Someone on Quora asked in a comparison between the Joplin, Missouri EF5 tornado on May 22nd, 2011 and the Moore, Oklahoma EF5 tornado on May 20th, 2013 why more people were killed or injured in Joplin compared to Moore. This comes down to a few understandable reasons why this is the case: 1.) Prior to May 22nd, 2011 Joplin, Missouri hadn't been hit by a tornado since May 5th, 1971; so the residents of Joplin didn't believe that their city could be hit a second time by a violent and destructive tornado. 2.) When the tornado sirens in Joplin were first sounded at 5:17 PM Central Daylight Time it gave the residents of Joplin a terribly insufficient amount of seventeen minutes to take shelter. By the time the tornado sirens in Joplin were sounded a second time at 5:34 PM Central Daylight Time it was too late for the National Weather Service to do anything because the tornado was already on the ground and moving through the west and south sides of Joplin. By comparison the residents of Moore, Oklahoma are extremely weatherwise and aware of how tornadoes can quickly become violent and destructive. They know this because of how their city is practically synonymous with large, violent and destructive tornadoes; such as the infamous F5 tornado that tore through Moore and Bridge Creek, Oklahoma on May 3rd, 1999. When the National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma issued a Tornado Watch for much of central Oklahoma at 1:10 PM Central Daylight Time on May 20th, 2013 the three major TV stations in Oklahoma City (NBC affiliate KFOR Channel 4, ABC affiliate KOCO Channel 5 and CBS affiliate KWTV Channel 9) promptly suspended regular programming and went into wall to wall coverage of the weather; which stayed in effect when the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Warning at 2:45 PM, a PDS Tornado Warning at 2:56 PM and eventually a Tornado Emergency for both Moore and south Oklahoma City at 3:01 PM.
@@michaellovely6601 it’s sad it took such a devastating storm to show Joplin that they’re vulnerable just like Moore, hopefully this never happens again but we both know it’s only a matter of time before it does, when it does I would expect the citizens to take the warning more seriously
@@brizzle3903 What I find to be absolutely spooky is that on May 22nd, 2019 a tornado formed outside of Joplin, Missouri but didn't affect the city directly. Nonetheless it opened up dozens of old psychological wounds for the residents of Joplin who had survived the tornado just eight years earlier.
@@michaellovely6601 the most spooky aspect of the 2011 Joplin tornado was how that it started off as a wedge tornado, it didn’t go through different forms like most tornadoes do it straight up come down as a monster
That’s good to know there was no tornado from Jonesboro cell. I live just northeast of Memphis and it was headed right towards us. That was probably nastiest supercell I’ve seen on radar
Tornado warnings are scarier than they used to be, in the 70s when I was living on the Mississippi gulf coast. Back then, a watch or warning was for the entire county -- a tornado could touch down anywhere in that county. NOWADAYS, they're far more precise, "respect the polygon" as it were. So when I was in Miamisburg, OH we might get a warning for Montgomery County, but probably not Miamisburg specifically. Luckily, we weren't included in all of the 'naders that happened Memorial Day weekend 2019, just after I moved to OH. (That's when I learned what a PDS is, had never heard that phrase before.)
I remember a while back that in my area was a Tornado Watch. I remember looking out my skylight and seeing this Funnel in the distance. It never landed but I saw it and no one believed me and still no one does.
The Jonesboro Tornado Emergency was so weird. I was gonna drive from Paragould to Jonesboro to avoid it since it looked like it was going north around 7:50 when a watch was set into place
I follow all the stormchasers and I guess that's why UA-cam sent me some of your videos. I've since subscribed because I've learned so much from you in just one or two of your videos. It's amazing to actually learn about the elusive tornadoes we seek. You can watch a stormchasers streams for hours and never get to see a tornado, but what you do see in those hours are storm clouds, wall clouds, the hail, the wind.....you start to learn how tornadoes form. Love your basketball analogy too.
I have a plan to become one later down the road when I am like 18 or 20 years old, I am learning as much as I can to be safe, report, and record storms, these kind of videos also help in understanding them
can I just say your channel is exceptional. I can’t wait to watch you start blowing up. your videos are both equal parts entertaining and informative. keep up the great work 😊
Just so happened that one of the two tornado emergencies in 2015 was like 15-20 minutes or so south of where I live, but the emergency was for good reason as that was the Rochelle-Fairdale Tornado in Northern Illinois
I don't normally comment on videos, but this content is put together so well, amazing job. I think a really interesting idea could be covering stories of rogue tornadoes or tornado warnings in places that rarely or never see them? I'm not sure how many cases there are out there, but an interesting idea nonetheless.
This video we really helpful. Me and 3 of my friends are going become spotters and we're taking all the tests and watching YT videos like this one and we're all spread out throughout one country so it's going to be a very good system I think. Anyways, great video.
I live in central Arkansas just south of the "tornado track" that night. The local meteorologists here were confused about it too, but they thought the tornado was too close to the radar. They said that's why they couldn't see a debris ball.
I live in Cabot, and was on my way home from work when that tornado emergency was issued. I quickly sped home and got in my bathtub to wait for this tornado that never came. of course I'm thankful we didn't get a tornado but we did get some nasty hail
Even while watching an educational video about weather I have to be reminded how awful my Knicks are. 😮💨 Great channel! Love your tornado content especially.
yes you can put any location on your spotter report but you can't send it in without your spotter ID number. So idk what this lady thought she gained but making false reports and using her ID number. But i've been a skywarn spotter for 4 years now in two different states and this a rare occurance for something like this to happen.
Loved the video, as well as the 2 tornado damage path ones you did. Do you think you could do a hurricane damage analysis video? Was thinking it might be cool to look at how hurricane damage can differ from place to place - like Hurricane Sandy in New York or Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas. Keep up the videos :)
Analogies have a number of problems. Since I have never looked seriously at basketball, the basketball language is completely confusing to me. On the other hand I have baked cakes and I know that if you don't have flour, eggs, salt, sugar and the rest, you don't have a cake. Clearly, if you have the ingredients on the bench, you have a watch for potential cake. If they are mixed in a bowl, there is a warning that cake is likely and if you have cake in the oven that is an enhanced warning. When the cake is steaming on the bench you have a cake emergency. If it's Death by Chocolate cake it is a catastrophic emergency. Having said this I have learned much from the range of US alarming weather programs, so keep up the excellent work. Good 'ealth. John Warner, Australia
They still haven’t rebuilt the mall, pretty sure they don’t plan too. It’s just target, dillards, and jc pennys that’s left. A few of the businesses moved to the old Sears building next to the cavenaugh dealership though
Those things always freak me out. Wooster has been hit by it's fair share of tornadoes and derechos, and I remember being in a few of them. If you've ever had a tornado leapfrog over your house as a kid, you take those things seriously.
I live in Arkansas and I think the reason for not issuing a tornado emergency for Clinton was because the weather service in Little Rock unfortunately dropped the ball, they have a history of doing it, also the surveys of the 2014 Vilonia tornado could use a thorough video from you, a neighborhood of houses destroyed with one up to code house being swept but it didn’t get an ef-5 because there were trees a few hundred yards away. You’ve said yourself multiple vortex tornadoes can have very narrow arcs of extreme damage
We lost a family friend in the Joplin tornado. He'd made sure his wife wasn't crushed. They found her the first day, and she made a full recovery. They weren't able to find his body until the next day. He was crushed beneath their car and the gas station cover they'd taken shelter under. Hearing you talk about the tornados in Arkansas always catches me off guard. I'm from Northwest Arkansas originally, so I grew up hearing about or occasionally seeing these storms. I've never been unlucky enough to be caught in a tornado, but it's a real fear. Particularly after the awful one that happened in Rogers this year.
I was about to comment about the false Jonesboro emergency. I live in Jonesboro and the emergency was issued when the storm was about 25 miles away in walnut ridge iirc, so even tho it was a false emergency, it did give many people time to seek shelter. I live on a 3rd story of an apartment complex and the emergency gave me enough time to drive across town and get to my mothers basement.
Being in Knoxville TN,we don't hardly get them much here,it's a rare occurrence. We only get the weather warnings on tv. We don't have the outdoor tornado sirens here either.
Some people in the non-weather community are looking out for far more than themselves. I don't fault it, but people need to be more responsible, and I think (as a NWS Spotter for the Wilmington Ohio office) that the loophole should be restricted to actual members of the Spotter Network, either with a spotter ID, or a NOAA account that's listed as Spotter (after taking and passing Basic Spotter Training).
I can see why you would want that. But there are times when a member of the public might spot an Actual Tornado and there are no spotters seeing it. Would you rather it go unreported? I mean, I guess they could ask a spotter to come to their location, or call the NWS for radar confirmation or something, but that would waste valuable time. Closing the loophole on location of the reporting person could be helpful, of course. But unless there's a huge uptick in the number of people making malicious/prank reports, I don't think shutting off potential sources of information is a good idea.
@@the_real_littlepinkhousefly 90% of the time, non-weather people report skud as tornadoes. So yes, I'd rather it go unreported unless they can confirm debris, and a funnel cloud.
aye im from Cleveland. seen my first and only Tornado at like 4 years old and its 1 of my first memories. havent seen 1 since here. Edit: i was in downtown for all 7 Finals games in 2016 and it was so insanely crazy after game 7 it was like the most friendly riot you could ever imagine. it was the opposite of a riot but a human tornado emergency of everyone beeing just absoylutley lit like in the middle of a night club. glad to see the Cavs clips lol a Lebron 30 point watch. Thats geeked haha, but more like a 45 point triple double emergency in a game 7 !!
There is a very definite tornado scar on I-40 just west of Morrrilton that still exists today (basically turned into a swamp with stripped trees). I always wondered what tornado did that. Now I know - it was that EF4 that later hit Clinton and Mountain View. Thanks for letting me know - it remains a pretty grim scar.
I lived in Blytheville about an hour away from Jonesboro, i believe 1-3 years ago when one night we heard that a tornado had ripped through turtle creek mall and destroyed it, it was our favorite and only real mall for hours from Blytheville. it was stuck on the eastern/middle side and has been permanently closed since, one of my favorite memories was going to candy store that was in the path of the tornado. you can still see the damage on google maps as they haven't rebuilt it. I'm not sure if anyone died in that tornado but it wouldn't surprise me if they did R.I.P.
It’s funny that you used a sports reference to describe watches and warnings cause that’s exactly how I explain it lol. I use upsets though, since many people understand what being on “upset watch” is in sports so it’s just an easy way to visualize it.
ive been in one emergency! technically i wasnt IN it but it was close enough (next county over so i was getting the alert on my radio/phone etc) the cell crossed over from alabama to georgia and dropped a tornado right by the peachtree nws. luckily as far as i know nobody was killed or hurt, but some homes took some pretty significant damage. this was at like midnight and i didnt sleep for the rest of the night lol
I go to bama right now. One time i asked one of my Tuscaloosa native friends about the tornado and she said, "have you ever noticed that there arent many trees in tuscaloosa?......there used to be"
I've seen plenty of TORE's ordered while following severe weather events, but nothing is more unnerving when people you know are within the warning area for one. The Beauregard,AL EF-4 from March 3,2019 tracked for over 60 miles and killed 23 people, but despite that it still could have been worse: 1. It reached peak strength for maybe no more than a mile of its path. 2. Its track went less than 4-5 miles north of going directly through the Columbus,GA metro area, which was the difference in mostly wooded areas with a few neighborhoods vs. very dense urban area.
Actually "Tornado Alley" covers the plains states TX to ND, then you have Dixie alley in the deep south. Hoosier Alley IL,IN,OH then Carolina Alley NC/SC. So tornado alley hasn't moved. Also in the last decade plus with everything and everyone pretty much connected and the advancement of technology more tornadoes are noticed and reported unlike the old days where you could have dozens of tornadoes touch down in some remote place and few if anyone actually noticed.
Honestly, I think that since the spotting system is based on anyones reports that they should have a verification system making it be more like regular more trained spotters or those with more experienced in spotting can have highlighted reports since odds are, they more know what they're looking at. I'm considered a spotter for north east US winter weather. I took a class where I got civilian trained to be a spotter and given a private number and site to report my snow, temp, wind, etc dats during snow storms however I also have science degrees in the earth sciences with a specialty in severe weather. Any civilian could sign up for the course and our information would be taken over others information. I think things for the spotter network need to be more regulated while still being open for civilians because if the trained guys cant get there to observe first hand, we need as many eyes on the ground as possible. There was a severe spotter training course I took too and also gave the direct Noaa office contact info but thats rarely used in my area however, again, I'd still know more than other civilians with my degrees.
Hi! Forgive me if YT comments is a weird place to ask but given the setup over OK today, I was wondering if you could go into how thunderstorm initiation can differ.. Specifically dryline vs cold fronts and how it affects tornado development..?
I was watching the coverage of that Arkansas “tornado emergency” as it was happening. I knew something was off, and I think someone at the NWS office down there jumped the gun on issuing the “emergency” part. I saw the tornado emergency warning, yet, none of the newscasters were saying anything about a confirmed tornado. There was 0 footage of any sort of tornado that night (at least while I was watching). It’s really important for the NWS to only issue a tornado emergency after the visual confirmation of a strong, damaging tornado. People already tend to disregard many severe weather warnings, tornado warnings included. I’ve lived through countless tornado warnings here in Michigan, and have never seen a tornado. People are already desensitized to tornado warnings. We don’t want them to become desensitized to a tornado emergency. That shock and awe factor must be reserved for only the most severe, life-threatening situations.
I live in central Arkansas and was driving home that night when the tornado emergency was issued. of course I was shitting bricks, as that was the first tornado emergency my town has ever received. I was less that 5 minutes home so I sped home. I waited in my bathtub with my dogs and cat for this tornado that... never came. We did get some large hail though and it was horrifying to hear it bouncing off our roof.
I was gonna say..”yeah, it happened.” I live in Austin, AR and when I heard that phrase “tornado emergency”, I freaked. Through my family in the truck and booked it North on hwy 367. Fortunately, there was no tornado, but we had to have our roof repaired because of the hail. Was also the first time I observed the phenomena called “hail fog.” Very eerie.
Last I checked, as of April 30, we have 157 Tornado Watches this year alone. One can look up the latest Watches here: www.spc.noaa.gov/products/watch/ One also can search the date, using the format YYYYMMDD, up to January 1, 2004. Eg. 20040101 or 20110427
My sister is a storm chaser photographer certified with SkyWarn and Spotter Network and I remember she was LIVID when those fake reports were sent in. I was, too, but for her it was more personal. Niether of us understood why anybody would do that, especially after going through the process of getting a Spotter Network ID number. It actually takes some effort to do that.
I'm by no means an expert, barely an amateur enthusiast even, but I did notice the false emergencies last month and thought it was odd. I even looked up a list of all time Tornado Emergencies, wondering if they were more common than I thought, but they really are that rare. Makes it even more confusing.
There's another reason tornado emergencies are rare, a large number of NWS offices in the most tornado prone areas use PDS Tornado Warnings or word tornadoes as "large and particularly dangerous". A prime example of this would be on May 29th, 2013 in Fenton, MI where a strong EF-2 with 500 yard width was on the ground. It didn't injure or kill anyone despite crossing a freeway (US-23) and having a 5 mile path. The warning on it was "large and particularly dangerous tornado" which probably made people take the warning more seriously.
On that note of reliable, I'm wondering if each WFO has their own criteria or if it's standardized to spotters/law enforcement/credible sources? An article I read posited that there were either mistaken reports (which is plausible given what happened on the 15th) or deliberately false reports, which makes me wonder how those are dealt with and who handles it if somebody did make a malicious report? I'd assume it'd be the FCC since they handle all the radio stuff but then you have ARES and RACES working with the NWS via Skywarn so I don't know who'd end up dealing with that situation though...
Ultimately, even with unified criteria, the decision to issue a warning or emergency is up to local WFO discretion. Spotter Network is its own thing and bans accounts that make malicious/false reports, but in the moment that doesn't help much. Also, considering how easy it is to make a new account and pass SN's knowledge check... Well, there's room for improvement, let's just say that. Since SN is a website interface, not to mention a private org, it's hard to say who if anyone would have any sort of enforcement authority. Arguably NWS maybe shouldn't take input from it but on the other hand, it's also arguable that the more eyes on the ground who can report the better. Worth noting that the false TOR-Es from earlier this month were not the first with no tornado being evident in the aftermath.
The tornado emergencies issued on the 11th and the 15th had rotation, but had zero evidence of a debris signature on it. I was showering at the time of the April 15th tornado emergency, when I found out there was a TORE issued, i couldn’t really see a very well-defined TVS so I was really skeptical about it
The analogy I like to refer to goes: 1. Your aunt will only come to a party if it's on the weekend, during the day, and it's sunny outside. You scheduled a party this weekend in the afternoon, and the weather is good. That's the tornado watch. 2. Your aunt says she MIGHT show up to the party. That's the tornado warning. 3. Your aunt says she WILL be coming, and calls you before she arrives. That's the tornado emergency.
Can you do a video that explains CAPE and other correlations on reading/navigating the NOAA maps? I have my own method but I haven't gotten down the prediction part without cheating by looking at my 7 day forecast. I'd like to never use that. lol. Thanks.
Here's another advisory/watch/warning/emergency analogy that I thought of... Statement/Advisory: green traffic light - there is no active problems, but still be prepared to hit the brakes if needed Watch: yellow traffic light - be prepared to slow down and take action Warning: red traffic light - take immediate action and stop at the intersection Emergency: flashing red traffic light - take immediate action, stop at the intersection, and be extra careful Now that I think about it, this is probably why early weather radios used 🟩/🟨/🟥 for statement/watch/warning. It fits this analogy pretty much perfectly. 🟨/🟧/🟥 doesn't work as well
1:36 I think a good way to funnel in a Tornado Emergency into this analogy (using tacos) is Taco Watch: the ingredients to make a taco. Remain aware for changing conditions Taco Warning: tacos are being made as we speak and there might even be one. Take cover (these tacos suck; run away) Taco Emergency: a taco has been confirmed and is expected to hit a table. Take cover (they suck, run)
I remember these false tornado emergencies being issued and looking at the velocity scans while thinking, “are they seeing something I’m not because this does not look like an extremely violent tornado.” Falsely issuing a tornado emergency can be really consequential because that is the highest level of warning in all of weather, so it should only be used in VERY rare occurrences when needed.
Yes, I agree. If too many warnings are sent out and too many are WRONGLY sent out, then people will become desensitized to the warnings and not pay as much attention to them
Fully agreed that emergencies should be saved for... Well, emergencies, but 2 things: 1) in at least one of the instances, the storm was in the middle of a zone where the nearest radar couldn't see the whole thing, as mentioned in the video. Plus, 2) paired with #1, it was very possible that the radar really was missing something, and the WFOs had nothing to indicate that the reports were definitely or even likely wrong, so "eyes on the ground" wins over radar.
With what they knew at the time, you could argue that a PDS warning would've been a better reaction but there were also fairly big cities in the margin of error (like Jonesboro), so maybe not that unreasonable after all.
Yeah i feel like you really ought to have a debris signature on radar as well as a very strong velocity couplet if your going to issue a damn tornado emergency.
@@supertornadogun1690 I live in that area. The meteorologists thought the tornado was too close to radar to see a debris ball. I think it passed within a couple of miles of the radar site.
I'm, to be frank, not a fan of the term Tornado Emergency. I admit, when used appropriately, is far more helpful than the sensationalist naming of winter storms.
However, it all goes back to hyperbolic presentation of the weather, to a "Boy Crying Wolf". Prudence, humility, and meekness. . .strength within control. . .are most assuredly needed in weather reporting and life saving.
The reason a tornado emergency was issued for greensburg was the fact the tornado and the signature and velocities on radar was wider than the town itself
What I remember the most about the Greensburg, Kansas tornado on May 4th, 2007 is the coverage of the storm by Dave Freeman; the chief meteorologist for Wichita's NBC affiliate KSNW Channel 3. Dave knew that because it was a Friday night many kids in Greensburg would be either home alone or with a babysitter due to their parents being out to dinner. Keeping this in mind; Dave addressed any children who were either at home alone or with a babysitter and no doubt scared out of their minds that if they followed his advice they would be safe. Dave told them that he understood they were scared; but they had to be brave and turn up the volume on the TV or the computer speakers or the radio so they could hear him as they took shelter from the storm. Dave also told these kids to take shelter in a basement underneath a workbench or the stairs to the basement if the stairs were in the center of the basement. Dave also explained to the kids that if their homes don't have a basement they should take cover in a bathtub or in a closet and they should cover themselves using blankets, pillows, and mattresses along with telling them to put on sturdy shoes and a helmet to further protect themselves. Something tells me that the kids who followed Dave's advice that night are now parents themselves and use his advice with their own children to keep them safe in the event that they are home alone or with a babysitter in a severe weather situation.
W Dave
They felt like a warning wasn't enough. So they added emergancy on the spot.
One of the reasons tornado emergencies exist is because of an EF5 tornado that touched down in August of 1990 in Plainfield, IL. The warning wasn't even issued until it was too late. Twenty-nine people died and 353 were injured.
Yup. Very little footage of the storm at all. We've got a memorial here in town and people are still very wary.
Maybe, but it wasn't until the Moore F5 of May 3, 1999 that anyone at the NWS felt that there was a need to issue something greater than a tornado warning. That tornado was posed to move through the heart of a major city, all the while sporting winds in excess of 300mph.
Who many pets
it exists because of Bell Creek/Moore OK tornado on 5/3/99, no other reason
@@kevintucker466 That was the first time it was used, not the reason it exists.
We chased on the 15th! The whole ordeal was, there was a clear wall cloud but it was hard to tell if there was a tornado due to rough terrain and dense tree coverage. We witnessed power flashes inside of walnut ridge, and got slammed by RFD winds just south but it was incredibly difficult to make or confirm a report on that night. Unfortunate situations for all spotters involved, and all weather stations involved. Really difficult night the 15th was.
I think in situations like these, it's warranted for the NWS to issue a tornado emergency. Better be safe than sorry, especially if everything looks like there's a tornado on the ground
@@bernardkuiper1496 what the heck do you think a tornado watch is
@@Leo7s1822 Luckily for you you've just commented on a video that can tell you about that. You should give it a listen, they cover the subject pretty well.
@@zipzap8937 I know, the dude is suggesting we use tornado emergencies whenever.
I would much rather take shelter under a false alarm than be caught in the midst of an unwarned tornado...
i was in the EF 5 tornado in norman, probably the scariest moment in my life knowing that 600 kids were crammed in multiple little rooms and hearing everybody crying , the wind picking up, i believe it went right over our school, broke half the elementary, unfortunately it’s something i could never forget
You mean moore?
From what I understand the May 3rd, 1999 tornado occurred in the early evening; touching down at 6:23 PM Central Time and dissipating at 7:48 PM, eighty-five minutes later. By that time of day schools are empty and kids are at home. However the May 20th, 2013 tornado touched down when schools in Moore, Oklahoma were getting close to dismissal time. This tornado touched down at 2:56 PM Central Time and dissipated thirty-nine minutes later at 3:35 PM.
Ive always explained the watch v warnings as: "Watch out" or be watchful for a Tornado when there's a watch declaration. When there is a warning, you are being warned of the existence of a Tornado. As a Midwesterner, it's quite important to know the difference.
And a tornado emergency is "for the love of all things holy, get to shelter now!".
Jame Spann is a legit legend. When he says a Tornado is on the ground you take him seriously.
Being from Ohio I can say from my observations that the people of Alabama take the following five things with great seriousness:
1.) Weather reports from James Spann.
2.) Church attendance.
3.) Nascar races.
4.) College football games involving the University of Alabama as well as Auburn University.
5.) Bake sales at their churches.
Very surprised to learn that Joplin did not receive an Emergency label, I never really thought about that. Just shows how quickly the storm formed, caused immense destruction, and dissipated. Hope you do a full breakdown on that specific event, it definitely has some unique aspects that are video worthy!
Believe me it would be interesting if he did a video that profiles the Joplin, Missouri tornado on May 22nd, 2011. Someone on Quora asked in a comparison between the Joplin, Missouri tornado of 2011 and the Moore, Oklahoma tornado on May 20th, 2013 why more people were killed or injured in Joplin compared to Moore even though both were rated as an EF5 by the National Weather Service offices in Springfield, Missouri and Norman, Oklahoma respectively. This comes down to six key factors:
1.) The Joplin tornado formed too quickly for the National Weather Service office in Springfield, Missouri to issue a Tornado Emergency for Joplin even though they had issued a Tornado Warning for Jasper County MO.
2.) The Joplin tornado rapidly grew into a wedge tornado in approximately twenty seconds.
3.) It formed right outside of Joplin and cut right through the city before dissipating upon leaving Joplin.
4.) When the tornado sirens in Joplin were first sounded at 5:17 PM Central Daylight Time it gave the residents of Joplin a woefully insufficient amount of seventeen minutes to take shelter. By the time the tornado sirens began wailing a second time at 5:34 PM it was too late for the National Weather Service to do anything because the tornado had already entered the west side of Joplin and was causing damage on the west and south sides of the city.
5.) The tornado was hidden by very heavy rain which made it difficult to see.
6.) Prior to May 22nd, 2011 Joplin, Missouri hadn't been hit by a tornado since May 5th, 1971; so the residents of Joplin were somehow convinced that their city wouldn't be hit by a significant tornado a second time due to their belief that the hilly and mountainous terrain of the Ozarks in southwestern Missouri functioned as a natural shield from tornadoes.
By comparison the residents of Moore, Oklahoma are extremely weatherwise and aware of how quickly tornadoes can form as well as how bad they can get. This is due to the fact that their city is practically synonymous with large, violent and destructive tornadoes; such as the one on May 3rd, 1999. When the National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma issued a Tornado Watch for much of central Oklahoma at 1:10 PM Central Daylight Time on May 20th, 2013 three of the major TV stations in Oklahoma City (NBC affiliate KFOR Channel 4, ABC affiliate KOCO Channel 5, and CBS affiliate KWTV Channel 9) immediately suspended regular programming and went into wall-to-wall coverage of the weather; with the city's Fox affiliate KOKH Channel 25 and their Telemundo affiliate KTUZ Channel 30 beginning their own coverage of the weather when the first thunderstorms erupted southwest of Oklahoma City.
@@michaellovely6601 It blows my mind that a Tornado can go from a newly formed EF0 to a high powered EF4 in less than a minute. Weather is scary and powerful. But also really cool and interesting. I hope I get to see a tornado in my lifetime.
@@michaellovely6601 you absolutely nailed it, 100%. I experienced the hair-raising tornado emergency in Moore, and everyone Absolutely Had Their Shit Together. Everyone moved smoothly and efficiently to evac the area, get into shelter, and hunker down. But in Joplin, they had little to no warning. It was like the tornado warnings I experienced as a child in the 80s, with 7 sirens going off in Northridge, OH (outside of Springfield) just before a tornado dropped down and demolished our entire barn and backyard. We got into the crawl space only *just* in time. The tornado in Joplin developed and moved so rapidly that I was honestly surprised that more people weren't killed.
@@terriblegamerdotexe1527 While it is indeed mind-boggling how quickly tornadoes can become so deadly; I feel perfectly fine with tracking the storm on The Weather Channel.
@@MegaKat I have watched a TV show on The Weather Channel called "Tornado Alley" and under the secondary title of "Real Time Tornado" there are six episodes. Two episodes profile the tornadoes that struck Joplin, Missouri and Moore, Oklahoma (May 22nd, 2011 and May 20th, 2013, respectively) with the four other episodes profiling tornadoes that struck Tuscaloosa, Alabama on April 27th 2011, Henryville, Indiana on March 2nd 2012, Hattiesburg, Mississippi on February 10th, 2013 and Washington, Illinois on November 17th 2013. Each episode had different stand-out stories that really captured my attention. In the episode on the Moore, Oklahoma tornado; I was just bewildered by the story of a man named Sam Peña. Sam displayed nearly superhuman abilities to keep his son Benji along with several of Benji's friends and classmates safe by using all of his physical strength to hold up a cinder block wall as they took shelter from the storm in a boys bathroom of Briarwood Elementary School. In my opinion; Sam should have been awarded a Medal of Valor by Moore's mayor Glenn Lewis for risking his life to save the lives of not only his son but also his son's friends and classmates. Also interviewed for the episode was Damon Lane; the chief meteorologist for Oklahoma City's ABC affiliate KOCO Channel 5. Damon lives in Moore and he was personally affected by the tornado. Damon talked about how he was juggling two roles on May 20th: chief meteorologist and husband. He was also text messaging his wife and urging her to get herself and their dogs into the storm shelter. His colleagues Justin Cox and Chance Coldiron were reporting on the storm as they were in the field and tracking the tornado to provide visual footage of it to viewers with Damon tracking it in the studio via Doppler radar scans.
Never been in an emergency, but been in several warnings. Both are scary, though!
I live in Mountain View, Arkansas and was here when that EF4 tornado came through. Most of the town including myself and family were taking shelter at the school safe room, which is just a rebar anchored cinder block walled room. I was young at the time but I can still remember the freight train like roar as the tornado missed the shelter by less than a quarter mile to the east. Our town got pretty lucky considering it hit the Far East side and didn’t directly strike the town center. However it did destroy a lot of homes, a Chevrolet dealership, one of our fire departments, and did considerable damage to our towns only hospital. I’ll never forget it.
As a person tasked with reporting the weather as it happens this channel is incredibly well done. Keep it up.
It's kind of a double edge sword, the risk of over-warning being they aren't taken seriously and the risk of under-warning being lives could be lost. Issuing PDS warnings and emergency warnings do work at activating people more than a traditional warning does my a decent margin, but it's hard to tell when exactly that risk is needed in some of these fringe situations like the 15th. Personally, despite knowing the flaws with the system and the inherent risks, I would rather have a false report labeled as an emergency rather than have a destructive tornado under-warned or outright missed, especially in areas that are effective radar holes like NE Arkansas. Was it a jump the gun reaction, most likely, but it was also a calculated risk that a meteorologist took based on the information they have and I applaud them for making a call rather than dragging their feet. I may be biased since I have family in the Walnut Ridge/Hoxie area and lived there for several years.
The biggest problem I have is not with the misuse of any particular warning level, but it's how some of the more arm-chair meteorologists on social media who berated people and even trained spotters for "deliberate false reporting" and "being stupid" during the 15th event. I'm not talking about trained spotters and people with any legit weather experience, more the types that watched Storm Chasers and have a basic understanding of radar interpretation and believe themselves to be as qualified as NWS personal, and take the time to more or less gatekeep the community. We should use these situations as learning tools to better understand things like spotting under duress and storm structure identification, but when we have people who go out of their way to put down the untrained populous for misinterpreting storm features and belittle the intelligence and skills of trained spotters we can end up in a situation where we get less reporting from the general public (again, a double edge sword) and the same distrust that we would get from over-warning less intense cells.
This phenomenon is also known as the Plainfield Syndrome. Due to the Plainfield Syndrome; the National Weather Service is in a "Damned if we do and damned if we don't" situation.
I live in cabot arkansas which is just north of where that tornado emergency was. I drove down to our local bowling alley which was reportedly destroyed once the “tornado” passed and there was no damage. We have had problems with false Tornado reporting here in arkansas. There where reports that the tornado was over a mile wide and it was destroying anything it went over. It’s sad that people are false reporting tornado’s but, thank god no one was hurt or killed.
@weatherbox
Found your channel about 2 weeks ago, man you make some really amazing content! Please keep it up, you're growing so quickly
SAME!! he’s probably in my top 5 youtubers right now because i love his videos so much
@@Adrian-ku2qy he’s my second second favorite only behind Force Thirteen
Same, I've watched like all of his videos by now!
Same Bro!!
When a tornado happened near my school I wanted to find out moore about tornados and ended up finding your channel. I've loved you're videos keep up the great work.
Check out Peco Hanks , More Pi, Ryan Hall, Reed Timmer
@@ZepyhrLight Thx for the recommendations I'll check those creators out.
@@tornadoanalysis3198 cool cool ! They're awesome weather guys
Oh there my favorites. Ryan’s live coverage is the best.
@@ZepyhrLight And Skip Talbot! He is in the same research team as Pecos Hank and he has some awesome videos and educational content too.
This channel is criminally underrated
I'll never forget when I saw the Tornado Emergency issued for Burlington County in NJ for the supercell that spawned the Mullica Hill EF3 in 2021. I'm still upset i was stuck at work instead of witnessing a historic tornado for my area.
There were several huge wedge tornadoes several days ago (if you're reading this in the far future, hi from April 2024), and there were several PDS and Tornado Emergency warnings mainly in Iowa and Nebraska iirc. And even though at least 40 or 50 houses were completely leveled, as far as I'm aware there were no fatalities (there might have been a few eventually reported (though I desperately hope not) but even then it wasn't a mass-casualty situation like it would have been without those warnings).
I mostly credit the PDS and Tornado Emergency warnings for people getting to shelter in time, because even those who sought shelter due to someone reaching out to them personally were probably indirectly warned by the weather service, as the people who warned them were almost certainly aware due to seeing the warnings themselves.
I know that if I'd known anyone in those areas I would have reached out to them to make sure they were taking shelter, because I was definitely paying attention to the weather over there even though I live in a state that hardly ever gets tornadoes. I was watching the Ryan Hall stream which showed all the warnings and stuff in real time. The footage those storm chasers got was incredible, beautiful, and terrifying all at once.
Another reason why the Joplin, Missouri tornado was so deadly is because it was hidden by very heavy rain which made it difficult bordering impossible to see the tornado.
True! I remember watching a video from a tornado tour group led by Roger Hill as they were in Joplin and in the video you could barely see the leading edge of the tornado as it was coming into town
@@brizzle3903 Someone on Quora asked in a comparison between the Joplin, Missouri EF5 tornado on May 22nd, 2011 and the Moore, Oklahoma EF5 tornado on May 20th, 2013 why more people were killed or injured in Joplin compared to Moore. This comes down to a few understandable reasons why this is the case:
1.) Prior to May 22nd, 2011 Joplin, Missouri hadn't been hit by a tornado since May 5th, 1971; so the residents of Joplin didn't believe that their city could be hit a second time by a violent and destructive tornado.
2.) When the tornado sirens in Joplin were first sounded at 5:17 PM Central Daylight Time it gave the residents of Joplin a terribly insufficient amount of seventeen minutes to take shelter. By the time the tornado sirens in Joplin were sounded a second time at 5:34 PM Central Daylight Time it was too late for the National Weather Service to do anything because the tornado was already on the ground and moving through the west and south sides of Joplin.
By comparison the residents of Moore, Oklahoma are extremely weatherwise and aware of how tornadoes can quickly become violent and destructive. They know this because of how their city is practically synonymous with large, violent and destructive tornadoes; such as the infamous F5 tornado that tore through Moore and Bridge Creek, Oklahoma on May 3rd, 1999. When the National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma issued a Tornado Watch for much of central Oklahoma at 1:10 PM Central Daylight Time on May 20th, 2013 the three major TV stations in Oklahoma City (NBC affiliate KFOR Channel 4, ABC affiliate KOCO Channel 5 and CBS affiliate KWTV Channel 9) promptly suspended regular programming and went into wall to wall coverage of the weather; which stayed in effect when the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Warning at 2:45 PM, a PDS Tornado Warning at 2:56 PM and eventually a Tornado Emergency for both Moore and south Oklahoma City at 3:01 PM.
@@michaellovely6601 it’s sad it took such a devastating storm to show Joplin that they’re vulnerable just like Moore, hopefully this never happens again but we both know it’s only a matter of time before it does, when it does I would expect the citizens to take the warning more seriously
@@brizzle3903 What I find to be absolutely spooky is that on May 22nd, 2019 a tornado formed outside of Joplin, Missouri but didn't affect the city directly. Nonetheless it opened up dozens of old psychological wounds for the residents of Joplin who had survived the tornado just eight years earlier.
@@michaellovely6601 the most spooky aspect of the 2011 Joplin tornado was how that it started off as a wedge tornado, it didn’t go through different forms like most tornadoes do it straight up come down as a monster
That’s good to know there was no tornado from Jonesboro cell. I live just northeast of Memphis and it was headed right towards us. That was probably nastiest supercell I’ve seen on radar
It was a wicked-looking storm for sure.
@@xijinping4418 That Hail core was INTENSE! Reflectivity was over 80 dBz!
Tornado warnings are scarier than they used to be, in the 70s when I was living on the Mississippi gulf coast. Back then, a watch or warning was for the entire county -- a tornado could touch down anywhere in that county. NOWADAYS, they're far more precise, "respect the polygon" as it were. So when I was in Miamisburg, OH we might get a warning for Montgomery County, but probably not Miamisburg specifically. Luckily, we weren't included in all of the 'naders that happened Memorial Day weekend 2019, just after I moved to OH. (That's when I learned what a PDS is, had never heard that phrase before.)
I remember a while back that in my area was a Tornado Watch. I remember looking out my skylight and seeing this Funnel in the distance. It never landed but I saw it and no one believed me and still no one does.
another great video!! I've always been interested in weather so this channel is right up my alley
I’m so glad I found this channel. Awesome content ❤️
Nice to see another person from Ohio interested in weather. Thanks for the Explanation. Love the videos!
I just stumbled onto this site I actually like it. I'm a new weather enthusiast myself and learning about radar reading etc
The Jonesboro Tornado Emergency was so weird. I was gonna drive from Paragould to Jonesboro to avoid it since it looked like it was going north around 7:50 when a watch was set into place
Again an amazing video, been binging your videos ever since I found you a week ago. New favourite weather youtuber!
Great vid Weatherbox, thanks for your insight.
Ive witnessed a ef4 tornado in Michigan a few years back and it was literally in a corn field across the street from my grandparents house.
here? in michigan? never heard of an ef4 hitting us before
@@itsurboidonnie There was an EF4 in Gaylord, Michigan earlier this year.
@@iceresistance EF3*
@@itsurboidonnie Whoops, guess I forgot it was rated EF3 after all :P
@@iceresistance you’re good lol
Your videos are super informative. Keep going with the tornado videos
I follow all the stormchasers and I guess that's why UA-cam sent me some of your videos. I've since subscribed because I've learned so much from you in just one or two of your videos. It's amazing to actually learn about the elusive tornadoes we seek. You can watch a stormchasers streams for hours and never get to see a tornado, but what you do see in those hours are storm clouds, wall clouds, the hail, the wind.....you start to learn how tornadoes form. Love your basketball analogy too.
I have a plan to become one later down the road when I am like 18 or 20 years old, I am learning as much as I can to be safe, report, and record storms, these kind of videos also help in understanding them
@@ZydraTheFox good for you.....I think you're going to make a wonderful meteorologist and or stormchaser.....you could be both.
4:46 That EF-2 hit my home town of Gassville, AR when I was 8 years old. It gave me my interest for weather and tornadoes specifically
Dude, great content! I’m from cleveland and it’s cool to see you doing your thang
can I just say your channel is exceptional. I can’t wait to watch you start blowing up. your videos are both equal parts entertaining and informative. keep up the great work 😊
Thank you!
i was visiting friends in Moore Oklahoma on Monday may 20th when all hell broke lose. whenever i hear a siren that memory comes back into my head
Just so happened that one of the two tornado emergencies in 2015 was like 15-20 minutes or so south of where I live, but the emergency was for good reason as that was the Rochelle-Fairdale Tornado in Northern Illinois
I don't normally comment on videos, but this content is put together so well, amazing job. I think a really interesting idea could be covering stories of rogue tornadoes or tornado warnings in places that rarely or never see them? I'm not sure how many cases there are out there, but an interesting idea nonetheless.
I agree
This is my new favorite channel. Such great content.
Another great video! Love your content.
This video we really helpful. Me and 3 of my friends are going become spotters and we're taking all the tests and watching YT videos like this one and we're all spread out throughout one country so it's going to be a very good system I think. Anyways, great video.
I live in central Arkansas just south of the "tornado track" that night. The local meteorologists here were confused about it too, but they thought the tornado was too close to the radar. They said that's why they couldn't see a debris ball.
I live in Cabot, and was on my way home from work when that tornado emergency was issued. I quickly sped home and got in my bathtub to wait for this tornado that never came. of course I'm thankful we didn't get a tornado but we did get some nasty hail
Love your content dude! You’re gonna go far.
Even while watching an educational video about weather I have to be reminded how awful my Knicks are. 😮💨
Great channel! Love your tornado content especially.
so nice seeing this channel grow! I was here around 1k subscribers just a few weeks ago and now you have 5k! keep it up! underrated content
thank you!
As Birdmaker said... It's a Weatherbox Wednesday! Greay job again, Steve.
Loving all your content! Keep up the grind you’re going to be superstar.
Very good video on how tornado emergencies work.
I'm trying to learn about thr weather so im not so afaird of thd weather these videos are so helped
Happy to see the channel grow keep it up
i did my spotter training the day before this happened... it's crazy to see just how big of a deal it is if you misreport something
yes you can put any location on your spotter report but you can't send it in without your spotter ID number. So idk what this lady thought she gained but making false reports and using her ID number. But i've been a skywarn spotter for 4 years now in two different states and this a rare occurance for something like this to happen.
@@BACONndEGGS I put out the general location when I emailed a storm report on Heavy Snow that did not have a weather alert in Late December 2020.
Loved the video, as well as the 2 tornado damage path ones you did. Do you think you could do a hurricane damage analysis video? Was thinking it might be cool to look at how hurricane damage can differ from place to place - like Hurricane Sandy in New York or Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas. Keep up the videos :)
This video really helped!
Love these videos man.
Analogies have a number of problems. Since I have never looked seriously at basketball, the basketball language is completely confusing to me. On the other hand I have baked cakes and I know that if you don't have flour, eggs, salt, sugar and the rest, you don't have a cake. Clearly, if you have the ingredients on the bench, you have a watch for potential cake. If they are mixed in a bowl, there is a warning that cake is likely and if you have cake in the oven that is an enhanced warning. When the cake is steaming on the bench you have a cake emergency. If it's Death by Chocolate cake it is a catastrophic emergency. Having said this I have learned much from the range of US alarming weather programs, so keep up the excellent work. Good 'ealth. John Warner, Australia
I used to live in Jonesboro for 9 years, I remember when the tornado hit in 2020 as I moved to Texas, it broke my heart!
They still haven’t rebuilt the mall, pretty sure they don’t plan too. It’s just target, dillards, and jc pennys that’s left. A few of the businesses moved to the old Sears building next to the cavenaugh dealership though
Those things always freak me out. Wooster has been hit by it's fair share of tornadoes and derechos, and I remember being in a few of them. If you've ever had a tornado leapfrog over your house as a kid, you take those things seriously.
I live in Arkansas and I think the reason for not issuing a tornado emergency for Clinton was because the weather service in Little Rock unfortunately dropped the ball, they have a history of doing it, also the surveys of the 2014 Vilonia tornado could use a thorough video from you, a neighborhood of houses destroyed with one up to code house being swept but it didn’t get an ef-5 because there were trees a few hundred yards away. You’ve said yourself multiple vortex tornadoes can have very narrow arcs of extreme damage
Had one of those for Mayfield KY.
I love Weatherbox Wednesdays. Highlight of the week
Weatherbox Wednesday! That's a great name.
5k subs now, prediction of 100k subs in 6 months or less stays STRONG.
Amazing video, keep it up brother 👍
We lost a family friend in the Joplin tornado. He'd made sure his wife wasn't crushed. They found her the first day, and she made a full recovery. They weren't able to find his body until the next day. He was crushed beneath their car and the gas station cover they'd taken shelter under. Hearing you talk about the tornados in Arkansas always catches me off guard. I'm from Northwest Arkansas originally, so I grew up hearing about or occasionally seeing these storms. I've never been unlucky enough to be caught in a tornado, but it's a real fear. Particularly after the awful one that happened in Rogers this year.
I was about to comment about the false Jonesboro emergency. I live in Jonesboro and the emergency was issued when the storm was about 25 miles away in walnut ridge iirc, so even tho it was a false emergency, it did give many people time to seek shelter. I live on a 3rd story of an apartment complex and the emergency gave me enough time to drive across town and get to my mothers basement.
Being in Knoxville TN,we don't hardly get them much here,it's a rare occurrence. We only get the weather warnings on tv. We don't have the outdoor tornado sirens here either.
Some people in the non-weather community are looking out for far more than themselves. I don't fault it, but people need to be more responsible, and I think (as a NWS Spotter for the Wilmington Ohio office) that the loophole should be restricted to actual members of the Spotter Network, either with a spotter ID, or a NOAA account that's listed as Spotter (after taking and passing Basic Spotter Training).
I can see why you would want that. But there are times when a member of the public might spot an Actual Tornado and there are no spotters seeing it. Would you rather it go unreported? I mean, I guess they could ask a spotter to come to their location, or call the NWS for radar confirmation or something, but that would waste valuable time. Closing the loophole on location of the reporting person could be helpful, of course. But unless there's a huge uptick in the number of people making malicious/prank reports, I don't think shutting off potential sources of information is a good idea.
@@the_real_littlepinkhousefly 90% of the time, non-weather people report skud as tornadoes. So yes, I'd rather it go unreported unless they can confirm debris, and a funnel cloud.
aye im from Cleveland. seen my first and only Tornado at like 4 years old and its 1 of my first memories. havent seen 1 since here. Edit: i was in downtown for all 7 Finals games in 2016 and it was so insanely crazy after game 7 it was like the most friendly riot you could ever imagine. it was the opposite of a riot but a human tornado emergency of everyone beeing just absoylutley lit like in the middle of a night club. glad to see the Cavs clips lol a Lebron 30 point watch. Thats geeked haha, but more like a 45 point triple double emergency in a game 7 !!
There was a tornado emergency for my town Soso in Mississippi on Easter Sunday from 2020
There is a very definite tornado scar on I-40 just west of Morrrilton that still exists today (basically turned into a swamp with stripped trees). I always wondered what tornado did that. Now I know - it was that EF4 that later hit Clinton and Mountain View. Thanks for letting me know - it remains a pretty grim scar.
I lived in Blytheville about an hour away from Jonesboro, i believe 1-3 years ago when one night we heard that a tornado had ripped through turtle creek mall and destroyed it, it was our favorite and only real mall for hours from Blytheville. it was stuck on the eastern/middle side and has been permanently closed since, one of my favorite memories was going to candy store that was in the path of the tornado. you can still see the damage on google maps as they haven't rebuilt it. I'm not sure if anyone died in that tornado but it wouldn't surprise me if they did R.I.P.
It’s funny that you used a sports reference to describe watches and warnings cause that’s exactly how I explain it lol. I use upsets though, since many people understand what being on “upset watch” is in sports so it’s just an easy way to visualize it.
Definitely an event that will go through history.
Love it
ive been in one emergency! technically i wasnt IN it but it was close enough (next county over so i was getting the alert on my radio/phone etc) the cell crossed over from alabama to georgia and dropped a tornado right by the peachtree nws. luckily as far as i know nobody was killed or hurt, but some homes took some pretty significant damage. this was at like midnight and i didnt sleep for the rest of the night lol
I go to bama right now. One time i asked one of my Tuscaloosa native friends about the tornado and she said, "have you ever noticed that there arent many trees in tuscaloosa?......there used to be"
nice cut
I've seen plenty of TORE's ordered while following severe weather events, but nothing is more unnerving when people you know are within the warning area for one. The Beauregard,AL EF-4 from March 3,2019 tracked for over 60 miles and killed 23 people, but despite that it still could have been worse:
1. It reached peak strength for maybe no more than a mile of its path.
2. Its track went less than 4-5 miles north of going directly through the Columbus,GA metro area, which was the difference in mostly wooded areas with a few neighborhoods vs. very dense urban area.
If you don’t hear sirens, it’s a watch. If you hear sirens it’s a warning. If you hear a freight train, it’s a tornado!
3:58
The way that that radar looks is just scary like that tornado is going to just destroy everything
Do you think you could do a video of tornado alley moving to the east next week
yes.
It’s not moving to the east it’s widening
It’s actually Dixie Alley that’s growing
That’s possible but then why is tornado ally getting less activity over all
Actually "Tornado Alley" covers the plains states TX to ND, then you have Dixie alley in the deep south. Hoosier Alley IL,IN,OH then Carolina Alley NC/SC. So tornado alley hasn't moved. Also in the last decade plus with everything and everyone pretty much connected and the advancement of technology more tornadoes are noticed and reported unlike the old days where you could have dozens of tornadoes touch down in some remote place and few if anyone actually noticed.
The area you used for the cones just had a tornado last night
Wake up babe... new weatherbox video just dropped
I still prefer the taco analogy, only for a tornado emergency, We Have Tacos. And they're fully armed active shooters driving tanks over your houses.
Honestly, I think that since the spotting system is based on anyones reports that they should have a verification system making it be more like regular more trained spotters or those with more experienced in spotting can have highlighted reports since odds are, they more know what they're looking at.
I'm considered a spotter for north east US winter weather. I took a class where I got civilian trained to be a spotter and given a private number and site to report my snow, temp, wind, etc dats during snow storms however I also have science degrees in the earth sciences with a specialty in severe weather. Any civilian could sign up for the course and our information would be taken over others information. I think things for the spotter network need to be more regulated while still being open for civilians because if the trained guys cant get there to observe first hand, we need as many eyes on the ground as possible. There was a severe spotter training course I took too and also gave the direct Noaa office contact info but thats rarely used in my area however, again, I'd still know more than other civilians with my degrees.
Hi! Forgive me if YT comments is a weird place to ask but given the setup over OK today, I was wondering if you could go into how thunderstorm initiation can differ.. Specifically dryline vs cold fronts and how it affects tornado development..?
Adding this one to the list! Thanks for the great suggestion
I was preparing for my Freshman Prom when the Super Outbreak of 2011 devastated Dixie Alley.
I was watching the coverage of that Arkansas “tornado emergency” as it was happening. I knew something was off, and I think someone at the NWS office down there jumped the gun on issuing the “emergency” part.
I saw the tornado emergency warning, yet, none of the newscasters were saying anything about a confirmed tornado. There was 0 footage of any sort of tornado that night (at least while I was watching).
It’s really important for the NWS to only issue a tornado emergency after the visual confirmation of a strong, damaging tornado. People already tend to disregard many severe weather warnings, tornado warnings included. I’ve lived through countless tornado warnings here in Michigan, and have never seen a tornado.
People are already desensitized to tornado warnings. We don’t want them to become desensitized to a tornado emergency. That shock and awe factor must be reserved for only the most severe, life-threatening situations.
good comment but why the name
dat name and a BLM profile picture
Your opinion means nothing
Nice profile name
I live in central Arkansas and was driving home that night when the tornado emergency was issued. of course I was shitting bricks, as that was the first tornado emergency my town has ever received. I was less that 5 minutes home so I sped home. I waited in my bathtub with my dogs and cat for this tornado that... never came. We did get some large hail though and it was horrifying to hear it bouncing off our roof.
I was gonna say..”yeah, it happened.” I live in Austin, AR and when I heard that phrase “tornado emergency”, I freaked. Through my family in the truck and booked it North on hwy 367. Fortunately, there was no tornado, but we had to have our roof repaired because of the hail. Was also the first time I observed the phenomena called “hail fog.” Very eerie.
Last I checked, as of April 30, we have 157 Tornado Watches this year alone.
One can look up the latest Watches here:
www.spc.noaa.gov/products/watch/
One also can search the date, using the format YYYYMMDD, up to January 1, 2004.
Eg. 20040101 or 20110427
I remember the greensburg tornado, I was 12 when that happened. scariest night of my life that weekend ):
I remember 2020 April 13 oconee co south carolina tornado 3:20 am
Please do a video on this please and thank you
My sister is a storm chaser photographer certified with SkyWarn and Spotter Network and I remember she was LIVID when those fake reports were sent in. I was, too, but for her it was more personal. Niether of us understood why anybody would do that, especially after going through the process of getting a Spotter Network ID number. It actually takes some effort to do that.
I'm by no means an expert, barely an amateur enthusiast even, but I did notice the false emergencies last month and thought it was odd. I even looked up a list of all time Tornado Emergencies, wondering if they were more common than I thought, but they really are that rare. Makes it even more confusing.
There's another reason tornado emergencies are rare, a large number of NWS offices in the most tornado prone areas use PDS Tornado Warnings or word tornadoes as "large and particularly dangerous". A prime example of this would be on May 29th, 2013 in Fenton, MI where a strong EF-2 with 500 yard width was on the ground. It didn't injure or kill anyone despite crossing a freeway (US-23) and having a 5 mile path. The warning on it was "large and particularly dangerous tornado" which probably made people take the warning more seriously.
On that note of reliable, I'm wondering if each WFO has their own criteria or if it's standardized to spotters/law enforcement/credible sources?
An article I read posited that there were either mistaken reports (which is plausible given what happened on the 15th) or deliberately false reports, which makes me wonder how those are dealt with and who handles it if somebody did make a malicious report? I'd assume it'd be the FCC since they handle all the radio stuff but then you have ARES and RACES working with the NWS via Skywarn so I don't know who'd end up dealing with that situation though...
Ultimately, even with unified criteria, the decision to issue a warning or emergency is up to local WFO discretion.
Spotter Network is its own thing and bans accounts that make malicious/false reports, but in the moment that doesn't help much. Also, considering how easy it is to make a new account and pass SN's knowledge check... Well, there's room for improvement, let's just say that.
Since SN is a website interface, not to mention a private org, it's hard to say who if anyone would have any sort of enforcement authority. Arguably NWS maybe shouldn't take input from it but on the other hand, it's also arguable that the more eyes on the ground who can report the better.
Worth noting that the false TOR-Es from earlier this month were not the first with no tornado being evident in the aftermath.
I love the Tuscaloosa Birmingham tornado. A interesting, yet very tragic tornado
I have a question for next Wednesday, it's why are some tornadoes just on there own and some are multiple vortex
The tornado emergencies issued on the 11th and the 15th had rotation, but had zero evidence of a debris signature on it. I was showering at the time of the April 15th tornado emergency, when I found out there was a TORE issued, i couldn’t really see a very well-defined TVS so I was really skeptical about it
The analogy I like to refer to goes:
1. Your aunt will only come to a party if it's on the weekend, during the day, and it's sunny outside. You scheduled a party this weekend in the afternoon, and the weather is good. That's the tornado watch.
2. Your aunt says she MIGHT show up to the party. That's the tornado warning.
3. Your aunt says she WILL be coming, and calls you before she arrives. That's the tornado emergency.
Can you do a video that explains CAPE and other correlations on reading/navigating the NOAA maps? I have my own method but I haven't gotten down the prediction part without cheating by looking at my 7 day forecast. I'd like to never use that. lol. Thanks.
Here's another advisory/watch/warning/emergency analogy that I thought of...
Statement/Advisory: green traffic light - there is no active problems, but still be prepared to hit the brakes if needed
Watch: yellow traffic light - be prepared to slow down and take action
Warning: red traffic light - take immediate action and stop at the intersection
Emergency: flashing red traffic light - take immediate action, stop at the intersection, and be extra careful
Now that I think about it, this is probably why early weather radios used 🟩/🟨/🟥 for statement/watch/warning. It fits this analogy pretty much perfectly. 🟨/🟧/🟥 doesn't work as well
1:36 I think a good way to funnel in a Tornado Emergency into this analogy (using tacos) is
Taco Watch: the ingredients to make a taco. Remain aware for changing conditions
Taco Warning: tacos are being made as we speak and there might even be one. Take cover (these tacos suck; run away)
Taco Emergency: a taco has been confirmed and is expected to hit a table. Take cover (they suck, run)