Monday, June 16, 2008

Reason #32758 why you should take cover during severe thunderstorms











Many of us don't take Severe Thunderstorm Warnings as seriously as Tornado Warnings. Pictures of the Shields home in Kirkland is proof that even if there isn't a Tornado Warning you should still take shelter!

Jim Allsopp of the National Weather Service in Romeoville says:

We looked at the radar data again and it looks like a classic bow echo, straight-line wind signature. However, Kirkland was north of the apex of the bow and this is an area that can experience brief spin up tornadoes. And these small spin ups don't always show up well on radar, especially at that distance from the radar. So we can't say conclusively that it was NOT a tornado.
However, there is really not enough evidence to say it was. At this point we will probably call it straight-line wind. One might also question the quality of construction of the house. According to the EF scale guidelines, the lower bounds for winds to do this kind of damage are 104 to 113 mph!

2 comments:

tony said...

I think also that when the NWS says a day or two in advance that there is a possibility of severe weather, or when there is a warning, and it says that dopplar radar indicated rotation, people dont take it seriously. That is why I am glad during severe weather, the chat is active, becasue we can be updated up to the second then we will know when to take shelter. I just hope that one day it doesn't get to the point to where a tornado warning is issued and dopplar is indicating it and people dont take it serious or take shelter and a tornado actually happens.

Justin said...

Nobody takes Severe storm warnings seriously because it seems like hardly anything happens when theyre issued. People just got sick of taking cover for what seems like just a regular storm. But you can bet the people involved in that storm will never take a warning lightly again.