Tornado Warnings: Do They Work?
The News Review:
- Tornado Warnings: Do They Work?
- Hurricane insights could improve forecasting
- How to Survive a Tornado
- Bush ffers Condolences to Tornado Victims
- … ; National Guard Readiness in Question; Alabama Tornado Damag…
Tornado Warnings: Do They Work?
ABC News – Mar 2, 2007
com)This was a horrible case in which the safety systems worked the way they were supposed to and still at least five people died in Enterprise. Everyone knew there was a tornado threat. People had sought shelter particularly in the county high school. Who could have guessed a tornado would hit the school directly?The tornado hit the high school at 1:15 p. Much of the building was pulverized… Everyone knew there was a tornado threat. People had sought shelter particularly in the county high school. Who could have guessed a tornado would hit the school directly?The tornado hit the high school at 1:15 p. Much of the building was pulverized. “Warning sirens had been going off since the middle of the morning” said Larry Walker of the Emergency Services Department for Coffee County which includes the town of Enterprise. ”The first warning siren we set off I believe was around 10:45.
Hurricane insights could improve forecasting
Independent nline – Mar 2, 2007
They were hurricanes Katrina which mauled the US Gulf Coast and caused floods that devastated New rleans Rita which struck Texas and Louisiana just three weeks later and phelia which brushed the US East Coast. Greater understanding of the behaviour of a hurricane’s eyewall is vital for predicting a storm’s intensity because that is where its strongest winds are located. Data from Hurricane Rita showed for the first time that rapid intensity changes can occur when clouds outside the wall of the eye of the hurricane coalesce to create a new eyewall. They saw a band of dry air develop around the existing eyewall as the hurricane swirled into a tighter spin – similar to a moat around a castle. A new ring of thunderstorms then formed around the existing eyewall and the new outer eyewall contracted and strangled the inner eyewall leading to a weakening of the storm. But as the new eyewall contracts the storm may re-intensify quickly. In less than a day Rita grew from Category ne the least intense ranking to a Category Five the most intense… The researchers also developed a conceptual model to assist computer simulations to predict hurricane intensity changes. Houze said these storms undergo intensity changes in a span of about 12 hours with an eyewall replacement cycle. If a hurricane is within half a day of making landfall it would be valuable to know how intense it will be when it comes ashore to guide authorities in their emergency management decisions such as evacuations the researchers said. Hurricane expert Hugh Willoughby of Florida International University who was not involved in the research said the findings represent a key milestone on the road to more skillful intensity forecasting. He said current intensity forecasts are not much better than simple statistical extrapolations. The US National ceanic and Atmospheric Administration provided two research aircraft and the US Navy provided a third the researchers said. It marked the first time that three Doppler radar-equipped aircraft flew simultaneously in and around these parts of a hurricane.
How to Survive a Tornado
ABC News – Mar 2, 2007
They pop up about 1000 times a year in the United States. Tornadoes can strike so suddenly and violently that even with warning sirens there’s often no time to evacuate. A tornado that hit central Florida in February came as so many do in the middle of the night. It obliterated Rudy Thomas’ house. Thomas’ daughter Dottie thought her mother had been swept away and made this frantic 911 call: “Yes my mom’s gone. My mom’s bed is gone! The tornado came and took the whole house she was in!”A wall of Sheetrock and the fact that Thomas knew how to take cover saved her life. “I ran straight into the bathroom… It obliterated Rudy Thomas’ house. Thomas’ daughter Dottie thought her mother had been swept away and made this frantic 911 call: “Yes my mom’s gone. My mom’s bed is gone! The tornado came and took the whole house she was in!”A wall of Sheetrock and the fact that Thomas knew how to take cover saved her life. “I ran straight into the bathroom. Before I could even close the door the wind was pulling it out of my hands” she told “Good Morning America” in February. Get Low Tornadoes can pack winds up to 250 mph or more. The key to survival is to get to the strongest lowest place possible in the hopes that what is around you will absorb the passing fury.
Bush ffers Condolences to Tornado Victims
FXNews – Mar 2, 2007
jpg”March 1: David Eastwood helps salvage belongings from the wreckage of his neighbor%27s home after a tornado struck near Blue Mound Kan. jpg”March 1: Amy Todd and David Eastwood salvage items from the wreckage of their neighbors%27 home after a tornado struck near Blue Mound Kan.
… ; National Guard Readiness in Question; Alabama Tornado Damag…
CNN International – Mar 2, 2007
THIS CPY MAY NT BE IN ITS FINAL FRM AND MAY BE UPDATED. WLF BLITZER CNN ANCHR: Thanks very much Kitty. Happening now a change of command in the United States Army — it’s a high-level piece of fall-out for scandalous conditions at the Walter Reed Medical Center. Tonight former Senator Max Cleland is fuming about the situation at the Army hospital where his war wounds were treated. Also this hour the National Guard in crisis overworked and under gun — there’s a startling new report on the problem and a danger as this that if there’s a disaster or terrorist strike at home or abroad the U. National Guard might not be ready… CNN’s Jamie McIntyre has more now on the dire situation in Enterprise — Jamie. JAMIE MCINTYRE CNN SR. PENTAGN CRRESPNDENT: Wolf even though I saw this all yesterday the day after in the bright Alabama sunshine it’s just still mind boggling the level of devastation by this tornado which they now tell me the winds were estimated up to 150 miles an hour. I mean you look around the parking lot and you see these cars overturned the whole side of the school completely caved in. People here are still trying to deal with the magnitude of the destruction here not just at the school but also to the surrounding community. ne positive thing though we’ve seen is that unlike the response to Katrina where authorities were completely overwhelmed there’s a very organized campaign going (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sort of clean things up get the power lines out of the way and get the community back to normal. But at this point they’re just starting the grieving process.