Tornado Outbreak Wrap Up

Picture From: The National Weather Service in Wichita, KS

Saturday was a day that many in Western Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa will remember for quite a long time. These areas get severe weather often this time of the year, but what happened this weekend was quite extreme. Within a 24 hour window, there were approximately 135 reports of tornadoes.

Sometimes when you hear that there were 135 reports of tornadoes, this does not mean there where 135 individual tornadoes. There can be multiple reports for the same tornado, from different locations. Once the National Weather Service (NWS) surveys all the damage, they will determine exactly how many tornadoes actually touched down, as well as their rating.

Nonetheless, this past weekend was extreme. From pictures and reports to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC), many of the tornadoes were long lived and quite strong. Several reports that came into the SPC were for tornadoes that were between 1/4 and 1/2 mile wide. These "wedge" tornadoes cause the most damage due to their wide path and intense winds. Fortunately, most of these twisters were located in fields where they could do little damage. However, there were some unfortunate reports in Oklahoma of lost property and lose of life in Woodward.

The following picture was taken from nyt.com of the damage in Woodward Oklahoma.

Its so sad to see pictures like this following damaging storms that ripped though towns in the Plains Saturday. People who have lived in these areas for all of their lives lost everything: their home, pictures, property and memories. On the other hand, in this time of crisis, its great to see people helping people. I was watching The Weather Channel on Sunday, and they showed many people from surrounding neighborhoods helping to pick up debris and comfort those who lost their homes. Additionally, the Red Cross came in for support.

From a meteorological stand point, this was one of the best forecasted outbreaks in a long time. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) in Norman, Oklahoma who forecast severe weather outlooks as well as issue Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Watches, pinpointed this outbreak a week in advanced. The following image displays their forecast 7 days in advanced, all the way up to the day of the outbreak this past Saturday.

Notice from "Day 7" up until "Day 1", how the SPC highlighted the area of concern without much changes. Severe weather is one of the hardest aspects of weather to forecast, but in this situation I applaud the efforts from the SPC, to get the word out on this situation and warn the people from Oklahoma to Iowa. As the day grew closer and computer modeling aligned in agreement about this outbreak, the SPC issued a HIGH RISK of severe weather. A HIGH RISK is rarely used, only in situations that a particularly dangerous. This was one of those times where a HIGH RISK was needed.

From the forecast above, note where the actual events took place on the next image.

These are reports of severe weather that took place on Saturday. When you match this up to the forecast from the SPC, this was right on target. Much surveying needs to be done in order to rate these tornadoes, but that will come in due time.

A message you need to understand from this event is that severe weather is dangerous and make sure to heed any watch or warning that is issued for your area.

To best protect yourself, your property and family, make sure to stay informed with the weather. You can keep up to date with KAGS: on air, online at www.facebook.com/KAGSweather, or on twitter @KAGSweather, or you can pick up a NOAA Weather Radio at participating HEB's in the Brazos Valley.