Two mile wide Tornado heading toward OKC...wait...how big?!?

[Plow]

the birth of death...




Word I'm hearing is it was on the ground as an f4 for some 25 minutes. Places of f5 damage.

[Plow]

also msnbc reporting death toll is only 24 as of now, the earlier numbers may have been double counting, so... yay

[Day]

This was on reddit this morning, don't know if it was posted earlier:

[Outlaw]

People who shot this video though make me roll my eyes.

[Plow]

actual tornado vids starting to get posted this morning







^ last part of that one is fucking insane



lot of that one is blocked but it gives a good idea of the scale of the thing

[Plow]

This was on reddit this morning, don't know if it was posted earlier:

wow that is fucking incredible footage

[Blubbartron]

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50147264n
This one's got the full interview. I can't believe I actually teared up at that.
Shit sucks. I'm glad I live way up here in MN. Tornadoes happen from time to time, but I can't think of anything as big like this sucker.

Is it wrong that this made me chortle?

[Plow]

A few things about the discussion on if the kids should have been at home:

Firstly, it's been stated, but you simply can't shut shit down whenever there's a bad storm in tornado alley in the spring/early summer. Yesterday, even once we saw where the storms were, you'd have been shutting down 2 of the 10 most populous cities in the U.S. in San Antonio and Dallas (plus the whole Ft Worth and surrounding areas), and 4 more of the top 50 in Tulsa, OKC, Wichita, and KCMO. Not to mention StL and a bunch of 50-150k towns like Joplin, Columbia, KCK, even all the way up into Springfield, IL.

Further, once the tornado was appearing and they realized how bad it was, the meteorologist reaction was as strong as it gets. They ALWAYS tell you not to try to get out of the way, just get to your shelter... not the case here. They straight up said get in your car and gtfo of there if at all possible. At that point, though, there's absolutely no hope of managing that with a bunch of kids at a school.

Lastly, barring purpose built shelters, it doesn't get much better than the school hallways around here in terms of safe places to be during a tornado. The kids that died were surely in the proper position as we run those drills on a monthly basis for our entire school lives... so they were huddled in a fetal-like position with their heads covered down in the corner against the wall...

Those walls were steel reinforced cinder block walls... there was nothing left of the hallway except a couple of the steel pillars.

[Coren]

I wondered about why there were *only* 70ish kids at the school. Did they load em up and try to get them out, and only had a handful left that couldn't evacuate in time?

[Roranora]

Man that siren hum will always get me. I've been near and around tornadoes enough and seen this destruction unfold too many times that I always get these "shit just got real" chills from tornado sirens. I had my cherry popped hard young and early in that Andover tornado.

My aunt's house was destroyed in this one, cousin in hospital with like 3 broken limbs, but everyone should be okay.

[GoggleHead]

So what parts of this country aren't prone to horrific natural disasters nowadays? Seems like if it's not hurricanes it's floods, snowstorms, tornadoes or something.

[Silenka]

Some parts of Ohio are okay. No earthquakes or tropical storms, we rarely get tornados that amount to anything, and the snow doesn't get too bad if you don't live in a lake effect snow area. Have seen tons of flash flood warnings during big rainstorms but never heard about any real bad flooding here either.

I definitely have a tornado phobia, I'd rather have any other type of natural disaster, it's too bad for me that it's the only one we could really get around here. Last summer we had a cell of high winds run through here, wasn't a tornado but the winds were fast enough that it uprooted tons of trees in the area and knocked out our power for a week. Not 'horrific', I don't think anyone died but it was still pretty shitty for all the people whose cars ended up with whole trees stuck through them etc.

My fear of tornados gives me a morbid fascination with these killer OK ones though. You could not pay me to live in tornado alley. I feel terrible for people who live there and deal with this shit all the time.

[Roranora]

So what parts of this country aren't prone to horrific natural disasters nowadays? Seems like if it's not hurricanes it's floods, snowstorms, tornadoes or something.

I've been reflecting on this a lot lately since I started international travel with my work. There really isn't any other place in the world like North America when it comes to weather and natural disasters. I've seen how relatively pale and dull and simple the weather is in much of the eastern hemisphere. (East Africa / North Africa / Middle East / South & Southeast Asia) I guess the latter will have typhoons from time-to-time, but for the most part, it's just rain and/or hot weather at worst.

[Rhinox]

Damn that sucks glad to they may have double counted.


I'll never understand the need to live in a dangerous area be it where wildfires, mudslides, hurricanes, tornadoes, major earthquakes often happen.

[Kyte]

I would say Virginia is generally fine. Tornadoes are rare and when they happen, they're pretty weak. The hurricanes are drastically weakened once they hit and floods are pretty predictable and avoidable. Earthquakes are extremely rare and have a minimized impact due to the area's geology.

The temperature, however, is incredibly erratic.

[kuronosan]

Vorticee?

[Eticket]

Another watch issued for today.

Turned on the tv. First thing I see is them shoving a camera in some crying kids face so she can relive the most terrifying moment of her life over and over again in glorious HD. Turned off the tv.

[ronin sparthos]

Damn that sucks glad to they may have double counted.


I'll never understand the need to live in a dangerous area be it where wildfires, mudslides, hurricanes, tornadoes, major earthquakes often happen.

Considering every place in 'Murica has something that could potentially kill you given the proper intensity it isn't really something to understand. Tornadoes are just in a category of their own because you have virtually no recourse when one drops outta the sky and decides to take a jaunt through a populated center. Shit's scary but so is a hurricane that you get days to prepare for.

Blizzards, Heat Waves and Flash Floods all take their share of lives on a yearly basis in the "safe" Northeast regions anyway.

[kuronosan]

Another watch issued for today.

Turned on the tv. First thing I see is them shoving a camera in some crying kids face so she can relive the most terrifying moment of her life over and over again in glorious HD. Turned off the tv.

I'm really just tired of media in general. They went from being journalists educating the world to idiots trying to get ratings.

[Acevalefor]

So what parts of this country aren't prone to horrific natural disasters nowadays? Seems like if it's not hurricanes it's floods, snowstorms, tornadoes or something.

I hear the Willamette Valley is a great place to live. The only thing we have to worry about here is flooding on very rare occasions and it is always predictable. No flash flooding around here at all. Snow is never a problem beyond creating traffic problems every few years. It's too wet for wildfires. Earthquakes are rare and small in magnitude. Yep. It's decided. The Pacific Northwest is the best place to live if you dislike natural disasters. Just stay out of the low lying areas on the coast if you fear tsunamis.