Sickman

Totally agreed. I'm sorry, but they just have no credibility. There always seems to be an ulterior motive in every utterance, every forecast map, every seemingly analytical remark, every historical comment, every graphic.

I also see no mention of their own false alarm rate. In fact, I'm trying to think of a scenario where the NWS issues a Tornado Warning, but Accuwx sends a message to their clients telling them there's no need for a warning, and they can relax.

Bottom line is that this was the "Perfect Storm" of tornadic supercells... one that formed and ramped up very quickly, in the worst possible location for that region.

I'm ok. My family is ok. We just got power and phone service restored. 3 blocks away is completely gone though. I'll post a more detailed account once I check in with everyone.

We know of at least 2 people we know that died. One was protecting his wife and died from injuries. She survived, he didn't. One had a compound fracture and bled to death, they couldn't give her a transfusion because they didn't have her blood type.

Great to hear from you, bro. A lot of people here were worried sick about you.

I cannot imagine what you have, and are, experiencing.

JOMO!

Something must have happened to him... if I witnessed a major weather event, this would be the first place I would go to to discuss it. I hope not, but still weird situation there.

Forgetting for the moment that he very likely has no internet access... really??? Nearly half of his town has been wiped out, he almost certainly knows people that have been killed, and he may have to struggle to get food and clean water. And you assume he should have come right on the board and posted? Get serious.

Look, we all want to hear from him, but we need to give him some time. The good news is that he isn't listed on any lists of fatalities or missing people, if the info we have on him is correct. So let's hope for the best, and respect that he's got more immediate concerns than posting on American.

Tuscaloosa video....wowo http://vimeo.com/22970879

My God. It looks almost identical to the Andover, KS tornado. Maybe even better (or worse, depending on your viewpoint).

Great writeup, Will.

It was a combination of several factors... overreliance on short-range models without real-time verification, perhaps some overconfidence based on some recent big coups (i.e. March '93), and creating a hype monster that couldn't be contained once it was released.

As for me, what happened on 3-5-01 was that a part of me died.... a part of me died.