Jump to content
  • Member Statistics

    17,502
    Total Members
    7,904
    Most Online
    Weathernoob335
    Newest Member
    Weathernoob335
    Joined

Moore, OK Tornado 5/20/2013


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 568
  • Created
  • Last Reply

That is horrible...what is going through the minds of people writing this stuff up.

 

I had to do a double take when I read this one earlier, albeit it is an editorial. 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/opinion/a-tornado-prone-areas-latest-tragedy.html?_r=0

 

"I can’t imagine the pain and sorrow of the parents of the children who didn’t make it through this round of tornadoes. Can you imagine the guilt they might be feeling for choosing to live in an area well known for these storms? If their houses have been destroyed, will they still think of rebuilding in the same spot, knowing what we all are coming to understand?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is horrible...what is going through the minds of people writing this stuff up.

 

There are all kind of people put there. On the other side, Kevin Durant donated $1,000,000 to the Red Cross earmarked for Moore.

 

EDIT:  He didn't announce it.  The Red Cross did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Question since I'm not familiar with Oklahoma: how well built are the houses and buildings in Moore? 

 

I don't know the scientific answer to your question, but from what I've seen things are pretty well built. Most houses don't have basements, of course, but the houses seem pretty solid. Lots of cookie-cutter type suburban developments around, as well as some apartment complexes. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was thinking, now that it appears 24 is the final death toll (we were fortunate the early reports were incorrect, given we had an EF5 strike a populated area), did the storm occurring on a weekday lessen the death toll overall as more people would have been at work and not at home? The majority of the areas impacted were residential, and at least 50% of the fatalities were in non-residential locations (i.e. school/7-11). 54% of the loss of like in Joplin (which occurred on a Sunday) was in residences, despite more commercial/business areas being hit (Range Line Road area in particular). Would be interesting to get an idea of how many people were in the direct path of each storm. Moore was a wider storm with a longer path, but Joplin was more densely populated (smaller lots)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was thinking, now that it appears 24 is the final death toll (we were fortunate the early reports were incorrect, given we had an EF5 strike a populated area), did the storm occurring on a weekday lessen the death toll overall as more people would have been at work and not at home? The majority of the areas impacted were residential, and at least 50% of the fatalities were in non-residential locations (i.e. school/7-11). 54% of the loss of like in Joplin (which occurred on a Sunday) was in residences, despite more commercial/business areas being hit (Range Line Road area in particular).

 

Well, I'm not sure how this can really be compared to Joplin considering despite the substantial amount of businesses hit, residences still made up a huge majority of the buildings destroyed (in the Joplin tornado).

 

Also, I'm pretty sure the 24 count isn't final yet, I'm going to exercise caution personally given all of the confusion earlier.

 

In addition, great stuff from Durant. :thumbsup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was thinking, now that it appears 24 is the final death toll (we were fortunate the early reports were incorrect, given we had an EF5 strike a populated area), did the storm occurring on a weekday lessen the death toll overall as more people would have been at work and not at home? The majority of the areas impacted were residential, and at least 50% of the fatalities were in non-residential locations (i.e. school/7-11). 54% of the loss of like in Joplin (which occurred on a Sunday) was in residences, despite more commercial/business areas being hit (Range Line Road area in particular).

 

I was curious about this as well. I was also curious about the number of homes/buildings hit in Moore vs Joplin and the population that was in the path. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I'm not sure how this can really be compared to Joplin considering despite the substantial amount of businesses hit, residences still made up a huge majority of the buildings destroyed (in the Joplin tornado).

Also, I'm pretty sure the 24 count isn't final yet, I'm going to exercise caution personally given all of the confusion earlier.

In addition, great stuff from Durant. :thumbsup:

Perhaps there was a higher than average number of reliable storm shelters there because of 99 which helped reduce the number of deaths?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Perhaps there was a higher than average number of reliable storm shelters there because of 99 which helped reduce the number of deaths?

 

Well, technically this tornado took a larger human toll in the Moore area itself than the 5/3/99 tornado, parts of S OKC (Del City, etc.) and Bridge Creek contributed to the toll with that storm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It appears much like Joplin, most of the people in the obliterated homes actually survived (With some injuries of course).

 

Cellars still may have still may have made a big difference. I need to wait to see how many people in were killed in traffic vs houses.

 

They graphic video and street level warnings on the news probably also got people  to take the  sirens a lot more seriously.  The siren alone might be ignored sometimes but it's hard to ignore a video showing a monster wedge plowing right towards your neighborhood.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you guys seen this write up yet?  Doppler velocity folding on the TDWR in OKC

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2412

 

That's pretty common in tornadoes on TDWRs, actually -- sometimes, even weak ones. TDWRs have a much smaller maximum unambiguous range (especially on the lowest slice) as opposed to 88Ds.

 

A couple examples from the March 2 event last year:

EF4 (Piner KY) http://www.erh.noaa.gov/iln/events/20120302/radar/piner-tcvg-srm.png (inner part of the circulation improperly dealiased)

EF3 (Moscow OH) http://www.erh.noaa.gov/iln/events/20120302/radar/moscow-tcvg-srm.png (huge part of the outbound velocities feeding into the circulation are erroneous)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's pretty common in tornadoes on TDWRs, actually -- sometimes, even weak ones. TDWRs have a much smaller maximum unambiguous range (especially on the lowest slice) as opposed to 88Ds.

 

A couple examples from the March 2 event last year:

EF4 (Piner KY) http://www.erh.noaa.gov/iln/events/20120302/radar/piner-tcvg-srm.png (inner part of the circulation improperly dealiased)

EF3 (Moscow OH) http://www.erh.noaa.gov/iln/events/20120302/radar/moscow-tcvg-srm.png (huge part of the outbound velocities feeding into the circulation are erroneous)

Ahh good to know, thank you for clarifying that.  I knew there were some differences but wasn't sure what exactly they were :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know the scientific answer to your question, but from what I've seen things are pretty well built. Most houses don't have basements, of course, but the houses seem pretty solid. Lots of cookie-cutter type suburban developments around, as well as some apartment complexes. 

I spent some time in the part of Moore that was hit when I was on an OU undergrad visit a few years back.  From what I remember of that area, the majority of those homes were single-story homes.  It wouldn't have made much difference in the outcome, but that's probably partly why you're going to see a nominal number of structures given an EF5 designation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I spent some time in the part of Moore that was hit when I was on an OU undergrad visit a few years back.  From what I remember of that area, the majority of those homes were single-story homes.  It wouldn't have made much difference in the outcome, but that's probably partly why you're going to see a nominal number of structures given an EF5 designation.

 

Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that. The majority of houses in the entire metro area are single-story. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For anyone who's interested in construction and structural integrity in Moore, there's a bit of discussion in Tim Marshall's survey from 1999 and subsequent visits to the rebuilt area. http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/1520-0434%282002%29017%3C0582%3ATDSAMO%3E2.0.CO%3B2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My video footage from Moore.

 

Not as spectacular as some. Had to bail as it got close to pick up a chase partners family as they were almost in the path of the thing. Filming continues after they are safe and we are further south...

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...