Massive Twister Hitting OKC

[testarosa]

Omg this is so sad it's hard to watch.

 

[jon_berzerk]

Lol, they are extremely random. No way you are going to "proof" a home against an f4 or greater unless you mandate them all be made of concrete or built underground.

underground is about the only answer

 

[depotoo]

couple of reports right now on scanner that there are people they are trying to rescue. Wonder if it has to do with the infrared cameras locating people.

 

[Pop23]

TheSeventhTiger, also homes newer homes here in south FLorida are supposed to have their roofs strapped down as well.

No amount of roof strapping is going to help with a direct hit from an f4 or greater. Doubt it would help with an F3?

You are talking not straight winds. These things will twist a roof off like a bottle top. Besides, once the doors and windows go, if your not below ground. ...

God help you

 

[CaféAuLait]

A bit of a feel good story after all the bad,

This elderly woman was in the middle of an interview about losing her dog and upset about it, but then...

Okla. tornado survivor finds dog buried alive under rubble - CBS News Video

 

[TemplarKormac]

The Fujita Scale - According to Wikipedia

The Fujita scale (F-Scale), or Fujita–Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation. The official Fujita scale category is determined by meteorologists and engineers after a ground or aerial damage survey, or both; and depending on the circumstances, ground-swirl patterns (cycloidal marks), radar tracking, eyewitness testimonies, media reports and damage imagery, as well as photogrammetry or videogrammetry if motion picture recording is available.

The scale was introduced in 1971 by Tetsuya Fujita of the University of Chicago, in collaboration with Allen Pearson, head of the National Severe Storms Forecast Center (currently the Storm Prediction Center). The scale was updated in 1973, taking into account path length and width. In the United States, starting in 1973, tornadoes were rated soon after occurrence. The Fujita scale was applied retroactively to tornadoes reported between 1950 and 1972 in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Tornado Database. Fujita rated tornadoes from 1916–1992[clarification needed] and Tom Grazulis of The Tornado Project retroactively rated all known significant tornadoes (F2–F5 or causing a fatality) in the U.S. back to 1880.
In 2007, the Fujita scale was updated, and the Enhanced Fujita Scale was introduced in the United States. The new scale more accurately matches wind speeds to the severity of damage caused by the tornado.
Though each damage level is associated with a wind speed, the Fujita scale is effectively a damage scale, and the wind speeds associated with the damage listed aren't rigorously verified. The Enhanced Fujita Scale was formulated due to research which suggested that the wind speeds required to inflict damage by intense tornadoes on the Fujita scale are greatly overestimated. A process of expert elicitation with top engineers and meteorologists resulted in the EF scale wind speeds, however, these are biased to United States construction practices. The EF scale also improved damage parameter descriptions.

To those interested in the science of the F-Scale, there is a brief explanation you might enjoy at the above link, but too long to add here.

This cell was pretty horrible.

I'm so sorry that Oklahoma City, which has had more than its share of human tragedy in my lifetime had yet one more horror added today and has two tense days more of activity expected in its general vicinity. My prayers for all concerned.

And just to clarify for those who keep hearing "EF" this and "EF" that:

Enhanced Fujita scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Enhanced Fujita scale (EF scale) rates the strength of tornadoes in the United States and Canada based on the damage they cause.

Implemented in place of the Fujita scale introduced in 1971 by Tetsuya Theodore Fujita, it began operational use in the United States on February 1, 2007, followed by Canada on April 18, 2013.[1] The scale has the same basic design as the original Fujita scale: six categories from zero to five representing increasing degrees of damage. It was revised to reflect better examinations of tornado damage surveys, so as to align wind speeds more closely with associated storm damage. Better standardizing and elucidating what was previously subjective and ambiguous, it also adds more types of structures, vegetation, expands degrees of damage, and better accounts for variables such as differences in construction quality.

The new scale was publicly unveiled by the National Weather Service at a conference of the American Meteorological Society in Atlanta on February 2, 2006. It was developed from 2000 to 2004 by the Fujita Scale Enhancement Project of the Wind Science and Engineering Research Center at Texas Tech University, which brought together dozens of expert meteorologists and civil engineers in addition to its own resources.

As with the Fujita scale, the Enhanced Fujita scale remains a damage scale and only a proxy for actual wind speeds. While the wind speeds associated with the damage listed have not undergone empirical analysis (e.g., detailed physical or any numerical modelling) owing to excessive cost, the wind speeds were obtained through a process of expert elicitation based on various engineering studies since the 1970s as well as from field experience of meteorologists and engineers. In addition to damage to structures and vegetation, radar data, photogrammetry, and cycloidal marks (ground swirl patterns) may be utilized when available.

The scale was used for the first time a year after its public announcement when parts of central Florida were struck by multiple tornadoes, the strongest of which were rated at EF3 on the new scale. The first time the EF5 assessment was used was the Greensburg, Kansas tornado that occurred on May 4, 2007.

 

[TheSeventhTiger]

a lot of the new roofing here in Naples are like sheets of steel. many homes/businesses here have removed older standard roofs and upgraded to this newer style of either steel or thick aluminum that looks like its bolted to the frame. well we did survive Wilma! no roofs blew away.

 

[jon_berzerk]

Check out the farm on the lower left side. That is massive

that is one heck of a tornado

this is the one my brother in law

and niece lived through in 2010

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8EYYEI0Jbo]Tornado Hombre' 2010 - YouTube[/ame]

Wow.

yeah

they lost everything that day

last year someone brought him a jacket they found

it had one of his hunting licenses in it

it was several miles away from their farm

 

[depotoo]

TheSeventhTiger, also homes newer homes here in south FLorida are supposed to have their roofs strapped down as well.

No amount of roof strapping is going to help with a direct hit from an f4 or greater. Doubt it would help with an F3?

You are talking not straight winds. These things will twist a roof off like a bottle top. Besides, once the doors and windows go, if your not below ground. ...

God help you

CAt 3 or 4 not F3, sorry about that. Talking hurricanes TheSeventhTiger had asked about.

 

[jon_berzerk]

couple of reports right now on scanner that there are people they are trying to rescue. Wonder if it has to do with the infrared cameras locating people.

they planned on going infra red after sun set

 

[depotoo]

a lot of the new roofing here in Naples are like sheets of steel. many homes/businesses here have removed older standard roofs and upgraded to this newer style of either steel or thick aluminum that looks like its bolted to the frame. well we did survive Wilma! no roofs blew away.

I'm just east of you on the Atlantic side.

 

[Pop23]

TheSeventhTiger, also homes newer homes here in south FLorida are supposed to have their roofs strapped down as well.

No amount of roof strapping is going to help with a direct hit from an f4 or greater. Doubt it would help with an F3?

You are talking not straight winds. These things will twist a roof off like a bottle top. Besides, once the doors and windows go, if your not below ground. ...

God help you

CAt 3 or 4 not F3, sorry about that. Talking hurricanes TheSeventhTiger had asked about.

Gotcha, trying to watch the weather channel and participate in this at the same time.

 

[jon_berzerk]

TheSeventhTiger, also homes newer homes here in south FLorida are supposed to have their roofs strapped down as well.

No amount of roof strapping is going to help with a direct hit from an f4 or greater. Doubt it would help with an F3?

You are talking not straight winds. These things will twist a roof off like a bottle top. Besides, once the doors and windows go, if your not below ground. ...

God help you

when the doors and windows come off

or a pickup truck crashes through the wall or roof at 160 mph

 

[Pop23]

TheSeventhTiger, also homes newer homes here in south FLorida are supposed to have their roofs strapped down as well.

No amount of roof strapping is going to help with a direct hit from an f4 or greater. Doubt it would help with an F3?

You are talking not straight winds. These things will twist a roof off like a bottle top. Besides, once the doors and windows go, if your not below ground. ...

God help you

when the doors and windows come off

or a pickup truck crashes through the wall or roof at 160 mph

That too. And that DOES happen

 

[TemplarKormac]

TheSeventhTiger, also homes newer homes here in south FLorida are supposed to have their roofs strapped down as well.

No amount of roof strapping is going to help with a direct hit from an f4 or greater. Doubt it would help with an F3?

You are talking not straight winds. These things will twist a roof off like a bottle top. Besides, once the doors and windows go, if your not below ground. ...

God help you

when the doors and windows come off

or a pickup truck crashes through the wall or roof at 160 mph

If you're within the debris fall, you need to get the hell outta dodge or take shelter underground.

 

[TheSeventhTiger]

I wonder what would happen to broward/dade county if the same tornado hit them full force west to east. (and it could happen) we still have a lot of older homes out there. and we are going into tornado season now. I am safe, well I assume I am!

 

[depotoo]

that is one heck of a tornado

this is the one my brother in law

and niece lived through in 2010

Tornado Hombre' 2010 - YouTube

yeah
Wow.

they lost everything that day

last year someone brought him a jacket they found

it had one of his hunting licenses in it

it was several miles away from their farm

gosh, wow is right!

 

[jon_berzerk]

No amount of roof strapping is going to help with a direct hit from an f4 or greater. Doubt it would help with an F3?

You are talking not straight winds. These things will twist a roof off like a bottle top. Besides, once the doors and windows go, if your not below ground. ...

God help you

when the doors and windows come off

or a pickup truck crashes through the wall or roof at 160 mph

That too. And that DOES happen

there is some footage

of a tornado by Dallas ( i think) from a couple of years ago

that shows a big rig trailer airborne several hundred feet in the air

 

[depotoo]

No amount of roof strapping is going to help with a direct hit from an f4 or greater. Doubt it would help with an F3?

You are talking not straight winds. These things will twist a roof off like a bottle top. Besides, once the doors and windows go, if your not below ground. ...

God help you

CAt 3 or 4 not F3, sorry about that. Talking hurricanes TheSeventhTiger had asked about.

Gotcha, trying to watch the weather channel and participate in this at the same time.

yeah, 2 feeds up here, and 2 stations going as well.

 

[25Caliber]

I believe one of the problems is the amount of tornado warning issued daily, people become complacent. Just another warning, all will be well. I am not bashing anyone but it just seemed that way.

I'm not sure how much complacency there is in Oklahoma considering they do get hit frequently, but I know what you mean. Here in Ohio, the warnings are usually taken with a grain of salt. We rarely get hit hard, but a community very close to where I live was hit two years ago and was completely destroyed.

most there do take it seriously.

I was in Xenia when the big one hit in '74...to this day I believe one of the largest death tolls for a tornado. The tornado went right down my street and hit every house on the other side of the street...our house had almost no damage. Many friends of ours not so lucky...I was only 3 at the time.