Ticker for June 13, 2009

                
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June 13, 2009      June 13, 2009      June 13, 2009      June 13, 2009


The Death Of A Myth

A tornado struck Norman, Oklahoma, last night (around 10:30 p.m. on June 12,
2009). Here is the storm report from the National Weather Service office in
Norman:

1030 PM     TORNADO          2 E NORMAN              35.22N 97.41W
06/12/2009  F1               CLEVELAND          OK   NWS STORM SURVEY

METEOROLOGISTS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN
NORMAN CONDUCTED A DAMAGE SURVEY INDICATING THAT A
LOW-END EF1 TORNADO OCCURRED WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS OF
NORMAN FRIDAY EVENING. THE TORNADO MOVED ALONG A TWO MILE
PATH FROM NEAR SOUTHEAST 24TH AVENUE AND ALAMEDA STREET
TO NEAR SOUTHEAST 48TH AVENUE AND LINDSEY STREET.
NUMEROUS TREES WERE DAMAGED AND A SMALL NUMBER OF HOMES
RECEIVED ROOF DAMAGE. DATA IS PRELIMINARY AND TIME IS
APPROXIMATE.

Why am I talking tornadoes, especially a weak one that struck such a small area,
and thankfully didn't cause significant damage (any damage that occurs is
significant to those that it occurred to, mind you)?

One of the most difficult problems for public safety folks is a battle against
complacency or a false sense of security. In this day and age, with wall-to-wall
media coverage of severe weather, it can sometimes seem a nuisance when that
weather map with the warnings is covering up a corner of your television screen.
But I'll bet it doesn't seem like that big of a nuisance when those warnings are
for your town, your house and your family. At those times, especially during
tornado warnings, you are happy the National Weather Service is manning their
radars and the television stations have employed and deployed their armies of
spotters.

What do the public safety officials do when somebody thinks they are
impervious, and have obtained either that complacency or false sense of
security? Education is the key, but those notions can set hard like
concrete. When that is the case, it can take a near disaster to change opinions and
serve as a reminder to everybody in Oklahoma that thinks their location is
somehow exempt from the violent whims of Mother Nature...it ain't so.

I have lived and/or worked in Norman for the last 22 years (WOW! I'm that old??).
During that time, I have heard it said, with very strong conviction, that
Norman has never been hit with a tornado and it never will be. The reasons are
fairly common as far as weather lore goes throughout the eastern half of the
country, with protection being granted by rivers, Native American burial
grounds, valleys, mountain ranges, watching re-runs of "Charles in Charge",
etc. Okay, I made up that last one, but I'm sure many of you have heard similar
reasons why someplace close to you has never been hit by a tornado and remains
safe for future generations.

Actually, there is a place like that, but I'm not sure you'd want to live there.
It's called "Antarctica". Take your coat and leave the storm cellar at home.

As for my family, we moved to a safe location in the S. OKC/Moore area. I mean,
come on, what are the chances of a tornado ever hitting there, what with
the S. Canadian River there to protect us??? (hint: the line that crosses the
path of what became the F5 Moore tornado just north of Newcastle is the S.
Canadian)




Big Storms, Big Wind

A bow-echo squall line moved across the northern edge of the state on Friday
blasted Stillwater with baseball size hail and provided the Oklahoma Mesonet
with one of its highest measured wind gusts since the network became operational
in 1994: 85 mph from Inola (INOL) at 10:40 a.m. That ties it with four other
locations for 15th place on the list.

The top-10:

SITE    DATE        GUST (mph)
LAHO:	08/17/94	113
IDAB:	05/04/06	106
BOWL:	11/09/98	102
MRSH:	06/16/05	100
CHER:	06/05/08	98
CHER:	08/25/06	97
GRAN:	06/04/95	94
BESS:	06/12/05	92
STIG:	05/20/01	92
STIG:	04/11/01	91
EUFA:	10/17/07	91
MANG:	05/31/99	91
HOOK:	05/15/03	90
CLOU:	03/02/00	90


Gary McManus
Associate State Climatologist
Oklahoma Climatological Survey