re: Friday weather thread. Tornado watches everywhere, warnings, too

I just got in about an hour ago from the heart of this one. I’ve made several more calls to old friends included last night since I last posted.
It is disheartening. Most are fine but the possible outcomes are really scary.
April 3, 1974 scarred me for life. That’s why I appreciate modern meteorology. This track was similar to the path of one of the monster’s from that night. You should have seen that next morning. I never want to witness anything like that again.

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Here is Tornado Alley

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Bobby cropped out the "since 1770" part of that graphic.

So, don't go jumping off a bridge, Tarzana.

Found a cool site that has details on all the US tornados and paths since 1950. Here is Louisiana:

https://data.floridatoday.com/tornado-archive/louisiana/

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April 3, 1974 scarred me for life. That’s why I appreciate modern meteorology. This track was similar to the path of one of the monster’s from that night. You should have seen that next morning. I never want to witness anything like that again.

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Brother, I've heard the stories of '74 all my life, and I've read and watched enough about it that it would surprise you. I lived 4/27/2011 in this part of the world. Events like those change how you look at things.

The biggest change it brought about in me was to bring into focus that the "generational" events that get so much focus aren't the most important. Sure, they're interesting for many reasons, but they aren't the most important.

What is the most important are the dates many of us will forget in time, the dates where only a handful of tornadoes, or even a single notable one, blew away everything a person or people worked for. To them, that will always be an unforgettable date. They will mark time by that day for the rest of their lives. The stories they tell friends and family will take the place of the stories they told of those "generational" days. Why? Because that was their historic weather day.

With every potential high end setup it is asked here, and everywhere really, if this one will be like April 27, 2011. The answer is almost always, "No." That day was "special" for many reasons. The rest of that answer is that it doesn't have to be "like April 27, 2011" to be YOUR April 27, 2011. If a tornado comes down your street, through your neighborhood, that will be your historic day.

I hope that your friends and all those impacted elsewhere can recover and rebuild. I pray for those who were lost and the ones they left behind. There will always be brighter days, just as there will always be more storms.

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Negative.

This was in my Twitter bookmarks

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Well, it was there. That's the main page from Tornado Archive with no filters added. It has the years across the top of the page/image. I just had to clarify for that guy.

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WAAY 31 had a “radar “. It was literally Army surplus but we all learned that night what a hook echo was.
The devastation of a whole family (mother, father, and babies) that we knew from Hazel Green, along wit

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After the power went out in '74 my grandmother, dad, and mom listened to the coverage on a battery radio my grandmother had. Pops and grandma stood in the backyard and "counted funnels" as they raced by in the distance. Pops would stand in the same area and watch the Hackleburg/Phil Campbell storm pass to his north a quarter century later. Mom was in Virginia at the time and, fortunately, watched it all from afar. She doesn't handle storms well at all.

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I truly believe that F-6 was borned that night and we had no rating for it.

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You're right, Dr. Fujita originally gave it an F6 rating, but the official scale only went to 5. A fun fact: Fajita's original scale went to F12.

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Functionally does anything past an F5 matter?

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With residential, not really. You could probably build a home to withstand those winds, but realistically it would be so cost-prohibitive that it wouldn't matter on a large scale.

I could see where clearly defined damage parameters that could be consistently surveyed and logged would help commercially. Knowing definitively what winds cause what damage to what type of construction would help in budgeting for more hardened commercial buildings. Even then, those standards wouldn't me attainable for all.

As to residential, it is becoming more and more clear that the bulk of financial investment should go towards shelter, public or otherwise. New construction can save life, if not property, but for in the most extreme of cases (violent tornadoes). Building adequate and accessible shelter is where the financial focus needs to be. Community shelters will save lives.

Another note:
Even though many folks love to shite on it, sociology is a real tool in relating weather risk to the general public. Messaging will always be key, and how to get that message across to the widely varying public in our country will always be the problem. I am a personal accountability/responsibility person. I'm also a realist. I know there is a disconnect there, and I know ignoring that fact won't make it better. So, continuing to invest in that area is a must, in my opinion.

How fast does it come and go?

This Twitter video of the west Little Rock tornado will answer that.