SEVERE WEATHER: TORNADO WATCH LIKELY May 24 2017

[bigrigross]

Yes, absolutely. I get so irritated when I see people stupidly act nonchalant when tornado watches are issued. Stay weather aware if any of y'all are out and about in Orlando tonight!

Well it really depends where you are from. I am from the midwest. Pretty much every storm we get, a tornado watch is usually attached to it so we all pretty much write it off. But, we get tornadoes regularly and know when to take shelter.

 

[bethymouse]

I changed an appointment today because of the weather. My Mom is 76 and she uses a walker. The heavy rains can be difficult to navigate sometimes. I can handle it by myself, even the high winds and hail. Just be aware. I mean the last time there was a tornado WARNING in the area, I freaked out, but for no reason really. Thankfully. The parks have plans in place to take guests down to the "utilidoors" if a tornado were to actually happen in the parks. The rides close down of course, but the rains don't last that long for the most part. Although one summer, we were stuck inside Pete's Silly Side Show for about an hour! But, they actually gave away pieces of the delicious "candied" apples. Yum!

 

[ToTBellHop]

We typically don't get tornado watches or warnings with thunderstorms, even severe ones. But we are under an all day tornado watch, just like yesterday, so I'm paying a bit more attention to the sky. Had a tornado pass about a mile up the road from my house a few years ago...fortunately it was only an F1. And when the area actually gets tornados, they have a tendency to bypass us and hit South Georgia....poor them.

However, we do need the rain.....thank goodness I live at the TOP of the hill - all the rain will flood my neighbor's property....

How tall is a hill in FL? 3 feet?

 

[monothingie]

 

[LAKid53]

How tall is a hill in FL? 3 feet?

According to my Fitbit, my street has an elevation of around 120 feet.... The peak of the hill I live on is at least 20-25 feet high. The highest elevation in Florida is 345 feet above sea level. Nothing compared to the canyons in Southern California I grew up in, but higher than 3 feet. Florida, especially North Florida, isn't all flat....

 

[csmat99]

While the above is true, you don't get a Tornado Watch every afternoon in central Florida. As a trained Skywarn Spotter, I feel compelled to say that this isn't something you casually dismiss as another afternoon in Orlando.

Come on Florida has nothing on Texas. When I lived there Tornado warnings that actually had touchdowns and ripped high rise part of highways apart and hail size of mini basketballs. But Texas doesn't have pixy dust but according to a source we are getting a disney park.

 

[LAKid53]

Come on Florida has nothing on Texas. When I lived there Tornado warnings that actually had touchdowns and ripped high rise part of highways apart and hail size of mini basketballs. But Texas doesn't have pixy dust but according to a source we are getting a disney park.

And you seem to get the majority of the Gulf hurricanes....although Florida's number is probably up, if not this season, then next year's.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Come on Florida has nothing on Texas. When I lived there Tornado warnings that actually had touchdowns and ripped high rise part of highways apart and hail size of mini basketballs. But Texas doesn't have pixy dust but according to a source we are getting a disney park.

True. Thunderstorms aren't an everyday thing in TX, at least from what I recall.

The funniest weather picture I've seen in a long time was posted by my wife's cousin 2 Christmas's ago - Tornado Watches and Warnings to the west of DFW, and Blizzard Warnings to the east.

 

[csmat99]

True. Thunderstorms aren't an everyday thing in TX, at least from what I recall.

The funniest weather picture I've seen in a long time was posted by my wife's cousin 2 Christmas's ago - Tornado Watches and Warnings to the west of DFW, and Blizzard Warnings to the east.

Yeah the saying in Texas is if you don't like the weather wait a few hours. Yes the rain when i lived there was more in Spring but problem is ground is so dry and you have a lot of flash floods. Few years ago when I was out of town they got 8" snow and next day or following was almost 70.

 

[BatStang2000]

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/attachments/img_9605-jpg.206783/
WDWtraveler posted this and other pictures in DHS parking lot remodel thread from 3:30 today.

 

[ToTBellHop]

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/attachments/img_9605-jpg.206783/
WDWtraveler posted this and other pictures in DHS parking lot remodel thread from 3:30 today.

Eek. Bet folks will be demanding Disney pay for that. They control the weather.

 

[LAKid53]

Yeah the saying in Texas is if you don't like the weather wait a few hours. Yes the rain when i lived there was more in Spring but problem is ground is so dry and you have a lot of flash floods. Few years ago when I was out of town they got 8" snow and next day or following was almost 70.

We have a similar saying here in Florida...we just shorten the time frame to, say, 10 minutes.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

Here in Tampa it hasn't rained too much. One thing I learned over the years is that the best time to visit the parks is right after a huge thunderstorm!

 

[Captain Barbossa]

Tornado touched down a few miles away from me. Today's weather was crazy across the Southeast. Hope everyone is safe.

 

[TheReal]

I was in Epcot today and had a really fun time. The lack of sun and the heavy winds helped keeping me cool. Just while we were riding Living with the Land it started raining like crazy. It was very loudly pattering on the roof. We rode Soarin after that and by the time we came out it was not raining anymore. There were leafs all over the place, so there sure was some bad weather today. But I never got to see it in action.

 

[Brad Bishop]

In case anyone is wondering what a Tornado Watch actually means:

"A tornado watch is issued when weather conditions are favorable for the development of severe thunderstorms that are capable of producing tornadoes. A tornado watch therefore implies that it is also a severe thunderstorm watch."

To all in and around the affected areas - Stay safe!!!

Just to add:

Tornado Watch - Conditions are favorable for a tornado to form
Tornado Warning - A tornado has formed / been spotted/confirmed

It's confusing lingo because you could reverse the two and it still makes sense. NOAA was looking at changing it a few years back but I don't think anything ever happened with it.

Another thing that has happened over the decades is the weather reporters' hyper sensitivity to meteorological events which leads to it being a "boy crying wolf"-problem. For either ratings or legal reasons what would have just been considered a regular "storm" 40-50 years back is now reported as a major event and usually classified as a "severe storm".

For example, most people understand clouds and rain in the forecast. I'd argue that people understand "storm" meaning lightning and thunder and "severe storm" meaning it's going to get nasty with a lot of lightning, thunder, hail, and wind. I swear that anytime they see even a few strikes of lightning these days it's reported as a "severe storm". When people see "severe storms" hit again and again without being all that severe (really just regular storms) they let their guard down so the forecasters really don't have anywhere to go with their reporting and, I think, it leads to a more dangerous situation.

They dilute their message by either sensationalizing regular storms for ratings or by being overly cautious because they fear they may be wrong one day.

 

[LAKid53]

Just to add:

Tornado Watch - Conditions are favorable for a tornado to form
Tornado Warning - A tornado has formed / been spotted/confirmed

It's confusing lingo because you could reverse the two and it still makes sense. NOAA was looking at changing it a few years back but I don't think anything ever happened with it.

Another thing that has happened over the decades is the weather reporters' hyper sensitivity to meteorological events which leads to it being a "boy crying wolf"-problem. For either ratings or legal reasons what would have just been considered a regular "storm" 40-50 years back is now reported as a major event and usually classified as a "severe storm".

For example, most people understand clouds and rain in the forecast. I'd argue that people understand "storm" meaning lightning and thunder and "severe storm" meaning it's going to get nasty with a lot of lightning, thunder, hail, and wind. I swear that anytime they see even a few strikes of lightning these days it's reported as a "severe storm". When people see "severe storms" hit again and again without being all that severe (really just regular storms) they let their guard down so the forecasters really don't have anywhere to go with their reporting and, I think, it leads to a more dangerous situation.

They dilute their message by either sensationalizing regular storms for ratings or by being overly cautious because they fear they may be wrong one day.

Must disagree with your rationale. Advancements in forecasting, especially the now widespread use of dopplar radar, has improved forecasting. Severe thunderstorms ARE dangerous..conditions can drastically change very quickly. Florida has more lightening strikes than any other state in the U.S. and may be the world. A severe thunderstorm with high winds can uproot trees, resulting in thousands of dollars worth of damage if that tree falls on your roof or car....or you. The meteorologists at the NWS are the experts and I value their caution.

Just spoke with my sales guy at DVC. He said it was really bad yesterday, with high winds and lots of rain.

 

[Brad Bishop]

I'm not saying that there aren't severe thunderstorms or that what hit Florida this past week wasn't severe. Nor am I saying that weather doesn't change and something that was forecast to be severe didn't fizzle out. I also recognize the advancements in technology with respect to meteorology.

What I'm saying is that, for whatever reason, radio and TV meteorologists seem to over-play storms and, as such, what was once called, and recognized as a regular storm is now more regularly called a severe storm. If every storm is a severe storm then "severe storm" loses it's meaning. There's nowhere to really go when that happens. You don't have a good way of relaying an actual severe storm to the public because you've called everything severe. At the same time, the public associates "severe storm" with a normal storm because it's such an overused term and tend not to be as cautious as they should be when an actual severe storm is about to hit.

Not every meteorologist does this. Kirk Mellish, in Atlanta, is actually pretty good about being honest about it, IMO. Others on both TV and radio tend to overplay it, and this isn't just limited to Atlanta.

Just having some lightning and thunder does not make a severe storm. Again, I'm not specifically talking about yesterday which, from the looks of it, was a severe storm.

 

[rael ramone]

If I was down there (and was online - when I'm in the swamps I don't currently have a device that has mobile internet access) I would greatly appreciate this thread existing.

Warnings are a Good Thing.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I've been down there during a tornado watch and they took some of the animals in at DAK. However, it did generate one of the most active safaris we've had.