On Wed, May 22, 2013, Julie*Bove wrote:

> They said they only had 16 minutes
> warning on this one. That's not much
> time! When I was a kid, I can remember
> the warnings coming several hours
> ahead of time...

I'm sorry, but Tornado WARNINGS don't come HOURS before a tornado.

When conditions are "favorable" for a tornado to form, a Tornado WATCH
is issued, and that can last for hours.

When a funnel cloud or tornado is 'confirmed' (by law enforcement or the
weather service or certified spotters) a Tornado WARNING is issued.

A tornado can form in a matter of seconds, so a 16 minute warning was a
good amount of time to warn the people of Moore that one was headed
their way.

"Betsy D" > wrote in message
...

On Wed, May 22, 2013, Julie Bove wrote:

> They said they only had 16 minutes
> warning on this one. That's not much
> time! When I was a kid, I can remember
> the warnings coming several hours
> ahead of time...

I'm sorry, but Tornado WARNINGS don't come HOURS before a tornado.

When conditions are "favorable" for a tornado to form, a Tornado WATCH
is issued, and that can last for hours.

When a funnel cloud or tornado is 'confirmed' (by law enforcement or the
weather service or certified spotters) a Tornado WARNING is issued.

------------

just curious - would a warning not be issued if non-certified spotters
called in reputable reports or a tornado?

On Thu, 23 May 2013 11:01:02 -0500, (Betsy D) wrote:

>
>On Wed, May 22, 2013, Julie*Bove wrote:
>
>> They said they only had 16 minutes
>> warning on this one. That's not much
>> time! When I was a kid, I can remember
>> the warnings coming several hours
>> ahead of time...
>
>I'm sorry, but Tornado WARNINGS don't come HOURS before a tornado.
>
>When conditions are "favorable" for a tornado to form, a Tornado WATCH
>is issued, and that can last for hours.
>
>When a funnel cloud or tornado is 'confirmed' (by law enforcement or the
>weather service or certified spotters) a Tornado WARNING is issued.
>
>A tornado can form in a matter of seconds, so a 16 minute warning was a
>good amount of time to warn the people of Moore that one was headed
>their way.

thank you. Someone needed to get rid of the crazy talk. In the 1990s
the warning was only 5 minutes or less. 16 minutes was a wonderful
amount of warning time.
Janet US.

Betsy D wrote:
> On Wed, May 22, 2013, Julie Bove wrote:
>
>> They said they only had 16 minutes
>> warning on this one. That's not much
>> time! When I was a kid, I can remember
>> the warnings coming several hours
>> ahead of time...
>
> I'm sorry, but Tornado WARNINGS don't come HOURS before a tornado.
>
> When conditions are "favorable" for a tornado to form, a Tornado WATCH
> is issued, and that can last for hours.
>
Perhaps it was a watch then. I was 7 and under and I'm 53 now so don't
remember too many specifics of that. I do remember being shown where we
should go if one was coming. And we used to drive to where they had hit to
look at the damage.
>
>
> When a funnel cloud or tornado is 'confirmed' (by law enforcement or
> the weather service or certified spotters) a Tornado WARNING is
> issued.

Okay.

> A tornado can form in a matter of seconds, so a 16 minute warning was
> a good amount of time to warn the people of Moore that one was headed
> their way.

Okay then. I stand corrected.

On Thu, 23 May 2013 11:01:02 -0500, (Betsy D) wrote:

>
> On Wed, May 22, 2013, Julie*Bove wrote:
>
> > They said they only had 16 minutes
> > warning on this one. That's not much
> > time! When I was a kid, I can remember
> > the warnings coming several hours
> > ahead of time...
>
> I'm sorry, but Tornado WARNINGS don't come HOURS before a tornado.
>
> When conditions are "favorable" for a tornado to form, a Tornado WATCH
> is issued, and that can last for hours.
>
> When a funnel cloud or tornado is 'confirmed' (by law enforcement or the
> weather service or certified spotters) a Tornado WARNING is issued.
>
> A tornado can form in a matter of seconds, so a 16 minute warning was a
> good amount of time to warn the people of Moore that one was headed
> their way.

Terms have changed since I was a kid too. Warning was the only word
they used. Also, from what I heard on MSNBC, the school district made
the decision to keep students in school for safety reasons.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

On Thu, 23 May 2013 14:19:56 -0700, "Julie Bove"
> wrote:

> Perhaps it was a watch then. I was 7 and under and I'm 53 now so don't
> remember too many specifics of that. I do remember being shown where we
> should go if one was coming. And we used to drive to where they had hit to
> look at the damage.

I'm older than you are. When I was in elementary school, we had
tornado days (and snow days) when we didn't go to school because of
possible tornadoes. This was the southwest portion of Michigan, near
the lake... not Tornado alley as they are advertising it now, but we
had destructive tornadoes in terms of lives and/or property
practically every year. I see one in 2009 hit just a very few miles
from where I used to live. No recorded fatalities or injuries, thank
goodness. http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/Michigan

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

sf wrote:
>
> On Thu, 23 May 2013 11:01:02 -0500, (Betsy D) wrote:
>
> >
> > On Wed, May 22, 2013, Julie Bove wrote:
> >
> > > They said they only had 16 minutes
> > > warning on this one. That's not much
> > > time! When I was a kid, I can remember
> > > the warnings coming several hours
> > > ahead of time...
> >
> > I'm sorry, but Tornado WARNINGS don't come HOURS before a tornado.
> >
> > When conditions are "favorable" for a tornado to form, a Tornado WATCH
> > is issued, and that can last for hours.
> >
> > When a funnel cloud or tornado is 'confirmed' (by law enforcement or the
> > weather service or certified spotters) a Tornado WARNING is issued.
> >
> > A tornado can form in a matter of seconds, so a 16 minute warning was a
> > good amount of time to warn the people of Moore that one was headed
> > their way.
>
> Terms have changed since I was a kid too. Warning was the only word
> they used. Also, from what I heard on MSNBC, the school district made
> the decision to keep students in school for safety reasons.
>
> --
> Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

There are no shortage of tornado watches around here. Generally when the
weather radio goes off with a tornado watch I do a sweep of the yard to
stow anything that could get blown around like chairs and grills, and if
it looks like a severe thunderstorm and hail is likely I stow my truck
in the shop. When the weather radio goes off with a tornado warning I
check the live NWS radar on the laptop and if the purple splotch is
heading my way I go to the only central closet I have and sit next to
the safe watching the radar on the laptop. I have been putting off
building a proper tornado shelter here since I plan to move fairly soon,
but I may revisit that with the tornado activity lately.

"sf" > wrote in message
...
> On Thu, 23 May 2013 14:19:56 -0700, "Julie Bove"
> > wrote:
>
>> Perhaps it was a watch then. I was 7 and under and I'm 53 now so don't
>> remember too many specifics of that. I do remember being shown where we
>> should go if one was coming. And we used to drive to where they had hit
>> to
>> look at the damage.
>
> I'm older than you are. When I was in elementary school, we had
> tornado days (and snow days) when we didn't go to school because of
> possible tornadoes. This was the southwest portion of Michigan, near
> the lake... not Tornado alley as they are advertising it now, but we
> had destructive tornadoes in terms of lives and/or property
> practically every year. I see one in 2009 hit just a very few miles
> from where I used to live. No recorded fatalities or injuries, thank
> goodness. http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/Michigan

I don't remember missing any school in Wichita due to weather but it might
have happened.

"sf" > wrote in message
...
> On Thu, 23 May 2013 11:01:02 -0500, (Betsy D) wrote:
>
>>
>> On Wed, May 22, 2013, Julie Bove wrote:
>>
>> > They said they only had 16 minutes
>> > warning on this one. That's not much
>> > time! When I was a kid, I can remember
>> > the warnings coming several hours
>> > ahead of time...
>>
>> I'm sorry, but Tornado WARNINGS don't come HOURS before a tornado.
>>
>> When conditions are "favorable" for a tornado to form, a Tornado WATCH
>> is issued, and that can last for hours.
>>
>> When a funnel cloud or tornado is 'confirmed' (by law enforcement or the
>> weather service or certified spotters) a Tornado WARNING is issued.
>>
>> A tornado can form in a matter of seconds, so a 16 minute warning was a
>> good amount of time to warn the people of Moore that one was headed
>> their way.
>
> Terms have changed since I was a kid too. Warning was the only word
> they used. Also, from what I heard on MSNBC, the school district made
> the decision to keep students in school for safety reasons.

That is what my parents called it too. Might not have been the correct term
as they are known for calling things by the wrong names.