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Old 05-30-2015, 03:45 PM
 
Location: Georgia native in McKinney, TX
8,057 posts, read 12,778,464 times
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The Van tornado did not come out of nowhere. All the DFW stations were breaking into broadcasts that night with their radar reports. They were tracking that storm in its norteasterly track from when it was well south of Dallas and pointing out circulations that could spawn a tornado.
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Old 05-30-2015, 10:08 PM
 
Location: Wonderland
67,666 posts, read 60,197,371 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Saintmarks View Post
The Van tornado did not come out of nowhere. All the DFW stations were breaking into broadcasts that night with their radar reports. They were tracking that storm in its norteasterly track from when it was well south of Dallas and pointing out circulations that could spawn a tornado.
My point is that I read in the news that there was a tornado WATCH but no tornado WARNING, and that the sirens in Van did not go off till after the tornado had already struck.

Of course there were tornado watches in effect - there have been off and on for wide swaths of east Texas for weeks now - so many that honestly we're sort of used to having them around.

Also, Van is much closer to Tyler than it is to DFW. Many people living in Van watch the TYLER news and weather, or tune in to that, not the DFW stations. I myself, twenty minutes east of Van, was tuned in to Tyler's weather reports. When the wind and storm kicked up at my house, I even went outside and videoed it to send to my husband who was out of town - come to find out that was just shortly after the havoc wreaked in Van. Zero reports of Van's tornado till much later that evening, and believe me, I was GLUED to the local weather on my phone and online.
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Old 05-31-2015, 12:02 AM
 
Location: Georgia native in McKinney, TX
8,057 posts, read 12,778,464 times
Reputation: 6318
Quote:
Originally Posted by KathrynAragon View Post
My point is that I read in the news that there was a tornado WATCH but no tornado WARNING, and that the sirens in Van did not go off till after the tornado had already struck.

Of course there were tornado watches in effect - there have been off and on for wide swaths of east Texas for weeks now - so many that honestly we're sort of used to having them around.

Also, Van is much closer to Tyler than it is to DFW. Many people living in Van watch the TYLER news and weather, or tune in to that, not the DFW stations. I myself, twenty minutes east of Van, was tuned in to Tyler's weather reports. When the wind and storm kicked up at my house, I even went outside and videoed it to send to my husband who was out of town - come to find out that was just shortly after the havoc wreaked in Van. Zero reports of Van's tornado till much later that evening, and believe me, I was GLUED to the local weather on my phone and online.
You would think the Tyler stations would have the same info the DFW stations have. Didn't mean to seem cavalier, my heart hurts for the folks of Van. My daughter is in her fourth year as a counselor at Sky Ranch there, have been in the town several times. But this time of year, you have to be prepared constantly.
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Old 05-31-2015, 12:24 AM
 
Location: Wonderland
67,666 posts, read 60,197,371 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Saintmarks View Post
You would think the Tyler stations would have the same info the DFW stations have. Didn't mean to seem cavalier, my heart hurts for the folks of Van. My daughter is in her fourth year as a counselor at Sky Ranch there, have been in the town several times. But this time of year, you have to be prepared constantly.
Of course. But what I am saying is that there were no active tornado warnings for Van or that area, and that the sirens went off AFTER the tornado hit. Plus the tornado hit at night, so you couldn't see the sky. And finally, storms are so common this time of year that some high wind and pelting rain may make one raise their eyebrows, or even (as I did) go out on the porch and video the noise and brouhaha, but my gosh, if we took shelter in a "small, windowless room" every time there was a tornado warning or a big loud storm, we'd spend hours every day in a small, windowless room these days.
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Old 05-31-2015, 12:44 AM
 
Location: Orange county, CA
415 posts, read 613,577 times
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My entire family is from the midwest or Texas. Only my brother and I were not raised in the midwest or Texas. Of all my family, out to fifth cousins:

-my maternal grandparents had one go right by their home in rural Illinois (Vermilion County) it took out the road, and the high school gym. It was the first time my grandmother had ever even heard a tornado, by her account, when I asked her about it when I was in high school. It did not damage their house at all, just took out the road and the mailbox in front of their house.

-One of my uncles moved to Norman, OK in 1998 with my aunt and two cousins and they were there for the monster F5 that leveled Moore for the first time. They could hear the thing and my uncle saw it as he drove home from work, but it did not damage their home.

-My father, raised in the midwest, did not encounter a tornado until he was in his forties. The tornado hit while he was working in downtown Salt Lake City - IN UTAH - of all places - my dad heard it and everything. My parents were of the opinion tornadoes could not strike the west, and they no longer had to worry about them.

I've personally seen tornadoes...out here in CALIFORNIA, including a funnel that got halfway before going back up that was on top of Anaheim Hills, right near several homes.

Every place has its weather tradeoffs. Here in California tornadoes are rare, but we get earthquakes instead. And there is no warning at all for those. Out of nowhere the earth shakes. I've never lived through a bad one here, but I did live through two bad ones when I was a kid and my family lived in Japan.

In my hometown of Las Vegas, the bad weather consists of flash floods, oven heat, and dust storms.

I know people worry about tornadoes, but you get to choose which side of mother nature you get to deal with no matter where you go. Even here in California, land of nice weather, you get earthquakes. With wildfires and floods.

My family says tornadoes are like earthquakes. They can hit anytime. And its like the lottery or luck: sometimes you get unlucky.
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Old 05-31-2015, 05:34 PM
 
3,028 posts, read 5,039,641 times
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This did not come as a surprise in Tyler, on the three networks in Tyler, all were reporting at the time, of the possibility of tornadoes in the Van area at that time. Soon reported damage, and the rest is history.
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Old 06-01-2015, 01:39 AM
 
Location: Houston(Screwston),TX
4,361 posts, read 4,549,871 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blkgiraffe View Post
It says Waco has 0 risk of tornadoes........
HA! I remember back in 08 or 07 when the Tornado came through WACO. I was actually at work and it went right over us. Caused a good amount of damage in the city.
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Old 06-01-2015, 06:01 AM
 
Location: Pilot Point, TX
7,874 posts, read 14,103,804 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Westerntraveler View Post
I would rather live in a hurricane area since they give you so much more notice in advance compared to tornadoes.
I'm the opposite - if you live in a part of the country that's subject to hurricanes, you're going to get hit and you will have 150+ mph winds, torrential rains, possible flooding and more tornadoes spawned from that low pressure system than the random one we may or may not see.

Our region is spread out, and that tornado is so tiny compared to the hurricane that's hundreds of miles wide. One is very rare (like another poster said, I've lived in the Metroplex all my life - almost 50 years - and I've never seen one) and the other is a sure thing, especially with the climate becoming more and more unstable.
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Old 06-01-2015, 02:56 PM
 
Location: Underneath the Pecan Tree
15,982 posts, read 35,037,981 times
Reputation: 7427
Quote:
Originally Posted by Redlionjr View Post
HA! I remember back in 08 or 07 when the Tornado came through WACO. I was actually at work and it went right over us. Caused a good amount of damage in the city.
I remember that, it messed up the coca cola plant pretty bad.
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Old 06-01-2015, 03:29 PM
 
3,491 posts, read 6,930,475 times
Reputation: 1736
Quote:
Originally Posted by little elmer View Post
I'm the opposite - if you live in a part of the country that's subject to hurricanes, you're going to get hit and you will have 150+ mph winds, torrential rains, possible flooding and more tornadoes spawned from that low pressure system than the random one we may or may not see.

Our region is spread out, and that tornado is so tiny compared to the hurricane that's hundreds of miles wide. One is very rare (like another poster said, I've lived in the Metroplex all my life - almost 50 years - and I've never seen one) and the other is a sure thing, especially with the climate becoming more and more unstable.
I prefer hurricanes because you have weeks to evacuate.Also, having flood and windstorm insurance or whatever you call it makes your life a lot easier even if it is expensive.I do not have experience with hurricanes because I live in West Texas.To each his own.The coast also appeals to me more than tornado prone regions for different reasons. Tornadoes are just a lot more scary to me.
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