Updraft: January 9, 2008 Archive

Easy to ignore

Posted at 12:17 PM on January 9, 2008 by Craig Edwards

After examining the imagery from the Doppler radar archive posted on the Milwaukee Weather Service website it is clear that this was a disaster that could have been much worse on Monday afternoon.

The talk amongst meteorologists and climatologists is the rarity of this very destructive family of tornadoes in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin from 3:30PM to about 5:00PM. Pictures of the incredible damage have been posted by the tornado survey teams from the Weather Service.

With more than 34 years in the warning business, I learned that there is a certain segment of folks who just plain don’t pay any attention to the warnings. Some respond only when winds begin to howl and debris starts to swirl. From what I gathered watching news reports following the twisters, the dissemination of warnings, the use of sirens and the help of the broadcast media saved lives.

Damage photos

Paul Huttner and I were amazed at the minimal amount of serious injuries and no fatalities from homes flattened by winds of 150 mph. We can only surmise that the warnings allowed time to seek shelter in the basement or the families were not home at the time of the destruction.

Watching this event unfold, it appeared that tornado warnings were first based on Doppler radar wind velocity data. That’s the way to get lead time, not waiting for a funnel cloud to touch down. Team work and collaboration between forecasters in Chicago and Milwaukee allowed the transparent hand off of the warning process once the storms crossed the Illinois border near Harvard.

Tornado Survey near Harvard

Wheatland tornado
CE