Jen’s Reviews > Tornado Watch Number 211 > Status Update

"On the ground, many of the citizens ... already had noticed the key preamble: the sultry and muggy air pulled in from the Gulf of Mexico."

"Most sinister is that tornadoes can come in families, one following another, striking different paths across cities, towns, and countryside."

"The wind speeds inside the funnel can rage at over three hundred
miles an hour. No direct measurements have ever been made. Any instrument yet designed would be obliterated by the winds it was trying to
measure."

"Over a fifty-year span, tornadoes have killed as many people as all the floods and hurricanes in the country combined. They burst out of hiding so quickly there is rarely time for an effective warning. They can stay on the ground from a few seconds to more than 3 hours. The swath of destruction can range from a few feet to over 2 miles in width. The murderous path can run from a few feet long to over 200 miles."

"At 4:25 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, Weiss again slid his chair
over to the CSIS keyboard and typed out Tornado Watch Number
211..."

"The weathermen did not like to be alarmists. They also hated to fail to make a decision that might save many lives. There was a delicate balance between the two."

"Usually the severe storms started in western Ohio, and were easy to track as they crossed the Ohio border into Pennsylvania. There was plenty of lead time under normal conditions. On this day there was none."

"... the climatological fact that it was very rare for tornadoes to hit Ohio in its far eastern region. When they did, the central and western parts of the state nearly always got pummeled first."

"With the ability to locate exact points on the satellite imagery, the forecaster is provided with coordinates to locate any town in the country ... Like magic, the system also can display radar data, and the Kansas City forecaster can interrogate any of the sixty National Weather Service radars spread across the country."

"Essentially, the system can assimilate on one screen what previously had to be done in the forecaster's crowded mind. Equipment consists of a GOES satellite receiving antenna, four Harris/6 computers, the output from a 604 data circuit, and two auto dialers that provide time access to radar data. The system can produce pressure, temperature, and dew-point analyses to give clues about critical vertical air currents."