3/23/09 DISC: OK, KS, NE, SD

[Joe Acord]

This was an image a buddy of mine fowarded to me earlier today with the hook echo near Norman.

[Angie Norris]

This was an image a buddy of mine fowarded to me earlier today with the hook echo near Norman.

That storm was more impressive on radar than in person. Got some heavy rain out of it along with some 0.5 to maybe 1" hail that almost covered the ground here in south Norman.

[mikegeukes]

EF-2 Tornado: Harrison County IA:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=oax&storyid=23450&source=0

(2) EF-0 Tornadoes: Montgomery County IA:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=oax&storyid=23451&source=0

EF-1 Tornado: Bon Homme County SD:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=fsd&storyid=23446&source=0

(3) EF-0 Tornadoes: Cass County NE:
http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KOAX/0903242104.nous43.html

NWS Hastings Severe Weather Reports:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=gid&storyid=23419&source=0

Mike (It is my Birthday Today)

[mikegeukes]

EF-1 Tornado in Nemaha County, KS
http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KTOP/0903242207.nous43.html

[jshields]

now 5 tornadoes confirmed in eastern nebraska. more updates coming on wednesday

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=oax&storyid=23462&source=0

btw, we still had roughly 6"-10" drifts of hail on the side of the road by my house tonight at 6pm, 24 hours after the storm yesterday! today was only in the 40's though so i'm sure that helped, but still thats alot of hail that fell yesterday!!

[Scott Nelson]

Glad this system lacked enough moisture to produce the feared powerful "long track" tornadoes. Does seem like a lot of smaller and thankfully less powerful tornadoes were still produced though.

That brings up this question. Less then 48 hours after a reported tornado, those listed above already have an EF rating. Who actually decides on the final strength for NOAA? Especially if the path is limited to an open field without stucture damage. I'm assuming a Dopler didn't get them all.

Thanks for helping.

[Kiel Ortega]

That brings up this question. Less then 48 hours after a reported tornado, those listed above already have an EF rating. Who actually decides on the final strength for NOAA? Especially if the path is limited to an open field without stucture damage. I'm assuming a Dopler didn't get them all.

Those that did the survey suggest the rating, however, it's up to the local FO management as to what the final rating is. If the tornado didn't hit anything, it gets a EF0. Also, Doppler winds will no longer be a valid source for tornado rating when the new Storm Data directive is released.

[Tom Dulong]

That brings up this question. Less then 48 hours after a reported tornado, those listed above already have an EF rating. Who actually decides on the final strength for NOAA? Especially if the path is limited to an open field without stucture damage. I'm assuming a Dopler didn't get them all.

This probably belongs in another thread, but the Warning Coordination Meteorologist (WCM) with the NWS office having area responsibility typically visits the damage site as soon as possible to conduct a post-storm survey. The WCM compares the damage with the EF Scale Damage Assessment Guide. More info can be found here (http://www.wdtb.noaa.gov/courses/EF-scale/index.html).

In the case of a major tornado causing extensive damage and/or injuries/deaths, the NWS may send an assessment team to examine the event in more detail. Occasionally, the original EF rating will be updated based on the team report.

[Scott Nelson]

I agree Tom. I was actually "thinking" about starting another thread so I didn't step on Joe's post. Figured the question went hand and hand though with the ratings posts added by others.

Thanks for the info.

[Todd Brown]

This was an image a buddy of mine fowarded to me earlier today with the hook echo near Norman.

I was 4 miles south of Goldsby as that storm crossed I-35. It had a ragged, disorganized lowering that had a very low base on it. The radar image as it was approaching was very impressive, it had consistent TVS from south of Anadarko to Norman on GRL3, to go along with a nice hook. But it was not as organized as it appeared on radar.

[mikegeukes]

NWS Topeka has a map and 4 pictures of the damage in Nemaha County, KS
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=top&storyid=23455&source=0

[mikegeukes]

NWS Wichita has information about the tornadoes.
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=ict&storyid=23453&source=0
(http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=ict&storyid=23453&source=0)

[Ryan McGinnis]

Did some NCDC data grabs and generated these SuperRes Level II (well, that's what the data format calls it anyway -- does OAX have superres?) images
for the time frame of when the "number 5" storm from Nebraska was crossing 63 near Alvo with a 1/2 mile wide tornado:

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/8264/ref1.png
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/4849/vel1.png

Animation:
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/5924/storm2s.gif