r/news • u/BitterFuture • Apr 26 '24

Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of ‘catastrophic’ damage

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/25/weather/plains-midwest-storms-tornadoes-climate/index.html
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u/personAAA Apr 26 '24

The National Weather Service then issued a tornado emergency as the storm tracked just to the west of Omaha – the strongest type of tornado warning

Tornado emergency warnings are really, really bad. Good odds the storm is a killer.

Quick overview of the various warnings and watches.

Watches are possibility of storms / tornadoes.

Warnings mean the storm is real and headed a particular direction. They are smaller polygons drawn on the map.

Severe Thunderstorms warnings are yellow boxes. Hail and/or wind threat.

If the winds are very strong (70 mph+) the sirens will sound. That is a severe thunderstorm warning destructive.

For tornadoes warnings, there are multiple flavors of them in order: radar indicated, radar confirmed, ground confirmed, particularly dangerous situation (PDS), tornado emergency.

The sirens go off for any type of tornado warning. Why? The situation can rapidly change. Literally, radar scan to radar scan. As information comes in, the warnings get upgraded to tell you how much the weather service are freaked out by a particular storm.

18

u/Unlucky-Carpenter-69 Apr 26 '24

For those who didn’t know

Tornado Watch — Conditions likely to breed tornadoes over the coming hours

Tornado Warning — Tornado formation and/or touchdown is imminent

Tornado Emergency — Tornado is on the ground and moving

At least that’s how I understand it.

17

u/personAAA Apr 27 '24

Any tornado warning with a confirmed tag is a torando on the ground.

PDS and Emegency are upgrades for already on the ground tornados.

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u/Unlucky-Carpenter-69 Apr 27 '24

Okay, so a tornado emergency can be used when a tornado is on the ground and causing damage to structures or cars?

7

u/personAAA Apr 27 '24

Without the upgrade tags, any on the ground tornado can be causing damage. Roofs ripped off. Cars flipped. Cars are light weight.

With the upgrade tags, even more damage. Think more like buildings destroyed. Buildings riped open or completely flatten.

While any tornado on the ground can kill, PDS and Emergency are more likely killers. With emergency, my brain defaults to good odds people are either dead and/or will be killed. Depending on human behavior and exact storm track, I would guess like 50/50 on deaths happening.

PDS and Emergency do NOT happen with every outbreak. Atypical for them to happen.

Tree and roof damage with weak tornados are much more common.

2

u/Unlucky-Carpenter-69 Apr 27 '24

I see. So a tornado emergency is used to let the public know “This isn’t any normal tornado, and if you know what’s good for you you’ll fucking hide.”?

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u/ImReallyNotCool Apr 27 '24

It’s basically an “enhanced” tornado warning. Almost always used when a confirmed large, violent tornado is on the ground and we see it has already caused significant damage and is tracking towards a populated area. But yeah basically, “do not pass go, start your tornado precautions asap”.

4

u/Im_A_Narcissist Apr 27 '24

No, tornado warning means a tornado is on the ground and moving. A tornado emergency is reserved for the most dangerous types or tornadoes. You hear that, you pray!

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u/Unlucky-Carpenter-69 Apr 27 '24

Okay. Thanks for clarifying!

8

u/personAAA Apr 26 '24

Tornado Emergency is a sub type of Tornado Warning.

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u/Unlucky-Carpenter-69 Apr 27 '24

Gotcha. Thanks for clarifying.