Weather
Posted on May 31, 2004
The storms that came through the area last night were part of a huge front that reached from Texas to Minnesota. According to this story at CNN, the storm spawned over 80 tornados yesterday, which bings the total to about 170 tornados over the weekend. Seven tornadoes were reported in the Indianapolis area, but they were on the southside and eastside. When I was listening to the radio yeaterday, the meteorologists were commenting on how this storm followed a nearly identical track to the one that hit in September 2002.
The storm claimed three lives, including one in southern Indiana. The storm also ripped the roof off of a nursing home here in Indy, though luckily the injuries were minor.I heard they had evacuated all passengers and employees at the Indianapolis airport to the lower levels for about two hours. Early on in the storm, a tornado or a bolt of lightning took out the National Weather Service radar, so most people (probably including the NWS) relied on the radars from the TV stations. In hindsight, it is probably a good idea to have a backup radar separated by some distance. If a radar gets hit in a storm or tornado, and there is no backup, the potential for loss of life is huge, especially in an urban area. IIRC, in Denver most of the stations rely on radar from DIA (Denver International Airport) and another on Lookout Mountain, which is a few dozen miles away from Denver and the airport. This way, Denver is covered by radar from the east (airport) and the west (Lookout Mountain).
Today is sunny, though a bit windy. I took a walk earlier and noticed some downed tree limbs, but I didn’t see any signifcant damage. Overall, it was an interesting night.
Related posts:
- Review Haiku – Airport
- Storm’s a brewin’
- Review Haiku – Into the Storm
- Sitting ’round, talkin’ ’bout the weather
- Review Haiku – Airport ’77
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