2012 Tornado Season

Tornado missed us by 1 mile at 3 a.m. Saturday morning. It was loud out for a few minutes, but had no idea what was out there --- and how close it was --- until I saw a map in our paper the next day.

 

Major storm hit DFW. Weather Channel and all the news nets are live.

 

Several tornadoes have been confirmed to have touched down in the Metroplex, though I think mostly in the suburbs and not in the two major cities.

I find I'm much more freaked out about tornadoes after having helped out in Joplin several times last year.

 

They've got footage of one hitting a truck stop or something with dozens of semis parked there. Imagine a kid picking up a bunch of Hot Wheels and throwing them. That's what it looked like.

 

I worked in Colorado in '08 when an EF3 ripped through the town. It was on the last day of school and all the kids were packed into the middle of each school with no injuries or deaths. The twister went right over my office building and we watched in awe of the power of the tornado. It was the scariest moment of my life.
Also, if you work in a one-story building with no basement, get in the bathroom or middle of the building for safety. I heard on a radio broadcast driving to Lincoln, Neb. from Omaha that if you are driving to stop, get out of the car and find a drainage ditch or some area of low ground to hide. The idea is the winds will roll over you and not pick you up and toss you around. Someone may want to double check on that though.

 

It's bad. One tornado tore up Lancaster and another hit Arlington. Mike Napoli was rolling video when the storm hit the Ballpark.

http://www.twitvid.com/mikenapoli25

It's not over yet. The stuff is moving into East Texas, where dew points are in the 70s.

(The report of Forney High School getting hit was erroneous.)

 

Someone said Crosby Elementary in Forney got hit though. Anyone know if that's true?

Last count I saw was 24 tornadoes in the greater DFW area today.

 

Channel 11 is reporting Crosby Elementary and North Forney HS sustained damage.

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/04/03/tornado-reports-coming-in-from-across-north-texas/

BTW, on the Napoli video, the Rangers are supposed to play an exhibition game against the Mexico City Red Devils at the Ballpark tonight.

 

Scattered injuries being reported but no fatalities yet, which would be a miracle. But reports always take hours to trickle out when damage is this heavy.

 

Rangers game still expected to start on time as is the Stars-Sharks game at the AAC.

 

I guess it's no secret I live in SW Arlington. Saw my first tornado up close and personal today ... when I first saw it it was about a mile south of me (I could see home debris swirling in it) and had "touched down." It pulled back up and drifted pretty near right over where I was. Never felt a strong breeze but it was terrifying nonetheless.

That batch drifted a bit northward and tore up a nursing home across the street from my youngest's elementary school. She (and we) are all fine but shaken and stirred.

 

Glad y'all are OK, Dr. Q.