Loved the skunk running by after the storm passed. You guys were a mile and a half or so west of us. the winds were much worse on 12th street and east of that
Love the random skunk running by after the microburst. You guys were just a mile and a half or so west of my house. the winds were much worse on the east side of norman
@wgb135 - I sympathize with your losses. We had some damage at our house, as well.
Norman, Oklahoma probably has the greatest concentration of tornado-savvy meteorologists in the U.S., over 500 of whom work at the NWC, and many of them suffered property damage in this downburst. If there had been a tornado, you'd think at least one of those 500+ would have noticed. ;-)
@oklahomaisok - I talked to a manager at the east Norman WalMart who said they had 3 A/C units, each about 2,000 lbs (comparable to a car) and mounted about 6 inches off the roof surface, that were moved by the winds. He said none were "blown off," but one had to be removed because it was damaged. They probably slid around like air hockey pucks! The winds on the roof may also have been slightly stronger than at the ground because there were fewer trees, buildings, etc. to slow them down.
At my house...40ft tree on garage, electrical service plus concrete block pulled off wall 50 ft tree uprooted, pole next to house has no bottom.... wind? Yeah Right!
NWS missed it and will never admit it.. federal gov. whatever
@wgb135 - There was no tornado at our location and no tornado vortex signature in the radar data. You can get tornado-like damage in downbursts, but the damage pattern is divergent, not convergent and localized like a tornado.
BTW, NWC offers public tours. You can visit the NWS and ask questions about the damage survey and how the downburst was determined:
@wgb135 I point out that the NWS *did* have a severe thunderstorm warning for the possibility of strong damaging winds for this storm several minutes before it hit Norman. It's exactly for situations such as these that there are two categories of warnings. Just because a tornado didn't cause the damage doesn't make it any less serious. In cases such as these, it can almost be worse than a tornado (at least a weak one), because the damage can occur over a much larger area.
@Bluenoser613 - Another great question. The radar in the video (RaXPol) was specially designed to study tornadoes at close range. I added a link in the video description with more info about RaXPol. Researchers also use mobile radar to study non-tornadic phenomena, like this microburst. We study severe storm structure, wind speeds, tornado vortex structure (e.g., single vs. multiple vortices), tornadogenesis and decay, and the relationships between different other parts of the storm.
@Gunnerkid107 - Great question! "Micro-" means 2-4 km diameter. All storms have some rain-cooled outflow; the cooling is enhanced if the drops are small, the air through which they are falling is dry, or both. Evaporation increases and takes more heat out of the air. The resulting volume of cool air is negatively buoyant, and plummets to earth like a bowling ball in slow motion. When it hits the surface, it bursts out laterally at high speed (like when a stream of water hits a sink bottom).
lol the skunk
natronacounty 7 months ago
That skunk is huge.
HowsaBowsaYowsa 8 months ago
Loved the skunk running by after the storm passed. You guys were a mile and a half or so west of us. the winds were much worse on 12th street and east of that
hdninjaz 8 months ago
Love the random skunk running by after the microburst. You guys were just a mile and a half or so west of my house. the winds were much worse on the east side of norman
hdninjaz 8 months ago
holy crap!
aprokky 8 months ago
All right guys, your probably right, but it isn't much fun when your stuff gets tore up whether its a "Burst or F1" Excuse my passion,
wgb135 8 months ago
@wgb135 - I sympathize with your losses. We had some damage at our house, as well.
Norman, Oklahoma probably has the greatest concentration of tornado-savvy meteorologists in the U.S., over 500 of whom work at the NWC, and many of them suffered property damage in this downburst. If there had been a tornado, you'd think at least one of those 500+ would have noticed. ;-)
rtanamachi 8 months ago
@rtanamachi can a straight wind blow a 5,000 pound air conditioner off of a building...it happened at Walmart.
oklahomaisok 8 months ago
@oklahomaisok - I talked to a manager at the east Norman WalMart who said they had 3 A/C units, each about 2,000 lbs (comparable to a car) and mounted about 6 inches off the roof surface, that were moved by the winds. He said none were "blown off," but one had to be removed because it was damaged. They probably slid around like air hockey pucks! The winds on the roof may also have been slightly stronger than at the ground because there were fewer trees, buildings, etc. to slow them down.
rtanamachi 8 months ago
At my house...40ft tree on garage, electrical service plus concrete block pulled off wall 50 ft tree uprooted, pole next to house has no bottom.... wind? Yeah Right!
NWS missed it and will never admit it.. federal gov. whatever
wgb135 8 months ago
@wgb135 - There was no tornado at our location and no tornado vortex signature in the radar data. You can get tornado-like damage in downbursts, but the damage pattern is divergent, not convergent and localized like a tornado.
BTW, NWC offers public tours. You can visit the NWS and ask questions about the damage survey and how the downburst was determined:
nwc dot ou dot edu slash tourdetails dot php
rtanamachi 8 months ago
@wgb135 I point out that the NWS *did* have a severe thunderstorm warning for the possibility of strong damaging winds for this storm several minutes before it hit Norman. It's exactly for situations such as these that there are two categories of warnings. Just because a tornado didn't cause the damage doesn't make it any less serious. In cases such as these, it can almost be worse than a tornado (at least a weak one), because the damage can occur over a much larger area.
Wthrman13 8 months ago
Great video, but the random skunk running by after it passes is cracking me up
WhiteLadyEowyn 8 months ago 5
What do you do with the radar looking instrument? I.e. what kind of data analysis?
Bluenoser613 8 months ago
@Bluenoser613 - Another great question. The radar in the video (RaXPol) was specially designed to study tornadoes at close range. I added a link in the video description with more info about RaXPol. Researchers also use mobile radar to study non-tornadic phenomena, like this microburst. We study severe storm structure, wind speeds, tornado vortex structure (e.g., single vs. multiple vortices), tornadogenesis and decay, and the relationships between different other parts of the storm.
rtanamachi 8 months ago
@Gunnerkid107 - Great question! "Micro-" means 2-4 km diameter. All storms have some rain-cooled outflow; the cooling is enhanced if the drops are small, the air through which they are falling is dry, or both. Evaporation increases and takes more heat out of the air. The resulting volume of cool air is negatively buoyant, and plummets to earth like a bowling ball in slow motion. When it hits the surface, it bursts out laterally at high speed (like when a stream of water hits a sink bottom).
rtanamachi 8 months ago
random question, but what's the difference between a microburst and normal thunderstorm outflow?
Gunnerkid107 8 months ago
Thanks for the video. What a mess in Norman.
oklahomaisok 8 months ago