Arkansas EF4 Tornado Coverage

[Jemalacane]

The weather is always more interesting than politics!

[FaintAura]

What is the meteorologist referring to when he says "Region 8"?

[denelson83]

@FaintAura The station's over-the-air viewing area.

[ryanvaughan8]

@FaintAura That what we call our viewing area.

[EmoPrincess12312]

Me and my dad went out to the mall, right abour 35 minutes between a mega Tornado Dropdown....We went to buy a Weather Radio.

[weather52761]

pause at 5:05 and you can see the tornado and how brite the lightning is scary

[sonyvx5422]

shit i remember this haha..

[ishamj1]

I live in SE MO and I remember watching this on 8. We were also getting hit in Malden.

[kenjiwaffle]

Too bad I don't get this station...

[Hemingray]

@vaughanski: It's pronounced "guy-in" (Guion)

[28AMurphy]

its heading north ahhh shit its heading this way

[Santo9812]

I was also in Melbourne that day....it was just miles from my house....I was so freaking scared. Lol....It did hit in Zion....I lived there not 2 weeks before the tornado hit, SO SCARY!

[alec1013]

I was in Melbourne on that day

[EmoPrincess12312]

i remember that tornado! I live in jonesboro then i heard the sirens go off...i wa sso scared im liek wtf get in the car and go that tornado was so BIG! then it hit jckson with the union D:

[RomanianChickLover]

my girlfriend lives in batesville,arkansas ummmmm is batesville a small town?

[Hemingray]

@RomanianChickLover Hardly. Batesville has close to 10,000 residents (probably over that by now)

[RVDMISSISSAUGAKID]

Does Arkansas even see snow??

[EmoPrincess12312]

@RVDMISSISSAUGAKID Yep we had a major ice storm and it SNOWS IT ASS OFF :)

[Hemingray]

@RVDMISSISSAUGAKID Snow and ice. Still got tree limbs falling off things.

[CRAZYCONTROLLERGUY]

My sister constantly makes me watch this video JUST for 4:50

[IkeIsDangerous]

wow,i was in tht site of the storm on my trip to mtn.view from Flordia

[dkdudedr]

i wish wheather channels would cover north west Araknsas like gentry decatur siloam and all the little towns and yes arkansas should be considerd tornado ally

[Hemingray]

I remember this night, Evening Shade dodged one hell of a bullet with this! One of the twisters slammed just south of Ash Flat, not 10 miles away. We had lost power for 12-14 hours as a result.

[CombatSportFan]

Absolutely love the Weather Deck idea. It's actually something I drew up in my head one day wondering to myself why television stations didn't do this kind of thing (making a mini-weather center outside.) Glad to see someone else had the same idea.

[flskywarn]

1:30 That is a nice hook.

What level radar daya (L3 or L2) does ESP use>

[fgossage]

@flskywarn ESP has the capability of using both types. It can also display a TV station's live radar.

[firealarm211]

i live in Memphis

[ryjo911]

Indians go to overtime? O_o

[TheTornadoChaser]

How nice of you to name the deck after me. :P

[SystemRockerChic]

i live in searcy, we have been greatful, no tornado has touced down here

[hrdtw]

o we live in little rock

[hrdtw]

is the viewing area mtn view

[vaughanski]

yeah

[FiremanCody]

cool

[denelson83]

3:40 - It's usually bad form to have two guys on screen in front of the weather key wall at the same time.

[vaughanski]

There are no rules in tornado coverage.

[AaronApolloCamp]

As far as I understand the FCC regulations regarding tornado broadcasts, the Emergency Alert System must be activated before the station can broadcast a special report regarding the tornado.

[vaughanski]

Nope.. We can cutin before a warning is issued and we have done that a few times.

[danagasta1]

same for radio too, although here in CT we usually don't have to do it much. I did Friday though...it's hard for a native Tennessean to convey how dangerous these things can be to Connecticut residents because we grow up with it, they don't.

[leandar]

@vaughanski Stations here in Fort Smith do that too. In fact, they will cut in and give continuous coverage, probably as you did when this nightmare happened, so much so that you hardly ever hear the EAS kick in unless you're sitting next to a weather radio or on one of the PBS stations. They used to cut the EAS in and have everyone tune to a certain channel for the EAS announcement but they quit doing that, presumably in lieu of the heavy local coverage, I imagine.

[ChristopherSaindon]

@vaughanski ABSOLUTELY..I worked at WXVT

in Grenville, MS..did the same thing. And the

FCC can't say a word, You can't issue your

own warning and say it's a NWS product, but

you can suggest that the storm is dangerous in

character and is in an environment

very favorable for tornado development. I used

to show the VWP sometimes to show people

what that "environment" looked like; they

liked it judging by the feedback :-)

[Jwilliewilson]

@AaronApolloCamp

He's right...if the National Weather Service issues a Tornado Warning onto their weather radar site via internet, we can use that without waiting for the EAS system to send us the info...i work in Radio, we do it too...

[TRatliff05]

@AaronApolloCamp But, what if the NWS doesn't activate warnings because their isn't a strong indication on the radar and it is rain wrapped? What if somebody in town spots it and then they alert the news station. NWS may be accurate but not always quick.

[Jemalacane]

@denelson83 Why is it 'bad form'?

[denelson83]

@Jemalacane Because in all the years I have seen weathercasting, it's always been just *one* person in front of the key wall.

[Jemalacane]

@denelson83 So you're a meteorologist?

[denelson83]

@Jemalacane No, just a viewer, and I've always seen only one meteorologist in front of a key wall. Have you seen more instances of two?

[Jemalacane]

@denelson83 Well crap. I wanted to ask a meteorologist a question.

[SoonerNation94]

if you pause right at the bright lightning flash at 5:35 you get an awesome view

almost looks like daytime

[Mizzourigirl]

omg thats a huge storm!!!

[RavenKL20]

isnt it weird how tornados never hit fayetteville and springdale? thank god though becuz thats where im from and i have all my family there..

[xxupxx4]

2 days ago , i was in batesville again and a HUGE tornado hit mena and killed 3 people we were so scared about these tornado warnings all across the state, we were watching nothing on tv but the weather channel radar and thats pretty much all it showed. lol.

[tehnoobletshow]

I was freaking out that day lol

[xxupxx4]

I loooooooove arkansas i was in batesville at that time. the freaken home of mark martin!!!!! my contractor built his house too! i still am in batesville ( vacation matters) i live in malibu california. i came here caus of da wildfires. you know how it is. my old house is ash now. lol.

[iloveeminem200769]

I live in Searcy & i remember that one!

[BlownTAChallenger]

My dad out ran this tornado on I-40

it was so close, the winds were almost blowing his truck around

and I was talking to him on the phone when he found out the tornado was right behind him and closing

[OOKittilotOO]

I was in Little Rock and that day at about 10pm, the tornado siren went off.

I woke up and grabbed my little guinea pig, Sunflour!(pronounced like sunflower)

*the audio said pronounced like soup*

[theshowerguy]

Lol, you skipped meh, or it might not have been on your weather station, I live in Searcy(White County) and there was a tornado warning there :o. Btw nice vid 5/5

[denelson83]

5:53: That's a HUGE hook echo!

[davidlee110]

5:33 large tornado is over there on the gouned

[superflippinbobsr12]

i HAVE FAMILY IN THE LITTLE ROCK AREA I LIVE IN LAS VEGAS NEVADA

[bholcomb14]

I was hoping you'd have my phoner from that night on there Ryan! Great coverage as always!

[BillBrd1]

Worst February outbreak since the 1971 Mississippi Delta Outbreak.

[GeetarAdam]

Total darkness + huge tornado coming towards you = RUN!!! At least in my universe it does.

[timoz26]

This was the same line of storms that hit Nashville, TN a few hours later.

I was unlucky enough to be on the road that evening.

I was lucky enough to not have any problems, except my frayed nerves.

[BraveMan5555]

Im glad Independence County didn't get hit. I live in Batesville.

[wakka922201]

Wow, I remember how far the temperature swung that day - about 30 degrees!

[erwintommy]

What is it with all these northerners running the tv stations down there anyways?

[vaughanski]

Ha! I'm from Nashville, TN. I'm about as Southern as Southern gets... Heck, my parents work on Music Row.

[joeygioffredi]

where was your house?

[MerDerAddicted]

We were very lucky that night it just hit right out side Randolph county which is where I live.

[monkeywizard12]

i was watchin this storm i live near that place we had to take cover luckly our power didnt go out but im glad that tornado didnt hit u!!!!!

[cheer4life4977]

it hit me though and i am very blessed for me and my family were safe the whole time

[mmdring]

What a coincidence! If you read the description, you see that this was February 5... thats my birthday! And I live in Arkansas!

[Haeinscute]

wow that's one long track. I like how you got the dark shots that you can only see the tornado when the lightning struck, that was pretty cool looking.

[hugolenes]

i live in benton county arkansas and i remember watching this...

[snakes3425]

2008 is shapping up to be the Year of the Tornado

[JaxieBoy]

@snakes3425: We here in Dallas have had no tornado outbreaks this year so far. I think we will sometime next month, though, I'm almost sure of it.

[Yutzwagon404]

the alert tone is extremely common; they use it on KATV-7.

[jcfan2010]

I remember watching this!

[davidlee110]

omg 5:33

[superjoe87]

Great job of reporting the bad weather. Your Storm Track Doppler 8's reflectivity is very nice.

[JaxieBoy]

A tornado warning has been issued for southern Dallas County, where I live, as of around 3:30, I think. I just found this out a few mins. ago, and I think I'm feeling a bit uneasy. But wouldn't we all?

[Ameh1]

I live in Dallas Conuty, TX

[JaxieBoy]

A small update: Nothing happened.

[zardozman7]

My grandmother and her friend were in a storm shelter when the tornado went over them and destroyed her friends house. This was just north of Ash Flat. Near 175 and 412. Nice video montage, Now I have an idea of what was going on. They both made it out in good condition, but wouldn't have had they not had a storm shelter. Thank God.

[pattherrien778]

wow it's hard to believe this actually happened! CRAZY!!

[1050HzSineWaveTone]

normally you dont see Tornadoes in Arkansas go this severe like this long tracked F-4 Tornado did. This was a rare event for Arkansas.

[JaxieBoy]

We were very lucky here in Dallas, because originally, we were supposed to be hit like everyone else, according to the Weather Channel.

[itsalleternal]

You would have been hit the night before and the storms were all elevated and mostly hail-producing.

[Ajmtornado]

Great Job by Region 8 Storm Team!!

[Yutzwagon404]

Damn! it passed right by my hometown in faulkner county!

[iMovieFreak3891]

Our Monroe County Storm here in KY (WAVE-TV's market area) had velocity similar to this... though it was closer to the KLVX radar. It was rated an EF3. Thanks for posting this!

[rfarrar2]

This is the first time I have seen reflectivity of it when it was in Izard Co.

Thanks.