The map below shows ‘Tornado Tracks Streak Across Oklahoma’ as measured by doppler radar.
The rotation of tornadoes creates a distinctive signature in radar data, and can be used to estimate the track that the system takes over land. This image shows the rotational velocity of the systems that passed over Oklahoma on the afternoon of May 20, 2013. A single cohesive structure can be seen to cut across seven counties, with Moore directly in the middle.
The rotational velocity data, being run experimentally by the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory, is helping to identify potential tornado structures and increase lead-time for severe weather warnings.
![1352v1_20130521-Moore_Tornado-Rotation[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/1352v1_20130521-moore_tornado-rotation1.png?quality=75)
Here is an excerpt from the public information statement just released by NWS where they designate EF5 from damage surveys.
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DISPATCHED FOUR DAMAGE SURVEY TEAMS TO THE PATH OF THE NEWCASTLE/MOORE OK TORNADO. NEW STATEMENTS WILL BE ISSUED THROUGHOUT THE DAY AS THESE TEAMS REPORT FINDINGS. THIS INFORMATION REMAINS PRELIMINARY AND THE INFORMATION HERE COULD CHANGE. .NEWCASTLE/MOORE TORNADO RATING: EF5 ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 200-210 MPH PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/: 17 MILES PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/: 1.3 MILES FATALITIES: N/A INJURIES: N/A START DATE: MAY 20 2013 START TIME: 2:45 PM CDT START LOCATION: 4.4 W NEWCASTLE /GRADY COUNTY /OK START LAT/LON: 35.2580 / -97.6775 END DATE: MAY 20 2013 END TIME: 3:35 PM CDT END LOCATION: 4.8 E OF MOORE OK /CLEVELAND COUNTY /OK END LAT/LON: 35.3409 / -97.4007 SURVEY SUMMARY: EXPERTS SURVEYING IN MOORE HAVE DETERMINED DAMAGE IS EF5 WITH MAXIMUM WINDS OVER 200 MPH. FOUR SURVEY TEAMS CONTINUE TO INSPECT DAMAGE FROM THIS LONG TRACK TORNADO. INITIAL DAMAGE WAS FOUND AROUND 4.4 MILES WEST OF NEWCASTLE...SOUTH OF TECUMSEH ROAD ALSO KNOWN AS NW 16TH STREET AND EAST LAKE ROAD. THE TORNADO TRACKED NE TO THE INTERSTATE 44 BRIDGE OVER THE CANADIAN RIVER AND THEN TOOK A MORE EASTWARD TRACK THROUGH MOORE. TORNADO DAMAGE ABRUPTLY ENDS 0.3 MILES EAST OF AIR DEPOT ROAD AND N OF SE 134TH ST.INITIALLY PRODUCING EF0 AND EF1 DAMAGE THE STORM INTENSIFIED VERY RAPIDLY IN 4 MILES OR AROUND 10 MINUTES PRODUCING EF4 DAMAGE BEFORE REACHING INTERSTATE 44. NUMEROUS INDICATIONS OF EF4 DAMAGE WITH SOME AREAS NOW DETERMINED AT EF5 DAMAGE...THE HIGHEST CATEGORY ON THE EF SCALE...WITH OVER 200 MPH WINDS.
That 200-210 mph wind speed estimate is still far lower than the 1999 Oklahoma Bridge Creek-Moore tornado which had winds measured at 301mph:
…a Doppler On Wheels (DOW: Wurman et al. 1997, Wurman 2001) mobile Doppler weather radar detected winds of 301 mph (484 km/h), ±20 mph inside the tornado at a height of 32 m AGL (Wurman et al. 2007)
Here is what the storms looked like from satellite:
![1350v1_20130521-Moore-GOES[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/1350v1_20130521-moore-goes1.png?quality=75)
Note the collision of a strong cold and dry air mass with a warm moist air mass was the trigger for this event, “global warming” had nothing to do with it.
![1349v1_20130520-AirTemp[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/1349v1_20130520-airtemp1.png?quality=75)
All imagery from NOAA Environmental Visualization Lab.
@izen – your comments are sound, however I have strong doubts that AGW is much affecting tornados in their nature, timing, or extent. We obviously cannot point at single tornado occurences, because that is arguing from anecdote, not data.
I did my own little study last year, multiplying track length by track width by EF rating derived windspeed, some conversion constants, all to arrive at an estimate of yearly tornado energy in the US. My number did not have a strong trend. So even with better reporting of small tornados (a confounding factor in any analysis), it does not seem that this very specific and local type of extreme weather is tracking AGW in energy.
Because of AGW, the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the planet. Broadly speaking, differences between cold air temperatures and warm air temperatures are growing smaller. So to the extent that the diferences in warm and cold air masses drive tonado formation, you might argue that AGW should diminish the energy available for tornados to form.
I did not study location. You could argue that expanding tropical zones should push the meeting point of warm and cold air northwards over the years. I also did not study time of year, and you could look for an effect there as well.
Everyone seems to be gobbling up that story about the old lady and her dog. That is until people start to notice they really didnt help that lady at all. It seemed far more important to keep the camera rolling and to WATCH the old lady free her dog than to help her. Also, the reporter’s reaction to seeing a dog seemed a little less than genuine.
Why is that? First, you have to consider the source. This story, while repeated by every media outlet known to mankind, originated with CBS. Why didn’t they put down the damned camera and help that old lady (the right thing to do for those of you who have trouble following this)? Consider the possibility the dog was planted by the crew to manufacture a “heart-warming story” for all of us to share on Facebook. Consider the fact neither the reporter or camera operator offered any kind of assistance. The reporter did swap the microphone from one hand to the other and offered a very small hand, but it didn’t amount to anything. That old lady basically uncovered the dog herself, while asking for help that was not given.
Why help out an old lady when it’s better to keep the camera rolling? Perhaps, since they planted the dog, they already knew the dog was fine. Why would CBS (or the media in general) pull a stunt like that? To find that answer, one only has to look at the ratings…… Dead Last!
Case Closed – Dry your eyes. This story is fake.
Since 2010 there have been 9 tornadoes within 10-15 miles of my location in Central Oklahoma, including an EF1 within a mile, 4 EF4s and now an EF5. It’s just the weather odds for this part of the country evening out from so many years without threats.
Implying that tornado frequencies have anything to do with global climate shows the ignorance and agenda of those who would imply such a connection.
@- Ken Loffer
“Implying that tornado frequencies have anything to do with global climate shows the ignorance and agenda of those who would imply such a connection.”
Implying that tornado frequencies have NOTHING to do with the global climate is equally asinine.
The influence may be to increase or decrease incidence and/or magnitude by small or large amounts.
The least credible possibility is that the large changes in the climate over the last few decades have ZERO effect on tornado incidence and severity.
@izen: Your “… large changes in the climate over the last few decades:” is somewhat revealing.
Hurricane frequency and strength, alleged by some in the media, to have increased in recent years has been debunked by experts such as R.Pielke, Jr. If you knew ANYTHING about tornadoes, you would know that connecting them to short range changes in world climate is even more unprovable. The increase in total tornado frequency is due to much higher detection rates in recent years, especially of weaker (E)F1 and (E)F2 twisters. Strong, and thus more readily observable, tornado frequencies have been flat.
IPCC( 2.7.3.4 para 4)
http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/wg1/092.htm
Perhaps my comment should, more accurately, have read : “AT PRESENT , implying that tornado frequencies have anything to do with global climate CHANGE shows the ignorance and agenda of those who would imply such a connection”., but you seem to have assumed that amended wording heart anyway,
Tornadoes are complex meso-scale events, still not fully understood. Don’t look look for climate models which have been weak at predicting regional weather, in general, to have much of significance to say about tornadoes any time soon.
Finally, and with a little bit of tongue in cheek, if you are one of Al Gore’s volunteers sent out to take on the skeptics, good luck!
izen says:
May 22, 2013 at 4:23 am
It seems even less credible to claim a possible effect from the unproven conjecture of AGW.