PSA: Severe eather season has officially started

Jan 11, 2011
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Tulsa, OK
www.justicebigler.com
Had a near miss tonight.

Line of tornadic storms came right up I-44 as usual tonight. It already had a history of producing tornadoes by the time it go to downtown Tulsa, and the building was right in the middle of the storm track.

I was watching the radar, listening to the Skywarn net and watching the skies when the sirens went off. We had a whole ballet company on stage doing warms up. We made the call and got everyone off the stage and out of the house and down to the dressing room level. Held everyone about 45 minutes and pissed off the ballet company. Rehearsal started about 45 minutes late.

We had something come through...Fucking high winds, probably at least 90mph straight line winds, and a rotating wall cloud right over the building. A line of buildings about two blocks north of us had roofs and windows blown out. A building right down the street from us had a bunch of construction supplies pick up off the roof and dropped on the sidewalk. Bunch of car windows shattered by hail and roofing gravel.

You NEED to keep up to date on the severe weather outlook from the Storm Prediction Center in Norman: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/ They issue a 7 day out look for the whole country and will identify the types of severe weather they are predicting and the general area. Details in their text products.

Also, get a weather radar app for your phone or tablet. Radar Scope for iProducts and Pykl3 Radar for Android.

And if you don't have a ham radio and license; get a hand held weather radio, which will keep you up to date on the severe weather situation anywhere in the country.
 
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Re: PSA: Severe eather season has officially started

And if you don't have a ham radio and license; get a hand held weather radio, which will keep you up to date on the severe weather situation anywhere in the country.

Amateur radio licenses aren't hard to get these days, and the radios can also be head for relatively short money, for those that want to go that route. But the advice on a weather radio is spot on, and having one available is a very good idea even if you do have an amateur radio license.
 
Re: PSA: Severe eather season has officially started

Amateur radio licenses aren't hard to get these days, and the radios can also be head for relatively short money, for those that want to go that route. But the advice on a weather radio is spot on, and having one available is a very good idea even if you do have an amateur radio license.
While I will always encourage everyone who is interested in learning about ham radio to study and get licensed; ham radio is about more than just listening to the severe weather nets. Yes, it has a public safety and emergency response component, and many people get into it for those reasons. It really is about learning about and experimenting with radio technology in general. And as live sound guys, we have a vested interest in becoming much more familiar with radios, antennas, RF propagation etc...

The NOAA weather radios will give you the exact text of the NWS warnings as well as the type of the hazard occurring, the speed and direction it is moving, and what precautions to take. The Skywarn nets tend to get really confusing and jumbled up with erroneous, imprecise and exaggerated reports by living room storm chaser and whackers who just like to hear themselves talk on the radio. Plus the NOAA weather radios can be purchases for $20-$30 at any Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy etc...