Tornado alerts to Texas and Oklahoma

It's 11 a.m. and Butrflynet is just taking Dolly and Madison doggies to the dog park while the wind is not so strong. It's cold, but I hope fierce wind doesn't sneak up on them.

BBB

Wishing for calm winds and peace over the land once again.

5 Dead After Tornadoes Swirl Through Midwest And Plains
by Dana Farrington - NPR
April 15, 2012

A tornado forms and touches down north of Soloman, Kan., Saturday.

The midsection of the U.S. was wracked by storms and tornadoes overnight, with the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center forecasting more severe weather to come. Five deaths have been confirmed in northwest Oklahoma, the state's Department of Emergency Management tells NPR.

Storms were reported in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Oklahoma, according to The Associated Press. There have been more than 100 reports of unconfirmed tornadoes, Brian Thompson of Kansas Public Radio tells our Newscast unit.

"Storms were erupting faster than spotters could tally them all," the AP says.

The town of Thurman, Iowa, suffered major damage, the AP reports. Fremont County Emergency Management director Mike Crecelius tells the AP about 75 percent of the town was destroyed, though there were no reports of injuries or death.

KSN in Kansas reports at least one building at the Spirit AeroSystems plant in Wichita collapsed, and there is hangar damage at McConnell Air Force Base.

The base moved 16 aerial refueling tankers in anticipation of the storm, J. Schafer of Kansas Public Radio tells our Newscast unit. He says the multimillion-dollar airplanes were relocated to North Dakota.
The darkest area is at the highest risk of severe weather, including tornadoes.

Storm Prediction Center

The darkest area is at the highest risk of severe weather, including tornadoes.

Update at 5:35 a.m. ET. NPR Confirmation:

The Medical Examiner's Office confirms that there have been five fatalities in Woodward, according to Keli Cain of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. Cain tells our Newscast unit that the storms are still moving through the state.

"The storms have weakened, so they're not posing the same threat that they were up in the Woodward area," she says.

Cain says assessment of the damage is ongoing.

Update at 5:10 a.m. ET. Death Toll Rises:

News9, AP and The New York Times are now saying five people have been confirmed dead in Oklahoma.

"We're hearing of what sounds to be significant damage in the area," spokeswoman Keli Cain for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management told The New York Times. "We have injuries and quite a bit of damage to homes and buildings."

Update at 4:12 a.m. ET. Reports Of Fatalities In Okla.:

There are reports of at least two deaths in Oklahoma. The AP says authorities confirm two people died after a reported tornado in Woodward, Okla. The Woodward County Sheriff's Department also confirmed two deaths with MSNBC.

News9 in Oklahoma reports four fatalities after a tornado hit Woodward, citing Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

The mayor of Woodward, Roscoe Hill, told the AP that sirens were apparently not working when the tornado hit, though they had been working for storms Saturday.

PHOTOS AND MAPS:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/04/15/150656022/tornadoes-storms-swirl-through-midwest-and-plains

We're fine, in case anyone was wondering. Storms didn't hit Tulsa until about 5 a.m., no tornados near us. I was so glad to read that Rocky and his gram missed all the excitement!

Death Toll Reaches Six In Oklahoma Tornado
April 16, 2012
by Scott Neuman - NPR

Emergency management officials in Oklahoma confirmed Monday that the number of dead had reached six for a single twister there that packed winds of 136-165 mph, according to forecasters.

Kurt Gwartney from NPR member station KGOU says officials were surveying the damage that occurred from some 120 storms over the week. The results of that survey could prompt federal assistance.

Gwartney reports:

Most of the storms raked harmlessly across isolated stretches of rural Kansas. But one 140 miles northwest of Oklahoma City killed six people in the town of Woodward, and destroyed more than 100 homes and businesses.

Nearly 30 people were hurt in the storms.

The Associated Press reports "multiple outbreaks of severe weather most of Sunday from Kansas to Minnesota, were part of an exceptionally strong system tracked by the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma."

The AP says in Woodward, which was the target for the deadly storm, the town's 20 outdoor tornado warning sirens were knocked out by a lightening strike:

In the end, only the Woodward tornado proved fatal. While it's unknown whether the disabled sirens contributed to the toll in Woodward, residents and officials in hard-hit areas of Kansas, Iowa and elsewhere credited days of urgent warnings from forecasters for saving lives.

UPDATE at 11:15a.m. EST:

Greg Carbin, a meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center, tells NPR that the ability to put out such an advanced notice was due to a combination of factors, but primarily because the storm system's pattern was "well known as one that generates tornado activity."

Computer modeling was a big help too, Carbin says.

The weekend tornadoes in Oklahoma and other parts of the Midwest were easier to predict than the one that devastated Joplin, Missouri, last May, killing 160 people. Six days ahead of the Joplin event, forecasters were pretty sure things would be bad, but because of the nature of that system, were unable to pinpoint where exactly the tornadoes would strike, Carbin says.

I was glad to read on Facebook that you were missing in action due to a Spring Gardener's Syndrome (sore body) and not storm woes.

I've been doing a similar battle with weeds in the gardens around here so it is taking me awhile to get caught up on people.