3 year Anniversary of Deadly Tornado (Long)

[Josh]

Yesterday was the 3-year anniversary of the destructive EF-3 nighttime tornado that struck Westminster, TX and killed 3 people. I wanted to share my story with you about this storm. The path of this tornado was less than half a mile from our house, and that's as close as I ever want to get to a tornado. Warning: It's a long story, and if you're looking for a really exciting direct tornado encounter you might want to just skip it altogether - I didn't even see the damn thing, but still I get chills when I think about that day and every detail of May 9, 2006 is engraved in my memory.

When I left the house to go to work at 5:00 AM I knew something was weird the moment I stepped out the front door. The air was OPPRESSIVE... hot and extremely humid which was unusual that early in the morning. Even with it being so warm, the car was covered with condensation - the dewpoint was way up in the 70's. I went to work and had a very busy day... didn't go outside or even look out the window all day. However I was keeping track of the weather via the computer since there was a slight risk of severe storms. All day long there was no storm development, since the atmosphere was strongly "capped". With mostly clear skies all day, temps pushed into the upper 90's and close to 100 degrees. The strong heating, gulf moisture, and cap pushed surface-based CAPE values well over 5,000 J/Kg which is indicative of EXTREME instability.... the atmosphere over north Texas was a powder keg waiting to explode. The only problem was that there was nothing (cold front, dryline, outflow boundary or any other sort of surface feature) to set the bomb off... so the timer kept ticking and the fuse kept smoldering.

When I left work around 5 PM, the air outside could almost knock you over. It was very hot, but the most agonizing thing was the humidity. Talk about air you could "cut with a knife", it was so thick it was almost difficult to breathe. Anyway, driving home there was just 1 small puffy cumulus cloud in the western sky - nothing else. After dinner I checked the weather again and decided it was going to be a dud, that there really weren't going to be any storms at all. How wrong I was. I was very tired, and went to bed early around 9 PM. As I went to sleep, I was unaware that a monstrously huge supercell thunderstorm was about to erupt directly over northern Collin County.

At about 10:15 PM my wife woke me up, she said: "Josh! Come watch the news! There's a tornado warning!" I got up, but wasn't oo concerned: My wife always has a tendency to overreact to anything having to do with tornadoes. This is understandable, though, since she witnessed first-hand the terrible 1999 F-5 tornado in Moore, OK - it destroyed the gas station across the street from the grocery store where she was working, and she heard it all from the walk-in freezer where the employees and customers were taking cover. So I go out to the living room and stare at the TV with blurry eyes... Troy Dungan (now retired), the Channel 8 weather-nerd with his trademark bow tie, was showing the storm-tracker doppler radar and reading off a list of roads that the tornado would pass close to. When he said "County Road 532 at about 10:30 PM" my jaw dropped... that was our street! And it's a small section of roadway, with only 3 houses on it.

At this point I must mention that our house was a mobile home. Not some 1950's Airstream bread-loaf trailer, mind you... it was a very nice, tied-down, well-built Palm Harbor doublewide on a concrete foundation. Nevertheless it was still a MOBILE HOME and not someplace I wanted to do battle with a tornado. We did not have a storm shelter. We had always talked about getting one, but they were expensive ($2-3k) so it was always something we would do "later".

I made a split-second decision. I told my wife: "Get the baby, we're leaving". We put our sleeping daughter, who was 7 months old at the time, in her infant carrier and headed out the door to the car. It was just starting to hail (marble- to quarter-sized) when we left. I made the decision to drive south, since that was the direction of the main highway and from glancing at the radar we were near the southern end of the storm so that way we would be out quicker. There was no traffic, and I was pushing 70 mph on the road into Westminster, not wanting to go too much faster since it was still raining heavily with some hail. When we got onto Hwy. 121 in Westminster the rain quit, and we high-tailed it southwest. I kept the radio on an AM talk station, and they said "spotters confirm a large tornado on the ground between Anna and Westminster". We stopped in the town of Melissa, and sat in a gas station parking lot listening to the radio and watching the lightning. The lightning was amazing, it was so constant with so many flashes that it hurt your eyes to look in the direction of the storm. Our daughter slept through the whole thing!

After about 30 minutes, we decided to drive back, but decided to go the "back way" up Hwy. 5 through Anna and Van Alstyne, since on the radio they said there was "heavy damage in the town of Westminster" and we didn't want to get stuck by downed trees or police blockades. When we arrived home, everything was fine: no damage to the house, no tree branches down, nothing. We went to bed, knowing it had been a close call, since all night long we heard helicopters and ambulance sirens. I didn't realize how close until the next day, and not even in the morning.

In the morning I went to work, and on the road to Westminster there was a lot of activity on the left, but I couldn't see what was going on because it was dark, and there was a long line of power company trucks along the side of the road, putting power lines back up blocking the view. It wasn't until I was driving home from work, in full daylight, that I could appreciate the damage.

There had been two new homes along that stretch of road, both very large and expensive custom-built homes. Both houses were GONE. The only thing left was the concrete foundation slabs, with a few broken-off pipes. The remnants of the houses, boards, bricks, shingles, furniture, everything... were strewn all over acres and acres of ground behind them. There was part of a mangled pick-up truck that was dragged in crazy loops across a field (leaving tire tracks) and thrown against a tree. The path of the tornado was perfectly visible, churned brown and debris-laden through the green fields. There was a line of trees to the west of the road, with a flattened section where the twister came through. And like I said earlier, this was about half a mile from our house.

The saddest part of all was that three people lost their lives on the next road over from us. There was an elderly couple who were asleep in their mobile home... They never got warning of the storm, and were killed when their home was destroyed by the winds. There was also a teenage boy in a nearby home - the family was trying to take cover under the stairs, but there was not quite enough room for everybody - the boy was just outside the door frame and died when a brick chimney collapsed on him. The destruction was terrible, and there were some bizarre things that you sometimes get with tornadoes. For example, one house was completely destroyed, but the tornado left the kitchen table and chairs standing undisturbed! The next day I was taking with our neighbor who lived across the street. He arrived home just before the storm and was not aware it was coming. He heard a strange noise, and went outside. He said you could hear it and see it as it moved though the fields just south of our road.

What really freaked me out about the whole thing was that, by making the decision to drive south the way I did, we actually drove ACROSS the eventual path of the tornado! It was still about 15 minutes before it came, but still in retrospect it scares the heck out of me. It is true that driving south got us completely out of the storm quicker, but it also took us through the most dangerous part, since tornadoes usually occur on the southwestern flank. Anyway, like I said before this day made a big impression on me and still gives me a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach when I think back on it. It no doubt played a large part in our decision the following year to sell that house and land, and buy a brick-and-mortar house in a city that has a good tornado-warning siren system.

There are many good internet sites with photos of the tornado and resulting damage. I think some of the best photos of the tornado itself are on this site: http://cycloneroad.com/2006may9.htm, and some good damage photos are on this site: http://www.pbase.com/ethanbird/westminster_tx_tornado. Also, here's a map of the tornado path: http://www.co.collin.tx.us/gis_rural_ad ... oSCAUG.pdf

[owensri]

Wow, scary story...

You should, if you haven't already...invest in a NOAA Weather Radio. I can't live without one...

[Smjh1979]

Yes, especially in areas that are prone to Tornadoes, a weather radio could sure help out.

Wal-Mart in Prescott, AZ sells weather radios from Midland with S.A.M.E. technology for only $30.

I got my first weather radio back in 1996, just after NOAA Weather Radio expanded from 3 to 7 channels. We didn't have weather radio back in 1996, because a transmitter wasn't built yet, but after 1996, the transmitter was built, I got my first weather radio (S.A.M.E. technology wasn't around back then), but I kept that thing on all the time during the Summer Monsoon.

Now, about 5 weather radios later, I still drag the radio out every summer, and keep it going until the Summer Monsoon is over, and then it gets put away until next summer. I put it away, because the rest of the year is mostly boring for severe weather. I don't even keep it out during the winter in case of flash flood warnings, mostly because it's desert out here.

My weather radios only get action about 3-4 months out of the year, but believe it or not, it's my favorite time of the year!

Speaking of the Summer monsoon, trends are indicating that this upcoming season could be quite a bit wetter than normal, and may start early. When June 1 comes around, I'll build a more elaborate monsoon section for those who are new to the site, and the state (namely illinoistrains) and see if the trend for a wet Summer Monsoon is still scheduled to happen.

[Josh]

Wow, scary story...

You should, if you haven't already...invest in a NOAA Weather Radio. I can't live without one...

We've always had a NOAA weather radio, but rarely use it for several reasons:

1. I like to get my weather info on the internet, directly from the NWS Fort Worth office (http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/) and the SPC (http://www.spc.noaa.gov/) in Norman, OK. Their websites offer a lot more detailed information than what is broadcast on the weather radio. I especially like the convective outlooks, mesoscale discussions, and mesoanalysis pages on the SPC site.

2. I almost never use the weather radio in "alert mode", either. The one we have does let you choose your county/location code, but does NOT let you choose what alerts cause the alarm to sound. I don't like to be woken up in the middle of the night by that alarm , only to find out that it's for a Flash Flood Watch or a Severe Thunderstorm Watch ! Some newer models let you choose what alerts cause the alarm to sound. If I had one of the newer models that allows you to program it so that it ONLY sounds the alarm for Tornado Warnings, then I would leave it on all the time.

[Smjh1979]

Both models I have (including the one owensri has), have the ability to silence certain warnings and watches. They are both from Radio Shack. They are a little more expensive though.

I'm not sure about the Midland model I saw in Wal-Mart though...

Anyways, it's the Midland WR-100:

I also like using the internet too. I check the SPC every day for severe weather in Arizona, and quite often, Arizona does get slight risks for severe weather. The last tornado watch to be issued for Arizona was back in 1997, and it was for the far East-Central part of the state.

[owensri]

Wow, scary story...

You should, if you haven't already...invest in a NOAA Weather Radio. I can't live without one...

We've always had a NOAA weather radio, but rarely use it for several reasons:

1. I like to get my weather info on the internet, directly from the NWS Fort Worth office (http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/) and the SPC (http://www.spc.noaa.gov/) in Norman, OK. Their websites offer a lot more detailed information than what is broadcast on the weather radio. I especially like the convective outlooks, mesoscale discussions, and mesoanalysis pages on the SPC site.

2. I almost never use the weather radio in "alert mode", either. The one we have does let you choose your county/location code, but does NOT let you choose what alerts cause the alarm to sound. I don't like to be woken up in the middle of the night by that alarm , only to find out that it's for a Flash Flood Watch or a Severe Thunderstorm Watch ! Some newer models let you choose what alerts cause the alarm to sound. If I had one of the newer models that allows you to program it so that it ONLY sounds the alarm for Tornado Warnings, then I would leave it on all the time.

Yeah, I have the model that lets you select to opt out on flood alerts...severe thunderstorm watches...and stuff that isn't an immediate concern. It's the Model 12-250 from Radio Shack...made in the late 90's. It's still my favorite one out there:

[Smjh1979]

Yep, I have that exact same model, on sale on my "Store" for $20.00.

I have it priced low like that because my grandmother (who was alive at the time) accidentally damaged the antenna. It still works, but cannot be "pulled up all the way". If you're close to a transmitter, then there'll be no problem, but if there is a problem, then maybe an external antenna will help. I only live 5 miles from the transmitter, so there's no quality problems with any of my two radios.

My other radio is the 12-261:

Both the 12-250 and 12-261 aren't available for purchase anymore, but there are newer models out there that should continue the trend of silencing whatever warnings you don't want to hear.

The 12-262 does have the ability to turn off certain watches and warnings, although quite a number of them are kept on, and it's $60.00 at Radio Shack.

Also, the Midland weather radio I mentioned earlier does not have the ability to silence certain warnings, so that wouldn't probably be a good one for your needs Josh.

[illinoistrains]

Mike, i heard this is going to be a really bad year for wildfires, which would make sense beacuse all the rain will make a lot of stuff to burn.

Once again i will be going back to Illinois this summer so i will miss the monsoon in AZ.
Last year (5-30-08) a tornado was spotted in Illinois where i was, i remember the tornado siren went off most of the evening. here is a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKRdlawK ... re=related
and a picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jludin/253 ... stormgroup

[Smjh1979]

Too bad. The Summer Monsoon is a bit more severe down in Phoenix than up here in the Prescott area. Dust storms (haboobs), flash flooding make the Phoenix area a lot more interesting.

As for Weather Radios, I checked other Midland Weather Radios, and they don't have the option to silence certain watches and warnings either.

I personally don't care what sounds and doesn't, because of the lack of weather, and also what the NWS near Bellemont, AZ doesn't do. It was on the old forum, and I'll have to find the necessary links again, and make another topic about that.

Kind of like bells, I like hearing the weather radio alert sound for any type of warning, watch, or statement, although not for more than 5 seconds, unlike a bell. Although that's way different out here, due to severe weather being mostly limited to hail and winds, unlike Tornadoes out there. Tornado risks are only at about 2% here during the summer, instead of 30% out there.

Note: Haboobs are spelled correct. Check online if you want to know more.

[cabman701]

Well, since we are on the subject of tornado's and anniversaries... March 12th was the 3 year anniversary of some of the worst weather I have seen in my area. 2 tornado's hit our town:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/?n=spi-tornado

The 2nd tornado went almost straight through the bus barn where I work, made a mess of things. 1 of our buses got flipped on it's side... another was totalled from the high wind and debris hitting it. Out of our fleet of 160 buses, only about 5 of them did not have some sort of damage to them. The rest had broken windows, mirrors, stop arms, crossing arms (the yellow arm in the front that comes out). It was quite a scene.

Oh yeah... forgot to mention... a week later, it snowed!