Sigh...I spoke too soon...More liberals wasting time & money...

[fuzzykitten99]

...on complaining about the speed or accuracy of the weather forecasting, calling for an investigation. RADAR is NOT a crystal ball, and nature is essentially unpredictable.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senator Mark Dayton wants an investigation into the National Weather Service's handling of this weekend's deadly tornado in Rogers.

A ten-year-old girl was killed in the storm late Saturday night. No tornado warning was issued before the tornado struck. Dayton says he'll ask the inspector general of the Commerce Department, which includes the Weather Service, to look into it.

Weather Service officials said earlier there was no time to issue a warning. They didn't immediately return calls seeking comment on Dayton's statement.

While a tornado watch had been in effect for several hours on Saturday night, officials said the twister didn't show up on radar before it touched down in Rogers, leaving a 10-year-old girl dead.

"It's very unsettling to us not to be perfect," said Craig Edwards, head of the National Weather Service office in Chanhassen. "We have a lot of angst in our office today."

According to the American Red Cross, the storm destroyed 17 homes, while 40 sustained major damage, 120 had some structural damage and 263 were still without electricity or water Monday. City officials estimated the damage at $15 million to $20 million, and said homeowners' insurance policies should cover most of the losses.

"In this particular storm, the circulation on radar, which is one of the pieces of the puzzle that we use to diagnose the need for a tornado warning, occurred simultaneous with the touchdown, meteorologist Rich Nystat said. "So one might say it was bad luck. This occurs in a minority of tornadoes, but it obviously occurred Saturday night."

The tornado traveled 8 miles, starting from 3.5 miles west of downtown Rogers to Dayton, then continued east across the Mississippi River to the city of Ramsey. It was rated F2, meaning it had winds of 113 to 157 mph, and was up to 100 yards wide.

The weather service typically upgrades a tornado watch to a warning after a spotter reports a funnel cloud, rotation shows up on radar, or winds reach 75 mph. All tornado warnings come with recommendations that counties activate their sirens in the affected area.

Nystat said the process usually works. He said there was no data in front of meteorologists that would have caused them to sound the alarm on Saturday night.

"I spent many hours this morning with some of my associates going over the radar imagery," Nystat said. "It's very difficult to justify a decision other than the one made Saturday night."

Still, Nystat said, the weather service will continue to review the case. ...

link for more of the story and video clips & photos: http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S18847.html?cat=1

Map of where the damage was vs. where I live:

 

[dmp]

What an ass-hat. :-/

 

[fuzzykitten99]

What an ass-hat. :-/

I think that everyone was relatively lucky up there, considering that this was at night, and funnel clouds are near impossible to see at night. It is pretty fortunate that only one person died (sad and tragic as it is) out of the thousands that live up here, especially without much warning of the storm, if any.