Unfortunately, Meteorologists' Jobs Are Not Over When the Tornadoes Lift

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This photo is from the NWS office in Ft. Worth before they began their terribly grim job of surveying the numerous tornado tracks in the east part of the Metroplex and in northeast Texas.
Those of us who have performed those surveys know it is extremely difficult work and you see things you wish you could forget you have seen.

Meteorologists have had an incredibly stressful Christmas week. Up until Wednesday, only ten people had lost their lives in tornadoes in 2015. Below are the tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings since. It does not include winter storm warnings.
Weathermatrix
Since Wednesday, the death toll it is at least 28 in spite of excellent warnings. Dallas (see below) was being singled out as threatened more than ten hours before the tornadoes occurred.
My spell checker kept changing Rowlett to roulette. In my haste to get the warnings out, I  sometimes didn't get the entire word changed. 
It is likely the death toll was low given nighttime tornadoes but we won't know what until the surveys are completed and the experts have reviewed the results. Regardless, the winter storm plus day after day of major tornadoes during the holidays stress meteorologists. If you know a meteorologist in the central United States, please give him or her a pat on the back!

Comments

  1. Chuck DoswellDecember 27, 2015 at 2:24 PM

    I'm in complete agreement with this message. They deserve our respect.

    ReplyDelete
  2. John MonteverdiDecember 27, 2015 at 2:44 PM

    I like this posting. Actually, 28 fatalities in the highly populated areas in which these tornadoes occurred is absolute blessing. This was a catastrophe in the making....yet many lives were saved by timely warnings and advanced information during the day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownDecember 27, 2015 at 3:11 PM

    Well done and thank you for your efforts. Perhaps you could add more stress to your workload trying to spread your good work ethics,enthusiasm and professionalism to the meteorologists in Australia. Nevertheless, a job well done!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mike SmithDecember 27, 2015 at 6:05 PM

    I'm sure, Jimmy, the Australia meteorologists are just as dedicated. However, I have no first-hand experience as a basis for comments.

    ReplyDelete

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