A Meteorology Success Story!

We had a major tornado pass through the densely populated area of southeast and east Houston with other storms east into the Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange area. Later, tornadoes developed in Louisiana. 

As of 11:22pm there has not been a single fatality. That is an amazing scientific accomplishment and all of the meteorologists involved: NWS (especially the Storm Prediction Center), broadcast and commercial meteorology should be praised!

There is one story I wish to tell. Take a look at the photo below. 

Those railroad hopper cars were blown over by the Houston Tornado. Because the railroad got advance notice of the tornado, the train was stopped when the tornado hit (often, trains are too large a target to get out of the way). You can see that the track is in pristine condition. 

If the train had been moving, it would have torn the cars apart, tornado apart the track and, possibly, put cars or contents in the water (foreground). That would have been far more expensive to the railroad and far more difficult to clean up than a simple blowover. 

That is the type of work commercial weather companies do in tornado situations.