News DetailVideo of Eagle Pass Tornado Damage
Posted At: April 25, 2007 @ 3:29 PM
Posted By: Reed Timmer
Related Categories: Tornadoes
Here is a video I found of the damage from the Eagle Pass, TX tornado. The damage appears to be at least EF-2, maybe as high as EF-3. The San Antonio NWS office supposedly issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Maverick County, but mentioned a tornado was likely occurring over Mexico. However, the tornado warning was not issued until 5-10 minutes before the tornado hit Eagle Pass. This could give rise to significant controversy in the coming days. It looks like the San Antonio NWS may have dropped the ball....BIG TIME!
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Wow what a tragedy!
How absolutely ridiculous of the NWS.
I was tracking that cell when it was WSW of Del Rio/Eagle Pass....
I'm an amateur but I could clear see just on radar it was spinning and then storm relative velocity showed very strong rotation.
Also if the upper level support had punched east instead of getting somewhat hung up over the Colorado/Kansas border we probably would of seen a much larger outbreak yesterday with long-track large tornadoes likely.
So in a way I suppose we got very lucky.
Today I spoke with the national weather service's director and he told me that they are going to do something with tornado warning sirens, because they released the warning but it was issued just for radio, no one knew about this so that became a tragedy.
Observatory of Piedras Negras reported an 113 mph gust during the storm.
But the tornado was clasified as an EF-3
Man thats really said knowing the NWS may have caused those deaths from not warning those people. That cant happen when your supposed to save peoples lives from storms like that even if they dont have alarms they could have done something. lets just pray they dont find more bodies cause thats very disturbing.
Right now loisiana looks like its getting hit the hardest by severe weather Baton Rouge will be gettin hit real hard very soon and possible twister may form. We will see.
Reed.
According to a meteorologist:
First a tornado EF-4 formed south the corner and then struck Piedras Negras, then another tornado formed and touched down in Eagle Pass.
So...there were 2 tornadoes.
tragic..u know whats kind of wierd is that i guessed that the sirens wouldnt go off for a different reason..and im only 13 almost 13 years old and i could see a classic hook on radar with some big rotatiom..
i would like some info on how to tell if tornadoes are forming on radar since im a rookie at this stuff..someday i hope to be a tornado chaser. thnx :)
******13 almost 14******
not 13 almost 13 sorry.
Hey Matt... Unfortunately, tornadoes are too small in size to be resolved entirely by radar. Right now, we can only detect the presence of a meso with radar, which doesn't necessarily mean a tornado is on the ground, but does mean that a tornado is possible. The stronger the mesocyclone (stronger the couplet on radar - storm relative velocity), the greater the chances of a tornado.
Down the road, we plan on implementing a weather education section on TornadoVideos.net, and we'll create tutorials that will help you learn about these features.
Two of the most useful products of wsr-88d radar are radar reflectivity and storm relative velocity. Reflectivity shows the spatial pattern of precipitation, hail, or other suspended particles large enough in size to reflect, and sr velocity shows the wind direction and speed relative to the radar beam and the storm motion. The hook echo is seen in reflectivity, and a couplet occurs when inbound velocities are located next to outbound velocities, indicating the presence of a mesocyclone.
Ger here, from NWS in central NY. Any chance that, in the future, you guys could add a "Babes of Weather" calendar section to this site? Like bikini-clad women all lubed up and posing within 500-1000 yards of major natural disasters? Getting a visit from Stephen McStiff just picturing it. askfjf298f2938jffzs;dkjfas90dfs8djf8as9p98faja9fj2983jf398fjawfijsoidfj
Reed, I think that weather education thing is a great idea. Also it was mentioned a few days/weeks ago that maybe y'all could take a webcam or something when you chase so that we could see it live (that's about as close to a storm chase I'll be able to get for a while, since I'm just 15). Both would be great.
I would also like to add that the Mavs just beat the crap out of the Warriors :)
the learning tutorials would be a great idea guys for people like myself and others.
Reed,
You had me at meso. ;-)
Yeah we have been planning on implementing several web cams in association with the tracker for a while now. We hoped to have it up and going by this year, and hopefully we will by may. We just want to have great quality video so you can see all the features. We plan to have high-speed internet soon, so we can have a continuously updated tracker and streaming high quality video.
We'll have the several cameras showing multiple angles from the car. Have patience, the grass soon becomes milk
Connor: The Mavs won't get past the Pistons anyway!
Reed I'll make you a deal. If the Pistons win, I will give you an amount of money, that you can decide, next time you're in the dallas area. Mavs win, and you take me chasing with you sometime. If they don't face each other then i guess we both get screwed :)
I must say some of the comments on here are are really funny. If you are wanting to learn, just search around. SPC has some good pages, plus some others out there. Most of all, just learn from Reed, he is definitely one of the best out there. Though I wouldnt advice getting close, but sometimes it happens. Going to spotter training is a good way to start, I went every year when I was in elementary and middle school. And watch a lot of the Weather Channel, though it is not near as good as it use to be.
Anyways will someone please remind me that it is not even May yet and we have had 3 High Risks. I have already seen over 20 tornadoes across 3 states (thats the low end count, could be higher). 2007 is unbelievable.
Reed, i'll in start getting ready for that chase you're gonna owe me. (i know this is probably never gonna happen, but hey, i can have fun in my little fantasy land)
Thats supposed to say "go start" not "in start". stupid cell phone
For now you can always goto www.severestudios.com during a chase as they HAVE streaming but the quality isn't there. I saw some impressive cells on the night reed intercepted those small twisters in kansas (or was it texas). Hopefully reed's coverage will be of quality. Even if it isn't it's still amazing to think how far technology has come!
lol sorry Reed but the Mavs will win it all this year.. but back to weather i know of some good learning sites to help people who want to learn more about storms cloud formations and such and to the video streaming reed that would be awsome.
Connor, that works for me. Once we find out they're facing off we'll better define the terms. TV.net is rapidly morphing into a sports gambling website!
Would you lost really take a 15 year old chasing if you lost?
Damn cell phone. ignore the first "lost" in that last post
Connor and Reed, you both are off the hook because neither of your teams are going to win. You can bet the Cavs are going to win it all. And if that happens, Reed, you can take Connor chasing anyway and I'll come and just sit in the back seat and drink beer. I will buy the gas though to be fair.
Chad! hillarious. We actually have a portable cooler now for collecting hail stones...it hooks up to the cigarette lighter. You can change the setting to refrigeration mode. This would have been perfect for the Louisiana chase.
Looks like things are starting to fire up again (indiana)
Sitting here in Dayton, OH working. Does anyone have any models up on the severe weather getting ready to impact SW Ohio?? Any info. would be good. I really do not think we are going to have a tornado event...but there was a TW near Richmond, IN a half hour ago..
que gacho que estoy aqui en eagle pass
nambre,cayate,chut up,be quite que gacho me tumbo mi pimp crib
I told you reed there was a tornado warning for mexico
taxes border!
Hi guys. I am not really sure why saying the National Weather Service didn't provide warning. There was a Tornado Warning in effect 15 minutes before the storm hit Eagle Pass, TX. EWX also followed best practices by issuing a SVR well in advance to keep the tornado warning lead time from going into the 30-60 minute time frame which is shown to actually reduce effectiveness, because folks get bored waiting on the storm. The local office of emergency management either made errors or experienced technical problems. Nothing the NWS can do about that. I understand the frustration though, I HATE seeing anyone killed by weather this day in age.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
618 PM CDT TUE APR 24 2007
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A
* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
MAVERICK COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF...EL INDIO...EAGLE PASS...
* UNTIL 715 PM CDT
* AT 617 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS HAVE
DETECTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING GOLF BALL SIZE
HAIL...AND DESTRUCTIVE WINDS IN EXCESS OF 70 MPH. THIS STORM WAS
LOCATED 11 MILES NORTHWEST OF EAGLE PASS...AND MOVING SOUTHEAST AT
20 MPH.
* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
EAGLE PASS BY 650 PM CDT...
THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS STORM...CAPABLE OF QUICKLY PRODUCING A
TORNADO.
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
651 PM CDT TUE APR 24 2007
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
MAVERICK COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF...EL INDIO...EAGLE PASS...
* UNTIL 745 PM CDT
* AT 647 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS HAVE
DETECTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO NEAR
EAGLE PASS...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.
* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
EL INDIO BY 725 PM CDT...