I just wanted to let you all know that we will once again face the threat of an isolated strong to severe storm for our Friday. Like today, most of us won’t see a thing, but the ones that do get a storm could be dealing with a potent storm. Thankfully, tonight’s weather is looking nice and quiet.
I drove out to Pleasant Hill this evening and saw the many downed trees. Then, there was the school. The NWS has determined that an EF-0 tornado impacted that area this evening. Tornadoes are no good but unwarned ones are even worse. As I said in the last post, that radar beam doesn’t see everything and the NWS misses one from time to time, especially the “weaker” ones. We’re also in the unfortunate position of being at such a distance from the radar site that the radar beam is awfully high up by the time it gets here.
I had someone ask why I didn’t have a blog update the moment the damage occurred in Pleasant Hill. I’m not sure how I could have known that in time. In fact, I was in meetings at that time and never got a single notification on my phone. I was even watching radar for most of the afternoon, especially between meetings. But, there was no notification to get because those come from the NWS. They alone issue warnings. They do an awesome job, by the way, but they’re like the rest of us and can’t see everything. By the time the warning came the tornado had lifted.
This is a good opportunity for me to stress that you should never rely on my blog for warnings. In fact, I can’t afford the liability insurance that service would require. If I say I give warnings and then I miss one, you could sue me. It’s happened to other services. Would I lose the lawsuit? Probably not, but I’d still be out a whole heap of time, trouble and expense in defense fees.
I update the blog every single day. In this morning’s blog, I specifically mentioned isolated strong to severe storms. I even said there was a 2% chance for a tornado and while that chance was low, it was not zero. That one storm in your neighborhood is all that matters when it all comes down to it.
Thank God no one was seriously hurt today. With the impact to the school, we all know this could have been worse.
I love my blog and I love working on it. I am not paid to do this. I just do it because I love it.
I guess my advice to any of us is just be weather aware with any storm this time of year. March, April, and May can be rough months for us and this year is proving to be no exception.
I’ll keep an eye on storm chances for tomorrow and I’ll have a full blog update in the morning! You all have a nice night!
Thank you so much Mark for all that you invest to your weather blog. I have learned a lot in just the few weeks I’ve subscribed, and I truly appreciate all the time you spend in giving us weather information. May God continually bless you with His Shalom no matter what may come. Grace grace!
Mark you do a great job! We appreciate everything you do!
Your so right . The sun was shining and 5 mins later it started raining real hard then hailing for like 10 mins then stopped the tornado just dropped out of no where. Thank God the officier working traffic at the school seen it coming and acted fast getting children and teachers inside .There was no warning. Thank you for all you do. God Bless.
We appreciate your blogs very much and pray nothing will cause you to stop posting.
Thank you for always giving your best effort and knowledge to keep us aware and safe. I look forward to reading your weather blogs. Hopefully, others do understand that every storm cannot be predicated, especially on the plateau.
We love your guidance and feel blessed to have your posts, Thank you.
Thank you for the work you put into your blog.
You are very gracious and giving to do this for free just to help others.
May God bless you the way you are blessing others.
Mark, thank you these updates and the thorough information you provide. I understand you provide these services free to Cumberland County and others. We are blessed to have you. Others may want to consider apps that work in tandem with you service – RadarScope (favorite), Wunderground, Weather Bug, Dark Sky, AccuWeather, My Radar (favorite), and the Tornado app by the Red Cross.
For the record, I have all of the above apps and I did not receive any warnings at all yesterday until the event was over.
Thanks again for what you do for all of us!!
You are doing an awesome job Mark, never doubt that!! We (99%) appreciate ALL that you do. Of course there will always be those that want you to have a crystal ball & direct line to God!!! But in he end you are the helpful neighbor/family member who tries to keep us all safe. THANK YOU!
Hi Mark,
The 04/08 blog sounds like you may have received some angry email about the “sneaker” tornado last evening. On behalf of all the users who greatly appreciate the service you provide … Thank you, Thank you, and again, Thank you! I manage a timber frame operation in Crossville and several of our employees are impressed with your updates and have subscribed after seeing posts on my phone.
My wife and I moved from Oregon a couple of years ago and arrived completely unfamiliar with tornado protocol. Thanks for all the information you provide … we follow your updates closely and remain committed to keeping our employees safe.
Thank you!
Thank you so much and thank you for following along! I love what I do and I hope it shows. Now, let’s just make sure we don’t get any more of those sneaky tornadoes! ha