EVANSVILLE— Since an early morning tornado ripped a 41-mile long track across portions of Henderson County, Ky. and Vanderburgh, Warrick and Spencer counties in Indiana on Nov. 6, 2005, killing 25 people and injuring 200 others, more Tri-State residents are believed to be taking weather warnings much more seriously and are much better prepared for such an horrific event.
That was the conclusion of a team of experts from the National Weather Service’s Paducah, Ky., station and local TV meteorologists Jeff Lyons and Wayne Hart at a program commemorating the storm’s eighth anniversary Wednesday at the Evansville-Wabash Valley American Red Cross, at East Lloyd Expressway and Stockwell Road.
Rick Shanklin, warning coordination meteorologist in Paducah, said since the 2005 tornado, many more Tri-State residents have invested in weather radios and are taking storm warnings much more seriously.
The number of weather radio users here, since the storm, makes Evansville the largest area, per capita, in the nation using the devices, he said.
“It’s all because of what happened in 2005.”
Christine Wielgos, a meteorologist in Paducah, and Pat Spoden, science and operations officer at the station there, agreed.
They also praised social media, including Facebook and Twitter, and smartphones and smartpads and other technological devices for keeping residents better abreast of weather conditions than they were in 2005.
“The free flow of information now makes people (nonprofessional journalists and meteorologists) feel they have a stake in the reporting,” said WFIE’s Lyons, a 27-year veteran in meteorology.
“There is a great sense of looking out for one another,” he said.
Thirty-year veteran Hart said WEHT, where he is the chief meteorologist, now uses Dual Polarization Radar, which can reveal debris balls in the air, confirming an impending tornado as the real thing.
Some people mistakenly think tornadoes occur only in the spring or summer, but Spoden said “There is no non-tornado season. There is always a potential for a tornado year-round. People should be on their toes and prepared all year.”
According to Spoden, tornadoes move faster in the winter, at 50 to 60 miles per hour or at still more incredible speeds, compared with those in warm seasons when a storm’s speed is 25 miles per hour on average.
“People have less time to react to winter warnings.
“In the winter, most tornadoes also occur at night.”
The speakers all reinforced the need to stop what you’re doing and heed the storm warnings, when they occur.