I just watched a funnel cloud dip out of the sky along the Texas/Oklahoma border

[Horse with no Name]

It came down about halfway out of the sky on the outskirts of town...one of our Sheriff's Deputies was in front of my house watching as well.
I came back in the house and readied stuff...waiting for the sirens, but they never came.
I called the Sheriff's office and asked if he saw what I saw. They told me they did but were waiting on the weather service to instruct.
They told me they were putting the jail on lockdown and securing the prisoners.
It has now been about 30 minutes and still no sirens. It is comforting to know that in the event of a tornado, the jail is secure.:sarcasm:
I thought that if there was a tornado SIGHTED that the alarms had to be sounded and a warning issued? As of yet, neither has been done.

[peacebird]

1. that is obscene. absolutely obscene. The deputy could verify your sighting and NADA?!?

:grr:

Good grief - what sort of fools are they?!?

Keep safe Horse with no name....

[annabanana]

2. Who's in charge of sounding the alarms?

Are the prisoners in some sort of storm cellar? I mean if they're locked in, shouldn't they be as safe as possible?

[Wiley50]

3. But it only came down halfway

If it doesn't actually touch the ground

it's still a watch
not a warning

But I feel your pain

[rainbow4321]

7. I think even if it is in the sky, it is still a warning.

Least in these neck of the woods (North Texas).


Googling the definition brings up this:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&defl=en&q=define:Tornado+Warning&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title


http://en.mimi.hu/meteorology/tornado_warning.html




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_warning

A tornado warning is issued when:

a tornado is reported on the ground or is indicated on the weather channle doppler radar
a waterspout is headed toward landfall
a funnel cloud is reported in the sky
a tropical cyclone is making landfall with winds greater than 115 mph (experimental for 2006, will be renamed "Extreme Wind Warning" if successful)
It is also issued when, depending on the circumstances:

a thunderstorm with a threshold strong, tight rotation signature is indicated by doppler radar, or
a rotating wall cloud is reported (in context of all other available information).

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. It has to touch the ground to become a tornado

Over the years, I've seen dozens of funnels like you described, but only a few actual tornados. Usually because I was busy hiding in the basement. :)

[Cleita]

12. We get them here too on the California coast over the ocean.

I have taken pictures of them during our stormy El Nino bouts. When I lived in Kansas we used to watch the funnels from the fourth story of our building. You could see for almost thirty miles away because Kansas is so flat. Very few of them hit the ground. Thank God!

[HeeBGBz]

5. There's a tornado warning near Lawton right now

Is that near to you? Be safe.

[Horse with no Name]

6. It's West of us

The storm seems to be moving in that direction.
The temperature has dropped about 20 degrees.

[HeeBGBz]

8. I just got this on Interwarn

ESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0757
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0730 PM CDT TUE MAY 08 2007

AREAS AFFECTED...CENTRAL/SRN OK...NCNTRL TX

CONCERNING...TORNADO WATCH 259...

VALID 090030Z - 090130Z

THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR TORNADO WATCH 259 CONTINUES.

WELL DEFINED MCV HAS EVOLVED WITHIN EXPANDING PRECIPITATION SHIELD
INVOF WILBARGER/BAYLOR COUNTIES IN NCNTRL TX. THIS EXPANDING MCS
HAS BOW-LIKE CHARACTERISTICS ACROSS ARCHER/YOUNG COUNTIES WHERE
DAMAGING WINDS ARE OCCURRING ALONG APEX OF ARCING LINE THAT IS
SURGING NEWD AT 35-40 KT. BACKED FLOW FARTHER NORTH INTO CNTRL OK
APPEARS SUFFICIENT FOR WEAK SUPERCELL STRUCTURES AHEAD OF THIS
SQUALL LINE. CURRENT SPEED/MOVEMENT SUGGESTS LEADING EDGE OF
STRONGEST ACTIVITY WILL MOVE EAST OF WW BY 0130Z. NEW WATCH WILL BE
REQUIRED DOWNSTREAM SHORTLY.

[rainbow4321]

10. Ugh..hate the phrase "bow-like characteristics"

Bow-like, bow-echo, etc...usually means "keep one foot in the safest room-closet-bathroom" for the rest of the night.

Thank you for posting the info!

[Horse with no Name]

14. I was shocked the sirens didn't go off

and honestly, at first, was dubious that I saw what I thought I saw.
But it does not give me comfort that after confirming that I did see it...that the alarms weren't sounded.
I won't sleep well tonight, that is for sure.

[rainbow4321]

15. Stay safe, Horse!

And I would consider writing a LTTE or SOMEthing to let the people in your community know someone dropped the ball tonight! It's this kinda stuff that happens pre-tornado that makes us hear after the twister "residents say they had no warning...."

[lonestarnot]

9. Whoa Horse.

Be careful.

[Horse with no Name]

11. It seems to be moving pretty fast over us

But the storm is very intense and undoubtedly will cause problems for someone else further up the road.:(

[lonestarnot]

13. Somewhat predictable?

:-(

[Cleita]

16. I went to school for a couple of years in Kansas.

We had a tunnel that we were supposed to go to when there were tornado warnings. After awhile I started noticing that none of the natives went down there during the storms. It was just some of us out-of-state weenies and sleeping in a sleeping bag on a concrete floor was really uncomfortable. So one stormy night I refused to go to the tunnel.

My roomates had left for the weekend and I was alone. Eventually, the electricity went out and all I had was a flashlight and no radio. Finally, by morning the storm had passed and a tornado had hit a trailer park (they love trailer parks it seems) two miles from our campus. It was the first tornado to land in the area in thirty years and it really did some bad destruction.

To this day I am far more fearful of tornadoes than I am earthquakes. I have survived many earthquakes between 5 and 6 richter scale both here and in South America, but those twisters really screw with my head.

[Gloria]

17. We're getting some scary warning right now down here in Southern

NM---just ran in from walking the dog and getting all the stuff outside secured.....big winds, hail on the way and I saw big lightning hitting the ground....will have to get offline soon...

[Horse with no Name]

18. Some spectacular with/without lightning pix