Mississippi Meteorologist Forced To Sprint From Set As Tornado Hits

[Solly Mack]

A tornado tore through Tupalo, Miss., on Monday afternoon, forcing a local news station there to quickly abandon their newscast.

#t=12

[WillyT]

1. K & R !!!

[Solly Mack]

2. I would have been so scared.

No way I would have lasted on air as long as he did.

[Behind the Aegis]

3. Two things scare me: when meteorologists have to respond as in the above...

...and Jim Cantore showing up in town.

Meteorologists are professionals and when you see them demanding others take action in their own studio, it doesn't get any more serious. We have some pretty good ones here in NE OK. They are usually pretty stoic during severe weather, so if that façade changes, I round up the cat, dogs, my man, and we head to the tornado closet; usually the sirens sound within minutes of the attitude change.

We were lucky here. We just got scads of wind, and a bit of rain. This time of year always makes me a bit edgy.

I hope those in the affected areas get the help they need, and quickly.

[Solly Mack]

4. No doubt! You know it's very serious when that happens.

The storms missed us, thankfully.

It's going to be a long night for people and I hate that for them. I'll add my hope to yours.

[Behind the Aegis]

5. It's worse when it is at night.

It makes me nuts when those storms roll in at night. You can't see where they are coming from, if you lose electricity, it is pitch black, and you can't see some damage and can end up in really bad situations. OK is coming up on the 1 year anniversary of the tornadoes in Moore (from last year...never mind the years before)!

[Solly Mack]

6. There was this one tornado heading our way a long time ago

I was young at the time. My sister and I couldn't get our Mom awake enough to understand she needed to seek shelter. She had worked the night shift and the storm was happening in the early AM - just after she went to bed. She refused to budge. We were frantic.

We ended up seeking shelter and securing her as best we could.

I wanted to throttle her.

Another time we were at a restaurant when we saw a tornado coming across the bridge. Too close and too late to seek shelter. We just held each other as the tornado blew by. It took the front porch area off the restaurant but no windows broke and no one was hurt. It was wild. A clean sweep of the porch - like it was never there to begin with.

Another time one was coming up the street and I was at business with a glass front. The glass literally bowed in and then resettled in its frame. It was so weird. I couldn't help but stand there and watch the glass. I was such an idiot.

I can laugh now...at the time, I was shaking.

[hedgehog]

19. Here in Syracuse, we've had an excellent meteorologist for many years who

happens to come from Maine. When the weather was routine, he gave the report using an American Broadcast Standard accent. If the incoming weather was serious, his Maine accent would sneak in. We used to judge how much snow was coming by how strong his Maine accent was.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Local fox affiliate just ran it b

And better coverage in two minutes...than the nationals. It is scary

[Solly Mack]

8. It's a scary night. :(

(and day)

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Just maintaining the news threads

Is exhausting.

You all need to stay safe

[Solly Mack]

10. Fortunately the storms missed us.

I have family in the path of the storms though.

Which is why I'm keeping an eye out.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. I understand.

Hugs

[TBF]

12. "Basement now" -

I thought I was hearing my dad's voice 40 years ago in rural Wisconsin.

Tornadoes are nothing to mess with ... they hit really quick. It's not like a hurricane where at least we have a choice about evacuating ...

[Solly Mack]

15. That was the most intense moment. His telling everyone to go.

He wouldn't have to tell me twice.

[malaise]

13. Scary stuff

Damn!

[Solly Mack]

16. It really is.

[MineralMan]

14. They played that clip on our local news this morning

in the Twin Cities, MN. In Minnesota, our tornado season is about to start. There was a siren test the other day, just to remind folks to have a plan if they hear the warning sirens. I've lived here for 10 years, now, and my wife and I made a plan the first year. Here's what we do:

We have a tornado kit in the basement. It has the stuff we need to keep it together in case a tornado actually goes through our neighborhood.

We have a weather radio upstairs. Any time a severe thunderstorm watch is on, the radio is on, and we follow the reports from the NWS weather radio throughout the watch period. Even at night, it's all on. There have been a few sleepless nights over the years we've lived here. One of us, at least, stays awake if there is an watch or alert on.

We have a local NWS weather channel on the television, broadcast by our public television station. That's on, too, over the air, rather than on cable. I keep an eye on the radar images and watch the direction of the main cells.

Then, we go about our business as usual, just keeping an ear or eye on the weather reports. If lightning begins to get heavy, I pull the plugs on our work computers, disconnecting them from everything that goes outside. Everything gets unplugged until things improve. If we want to use the Internet, we use wi-fi devices. I leave the cable modem and wireless router on, but disconnect the network cables from the router. Our work computers are hard-wire networked. The one thing we don't do, though, during a warning is monitor social media or browse the Internet. There are more important things to do. I'm certainly not on DU at those times.

If a warning is announced for our immediate area or if we hear the sirens, we head for the basement and its safest spot. Our cats and dogs always head to the basement anytime they hear the siren, just to get away from the noise, so they'll be there even faster than we are.

So far, in 10 years, we've had to go to the basement four times. No tornado has resulted, although tornadoes have hit only a few miles from where we live. We take it seriously.

[Solly Mack]

17. People react differently. Always have. Always will.

It's always good to have a plan though. You guys sound well prepared.

[dionysus]

20. you mean you don't rely on our DU Edward R Murrow to keep apace of NWS alerts?

[MineralMan]

21. Uh, no. DU is for discussion about

stuff, not warnings about imminent danger. There are so many better sources for that kind of information.

[hedgehog]

18. Damn!