Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Center's Seniors Hear Of Springs Dangerous Weather

Spring in Arkansas, while beautiful, is dangerous because of the rapid change in weather patterns.

Because of this, Mike Nikko, a weatherman with KARK-TV Channel 4, spoke at the Gurdon Senior Adult Center Thursday, May 4.

Nikko told the seniors how his day begins at 3:30 a.m. and ends at 12:30 p.m., and how someone is always at the television station.

He got interested in the weather when he was a child in Omaha, Neb., and was in a tornado. "This lead me to studying the weather," he said.

Nikko went to Kansas University where he studied meteorology.

Severe weather, he said, occurs about 15 percent of the time. When the potential for severe weather exists weather spotters are used to watch the formation of weather patterns.

These spotters report back to the National Weather Service, the only entity with the authority to issue a watch or warning.

Once a watch or warning is issued, Nikko said, television stations get the information out as soon as possible.

"We take weather seriously around here," he said. "Severe weather happens about 15 percent of the time in Arkansas, otherwise it's nice."

While it seems there is more bad weather than in the past, he said, this isn't the case. What is happening is people are more aware of the weather and have camcorders.

So, instead of looking for shelter from the storm, so to speak, they go out and take pictures of the weather, risking their lives in the process in some instances.

However, today's technology helps meteorologists gather information on the weather more easily now than ever before.

Nikko said specific criteria must be met before weather is considered severe. Part of the criteria, though, is dime sized hail or larger from a thunderstorm.

But, he said, it all begins in Oklahoma City, Okla., at the National Severer Storm Prediction Center. The center puts out a daily outlook for severe weather for the nation.

This information shows where severe weather could develop, or already exists. Meteorologists then keep their eye on conditions before any type of watch or warning is issued.

When a watch is issued, he said, it means conditions are favorable for severe weather to develop.

Weather can get bad in this area in five minutes or less. Because of this, he said, when a watch is issued, people need to be getting ready for the advent of severe weather.

"It's like a red flag," Nikko said, adding, "A warning is the last step."

When a warning is issued, it means severe weather is on the way and people in its path should take shelter.

Weather information is gathered using a Doppler radar. The Doppler, he said, operates on the same principles as a microwave oven. It sends a pulse of electricity into the storm.

This pulse, he said, can "see" what's happening within the storm and report back to the radar. This is done by using complex mathematical algorithms which then show the type of weather occurring and the direction it's heading.

Meteorologist look for a Doppler shift to help determine where a storm may be going, and to check if the air is spinning. This spinning air could turn into a tornado, he said.

Before Doppler was developed, Nikko said, weathermen could give three or four minutes advance warning of an approaching storm. Now, though, they can give 20 to 25 minutes prior notice, allowing people in the storm's path more time to find shelter.

In Arkansas, he said, the death rate from tornadoes is going down because people now have more time to get out of the storm's way. Additionally, people are better educated about severe weather than they once were.

Still, he said, it's the National Weather Service that determines whether a storm was a tornado or straight line winds. This is done by examining the pattern of debris left behind.

If the debris is in a swirl or circular pattern, the likelihood is a tornado touched down. But, if the debris is in a straight line, the damage was probably caused by high winds.

The majority of tornadoes in Arkansas, Nikko said, are small and have short lives. Most are about 150 yards wide and travel around seven miles at 35-40 miles an hour.

The big twisters, or F-5 level tornadoes, occur 3 to 5 percent of the time. When they do, though, they cause more damage than other types.

An F-5 level tornado is a mile or more wide and has winds in the vicinity of 260 miles per hour.

Tornadoes, Nikko said, are just air in a violently rotating column. The debris picked up and hurled by this wind is what causes the most damage and death.

He told the seniors how pressure does not cause homes to implode and there's no need to open windows and doors to equalize the pressure inside and out.

Damage is caused, he said, by how the wind travels over the roof of a house.

One of the reason mobile homes are destroyed so often by tornadoes is because they are designed similar to the wing of an airplane, he said. The wind is able to get underneath the trailer and lift it up. Once lifted, the wind then tumbles the mobile home, thereby destroying it.

It was once thought to be safe to get underneath an overpass when a tornado was coming, but this has been proven to be a mistake.

Nikko said some people were killed by flying debris after hiding under an overpass.

"It's better to get in a ditch," he said, "and hope it blows over you. There's no safe place from a tornado unless it's underground."

Storm shelters are the best idea when weather turns severe, but those going inside need to make sure there is plenty of air and water inside.

Basements are another good place to get when finding shelter from a severe storm, but those hiding in basements need to get in the center and not the southwest corner.

Once people thought the best place to hide in a basement was the southwest corner because of the structural superiority. However, this tends to be the first spot a severe storm hits.

Nikko said the method used to classify tornadoes was developed by a doctor Fujita from Japan.

The Fujita scale, as it's called, was based on structural engineering and what it would take to cause the damage to the materials involved.

According to Nikko, some believe this scale could include an F-6. This would be a tornado with winds in excess of 315 mph. The problem in determining this level of destruction lies in the fact everything in its path would be obliterated.

Weather, he said, is not a perfect science. But each time severe weather occurs we learn more.