Hi all, I was surprised again at the number of fatalities in Joplin Missouri. The link and the quote from the link discuss this. I posted here a month ago about the 10 geology professors and students and me (researcher) who failed to do anything at all despite sirens blaring. That storm later produce a tornado that blew out huge areas of windows at St Louis airport, was an F4 at one location but was generally an F2 and F3. But, it killed no one and there may not have even been any major injuries. The NWS had an online poll to see why people did so well.

So, were the fatalities in Joplin (and a few weeks ago, in northern Alabama) because of failure to be aware of the warnings, a failure to react to them, or just a lck of a safe place to hide? I heard that many Joplin houses lack basements. It is possible to have a safe place built within a house built on a slab (very reinforced space). But, I suspect few people would do that voluntarily. People don't have the money, and/or would not want part of their house space taken up by a shelter like this.

Meanwhile, I was being an idiot, taking two Turkish graduate students in a canoe 25 km down the Missouri River even though I knew there was a moderate risk of severe weather. I was a bit nervous about the whether: even called HW from the river to check the radar. I had some special Turkish beads with me for luck and they worked: no problems on River (got in at about 3:45); I then had to bike 15 miles back to car: as soon as the bike was in car it started to rain hard: I did not get wet at all. And, I got the car back to the canoe just as lightning started hitting close (they could have gone inside, but it is a slab building there). This last storm was probably tornado-warned but just produced some wind and hail and maybe a funnel cloud/rotating wall cloud...after it went by I think.

Chris

"Many who had just departed the Joplin High School graduation ceremony, being held at Missouri Southern State University in the northeast part of the city, initially thought little of the sirens, said graduate Alexa Wattelet. In that part of the Midwest, tornado warnings, sirens and preparations are an accepted, expected part of life.

"The sirens always go off, so no one thought anything of it," said Wattelet, 18. "Where we were, nobody really seemed like they were in much of a shock."

But closer to the center of the storm, the problem was different: It was difficult to hear the sirens. That's because at the time they were blaring, buckets of hail two inches in diameter were loudly pelting windows along with torrential rain."

• failure to save oneself