CMP PSA: Tornado Watch

[Alex Webber]

The National Weather Service has issued a TORNADO WATCH for the City of St. Louis until 8:00 PM 4/25/2015.

At 12:56PM CST, a tornado watch was issued for St. Louis County. Please be aware of your surrounding area if you are at Championships. If you are flying out later, don't be supprised if delays occur. Mentors: I would recommend passing this information onto your teams.

Remember to be safe, and be informed if situations get threatening.

National Weather Service
St. Louis Emergency Managment

[Elgin Clock]

Just shared this with my team who is there... they had no idea. Fun fun.
Last time they went to St. Louis there was one as well. Crazy!

[jds2001]

Being originally from STL - tornado watches are not a big deal and happen all the time. Get concerned when the sky turns green (yes, I've seen this happen), and sirens start going off.

Tornado WARNINGS in the immeidate area on the other hand (when the sirens go off) are a big deal. Seek shelter immediately (which in the dome would probably have been restrooms on the concourse) and be ready to assume a bracing position (and hope it misses you - I remember one particularly scary time in the basement of my house....fortunately it missed)

[Wayne Doenges]

I don't think it would be a proper CMP without the regular Tornado Watch/Hail Storm.

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by Wayne Doenges

I don't think it would be a proper CMP without the regular Tornado Watch/Hail Storm.

Sure it would, just means we are finally having a championship out west

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by rsisk

Sure it would, just means we are finally having a championship out west

No tornados in California. Just fire, earthquake, mudslide, and drought. Currently stuck on drought.

If/when the right venue is found, a whopping big FRC Western Championship will be well worth the trip for many, many teams and volunteers.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by jds2001

Tornado WARNINGS in the immeidate area on the other hand (when the sirens go off) are a big deal. Seek shelter immediately (which in the dome would probably have been restrooms on the concourse)...

The arena plan for spectators is "shelter in place". The bowl of the dome is pretty solid, and will protect people in the stands well against stuff going on outside.

As for a tornado actually hitting the dome, the expectation is that serious damage to the dome roof would mess up the structure enough that being in enclosed areas such as restrooms would be as much as or more of a danger to more people than potentially having pieces of the roof fall.