Severe Weather in St. Louis

[Amy33Amy33]

There is a possibility of severe weather and tornadoes in St. Louis during championships. It would probably be a good idea to develop and go over your severe weather plans with your team

https://weather.com/storms/tornado/n...WX_JB_42216_17

I would imagine that a tornado going through a robotics competition would be more dangerous than normal given that robots would become very dangerous debris in the event of a tornado. Does anyone know if the venue has a severe storm and tornado plan in place?

[Doug Frisk]

The dome itself is a tornado shelter. In 2012 there were major storms that passed through. My Durango still looks like a golf ball from the hail denting it. But yeah, for teams that aren't familiar with tornado prep, they might want to do some reading.

[efoote868]

Originally Posted by DareDad

The dome itself is a tornado shelter. In 2012 there were major storms that passed through. My Durango still looks like a golf ball from the hail denting it. But yeah, for teams that aren't familiar with tornado prep, they might want to do some reading.

I remember that year. I walked back to my car a couple hours after the storms passed through, and there was still quarter sized hail on the ground.
$4000 in hail damage... Very expensive weekend. Thank goodness for insurance.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by DareDad

The dome itself is a tornado shelter. In 2012 there were major storms that passed through. My Durango still looks like a golf ball from the hail denting it. But yeah, for teams that aren't familiar with tornado prep, they might want to do some reading.

This is a bit of a misconception. The dome is not so well engineered that it would survive, unharmed, a direct hit from a moderately powerful tornado. It is quite likely that the roof of the dome would fail in addition to the windows around the outside of the dome, causing a flurry of flying debris and hail to rain down on the dome. The walls of the dome wouldn't necessarily collapse or anything, but it would be far from a safe situation. Tornadoes are scary, powerful things.

Severe storms in the Midwest aren't exactly uncommon and even when tornadoes do touch down, their path of destruction tends to be fairly narrow and short. So it's not exactly the most likely thing in the world that the Dome is directly hit by a tornado, but it's something to be aware of. Everyone is hit by hail though...

[I_AM_Clayton]

As of right now, looking out of the window in school here in STL, it´s nice and sunny! Hopefully it can stay this way! I´ve known the weather here to change so fast that you cant really predict what´s going to happen later this week.

[JesseK]

Small note for the load-in teams: bring towels. Not little shop rags either - legit towels.

It's one of those things we said we needed one year during a rainy load-in, and then immediately forgot. Luckily it came up again Saturday during packing.

[mjc49]

Originally Posted by JesseK

Small note for the load-in teams: bring towels. Not little shop rags either - legit towels.

It's one of those things we said we needed one year during a rainy load-in, and then immediately forgot. Luckily it came up again Saturday during packing.

Thanks for the suggestion to bring towels. I'm concerned about our stuff getting wet while waiting to get into the dome. Gonna see if we can score some tarps before we leave as well.

[Travis Hoffman]

Fun times:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukg-yl-px-M

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by JesseK

Small note for the load-in teams: bring towels. Not little shop rags either - legit towels.

It's one of those things we said we needed one year during a rainy load-in, and then immediately forgot. Luckily it came up again Saturday during packing.

Hitchhikers always have their towels.

[Koko Ed]

I'll be at the dome putting fields together so I'm hoping to get in before the storms hit and I'm also hoping their fury is spent by the time we have to leave.

[BSV]

The most likely time of arrival for the severe storms approaching St. Louis is between 2pm and 4pm. The most likely threat is damaging wind, large hail, and lightning according to the Storm Prediction Center.

This is for today, April 26, 2016, not tomorrow during load in.

-- your friendly neighborhood meteorologist

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by BSV

The most likely time of arrival for the severe storms approaching St. Louis is between 2pm and 4pm. The most likely threat is damaging wind, large hail, and lightning according to the Storm Prediction Center.

Looks like that is during FRC load-in time, so prepare accordingly so you don't get caught out in it.

-- your friendly neighborhood meteorologist

I wonder if there is a possibility that FIRST could allow load-in prior to 1pm, or allow pre-staging inside the big doors rather than the sidewalk. This would decrease the amount of teams caught in the the storm.

It's probably more up to the venue and possibility of getting early volunteers than what's desired though. My team will have adults capable of fulfilling the temporary spots, if need be.

[techhelpbb]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/...plains-n562331

Neither rain, nor snow will stop you from getting your robots to the the Championship.
Hopefully nobody reenacts the opening of the 'Wizard of Oz'.

[BSV]

Originally Posted by JesseK

I wonder if there is a possibility that FIRST could allow load-in prior to 1pm, or allow pre-staging inside the big doors rather than the sidewalk. This would decrease the amount of teams caught in the the storm.

It's probably more up to the venue and possibility of getting early volunteers than what's desired though. My team will have adults capable of fulfilling the temporary spots, if need be.

Sorry, I was talking about today, not tomorrow. (Confused)

Today's storms will affect flights, though. And you want to be careful driving.

Tomorrow bears watching closely as well.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by JesseK

I wonder if there is a possibility that FIRST could allow load-in prior to 1pm, or allow pre-staging inside the big doors rather than the sidewalk. This would decrease the amount of teams caught in the the storm.

It's probably more up to the venue and possibility of getting early volunteers than what's desired though. My team will have adults capable of fulfilling the temporary spots, if need be.

I think the big issue would be getting the volunteers in place for crowd control. I know inspectors were told to meet at 12:30, I imagine all of the others involved were asked to show up around the same time to get ready for load in as well.