Auburn Polygon Review
I remember watching the “Auburn Football Review” with Coach Shug Jordan and Phil Snow growing up as a young child… this is the “Auburn Polygon Review”.
A tornado warning was issued last night for parts of Lee and Chambers Counties at 8:26 p.m.
With the storm based warning system that was implemented eight years ago, only parts of counties are included in tornado warnings, since tornadoes are small and counties are large. Only people in the path of the tornado are warned under this system; we want people to “respect the polygon” if you are in one, but if you aren’t, no need to do anything. Storm based warnings reduces false alarms and is much more effective.
Here is the initial polygon from last night’s warning…
The western edge of the polygon is pretty much along Donahue Drive in Auburn. The actual tornado signature that developed on radar was well northeast of Auburn, just north of Opelika… and it was moving east at 55 mph. As you can see, Auburn was never in danger.
But, I wanted to make a clarification. On Twitter last night I said “Auburn was never in the polygon”, and that was not correct, and my mistake.
With our high resolution mapping software, I was focused on Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum, where Auburn was playing Texas A&M; that venue is just west of Donahue Drive, and indeed was NOT in the polygon. But, that part of the campus east of Donahue Drive WAS in the actual polygon.
Officials at Auburn did the right thing last night in asking students to shelter with the polygon border splitting the campus. They were never in danger, but the right call was made based on the polygon position.
Most colleges don’t have the luxury of having a professional meteorologist on the staff of their emergency management operation. The University of Oklahoma is an exception; Dr. Kevin Kloesel is the meteorologist with the OU Office of Emergency Preparedness, and leads the way in helping colleges make plans to handle tricky situations like this.
We will know more about damage, if any, north of Opelika later this morning from this storm.
Category: Alabama's Weather
About the Author (Author Profile)
James Spann is one of the most recognized and trusted television meteorologists in the industry. He holds the AMS CCM designation and television seals from the AMS and NWA. He is a past winner of the Broadcast Meteorologist of the Year from both professional organizations.Subscribe
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