Locals spotted a black spot on Oklahoma tornado map
Photo : Twitter
Several social media users and locals spotted a black spot on a tornado forecast map of Oklahoma on Saturday. They were left wondering what it is. This comes as the state and its neighbouring Missouri, including Kansas City, are threatended by bad weather storms and flash floods.
Nadocast, a platform that posts tornado maps, showed the severity of tornadoes and storms expected to hit Oklahoma on Saturday. The map had a black spot right in the middle and the color itself was not represented on the key. Locals were confused.
“mmmmmm whats the black for 100% what,” one person asked on X, platform formerly known as Twitter.
“what does black mean 😭😭😭” a second one added.
“What is black? Did the scale break?” a third one posted a question.
Here is what the ‘black spot’ means:
According to the National Weather Service (NWS), a black dot on a tornado forecast radar display ‘represents the feature center of a convective storm’. The circle around the dot indicates the radius of maximum winds, and the length of the arrow is proportional to the wind speed.
For years, the NWS has used a radar to gather meteorological data – thunderstorms, hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes – and present it.
If the radar shows a strong area of rotation and a debris ball, it is a strong sign that there is a tornado occurring.
“This signature, known as the Tornadic Debris Signature (TDS), [is] a powerful tool, particularly in very rural areas where we might not otherwise receive confirmation that a tornado is doing damage for several hours. Once a TDS appears, a tornado is already doing damage,” the NWS says.
