The first tornado of the day is ongoing across portions of southwest Oklahoma. The tornado vortex signature (TVS) is located just to the northeast of Tipton, where the brighter reds and greens are side-by-side. Additionally, I should point out that the Oklahoma Mesonet has lost communication with the Tipton Mesonet station. With visual confirmation of a tornado in the vicinity, this would seem to suggest the tornado moved very close to, if not hitting, the Tipton Mesonet station. This would not be the first tornado to hit an Oklahoma Mesonet station this year. Back on 24 May 2011, the El Reno, OK EF-5 tornado moved close enough to the El Reno Mesonet station that debris wrapped around the Mesonet’s observing site. The strongest measured wind gust in Oklahoma history was recorded by the El Reno Mesonet station during the tornado’s passage.

Tonight, as many mourn the loss of Steve Jobs, keep in mind that the next person to change the world as he did might be you.

Normally this blog is about weather topics. Tonight, I deviate…

In less than 24 hours, I believe we will be talking about the death of the Big-12 athletic conference. Rumors are flying tonight that the University of Oklahoma, the University of Texas, Oklahoma State University, and Texas Tech University will all be joining the PAC-16, with announcements on Monday. This undoubtedly was hurried by the announcement earlier this weekend that Syracuse University and Pittsburgh University had applied to join the ACC. This significantly weakens the football aspect of the Big East conference. Rumors are also flying tonight that the University of Connecticut is “aggressively” seeking membership in the ACC; I can only assume that Rutgers is doing the same. This will bring the ACC and the PAC-12 to 16 teams.

With two superconferences, I would expect to see the SEC expand. With Texas A&M already poised to join the SEC, leaving 13 teams, I would think that the SEC will seek to add Missouri (for television markets) as the 14th team. However, Missouri would much rather be in the Big-10 (for academic reasons), and if Notre Dame joins the Big-10 as the 13th team, Missouri might gain access as the 14th team. If Notre Dame doesn’t join the Big-10, I’d expect to see Missouri eventually join the SEC. With Baylor and Iowa State already making overtures to the Big East, I’d expect to see the remaining Big-12 and Big East schools align in a hastily arranged marriage for the sake of survival.

I know everyone will want to lay the blame of this round of conference realignment at the feet of the University of Texas and the Longhorn Network, but I think this is a bit short-sighted. Yes, this is what prompted Texas A&M to seek membership in the SEC, but that was as far as it would have gone if not for the public comments of the University of Oklahoma’s president, David Boren. His public comments about actively considering opportunities elsewhere, and suggestions of wanting to look west, made the rest of the collegiate landscape nervous. Much as the talk of the Big-12 disbanding caused Colorado to jump the Big-12 ship (prematurely) before being left behind last year, I believe that when all is said and done, comments made by President Boren set this entire cascade in motion. I hope I’m wrong, but it certainly doesn’t sound that way tonight.

Every Saturday during the fall, life in the southeastern United States comes to a stop. Attention turns toward college football and the escape from reality it offers. This break from reality has never been more needed for the city of Tuscaloosa, AL. Home to the University of Alabama, this city was devastated by a tornado during the historic 27 April 2011 tornado outbreak. Here’s a good story from ESPN on the impact of today’s Alabama-Kent State football game on the region.

One weekend in July, four Kent State players and a few athletic department officials came down to participate. One of them, senior running back Jacquise Terry, is from Phenix City, Ala., on the Georgia border. He played AAU basketball with Crimson Tide corner DeQuan Menzie.

“I have done Habitat before,” said Jacquise, who is minoring in construction management, “but I have never done it with players I compete with. That was the good part about it. We were able to put aside what we were about to do a month later and go in and help for a good cause. We fell right in together. They told us they appreciated us coming down. We bonded with those guys.”

Meteorologists all across the country are having questions today regarding the perceived over-hyping of Hurricane Irene. Leaving aside the discussion about whether or not Irene was over-hyped, and who might actually be to blame (spoiler-alert: It’s not the meteorologists…), comedian Dean Obeidallah offers a defense of meteorologists in his opinion piece titled “Don’t Mock the Weatherguy”

In short, Mr. Obeidallah offers this warning, “If we continue to mock these heroic weatherpeople who try to make our lives in a challenging world a little better, then don’t be surprised when, one day, we hear them collectively announce, ‘Enough!’” and leave the population “…like cavemen to predict weather based on the sounds of insects and our swollen feet.”