Violent Catastrophic Storms Wreaking Havoc

[turk]

Across the central U.S.. It's normal. These storms happen a lot in the spring. I saw them myself in Alabama. Tornadoes, and catastrophic flooding are perennial threats in watersheds in Alabama. Lots of it is because of, you guessed: man-made reservoirs and land use. Hey, ever think: if men weren't making their living on the land there wouldn't be losses from weather events. It's common sense. It happens in Illinois and Wisconsin too. I'd say every other year a disaster hits one of us in some capacity, be it a wind storm, floods, snowstorm, heat wave, drought etc.. I bet we don't get outta spring without something like a flood causing major damage or tornadoes. And guess what? It's been like that since time immemorial.

[Sylvester]

We had some tornado's come near us last night, I think I have had more close calls in Atlanta than I ever did in Ohio. I think we are just on this edge of fronts that come through Georgia, nothing like spending the evening cooking dinner to the severe weather sirens being your dining music, yup that was last night.

[turk]

Yeah dude. I was bicycling through AL after dark when we didn't find an appropriate camp spot before sunset and we just missed a tornado in spring 1990. I had just spent a night with some kind people in Brewton a few days earlier. The father told me a lot of stories and had pictures of the floods they had in that area (SW AL not too far from Florida). Whole towns were destroyed, including Brewton. I think these were not very long ago, but they get that a lot. Later we camped at a huge reservoir that was so low it was half empty. I liked Alabama a lot. The state workers we ran into in the middle of the night were fixing electrical lines that had been knocked down. They looked at us like we were crazy on our bikes in the pitch dark with all our stuff packed on. Which is true. We were crazy.

[Sylvester]

Good grief here they come again. Tornadoes in Birmingham almost got the wife's nephew. Storms headed this way, bad thing is they will get here around 1:00AM. Will we be here tomorrow? Stay tuned. Check the videos on weather.com, in Alabama. Spooky.

[ruckman101]

This "normal" weather sure has killed a lot of folks this year.

neal

[poptop tom]

Global warming at work.

[steve74baywin]

Good grief here they come again. Tornadoes in Birmingham almost got the wife's nephew. Storms headed this way, bad thing is they will get here around 1:00AM. Will we be here tomorrow? Stay tuned. Check the videos on weather.com, in Alabama. Spooky.

How did it turn out?

[turk]

I hope Sly and his family are all right. As for the comments: how's this "global warming" now? Right, everything is global warming. Already knew it.

[Sylvester]

Not a scratch on life and limb! We had three super cells pass within 20 miles of us, the same ones that ran though Birmingham and Tuscaloosa. Apparently the wife's nephew ducked into the CVS while the tornado passed by and tore up the parking lot and trees. That close! We got rain by the buckets and wind up to 100 mph near us but nothing terrible. Watching these super cells coming at you on the weather channel is not a relaxing evening. My heart goes out to all those that did lose something, this is Georgia's third storm in a month that has cost millions each time and caused deaths.

[turk]

Good to hear from you. Man, that is some wild sh*t.

[airkooledchris]

As for the comments: how's this "global warming" now? Right, everything is global warming. Already knew it.

But of course you did. that was, after all, the initial reason for even starting the thread. head em off at the pass!

the weather is getting crazier and crazier every year, which isn't to say there is any one specific cause, but only a fool refuses to recognize the pattern in a fit of blind denial. nothing is off the table when it comes to finding out the causes...

what's more important is to recognize these changes so the folks most likely to be effected by them in the coming years are better prepared for it.

[ruckman101]

Yikes, just read the newest death toll, glad to hear from you Sylvester.


neal

[turk]

As for the comments: how's this "global warming" now? Right, everything is global warming. Already knew it.

But of course you did. that was, after all, the initial reason for even starting the thread. head em off at the pass!

the weather is getting crazier and crazier every year, which isn't to say there is any one specific cause, but only a fool refuses to recognize the pattern in a fit of blind denial. nothing is off the table when it comes to finding out the causes...

what's more important is to recognize these changes so the folks most likely to be effected by them in the coming years are better prepared for it.

No. Every April is Tornado season. Every September is Hurricane season. There's no connection to global warming. If you think so, how? It's been like that for a long time. Just because you think it's "crazier and crazier" doesn't mean I'm in "blind denial". The causes are seasonal and more people living in the path of weather. Just like there's more real-estate on flood-plains, thus more damage each year when the inevitable floods happen. It's more obvious that it's planning where to build, than something related to global warming. But since I'm "heading it off at the pass" in my "fit of denial", let's see your reasoning as to why Tornado season, or Hurricane season, varies from year to year, with some really bad years and some uneventful ones. Or is it just a simple answer. I've lived in both zones. I've seen a few of these things. Nothing like what Sly did, but it's not unexpected this time of year, from Oklahoma up to Wisconsin and down to Arkansas all the way to the east coast every April.

[BellePlaine]

My best tornado story took place back when I was a kid and old enough to ride my bike to the park solo. I was at the park, when you know, the sky turned black and wind picked up. A big storm was coming. We call it The Lake Harriet Tornado It started hailing so I had to choose to either take shelter at the park (my cover of choice would been a painted cement tube for crawling around in), or make break for home. Basically the story is that I rode home in the hail and Mom was worried. The tornado ripped the roof from the main park building which developed a gas leak and my dad was the first to notice the leak, so he ran home to grab a wrench. Home was like two blocks away. Someone on my block had a tree crush their car about it.

NPR aired an interview with someone down south. Their community had some deaths. The interview sounded maybe just a little in shock, but otherwise calm. That must have something to experience. I wish them a quick recovery.

It does seem like the weather events are getting stronger. I'm saying that we're the cause, or the solution but I will concede that things feel like they are more extreme. Probably is the around the clock news cycle. But it might be that the we are able to notice weather trends in our lifespan. Anything is possible.

[turk]

So, if it happens again next year, and the next, with record breaking tornado seasons each year, then you have something. Otherwise, no connection to global warming. Same thing with Hurricane season, winter blizzards, summer heat waves, et. el.. Make sense? Of course weather events are in the public eye more in this information age. Now, I refer to an expert:

Most members of the scientific community agree that global climate change is occurring. Some of the most profound and obvious effects are initially appearing at higher latitudes (i.e. over Earth's polar regions), which are well removed from the more temperate midlatitude zones where severe thunderstorms are most prone to occur. As the science stands today, we cannot identify any clear causal link between a warming climate and increased numbers or violence of tornadoes. Why is that? First, tornadoes are relatively rare and ephemeral events. Any long-term changes in tornado activity, if such trends are indeed occurring, are exceedingly difficult to tease-out of imperfect historical records. Maps of tornado activity are relatively accurate today, but become increasingly sketchy as one looks back more than a couple of decades. Significant changes in patterns or reported numbers of tornadoes shown in these maps can be largely interpreted as resulting from shifts in U.S. population, as well as impacts our ongoing communications revolution. After all, someone has to be present to see a tornado or experience its damage, and then have the ability to report that event for it to be recorded for posterity.

link It's refreshing to see an opinion that isn't blinkered by the usual knee-jerk reaction though BP.