Hope this hasn't already been posted, but what's the latest re the storms in the US South? Our news is saying over 200 killed? Hope nobody here affected.
They were tornadoes. Some countries call them cyclones. It was really bad in the State of Alabama. Horrific damage and death toll. Other areas in the South East got hit as well. The State of Georgia had several fatalities. The devastation in Alabama is the worst I've seen in my lifetime. Entire towns are completely gone. Wiped off the map. Nothing but rubble. My heart aches for those people. I sincerely hope and pray none of our forum friends have been impacted. Horrible. Simply horrible.
Horible bit of weather,bit of a clarification,whats called a Hurricane in the northern hemisphere,massive storm,is called a cyclone in the southern hemisphere.Also known as a Typhoon.Tornadoes are something completely differant,we get them in OZ as well but much much smaller and in mainly unpopulated areas,those in the USA are jaw dropping scary stuff
Tornadoes in the south are pretty common as spring turns into summer. So common that many of us build underground storm shelters if you live in a house without a cellar or basement. Luckily the science of meteorology has made strides over the last 10 years...the weather guys around Birmingham, Alabama had been talking about these storms for the past 5-6 days...most people were ready, but no one can tell when or where a tornado will set down. The same storm that hit Tuscaloosa pasted over my house around 6:05pm cst, my wife, mom, mom-in-law, brother-in-law & my kids were all in my basement waiting it out...we got lucky & had plenty of warning & no damage. The ones that hit at night are the sneaky ones...a weather alert radio is my best friend at night. Thanks for your concern & there are plenty of people that need help, if you feel inclinded please vist this site to help. http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn...0EBF0C6F970E1E2585257880001488AA?Opendocument
Whoa, can't even imagine that here in the UK. Most of our news seems to be about the middle east. We get little else. They flashed up about these storms and it looked real bad, thought I would ask if anyone affected. We had some hurricanes here in the late 80's early 90's and did a lot of damage but minor on the scale you've got. It's taken me 8 years to renovate my house, to have that gone in one minute is incomprehensible. Especially if it hit at night like you say. That is rough. Thanks for the replies and hope anyone affected gets straight as soon as possible.
There have been great improvements in forecasting exactly where a tornado is and can form in the last 10-15 yrs ... Not sure if it is the Doppler radar or not, but the storms that can produce a tornado can be identified very accurately .. In the case of a tornado, even 3-4 minutes can help greatly to prevent human loss ... The problem with tornados of this size is that unless you have a shelter built or just get lucky by the grace of God, you do not have a good chance of surviving if it passes over you because nothing can stand up to its forces .... I'm from the south also and these spring time storms can be very spooky but part of life there ... And yes they are somewhat common and usually only hit in small areas so the chance of one hitting U is slim ... But a twister a ~mile wide and staying on the ground for over ~150 miles is farther over the top than the tsunami in Japan ... I wish the south the best in recovering from this disaster ...
U gotta read this to believe it .. we're only 10 yrs behind the power curve on it .... http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/geosurvey/research/vincent1/tabid/8186/Default.aspx Possible Application of "Passive Radar" for the Detection and Tracking of Tornadoes Prof. Robert K. Vincent Bowling Green State University (Submitted For Presentation at the Multinational Conference on "Passive and Covert Radar 2002", Jun 18-20, 2002, Roke-Manor Research LTD, United Kingdom) Abstract Tornado detection with Doppler radar and seismic stations has already been proved possible. The type of signals expected from cellular telephone microwaves as they pass through some parts and reflect off other parts (containing hail or airborne objects from the ground) of tornadic clouds may permit the detection of funnel clouds and the tracking of their direction and propagation speed along the ground. This would be far less expensive than Doppler radar because the microwave signal from "Passive Radar" is freely broadcast for other purposes, and the only cost would be for passive receivers (multistatic condition, with sources and receivers on many different platforms) that were connected wirelessly to a central processing center. Other sensors, such as low-cost seismic stations and acoustical detectors, would also aid in detection of tornadoes that touch the ground. The same data collection sites would be useful for mapping small aircraft in rural areas (passive radar), detecting and locating terrorist "practice bombs" (seismic sensors), and possibly the unloading of large trucks (acoustic and seismic) in rural areas. A strong recommendation is that well-distributed, multi-sensor data collection sites with dual use for catastrophic weather and terrorist action detection be funded by the anti-terrorism community as part of homeland defense networks.
saw it on the news last night freaking scary. Good luck to those people in the middle of that mess. Some pix of the mess... http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/04/tornadoes_kill_over_200.html
1 mile wide and 150 miles long would take out half of the south coast of England. And seeing the footage, a lot of those folks were in trailer accomodation too with nowhere to shelter. Hard to conceive here.
Red Croos website if you would like to help....Thanks to all, we have not had one this bad since the Oak Grove EF-5 of 1997 http://www.alredcross.org/general.asp?SN=8722&OP=8724&SUOP=15620&IDCapitulo=DRGYJ0Q5XZ Some local TV coverage that was live at the time from a fixed camera on a building or tower... http://youtu.be/sA7TKSHJ_wM
I've lived in Tennessee for 25 years and tornadoes scare the crap out of me. I've seen the havoc they wreck too many times. They can destroy everything you got, or worse yet kill you. These big MF'ers are hard to fathom. The smaller twisters may pop a house here and there. Usually no fatalities. But, like the pics show, these massive one's that hit Wednesday destroy whole communities.
it a tragedy down south. we get them here in central illinois too, mother nature can wipe some stuff out for sure. had one within 100 yards of the house(lucked out) i was in a few years back. me and my son were down in the crawlspace listening to it as it went by, pretty wicked... its true what they say, they sound like a freight train goin by but louder...
