Severe Weather Awareness

This last week was national severe weather preparedness week.  During the week, the national weather service put out various themed preparedness messages each day to help to inform the public on severe weather and how to be prepared for it.  Along with the NWS, many television (and non TV) meteorologists and severe weather enthusiasts also did their part to inform the public of severe weather safety.  This is generally done in the early spring to make people aware for the upcoming severe thunderstorm season that begins in Spring.



There are several types of severe weather that one can encounter.  They can come all at once or individually as each storm is different in its own way.  The main threats from thunderstorms are lightning, wind, rain, hail, and tornadoes.  Each of these can bring life threatening risks that are good to be aware of.

Warnings are not generally issued because of lightning, and lightning can be a hazard in non severe storms.  Lightning is an electrical current.  You needn't be struck directly by the lightning to be a victim of its effects.  It can travel distances through objects and can even strike you indoors through conductors such as pipes or wires.  The electrical charges will interfere with your bodies electric nervous system causing damage or death.  It can also "pass over" the outside of the body leaving burns.  Many people are killed each year by lightning.  The catch phrase to remember is, when thunder roars, go indoors.




Wind, on the other hand, is something upon which a severe thunderstorm warning will be issued.  Wind speeds of 58 mph or greater will cause a severe thunderstorm warning to be issued.  This is the speed at which more significant damage begins occurring; damage that can cause injury or death to a person, or significant property damage.  Power outages are also caused by the wind that can be more than just a nuisance should the outage last for any length of time.  In larger wind events, power could be out for days.

Rain is not something that brings a severe thunderstorm warning, but is an inherent danger in thunderstorms.  Severe thunderstorms can produce very large amounts of rainfall in a very short period of time that can cause flash flooding to occur that can wash away, people, cars, and property.  Prolonged periods can cause longer lasting flooding that lingers on.  The phrase "turn around, don't drown" is put out to help remind people not to go into flooded waters and they can be deadly.




Severe thunderstorm warnings are issued for hail; hail that is greater than 3/4 of an inch in diameter.  Hail stones fall at high rates of speed and when they get large can be devastating to property and can kill living creatures.  Most hail is small, but in rare instances can get up to softball size.  Hail of that size will total you car.

Tornadoes get their own special warning because of their destructive and deadly properties.  Most of us have seen what the large tornadoes can do to communities over the last few years.  The scenes of devastation can be apocalyptic and leave places unrecognizable and uninhabitable.  Debris can also be carried long distances.  Last year I was 30 miles away from a major tornado and had large pieces of debris raining out of the sky; pieces of roof and walls, insulation, personal affects.  It was nerve wracking to realize that this was pieces of peoples disrupted lives raining down on me, and that some were likely dead.


Watches are issued by the national weather service when the conditions that could produce severe weather appear to be coming together in a region.  They might be a severe thunderstorm or tornado watch, depending on conditions being favorable for their development.  When a watch is issued, that is when you should already have your plans ready to go.  Stay informed with your local weather reports and have a NOAA weather radio in case a warning is issued for your area.  They only cost $30 - $40.  It is much like having a smoke alarm.  They are there for when you need them.


When a warning is issued, this means that severe weather is ongoing and will be entering your area.  This is the time when you put your emergency plans into play.  Many people are caught off guard in severe weather because they don't have a plan on what to do and often are left frozen with indecision and confusion.  Some people just plain don't heed or take serious the warnings.  Don't be that person.  It only takes one time for it to be fatal or life altering.


And, I don't want to forget about the aftermath.  After a severe event there may be a lot of debris about and downed power lines.  You generally want to stay in place if it is safe to do so.  You may have to help neighbors should they need it too.  Your being prepared may not only help you and your family, but neighbors also.  People who are not affected can help by staying out of damaged areas and donating cash to known charities such as the red cross who deal with disasters on a regular basis.  Cash is best because these organizations know what the immediate needs are and they would rather not be inundated by other peoples throwaways.


Stay informed, have a plan, and help others if you can.

The Forgotten West 1/19/14

Most of the weather attention this year has been focused east of the Rocky Mountains with the bitter arctic outbreaks and the big snows that have many places already passed their seasonal averages in only ½ the winter.  This week starts no different with another snow system whipping down out of Canada bringing a swath of 6 inch snows from the high plains through the western lake and into the Ohio valley.  That will be followed by yet another arctic outbreak pushing temperatures down below zero again. 


Meanwhile, in the west, severe drought conditions have set in.  It has gotten so bad that California declared a state of emergency due to the dry conditions.  Experts are predicting a very dangerous fire season as tinder is bone dry and could be ignited by the slightest spark.  This was the case in Southern California where some homeless men started a camp fire in the strong Santa Ana winds that sparked a fairly large wild fire that caused thousands to be evacuated and did damage some structures.


There does not seem to be anything soon that would spark a pattern change.  To relieve the drought conditions, it would take a lot of rain over quite a long time.  Remember two years ago, much of the plains states were also in severe drought.  That has been turned around.  I’m sure some areas would be glad to ship some of their excess snow to the west coast


This Wildfire picture taken by a friend of my sister in S Cal 1/16/14.  This was the fire started by homeless men camping.



Here is an interesting shot from Rio De Jeneiro, Brazil of the famous Jesus statue being struck by lightning during the last week. 

Snow on the 18th caused this serious accident near Lafayette IN






A little interesting News came out of China this last week.  Scientists have observed ball lightning in nature for the first time.  Ball lightning is very rare and little is actually known about it.  St. Elmo's Fire is a common layman term for it.

Scientists observe ball lightning

And we will close with this picture of Folsom Lake in California.  It is about 25 miles NE of Sacramento.  Notice how far the docks are from the water?  Yeah, the water is supposed to be at the docks.

God Don't Play

It was the evening of August 13, 1987.  I was a young man struggling to make ends meet in the world, and also a very young man in the Lord.  I had a job from a temporary service that I had to walk about 10 miles to get to.  A pretty good walk, but one had to do what one has to do to get by.

The job I was working was at a factory working 3^rd shift, 10:30pm-7am.  It was one of those really boring monotonous jobs that did not require much brain activity, but at least it was feeding me temporarily.  It was a good company though so there was always the hope that the temporary job would lead to a permanent one.

I had to start off to work about 8pm to get there on time walking.  The day had not been a particularly good day.  Frankly, the month had not been a particularly good month, nor the year a particularly good year either.  I was bouncing around from home to home, job to job, living hand to mouth.  I was questioning my faith, wondering why all these bad things were happening to me.  I was mad at God and mad at the world.

On the way to work the clouds had begun building up, and building up rapidly.  As the sun was setting I began seeing a lot of lightning and the clouds began closing in as they grew.  The clouds seemed to match my mood as I was having it out with God on the way to work.  I was not happy about what was going on in my life and I was letting God know this in no uncertain terms.

Finally, about half way to my job, it began to rain.  I started to complain about that too. After a few minutes of getting wet, I looked up in the sky and said, “ok God, give me your best shot, I can take it.”  No sooner had I said that, the skies opened up it rained like I had never seen it rain before.  It was like standing underneath a waterfall.  Lightning bolts were crashing to the ground all around me, almost as if seeking me out.  Before I even got to work, the ditches had filled up and the roads were beginning to get flooded over.  The winds were blowing leaves and branches around and the non-stop thunder shook the ground.  I walked the rest of the way to work with my head down just repeating, “I can take it”.

Finally I got to work, soaking wet and exhausted.  Everyone just looked at me like the cat had just dragged something in.  At least I had been smart enough to have some dry clothes in a garbage bag so I went and changed.  Soon after arriving the power went out for an hour or so and everyone stood in the loading dock watching the incredible lightning storm and the deluge of rain that just kept falling.  Finally the power came back on and we went back to work.

At lunch time, the boss came over to my work station and informed me that I was no longer needed at that job, so it was time for me to go home at 2:30 in the morning.  It had already been storming for 6 straight hours and now I had to go back out into it. I had no place to go…  I now had no job…  and it was still pouring rain on me as I walked silently and humbly back to town.

It took a while longer getting back to town as I had to detour around several flooded out areas.  Finally about the first light of dawn the rains ended.  Exhausted, dejected, demoralized, and humbled, I could not go on any further.  I walked out into a field and lay down on the ground and was soon asleep.

I don’t know how long I had been lying there, but I opened my eyes and sat up to see a police officer jump back scared out of his wits like he had seen a ghost!  “GEEZ!  You scared the heck out of me!  I thought you were a dead body!”  “No,” I replied, “Not dead, but dead tired.”  The officer gave me a ride back into town and I went about my way from there.  Later on I found out, God had given me the best shot known in that area since the flood. 

A couple of things happened from this though.  I learned, do not tempt the Lord thy God.  And it was also confirmed that, yes indeed He was there, and that He was listening.   I got seriously spanked, but from it found a greater faith.

Here is the article confirming the record rainfall of that day.
http://worldhistoryproject.org/1987/8/13/the-chicago-flood-of-1987

Central Il Chase 5/28/13

Headed out when I saw some storms firing up Near Galseburg IL.  I figured I would intercept them along I39 south of I80.  That I did as I Caught up with them at about the Il river.  I managed to cut my way through the core and out on the south side at about Wenona.  Had some interesting circulations there.  At that point the storms were just organizing themselves into a line of severe storms so I did not really experience anything too severe, but I did get, a Good shelf cloud, maybe wall, some lightning, and some areas of flash flooding. 

This was my first serious run for my new Canon HF G10 camcorder and it seemed to operate rather well.  The manual focus was great to keep shots in focus.  The manual white balance as well was very handy for keeping high contrast shots from being too light or dark.  I am sure as I learn the manual functions better, I will be able to capture much better video than I had been.

Part 1


part two