A Practical Parable

Mathew 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Usually when we hear that story, we think of the great spiritual lesson it teaches and how we should build our faith on the rock of Jesus.  Now, we have to think of what a parable is.  A parable is a story told using real world situations to describe a spiritual truth, so, when Jesus was talking about where to build a house, he was talking real world and literal sense to the people in a way that they could understand it and apply it to the spiritual.





Hence we come to the real topic that I want to talk about today, and that is flooding.  Many parts of the uper plains into the great lakes have experienced copious amounts of rain this year.  Some places have gotten almost 3 times the amount of rain as they normally get for the month of June.  As of this writing there are still a couple days left to go, and both of which feature lots of rain across those same areas.

As a result of all of this rain, flooding has begun occurring.  We are getting the flash flooding from the rains flowing down to the rivers, and then we are getting the rivers flooding from all the water flowing into them.  These floods are inundating towns across river basins all through the middle part of the country.  It is a terrible, costly and growing disaster that is really only in its early stages and a story we will be hearing more and more about as the summer progresses.

Some places are experiencing even worse flooding as a result of man trying to control the flooding.  You see, flooding is a normal part of a rivers life.  It is designed to do that and it makes the land surrounding the rivers extremely fertile.   Because of the great lands, people have moved to these areas. 

Because people moved to these areas they began to experience the effects from flooding.  Man, of course, being the "wise" creature that he is, devised and developed plans.  No, the plans were not to move out of the flood prone areas, but to keep the river from flooding those areas.  Man built dams and dikes in an effort to keep the people of the river communities safe from the flood waters.




Initially this seemed to do the trick.  Through mans water control efforts, the river was no longer flooding every year and people could live along the river in relative safety...  or so they thought.  While mans efforts did solve the problem of the annual floods the rivers normally experience, they created a new problem.  This was the problem of the major flood.

Every so often, like this year, areas get into a rainy stretch and overwhelm the man made system.  Dams fail.  Dikes are them over-topped at first, then erode away and collapse.  Then, instead of getting a lower flood more often, you get a sudden rush of gigantic volumes of water rushing into the river communities and flood the areas like no one had ever seen before.  We began calling them 100 year floods, 500 year floods, all the while never realizing that we were the ones causing it.

Rather than being wise people and building our communities in safer areas away from the flood waters, we were foolish and built right in the sand.  Then rather than recognizing our folly, we doubled down and thought we could outdo God and control the raging waters.  Well, that turned out to be rather foolish as well.  Now the rains have come and the wind is beating on those communities and they are falling.  Once again we will be defiant and rather than moving to safer ground, we will spend billions of dollars to put people right back in harms way.




I think we need to follow the wisdom of god and build our communities on the solid ground where the waters won't wash them away, and we won't have to spend billions of dollars every year trying to fight the waters and rebuild the damage.  The wisdom of God is not just spiritual, but extremely practical as well.  We would be wise to follow it.

Ice Storms

Not to long ago I received a question from someone about ice storms.  Today I want to answer the question as well as give a whole picture of what an ice storm is, and how it occurs, and the specific question as to why it occurs more in certain areas of the US.


An ice storm is basically a rain event where the rain falls into air that is at or just below freezing.  When the water makes contact with objects, it then freezes into ice.  This ice continues to build as long as it keeps raining and staying below 32 degrees.  Water is quite heavy so once the ice reaches a certain point, the things the ice is forming on can no longer carry the weight and begin to break.  Tree Branches and power lines are the most vulnerable, and of course anything that happens to be under those falling trees is subject to damage as well. 


An ice storm forms when warm air is moving over the top of a shallow layer of cold air on the surface.  Cold air is generally heavier so you can get very thin layers of below freezing temperatures that collect near the surface while warmer moisture filled air is thrown over the top of that cold layer.  If the surface cold layer is too thick, you end up with ice pellets or snow.  Generally you get ice storms on the north side of a warm front where the warm air is trying to move in.  

You can get ice storms anywhere in the US, but as my questioner asked, why is it the mid south and south seem to get more ice storms than other areas of the country?  These areas are more prone to ice storms because of their geographic location.  You get ample warmth and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and the cold air streaming down from Canada is generally running out of steam in it push south.  This provides the best environment for major ice storms.

Ice storms do have a beauty to them though, as well as the capability of being highly destructive.  These types of storms can so devastate an area that it can knock it back into the pre-electric area for weeks.  They can also be unbelievably beautiful when not as thick.  It is one of the weather issues that we need to be prepared for as it can knock out power and transportation for extended periods.  We also need to be aware of it's deadly nature.  Falling objects, live power lines, and an inability to navigate are all dangers that can harm or kill us.

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.

Another Wild Week

I had talked about a pattern change last week and the pattern did indeed change and the Northwest was opened up to a series of storms that brought much needed rains to the region.  Maybe it was too much of a good thing.  Snows in Seattle stopped traffic, and rains in California brought flooding.  They will need a continuance of this pattern to get out of their long tern drought though, and especially in the southwest, that pattern will have to include them.  The drought there is leaving people fighting over water rights and asking the federal government to put the lives of people ahead of the lives of fish.  That is how bad it has gotten there.


The southern plains came out of its deep freeze and got to enjoy some spring type weather, and at least in the northern plains and great lakes, there has been some lessening of the bitter arctic air.  Snow systems still are hitting the area with shots of moderate snows and the piles continue to grow higher.  Chicago is over 5 feet of snow for the season and more is surely on the way.


The east was once again pummeled by a major storm that dumped up to two feet of snow and ice storms that caused power outages to hundreds of thousands.  Cities were once again left as parking lots as transportation became impossible.  At least folks in the southeast rebounded quickly back to warmer weather, but cold stays holding on in the northeast.


The coming week holds promise of a warmup in many areas struggling with cold and snow.  Rapidly melting snow on frozen ground though is a recipe for flooding, and that is certainly a concern.  Also with the warmer weather, the mid Mississippi valley could see a severe storm outbreak later in the week.  Certainly the ingredients are present and even 5 days out, the Storms Prediction Center has put out a notice on this possibility.


The longer range outlook going beyond next week is starting to look like a return to the pattern that we have had most of the winter with cold air returning to the eastern half of the country and warm and dry in the west.  This would mean more cold and snow in areas which want nothing more than for spring to arrive.


This I believe was in Charlotte NC during last weeks winter storm.  Traffic nightmares.


IN upstate NY, it was hard to find ones vehicles.



Even Buses in Virginia were snowed in.


Snow and palm trees you don't often see together, but there it was in South Carolina.

Weather Report 12/22/13

Another week and another powerful storm system has blasted through the mid-section of the country and into the northeast.  This storm was not atypical for this time of year and not record setting, but it was potent and had a variety of ways of causing mayhem across the country. 

When I began talking about this system a week ago, it looked like heavy snow was going to be the big story.  It turns out that I was wrong.  We had some good snow totals, but really just a normal snowstorm.  The really big impacts came in other packages.



Rain was a large story as many places were seeing rainfall amounts in excess of 3 inches.  Flash flooding and small creeks and streams overflowing were seen from Indiana to the gulf coast and from west of the Mississippi to the Appalachians.


Severe storms and tornadoes threatened the southern states.  There were a few confirmed tornadoes, but many of the storms packed winds in excess of 70mph and cause quite a bit of damage.  Downed trees helped knock out power lines all through the south.  Reed Timmer Tornado Chase

This storm also had an ice component that has knocked out power to hundreds of thousands in Canada and the northeast USA.  Lesser amounts caused numerous small accidents throughout the Midwest and great lakes regions.


The weather looks to be quieting down for the week ahead with no major systems across the country.  There will be a little clipper system that will bring some Christmas eve and day snows across the upper Midwest into the Great Lakes region, but that is about it for the next week ahead.  Temperatures should remain mostly in a seasonal range, maybe a little under average most locations. 

Follow up on Typhoon Haiyan

Several days out now from Typhoon Haiyan striking the Philippines, the images and video beginning to flow from there are devastating.  I’ve been involved in weather and storm chasing for over 20 years and have only seen this type of devastation a handful of times coming from EF4 & 5 tornadoes.  Even then those areas are only blocks wide.  The Storm that struck was miles wide, with tornado like winds.  Inside the winds you also have swirling vortices of wind that would definitely been EF5 in strength.  Not only do you have that, but then you also had massive storm surge.  What did not blow away, washed away. The only thing I can compare this to in my memory was Hurricane Andrew that struck Florida in 1992.

 


The images we are seeing are pretty much from one city, Tacloban.  There are still many places where no one has gotten to yet because what little infrastructure there was has been completely destroyed, and the same for lines of communication as well.  These were impoverished rural areas with many weak structures. I’ve already heard reports of bodies lining the roadways just getting out of the city.


Relief has been slow to come, but at least there is a little trickling in as organizations and leaders coordinate the massive effort.  Survivors have been left to their own resources in many cases and looting has been reported.   Many of these people had a difficult time making it through a day anyway and had no preparations.  Even if you did have preparations, they might have blown or washed away, then got looted from amongst the rubble.  You do what you have to do to make it through another day.




Help is needed for the people of the Philippines.   Please give if you can.  The preferred way to assist is through cash donations (or bank card, etc).  Aid organizations know what is needed immediately and can put your donated money to good immediate use.  Donations of goods get messy and cluttered, often overwhelming.  On top of this, many people use this type of donating as an excuse to unload their unwanted junk.  There are often nefarious groups that try to take advantage by soliciting for donations, but will keep the money instead, so it is best to go through a known and trusted source.  Red Cross comes to mind, for example.

 

http://www.redcross.org

This is also a good time to try and remind people that they themselves need to have preparations made in case of a devastating disaster strikes your area.  No one anywhere in the world is immune from some sort of disaster.  Surviving a disaster is only part of it.  Surviving the aftermath is another task.  Take both seriously.

http://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit

(links are cut and paste, not hyperlinks)

Colorado Flooding

Dangerous and deadly rains have formed over Colorado, and specifically around and NW of the Denver area beginning on 9/11 and continue as of this writing on 9/13.  I've heard reports of as much as 9 inches of rain falling in less than 3 hours.  Evacuations are under way as a dam is expected to fail near Commerce City that could send a 20 foot wall of water smashing through neighborhoods.



A low pressure centered over Las Vegas has remained relatively stationary for several days pumping in ample moisture from the pacific ocean.  This moisture is running into a stationary cold front across the area combined with natural elevation lift from the topography.  Some areas have over 14 inches of rain over the last 3 days.  these are rain totals one would see in a tropical storm.  Put this kind of rain in the mountainous regions and catastrophic flooding is going to occur.



Another 2 or 3 days of rain at least is expected which would put this rain event in Colorado into an almost Biblical proportion as some areas could reach near 2 feet of rain.   The National Weather Service used this terminology in a briefing regarding the flooding near Boulder CO "a flood of Biblical Proportions".



My prayers go out to the people of Colorado.  If anyone would like to donate to help victims, one way to do so is through the Red Cross.

http://www.redcross.org/

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

How God Saved America

The year was 1814.  The United States was once again at war with Great Britain.  While the early years of the war had gone fairly well for the US, they had not gotten a victory over the British.  Most of Britians focus had been on the war with Napoleon at the beginning, but with Napoleon’s defeat, thousands of troops, already battle hardened, were coming ashore in the States and things had taken a turn for the worse for the fledgling nation.


By August, British forces had landed 5,000 strong and were making their way towards the capital.  On the 24^th of August they met up with the American forces that were 7000 strong.  Despite being outnumbered, the Americans were not very well organized and were quickly defeated and the road to the capital lay uncontested.    


By august 25^th, 1814, the British had set out to make an example of the city and was burning all the government buildings.  The capital, library of congress, treasury, state department, etc, were all set ablaze. The fires began burning out of control, and threatened to burn the entire city to the ground.  With the capital gone and the British in control, the new nation would once again be subjects of the King of Britian.  But, God had other plans.


Unknown to everyone around, and well in advance of the conquering troops even arriving, God was preparing a storm;  a Hurricane to be precise.  While the British had stormed in from the north, God was about to hit them with a real storm from the south, on the very same day, August 25^th, 1814.


As described by http://historicaldigression.com



The driving rain put out most of the fires threatening the city.  The storm was so fierce that it tore buildings apart, literally lifting them off their foundations. The winds uprooted trees and knocked men to the ground. A number of houses collapsed, killing the British soldiers taking shelter therein. One British officer reported seeing cannons lifted off the ground and thrown through the air. Redcoats out on the streets of Washington, trying to enforce a curfew, were forced to lie prostrate in the mud.


Based on the first hand accounts, weather historians generally agree that the storm that struck Washington on August 25, 1814 sparked one or more tornadoes. I can’t possibly imagine being one of these soldiers, completely exposed, with no choice but to cling to mother earth in the midst of a tornado.


As the storm began to subside, one of the British officers in command of the invasion emerged from his shelter and said to one of the inhabitants of Washington, “Great God, Madam, is this the kind of storm to which you are accustomed in this infernal country?!”


She responded, “No, sir, this is a special interposition of Providence to drive our enemies from the city.”

Three tornadoes struck near Washington that day. It was later reported that one landed to the northwest, another in the high country [which is now called Georgetown], and the one that struck the Capitol Hill area. Whether there was a single tornado taking a southeasterly course or a tornado swarm, it will never be known. What can be said for certain is that a powerful tornado with destructive winds did hit downtown Washington at a crucial time; forcing the British out of the city, and saving what was left of our Capitol.

And drive them from the city it did.  Troops had been scattered, injured, and killed.  Their equipment scattered to the winds like children’s toys rendered unusable.  Many British had already fled and what remained scampered off utterly demoralized and defeated without an American shot being fired.  The next day when American troops arrived in DC to fight for their city, they found no British to fight and simply walked back in unabated.  This was the true story of how God saved our nation.