Clarity in a world of chaos

We will not go quietly, into the night!

We will not vanish, without a fight.

We're going to live on! We're going to survive!

Today, we celebrate, our Independence Day!

Supercells

 

This is some of the best tornado footage I have ever seen. If you are a weather nut (like me) you will certainly enjoy this footage.

URL:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEUXr6FMtWk

 

While the tornado is massive, it didn’t appear to be terribly strong- seeing how telephone poles seemed to endure the wind, rather than being snapped like toothpicks.But, it turned into a large wedge tornado.

 

That said, I hope to never be that close to one, and if I ever am, I hope I’m in a well tuned, fully fueled, trouble-free C6 Z-06 Chevy Corvette- with miles of straight road in either direction.

 

 

On Saturday, June 16th, we went up to the fancy Wal-Mart in Plano. It rained cats & dogs while we were inside. When we came out, it was still dark & cloudy- but, when I looked north towards EDS, there was a tube shaped cloud hanging straight down from the clouds. Let me tell you, that was a Maalox moment.

I looked at it for 5 - 10 seconds, and saw there was no rotation. I remembered Evan mentioning some thing similiar earlier this season (March/April). 

That makes twice I've seen clouds like that, this storm season. The first tiem being in the May 28 - June 1 window.

But, if you like Tornadoes (From a distance) you'll love the footage I linked above.

 

I don't know if you gusy are weather nutz like I am, but- if you are- you will be impressed by this photo:  (Cut & Paste into your browser)

http://image.weather.com/web/multimedia/images/blog
/Greensburg_full.png

Makes the weather we've had here seen trivial.  But, stuff like what happened to Greensburg is why folks should not get made about missing "House".

Top 25 reasons why House is not as important as Weather warnings: (Click link)

http://www.kansas.com/static/slides/050507tornadoae
rials/

 

 

 

I’m a weather nut… If I’d known in ‘87 what I know today, I’d have gone to college to become a meteorologist, rather than join the Army two days out of my cap & gown. Does anyone remember when Texas used to get COLD? Looking at the weather on KNOE TV-8 out of Monroe, LA- we’d see Texas on the national map (They primarily focused on the Ark-La-Miss). It always seemed like Dallas got snow, or ice, and was always 28, 26, or 30 degrees. I wanted that. We rarely got snow/ice in Louisiana, maybe once every 2-3 years. We may have two-three 35 deg. days, followed by three or four 60 degree days. One year (83 or 84) we had two “Alberta Clippers” come through, dropping temps to “0”, bursting poorly insulated pipes, and putting ice/snow everywhere. That was the first time I ever saw water freeze instantly (on glass)- I loved it. The beautiful thing about the south is, with a minor accumulation of ice, schools and work closes, so it’s a fun day, a snow day!

I finally got to Texas in 1992, after leaving (Surprisingly) cold, at times- Sierra Vista, Arizona and equally surprising Augusta, GA. April 1992 has to be the rainiest month I ever spent in Texas, but, more importantly, it got COLD the following winter. I can honestly say, after 2-years in Germany, and 1 year in Korea, I have spent some of my coldest days in life- at Ft. Hood, TX. (Jan & Feb 1996 saw snaps hovering near “0”, as well as Jan/Feb 1994). I moved to Plano in Jan 1997, and that was the last cold winter I can remember. What happened?

I love cold weather- the colder the better- as long as I have heat in the house, it can be 33 for a high, and 33 below for a low, I don’t care. You can dress for the cold. But, when it’s 99 – 110, if it were legal, you can get naked and walk outside, and you’d still be miserable. There’s no beating Texas’ heat outdoors. I think the problem is that blasted High Pressure dome, permanently affixed over Dallas. While it protects us from Tornadoes (Thank you) it also keeps us dry, and warm. I have cracks in my yard deep enough to put a baby in, that say we need the rain. A cold snap would be fun- with or without the ice, maybe even killing off some of the insects.

We need to amend that dome’s contract, and tell it to take leave from July 1 – Feb. 28, that way it’s back to protect us in Tornado season (March – June), but gone so we can get some rain, and cold weather! IF only it was that easy. I know tornadoes can happen in any month, but March – June is prime-time for this part of Tornado Alley.