Re: OT: Now I know what it's like to be in a hurricane..
- From: Rev Turd Fredericks <turdfred2@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:02:54 -0700
Sycho wrote:
Today Rev Turd Fredericks <turdfred2@xxxxxxxxxxxx> in alt.2600 on Mon,I certainly don't have any experience like that. I tend to avoid storms, but to each his own. What was remarkable to me was the color of the sky and the really really heavy rain that preceded it. The sky was almost purple and it was about 11am, do you know what causes that? We were 100 miles from the nearest source of industrial pollution etc. I had to bail the boat out twice before the tornado hit.
15 Sep 2008 20:20:12 -0700 thought that it would be fun to share with
the rest of the class this little ditty..
Sycho wrote:Yesterday afternoon a large part of Ohio was under a high wind warningOn my honeymoon we almost got hit with a small tornado, nobody can predict the path of those things, it ripped hundred year old trees right out of the ground, our cottage was untouched, but you could see the path all the way across the island. That was one of the scariest moments of my life that's for sure.
for sustained gusts from 55 to 60 MPH as a result of the remnants of
hurricane Ike.
Large poorly rooted trees were ripped from the ground, homes and
buildings damaged or destroyed, power lines downed and cars damaged or
destroyed.
Both today and tomorrow (quite possible much of the week), the largest
school district in Columbus (Columbus City Schools) had to close its
doors because fifty percent of them are without power.
AEP (American Electric Power) says it's possible that power will be
fully restored by the end of the week, due largely to the fact that
some of the individual powerlines needs to be replaced.
Sadly, there have been a few fatalities as a result of the high winds.
Either trees falling on occupied cars or people out and about during
the peak of the very strong winds.
Much of the surrounding counties, including Franklin experienced a
peak measured gust of 75 MPH, which, as many of you know is equal to
that of a category one hurricane or an E F0 tornado.
My home was spared by the powerful winds and the only damage on my
property was to a large maple tree in my backyard. Anywhere between 3
and 8 inch diameter branches were ripped out of the tree, although I'm
happy to say the tree itself stood tall. I can't say that about other
trees throughout the neighborhood though. The new privacy fence that
was put up several months ago survived the winds, thankfully.
During the peak of the wind storm I literally saw a house about a
block down my street have its aluminum siding torn from the home
exposing insolation. And yes, during this event I was in constant
contact with the National Weather Service office in Wilmington, Ohio
phoning in my reports. I even told them at the second phone call to be
prepared because I was going to keep them busy with updated damage
reports.
After that I went on a brief tour of the neighborhood taking pictures
of the damage caused by the winds. Oddly, the houses across the street
from me have no power. Thankfully we do. That usually doesn't happen.
Usually it's the other way around. Although power did flicker from
time to time and even had gone out for about 2 seconds.
Anyway, I can that I sympathize with those who live in hurricane prone
areas. Granted the devastation is far greater than what we experienced
here. But I feel for those of you who have to pick up the pieces after
such a storm. I think Ike will remain etched in the hearts and minds
of those that had to go through that for many days to come. I know
I'll never forget it.
My very first storm chase still stands out in my mind and made me
rethink my procedures from that day foreword.
One evening, about 12 years ago a tornado warning was issued for my
county and the county next to me to the west (Madison). It was a
little after 9 PM and it was dark.
At the time it was just myself, my wife and my step-son who was just 4
years old at the time. We had come back into town from a trip. No
sooner than we walk in our house my weather radio's alarm was
activated by the National Weather Service. A tornado warning was
issued. I looked at her and said "let's go!".
We packed up a few things in the car and headed out west. I had the
weather radio on listening to updates issued in the special weather
statements. According to the updates, the area we were heading was in
the direct path of the storm. Once we were at the border of Franklin
and Madison, I pulled over on the freeway to monitor the situation.
It was pouring rain that night so that made it even more difficult to
be able to be effective for spotting. But I made the best of it. A few
minutes later the wind picked up from a light breeze to about 45 miles
per hour or more. We were facing the wind at that point. Still
couldn't see a thing either. Let alone the front of the car due to the
heavy rain! It was that bad out.
The car was rocking back and fourth due to the cross winds that
buffeted us. We were in my old 1982 Ford Crown Vic that was my chase
car.
A few minutes later the wind subsided so we went to the nearest off
ramp to turn around and head back for home as I was getting low on
fuel.
In any event, we never saw a tornado or a funnel, but I think that
night the wall cloud had passed pretty close if not over our car. It's
not unusual for winds to be extreme underneath one of those as they
are where a tornado forms out of.
The following day I made the decision that I would never chase at
night due to the extreme risk involved. It literally scared the hell
out of me. But my training made me stay calm so as not to scare my
wife and step-son.
A decade later I was by myself on another chase. Bad thing to do too!
The storm I was following formed a damaging microburst. I was parked
along side a rural road around trees that all of a sudden started
bending almost to the roadway! I hightailed it to my north in a
clearer area and watched as debris was littering the ground where I
was originally parked! Never been on one of those before but damn that
was just as scary as my night chase. My heart was pounding almost out
of my chest.
It all happened so fast I didn't have time to get my video camera
rolling nor did I take still shots, but that was an experience I'll
never forget.
.
- References:
- Re: OT: Now I know what it's like to be in a hurricane..
- From: Rev Turd Fredericks
- Re: OT: Now I know what it's like to be in a hurricane..
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