ThePhanastasio

With tornadoes, we know the conditions that can produce them, but we can't ever tell when or exactly how a tornado is going to hit a certain area. We do know that the "tornado belt" in the midwest is most likely to produce a tornado, and that it's based on pressure fronts, but there's still no exact science as to when or how significantly a tornado is going to touch ground.

The best we can do is identify conditions which have previously produced tornadoes in the past, and posting warnings from this. Supercells are a big indicator of possible tornado activity, but one never knows. A supercell isn't even necessary for a tornado, although, history indicates that it certainly helps.

I am certainly devastated for the Oklahoma victims of this violent storm, but I'd like to be able to chase and discern more precise patterns for the storms, to better predict where they're going to hit, and, ideally, when. I have observed two tornadoes in my life, one in NC (an F0) and one in rural KY (an EF1) but have been fascinated as long as I can imagine.

If there was something I could do to make it more predictable, less traumatic and sudden for people in affected communities, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Last summer, there was a severe tornado in West Liberty, KY, and my best friend has family there. They were all okay physically, but all of them lost property and peace of mind. I'd like to find a way to - not prevent property damage, because that is inevitable - but predict the storm, the path of the storm, and make it so people could go to safety or evacuate in a timely manner.

We personally had a durecho, and I seriously thought I was going to die. I was at my mom's, and she lives in a double-wide, with my, at the time, fourteen-year-old sister. She was crying and freaking out, and the trailer was shaking, but I stayed calm, directed her to the bathroom with no windows, and said, "I promise, we're fine in here. We just don't want glass to hit us if the windows shatter, but nothing is going to happen to us in here."

I got both of the dogs and all three of the cats in there as well, but I really thought we were going to die. The trailer was tipping, and I was convinced it was a tornado. I just knew I had to stay calm to reassure her, so that she wouldn't be in a panic. I'm an agnostic, but personally was praying to God, Abraham, Alllah, Cthulu, and any other deity that popped into my head.

Our power was knocked out, and the temperature dropped over thirty degrees in fifteen minutes. I was convinced we were dead at that point.

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^^^ I honestly think part of the problem is overuse of the emergency system. Tornado warnings occur with such frequency that they lose meaning and import. Stopping everything in the middle of your day, turning off all the electric, and huddling in a small room in the basement for half an hour isn't fun. It's downright ****ty when it happens at night.

If we use Joplin as an example, they predicted that the storm system would produce Tornadoes a full twenty four hours in advanced. But, the people had been so inundated with meaningless warnings that a large swathe of the population just up and ignored all the warnings.

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Sansa Stark

I concur!

CrazyVegn

Deserve it no (what is your problem, Po?) but God needed them for something IMHO
Phantasio admits there's no exact science yet. This is exactly what Im talking about.
On the other hand i like the idea Earth is an entity.

ON the subject of Mt St Helens, didnt that erupt in 2006?

PoorOldPo

I have no problem at all, I am just trying to understand your logic. I don't know if "God" needed them for anything, they were just killed by a freak act of nature. I believe everything has already been decided, or set, therefore this would always have happened, and every horrible and wonderful that will happen has already happened, the future is just as assured as the past is. Where god comes into this, I don't know, whatever that is.

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Trollheart

Hmm. This is getting very metaphysical. Natural disasters are just that: natural. You can of course choose to believe that God (if he/she/they/it exists, and cares) has a plan, and so everything happens for a reason, but if you do, then you have to start questioning why earthquakes, cot deaths, AIDS and a whole host of other things happen. And if you go down that road, bring a map and a torch with plenty of batteries because it's a long, hard way back...

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CrazyVegn

No, no I don't get into extremes when it comes to Jesus or the Bible.

A couple hrs before Mt St Helens erupted in May of 2006 I was lying in the dark, staring up at the ceiling and the walls got REALLY close. I began to panic and then a flash of an erupting volcano came to vision. I thought I was going crazy but then the next day it was on the news!

Paul Smeenus

What happened in 2006 was a puff of steam, what happened on May 18th 1980 was closer to a nuclear detonation

BastardofYoung

Wow, this thread is starting to seem like some weird publication of The Weekly World News. God calling people home by killing them off with a tornado and prophecies in the night. Getting a little odd for my tastes.

I have a hard time swallowing either pill.

I do not think that "God" (I would like to tell me exactly what God is, and why he would need people to come back to him)

This was just a work of nature, there is no bigger spiritual play at work. It is just nature being nature, and doing what it does. No reason, other than the fact it is nature.

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Paul Smeenus

Myself and everyone except Vegn is saying the same thing