Powerful Tornados in Winter?

Storm hit state hard, but left no injuries

...a tornado tore apart homes in Fayette and south Fulton counties...

Homeowners spent Tuesday wiping tears, sweeping their properties and trying to figure out what to do next amid building debris and toppled trees... They were puzzled, like meteorologists and government officials, over why a tornado hit Georgia in the midst of winter. The National Weather Service categorized the tornado as an F2 with windspeeds of up to 150 miles per hour.

"We were quite surprised to have a storm like this this time of the year," said John Oxendine, state commissioner of insurance, who visited the damaged neighborhoods in Fayette, Fulton and Pike counties. "This was a very powerful storm. Some houses were virtually annihilated."

No injuries were reported, but the damage was extensive, from mansions with multi-garages to brick cottages. Oxendine estimated statewide losses at more than $3 million, but he expected that figure to climb.

Looks like the year is starting off with a bang everywhere. I have a feeling that mother nature is really going to be tough this year.

It makes you wonder how long the insurance industry can sustain these losses. In fact, I have a feeling that insurance all together will become a rare option for most. I am already seeing signs of serious weakness there...

Not good...not good at all.

There were two that touched down in my hometown the night before last. There were six in Kentucky alltogether that night. So very weird, Loam!

As if meteorology was not complicated enough...

If anyone ever thought that weather forecasters really did not know what they were doing, that has to be certainly true now...

Leaving aside the issue of why change is happening, it looks like all the weather rules are being rewritten...

I just wonder by how much....



[edit on 4-1-2006 by loam]

You know, I just honestly think the seasons are changing, Loam and we are experiencing a much shorter winter at an earlier time. I can't prove this of course, but from my observations over the past couple of years this is my conclusion. It was frigidly cold here (below normal) in December. We were having January and February like weather at that time. Now, we seem to be having March and April like weather. They are forecasting two cold days this week, but still not as cold as it should be and then back into the lower 70's next week...so, with the tornadoes and the spring like storms and more warm days than cold days....it certainly sounds like spring to me! And not to mention it has been getting darker later alot earlier than it should be as well!

Something is wrong! Why is no one paying attention and trying to figure out what?

I am with you, Loam and I am afraid that we are facing a new age without written rules. The term season of hurricanes, for tornadoes, etc... could not be valid any more...

I wonder what will happen next. 2006 is not going to be easy...

I noticed three weeks ago, a Bradford Pear tree with a single branch in full bloom! I meant to take a picture and post it, but didn't get the opportunity.

I agree. Something is wrong.

Don't you worry about the insurance industry loam - they rewrote their coverage terms long ago, and have their butts covered six ways to Sunday for everything from climate change to the health impacts of electromagnetic fields.

...Checking insurance coverage terms on an issue is the best way to find out what's really going on - they have info coming in from around the world, histories, and armies of analysts dedicated to identifying any kind of emerging or established trends that might affect profits in any way.


BTW - What is that word? For insurance analyst? ...Alzheimer moment here...

What bothers me more than anything is the animals. If you've read my posts in the past you know that i've been observing a disappearance of animals in South Central Kentucky...this is a place known for one of the most diverse bird and animal population. And, i'm afraid that if they don't adapt fast they will be no more. :-(

I found this very interesting. It is from an online magazine that is based in my hometown. The tornado that hit this one particular area of Ammish homes took the exact same path that previous tornadoes have take over the past few years. This is an interesting theory according to the magazine:

A belief is growing that Green River Lake causes the storms

There is growing belief among many on KY 206 that the tornadoes are caused by Green River Reservoir. "We didn't have any tornadoes here until they built the dam," one man at Pellyton General Store said.

He was asked to expand on the theory, and said, "The lake is flat. The winds get up speed across the lake," he said.

To make the situation worse, he said, "There used to be a heavy stand of timber in the Tucker Woods. They've been cut, and now there is no wind break."

While the theory isn't proven, it is not dismissed so quickly these days. Tampering with the environment helped wipe out New Orleans, and it may be making life in Pellyton less safe, too.


Here's the link to the article for verification. www.columbiamagazine.com...

Interesting stuff zenlover. More data for your pot - I got back to my research on electromagnetism recently, focusing on biological effects, but I did read that North America now has some kind o f EMF fog over it, with ?weird? pathways in the fog. I think the source is The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life. I will keep my eye out for the quote and related information. ...From what I recall, which is admittedly very limited, it could be quite pertinent.

Rather than post this article in its own thread, I though I would add it here...

Review of the year: Disasters

We live, generally, in a world which we feel is ordered. Underpinned by the constant advances of science and technology, and the ever-increasing sophistication of human society, we proceed about our lives cherishing the illusion that we are somehow in control. But just occasionally, nature intervenes with a rude reminder of just how fragile is the grip that we humans have on our planet.

In the past 12 months, nature has been working overtime with her assaults on our reality. First came the tsunami, the most deadly such event ever recorded, in which more than 200,000 people perished in 13 different countries that were 1,000 or more miles apart. Then a ghastly famine sneaked up on Niger while the world was looking the other way. Next, ferocious hurricanes whipped the south coast of the United States, devastating one of the major cities of the globe's most powerful nation. Finally came an earthquake of such terrible violence that it ripped open the Himalayas with a force comparable to the two biggest quakes of the 20th century, killing 80,000 people and leaving an unimaginable 3 million people homeless.

Yet the great concatenation of disasters throughout 2005 did more than instil once again our sense of awe at our human insignificance in the natural order. It taught us something about humanity at its best and worst - and raised some uncomfortable questions about who it is that suffers in such circumstances, and why. For we discovered that "Acts of God", as the insurance world still puts it, are matched - and sometimes horribly exceeded - by acts of man in their sheer callousness...

More...

An interesting read, but it doesn't even scratch the surface of all that really happened.

Concerning the societal implications, what would another year like this or two or three do to our social structures?

And we think politics is rough now?

Originally posted by soficrow
BTW - What is that word? For insurance analyst? ...Alzheimer moment here...

Actuary