Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Fascinating and frightening

I'm torn. Deep down, I'm a weather geek. I'm a certified storm spotter for our area. I know clouds, cloud formations, barometric pressure, relative humidity, and all the ingredients for a good storm. I'm the freak that will sit out on the deck and watch a storm for signs of rotation while the sirens are going off. I can afford the cavalier attitude because, when our school district built new schools a couple of years ago, the provided for F-5 storm shelters on campus. And I had an above-ground EF-5 shelter installed in the backyard. When it gets hairy, I know we're covered.

But until then, I'd be like this man who caught the birth of yesterday's EF-4 tornado in Moore, OK. Notice how it tentatively reaches for the ground, lightly touching before retreating, until it finally takes a good bite and grows. And grows and grows and grows. The sheer size compared to the buildings on the ground is breathtaking. The flashes as it eats power lines and transformers is mesmerizing.

All of the lives lost and changed, all of the grief and tragedy, all of the pain of picking up and rebuilding, touches me; and yet, I'm fascinated by the funnel. I find a type of horrible beauty in the destructive power.

I have tried repeatedly to embed the video, but the code gets hijacked by some Mexican guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMF22_MEMJU
 

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13 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 21, 2013 at 1:25 PM

    Embeds don't show up on the iPad so the link works for me. They work fine on the windows machines.

    Now all you need is your amateur radio license so you can join a Skywarn net.

    Poke poke

    Terry
    Fla.

    ReplyDelete
  2. hiswiserangelMay 21, 2013 at 1:27 PM

    I'm hoping to get the Canadian Twatwaffle situation settled in the next couple of weeks, then I'm free to explore other non-emergency pursuits.

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  3. AnonymousMay 21, 2013 at 1:33 PM

    You better explain that before our favorite Canadian blogger sees it and doesn't know the story.

    Terry
    Fla.

    ReplyDelete
  4. hiswiserangelMay 21, 2013 at 1:35 PM

    I wrote a post, she commented, she knows. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. linemanMay 21, 2013 at 3:18 PM

    We used to sit inside the hayloft and watch twisters tear thru my G'pas hay fields...We would go out after they passed and find pieces of grass drove thru trees...It was an experience I will never forget...

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  6. AnonymousMay 21, 2013 at 6:07 PM

    Twisters terrify me, I'd rather face an Army of demons with crabs Than an EF-4. ---Ray

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  7. StretchMay 21, 2013 at 6:42 PM

    "God hates trailer parks." - Johnny Fever

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  8. hiswiserangelMay 21, 2013 at 6:43 PM

    :-D Stretch, Dr. Fever was the reason I got a Mass Comm degree. Someone should have told me I could be a dj without a degree.

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  9. Angel eyesMay 21, 2013 at 8:08 PM

    My friend and I went to a free dj audition for one of the Orange County rock stations back in the 70's. I still have the cassette.
    Didn't get hired.

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  10. James ButlerMay 21, 2013 at 8:32 PM

    Lineman, great story...
    Ray I've only been through one late at night... didn't see much, but the town sure felt it... Scary is correct...

    Now Ray, lolol... can you explain a little about what "an Army of demons with crabs" is? Or anyone else who knows...

    Hope all is well, dear man...
    ;-)

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  11. AnonymousMay 22, 2013 at 3:21 AM

    I survived the April 3 1974 super outbreak. The sound that a really big twister makes is nightmarish, afterward everything is..Gone --Ray ----Demonic bloodsucking crabs would have to put them(demons) in a really pissy mood.

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  12. GabeMay 22, 2013 at 8:04 AM

    Being from the Northeast originally, our forces of natural destruction were snow, ocean, and the occasional mild hurricane (Cat 1 at best mostly). Nasty in their own right, but you can prepare "around" them. Tornadoes were extremely rare and I never saw one.
    Having actually been caught outside in an F1 (it was a mildly terrifying experience) and seeing how damaging THAT can be when a string of them came through NC a couple years back, I have a new found respect for them.

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  13. MeredithMay 22, 2013 at 9:48 AM

    Yep, that's the one. If it hadn't fallen apart when it did it was barreling straight up my way. And I had no place to go! Stuck at work with no car. Good times! Still Oklahoma is a better place to be than either of the coasts!

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Play nice. None of you are too old for a spanking.