General Chat / The Weather Thread

...the entire midwest for their volleys of tornadoes every year...

I live in the mw, and personally, I have never seen a tornado. Floods and snowstorms are the biggest worries, and you don't have to worry too much about that. Tornados are more prevalent in the great plains, where the population is much less dense. I'm not focusing on the east coast. I was mostly referring to the gulf coast where they seem to be the most prevalent.

Over 80 homes destroyed in a Breezy Point fire.

http://live.jalopnik.com/


HMS Bounty going down.

It is just that really large hurricanes occur every few years, and people forget about it within a few months. It just doesn't make sense to me to live in an area where everything you own can be destroyed in an instance.

Back in 2005 me and my Dad were on vacation in Gulfport, Mississippi. This was about 5 days before Katrina hit and pretty much did destroy everything. One thing my Dad always likes to do is drive around and look at houses in areas where he would like to retire. At one place I noticed they where building some new houses with wood/dry wall exteriors. I said to him that I would never want to live in a house without a poured concrete exterior and even said to him something like "don't these people know they live in a hurricane zone?" Sure enough days later Katrina leveled those houses.

The lesson is not to live in a cheap ass house. My house in Miami is 70-years-old and made of poured concrete exteriors. It's been in over a dozen hurricanes including Andrew which was a category 5. Never has it been damaged, maybe a few roof tiles get blown away, but that's all.

Best thing about hurricanes is you know they are coming. I would be much more worried living in the Midwest where you might only have minutes to react to a tornado, which btw is about 2x as strong as the strongest hurricanes, just way smaller. Earthquakes would be pretty scary too.

Funtown Pier at Seaside Park in New Jersey, apparently



and

Hmm, wonder how other rides along the shore fared, as well as everything else.

Best of luck to anyone who got stuck in this storm. I heard that my town has a large number of trees down and power is still out. I also have friends in lower Manhattan, it'll be interesting to see how they made out.

In terms of what RCTMASTA said, the Cyclone has a steel frame similar to that of the roller coaster pictured above, but I believe it is of a much sturdier construction than that ride (thicker beams and more of them.) Hopefully it's at least still standing after the storm, but I don't think Luna Park will be so lucky. But obviously there are more important matters to deal with, like bailing out Long Island, Manhattan, and everywhere else that got hit.

That's true, as most homes made now are practically constructed out of crap. You mentioned that your house is 70 years old, so it pretty much has to be of high quality construction.

In the midwest though, most homes are made with wooden studs. The only disaster to hit my town hard was a flash flood, and that was only because of the extremely flat terrain it lies on. My house is less than 30 years old and is of fairly cheap quality construction, and apparently a tornado came through my town without any damage besides a few uprooted plants.

I personally think all these stereotypes about the midwest having massive tornadoes aren't true. Florida has the most amount of tornadoes (although usually they are very weak), and although they are common in the midwest, Oklahoma comes in second.

On the pictures: I am truly upset seeing some of the destruction, not just the amusement park but the HMS Bounty. It is just cringeworthy to imagine it sink.

So, i'm writing this from my phone at a panera. I don't have power or heat and will not until Sunday according to the electric company. By now, you've seen the pictures of the NJ boardwalks. I'm watching as my childhood memories and first rides are carried away to the sea. I've seen my first roller coaster or log flume at seaside heights or point pleasant disappear. The places where i had my first tastes of fudge or ice cream gone. Even friends and family houses destroyed or in the bay. I'm lucky just to have a tree on my house.
I don't know, I guess I'm just ranting and disillusioned by Sandy. I can hope the boardwalks will get some modern coasters. God bless all those affected by this storm.

So, i'm writing this from my phone at a panera. I don't have power or heat and will not until Sunday according to the electric company. By now, you've seen the pictures of the NJ boardwalks. I'm watching as my childhood memories and first rides are carried away to the sea. I've seen my first roller coaster or log flume at seaside heights or point pleasant disappear. The places where i had my first tastes of fudge or ice cream gone. Even friends and family houses destroyed or in the bay. I'm lucky just to have a tree on my house.
I don't know, I guess I'm just ranting and disillusioned by Sandy. I can hope the boardwalks will get some modern coasters. God bless all those affected by this storm.

So sorry for your loss! There has been so many in NJ especially that were heavily impacted by this storm. My sister and I both were watching the news all night long, but since we are on the upper west side we were completely unaffected by power outages/storm surge. Hoping for a swift recovery for those affected.

Delaware and NJ got absolutely wrecked. Can't say that I was very sober for most of the hurricane, but we seem to have been largely untouched in the Philly suburbs. The transformer in my neighborhood blew out, so I may have been the only casualty of power outages in my town. Only lost it for a little over a day. My box of pop tarts survived.

I just got my power back.

I just got my power back.

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That's...embarrassing. 

 

But seriously, that's cold. It was 17 below in Indianapolis on Tuesday morning and I thought that was cold. 

 

Edit: just read through the rest of the topic...what Jaguar said about the Midwest having a tornado "stereotype" that isn't true is BS. Personally, I've never seen a tornado, and I live close enough to the city that tornadoes usually stay away, but they are definitely abundant and dangerous. My aunt in Oklahoma saw the tornadoes that wrecked Moore and El Reno in May. Indianapolis tests the tornado sirens once a week. Just because he's never seen a tornado doesn't mean they don't exist

Where I live the tornado sirens are tested on Wednesdays and Sundays at noon every week.

 

That's...embarrassing. 

 

 

 

 

Hahaha!  Bum-da tiss!  Yeah, -17 is still really cold, I feel for you.  Recently a student at UMD almost froze to death after spending 10 hours in about -20 degree temps, and now she needs to have her feet and hands amputated due to frostbite.  Anything below freezing is definitely life-threatening.

 

Also keep in mind that it's a good thing if you live in tornado alley and have never seen a tornado.  Better to look at them through images than to be standing close enough to see it, as far as I'm concerned.  Don't F with nature when it's angry, lol.

Meh, every tornado I've seen nearly missed my town. Surprised none have recently hit Downtown Dallas. But that would be the scariest shit ever.

Already have about 4-5 inches of snow on the ground, with 8-12 more coming on Sunday. Fun times in the Midwest. 

screw this mild climate in washington. i want snow or sunshine.

screw this mild climate in washington. i want snow or sunshine.

 

At least I'm going back to NY on Monday. Provided my flight isn't delayed/cancelled.

 

I'm planning on going to college in the Northwest. I am soooo looking forward to that climate.