Windy Weather on the Plains: When Storms Get Named

[Evo]

A tropical storm is named if a storm has winds that exceed 39 MPH and it makes news. 39 MPH winds are really common here on the plains. We routinely have storms here with sustained winds of 60-70 MPH, but they don't get named and they don't make the news.

Right now we have a storm with winds of 60 MPH approaching. This isn't fair. If we named every storm with winds reaching 39 MPH here we'd exhaust the entire alphabet by Valentine's day.

 

[Evo]

Oh great, the national weather service has just announced it's headed directly for my house. Not really kidding, it announced a predicted direct hit on my town which is about 2 square miles. Excuse me while I go gather up my emergency provisions.

 

[Math Is Hard]

meh.. you're moving anyway, right?

 

[Kurdt]

I don't think Evo wants to go to Oz though.

 

[Evo]

Well, I was kind of hoping the house wouldn't get leveled with me in it.

Dr Foofer is out there!

 

[Evo]

HAH! They just interrupted TV to announce that the storm is actually at ONLY my freeway exit, one mile from here and doesn't even reach the next exit 2 miles away. It's another freak microburst.

 

[turbo]

We live near the top of hill in Maine. We routinely get storms kicking up 50-60+ mph winds and I found out today that an 80-100' Hemlock has recently been uprooted and has smashed down on one of my favorite blackberry patches. We often get heavy storms with damaging winds and rainfall in excess of 1"/hr. The state is so sparsely populated and is steep enough to handle heavy run-offs so that we never make the news.

The people who have been ignorant enough to build in low-lying areas of this country with histories of devastating storm surges are rewarded with "disaster declarations" each and every time they suffer losses from their ignorance, and the taxpayers pick up the bill. If idiots feel a burning need to live on the sand bars euphemistically called "barrier islands" off the Carolinas or in some other places that routinely get decimated, they should have to pay for any losses themselves. It's not a "natural disaster" when you insist on building in a place that's destined to get wiped clean every decade or so. That's ignorance, compounded by greed and an inflated sense of entitlement, when you can stand in front of your devastated property with TV cameras rolling and whine that you've "lost everything" and demand government help.

Ironically, the same people who will deride "welfare mothers" will stand silently by while millionaires collect damages for building their huge "cottages" in places where they are absolutely ensured to be wiped out in a decade or so.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

We had one of those pass over here a few years ago. We went from calm to 60mph winds in a matter of minutes. It was freaky! I even saw a tornadic circulation pass over that touched down about twenty miles from here.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I don't think Evo wants to go to Oz though.

But I had a list I wanted her to give the Wizard.

 

[Evo]

Temperature has dropped 20 degrees in the last 10 minutes, that's nice.

Turbo, I hear you. Ivan, didn't you recently have a pretty bad storm?

Crap the power keeps going off.

My house has already been directly hit by lightning before, please don't let it happen again.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Did you get Foofer in?

 

[Pythagorean]

A tropical storm is named if a storm has winds that exceed 39 MPH and it makes news. 39 MPH winds are really common here on the plains. We routinely have storms here with sustained winds of 60-70 MPH, but they don't get named and they don't make the news.

In my hometown (an island) we always get 30+ winds, but never newsworthy.

I think it's generally about the amount of property damage and injuries sustained... or at least the fear of it.

It's kind of like Alaska. A lot of people don't realize how many Earthquakes and Volcanoes we have here (more than any other state). But they're somewhat insignificant to anyone that's not researching volcanoes or earthquakes, because we have like 2.6 people per square mile here.

 

[Evo]

Did you get Foofer in?

I couldn't find him.

The Fruit Bat is hyperventillating, it's a really scary storm. If I was smart I'd disconnect everything, but then no one could hear me whine.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I am sure Foof will be fine. He has excellent survival instincts. Probably holed up somewhere safe.

 

[Evo]

In my hometown (an island) we always get 30+ winds, but never newsworthy.

I think it's generally about the amount of property damage and injuries sustained... or at least the fear of it.

It's kind of like Alaska. A lot of people don't realize how many Earthquakes and Volcanoes we have here (more than any other state). But they're somewhat insignificant to anyone that's not researching volcanoes or earthquakes, because we have like 2.6 people per square mile here.

That's right, no one cares about the scarcely populated areas, or the midwest.

 

[turbo]

But I had a list I wanted her to give the Wizard.

I am the Wizard, MIH. You want a nice habanero sauce to spice up your meatball.

Here is where you click those heels (you are wearing the regulation ruby slippers, right?). Get about a dozen habaneros and a few cloves of garlic. Chop them and boil them in 1/2 cup of vinegar until they are soft and then chop that in a food processor. Add maybe 1/2 tsp each of salt and sugar and a tablespoon of molasses, and bring that to a boil. You can process that by canning with 15 minutes in a boiling canning bath, or just jar it up and tuck it away in the fridge. Guaranteed tasty, guaranteed burn. This is the kind of pepper sauce that doesn't assail your tongue right away, but makes your scalp sweat when you've got "just enough" on your sandwich or salad. My wife and I made this stuff the last couple of years for me to cook with and experiment with, and she's gotten so hooked on it that we have run out and have had to resort to making more using store-bought habaneros until ours ripen.

 

[Evo]

I am the Wizard, MIH. You want a nice habanero sauce to spice up your meatball.

turbo, if you weren't married, I would be honing my moose butchering skills. :!)

Ok, the storm is beginning to let up. Temperature dropped from 96 to 72 degrees within a few minutes.

 

[turbo]

I'm glad that the temperature differentials have flattened. That's what drives the severe stuff. Our severe storm alerts have passed, so I'll get a good night's sleep tonight.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Yum! Turbo, that's exactly what I need!:!)

Evo, wow -- that's quite a temp drop!

Hopefully, there will be no earthquakes out here in MIH/Zooby land, and we will all sleep well.

 

[Evo]

The news says we had 80 MPH winds. That's a Category 1 hurricane. Of course we won't get any mention.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Hopefully, there will be no earthquakes out here in MIH/Zooby land, and we will all sleep well.

It's funny you should say that. I saw the headline about the very large Peruvian quake on a newspaper down at La Souris Perdue last evening, and got nervous. We haven't had any such activity here in quite a while which gives me the bad feeling it's about due. It's been unusually hot and humid. They call that "Earthquake Weather", you know.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It's funny you should say that. I saw the headline about the very large Peruvian quake on a newspaper down at La Souris Perdue last evening, and got nervous. We haven't had any such activity here in quite a while which gives me the bad feeling it's about due. It's been unusually hot and humid. They call that "Earthquake Weather", you know.

The night before the Sylmar quake of 71, my dad looked out the widow at the evening sky and said, "hmmmm, it looks like earthquake weather". It was the only time I ever heard him say that. And I can remember a distinct greenish hue to the sky that was unusual.

I have read that emissions of gases from the Earth before some large quakes might account for such reports.

Scientists used to scoff at the notion that quakes can be caused by other quakes, but not any more. I would secure all sticks and logs in the zooby shelter.

 

[zoobyshoe]

The night before the Sylmar quake of 71, my dad looked out the widow at the evening sky and said, "hmmmm, it looks like earthquake weather". It was the only time I ever heard him say that. And I can remember a distinct greenish hue to the sky that was unusual.

I have read that emissions of gases from the Earth before some large quakes might account for such reports.

Scientists used to scoff at the notion that quakes can be caused by other quakes, but not any more. I would secure all sticks and logs in the zooby shelter.

I just spent the last couple of months framing a whole bunch of drawings behind glass and hanging them on the walls. An earthquake could be an art disaster. (Apropos:I talked to an artist last night who had spent five months modeling a series of small sculptures in clay. They were not cast yet: still soft. She put them in a box and when she was out of the house her large, fat cat crawled into the box to nap and squished them all. The artist was emotionally paralyzed for a week and a half: she couldn't get out of bed.)

Anyway, I have no idea if there are any authentic meteorological harbingers of quakes, but there is lore to that effect. Your post did just prompt me to check the sky for any green cast. There are clouds on the horizon but the humidity is down.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Ivan, didn't you recently have a pretty bad storm?

I recall that we had a freak wind storm right after I got done cleaning up the leaves last winter And we do seem to be having more of them over the last few years. Recall the night that I was stuck in my office. That wasn't too long ago either.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Anyway, I have no idea if there are any authentic meteorological harbingers of quakes, but there is lore to that effect. Your post did just prompt me to check the sky for any green cast. There are clouds on the horizon but the humidity is down.

This really gets into earthquake prediction, which has had some success but is not reliable. It seems to me that what I read about was the release of xenon gas, but only before some quakes. I did a quick check and didn't see anything talking about this, but later I may be able to find something.

I guess there is a claim of dead-calm before a quake, and funny enough, I do remember this as well. I guess this might be related to animal activity...? It isn't hard to imagine that animals pick up on precursors and what we notice is the quiet. There is a guy who has allegedly been predicting quakes by tracking the lost dog and cat reports, but I don't know what a scientific review of his predicitions would reveal. Related perhaps: The people in Indonesia who were warned of the coming tsunami by the animals. Of course in that case the animals were all heading up into the hills.

 

[zoobyshoe]

This really gets into earthquake prediction, which has had some success but is not reliable. It seems to me that what I read about was the release of xenon gas, but only before some quakes. I did a quick check and didn't see anything talking about this, but later I may be able to find something.

I guess there is a claim of dead-calm before a quake, and funny enough, I do remember this as well. I guess this might be related to animal activity...? It isn't hard to imagine that animals pick up on precursors and what we notice is the quiet. There is a guy who has allegedly been predicting quakes by tracking the lost dog and cat reports, but I don't know what a scientific review of his predicitions would reveal. Related perhaps: The people in Indonesia who were warned of the coming tsunami by the animals. Of course in that case the animals were all heading up into the hills.

Regarding "earthquake weather", though, my train of thought was to wonder how a widely distributed electric field caused by piezoelectric pressure built up before a quake might affect the local atmosphere.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It is now believed that this [or something] produces earthquake lights, so... maybe...

...While seismologists are not yet certain of the cause of earthquake lights, they now are highly interested. Not only is it certain that earthquakes can cause lights in the sky; it seems possible that the lights sometimes occur before earthquakes and so serve as warning precursors. [continued]

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF0/083.html

 

[BobG]

A tropical storm is named if a storm has winds that exceed 39 MPH and it makes news. 39 MPH winds are really common here on the plains. We routinely have storms here with sustained winds of 60-70 MPH, but they don't get named and they don't make the news.

Right now we have a storm with winds of 60 MPH approaching. This isn't fair. If we named every storm with winds reaching 39 MPH here we'd exhaust the entire alphabet by Valentine's day.

Out here in Colorado, we do give them names, except we have to keep reusing the names. We call them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

We have occasionally have winds in excess of 39 MPH on sunny days out on the plains. Driving across the prairie at 60 MPH with a 55 MPH crosswind is an interesting experience, especially the couple times I've been caught out there with no doors.

 

[Astronuc]

We have occasionally have winds in excess of 39 MPH on sunny days out on the plains. Driving across the prairie at 60 MPH with a 55 MPH crosswind is an interesting experience, . . .

Especially in a VW micro-bus. I was driving in W Texas once, when a gust of wind blew the car sideways and almost off the road. I had not time to respond. I had to slow down and turn the wheels a signficant amount so that the car would stay on the road.

We had a similar thunder and lightning storm last night and lost power intermittently. I think one of my PC's got zapped. It's slowed way down and I can't tell if the HD or the CPU got damaged. We had a couple of very close lightning strikes - the light and crack were essentially simultaneous, and we could feel the rumbling in the house.

The temperature had dropped about 40°F after the storm blew through.

I believe the Beaufort scale applies on land as well as sea.
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/beaufort.html

It's just that cyclonic patterns like a tropical storms and hurricanes get names (maybe something to do with the size and affected area), whereas depressions, frontal systems and lesser weather patterns do not.