http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129

Words fail me. The power shown in this 7 minute long video of what we can expect to see in a few years is literally mind blowing.

Check it out.

Rich

Today is Wednesday, April 11, 2007. It is three days after the 9th anniversary of the April 8th, 1998 tornadic storms that tore through north Central Alabama in the evening of the 8th.

I was there. I was involved. I had family hurt. I had friends hurt. I knew people that were killed in the storm. I knew people that were some of the first responders to the scene. I was involved in helping with recovery that was needed for months after.

It was a horrible evening. Tornadoes had been mentioned in the weather for days before this day. All day, on the radio, and in all the newscasts from early morning throughout the day…it was mentioned that possibility was high for “severe tornadoes” later in the day.

At the time, I was a letter carrier in Bessemer, Alabama, and had been for years. I lived in rural Tuscaloosa county, just a couple of miles south of the beginning of this terrible event, and very close to the Jefferson County line.

I had been home for less than two hours when the storms started to move in. I was online watching live radar and reports from multiple weather websites. I had my police scanner on, scanning, and plugged into the computer’s speakers.

And then…it started. Oak Grove High School was one of first building to be destroyed…with many people inside…but no deaths there..that started minutes later.

Read more here at my Tornado Survival website.

It was a nightmare…it still brings nightmares. Police and firemen just arriving…reporting in as first on scene…and hearing “there are bodies on the road”…just a few miles from my home…and my wife and kids SOMEWHERE out on the road, heading home from church that evening.

This is just MY observations of that terrible day.

There have been others…in this same time of the year…early Spring…first couple of weeks of April..which is why I write this post today.

In fact, yesterday, April 10th, was the 28th anniversary of the Wichita Falls, Texas tornadic storm system that saw thirteen twisters wreak havoc in the region, with direct hits of Wichita Falls.

From the Texas Tornadoes website, created by the meteorology department of Texas A&M University, this quote says it all..

“The Wichita Falls Tornado is the tornado event that occurred on April 10, 1979. This tornado was the most notable of thirteen tornadoes that ripped through the Red River Valley on the day commonly called “Terrible Tuesday” by many meterologists.”

Here’s an image of the twister that did the most damage to the city, from the NOAA photo library.

A very early summer storm, the Pampa F5 tornado of June 8th, 1995, was one of the best storms ever captured up close of the fury of 250-300 mile an hour winds, with trucks and cars being clearly seen tossed hundreds of feet in the air end over end. You can watch a short, tiny clip here…

Another early summer storm was the Jordan, Iowa tornado of June 13, 1976, considered by Professor T. T. Fujita, developer of the Fujita Scale, to be the most violent he had ever studied. A college thesis by John Brown on a portion of this storm has tremendous detail of the particulars of this storm, including images and a ton of pure weather data about the event and events leading up to it. What was particularly interesting of this tornadic system was development of twin tornadoes, one an F5 with normal rotation, and another F3 twister that was antic-cyclonic (rotating the wrong direction), that developed from the same mesocell and traveled in parallel on the ground for a period of time. The original funnel was a multi-vortex twister, and from what I can understand, the second tornado seemed to develop from one of these vortexes, and then take on a life of its own. Read the report, view the images, and be glad you don’t see these everyday.

There is a vast amount of scholarly information on this storm system that amazed even Fujita, available through Google’s library system

Every meteorologist and weather geek either remembers the Super Outbreak of April 3/4, 1974…33 years ago, as of a week ago. Perhaps the wost hit area of the country during that fateful few hours was Xenia, Ohio was an F5 storm - track length 32 miles - 33 killed - over 1,150 injured - watch a video clip here. A pilot, one Mr.Robert Schwarts, had an amazing tale to share of this day…

From http://www.xeniatornado.com/pilot.htm

On april 3 1974 I was flying in a twin engine airplane which when we left Louisville Kentucky. (actually from Haps airport in Jeffersonville In. ) we studied the weather and found it strange. We delayed our trip for about one and one/half hours before deciding to go ahead and go up to Mad River Ohio to install a radio in an airplane so we could fly it back to Jeffersonville for repairs. We were almost to Cincinnati when everything went crazy. the instruments went crazy and the lights went out. we were blind as It turned pitch-black outside and the plane actually started flying backwards and we could feel ourselves being bounced to the overhead and then thrown to the dash then back against the seat. We had no control of the plane. Our radio was nothing but noise and we could not get through to the Cincinnati airfield. Our transponder was out also. Finally the air control answered our emergency call and had us make a try at turning 90 degrees after we maintained some control of the plane. They said there was so much debris in the air they could not find us. Finally they had us make another turn and they said that they thought they had us. It was still pitch black and we could not see anything. They maneuvered us several times and confirmed they had us. They told us to make a 90 and corrected us as our instruments meant nothing. They told us to continue as fast as we could to our destination. They said to drop in altitude several times and finally after following their directions they said we should see the end of the runway (NOW) and sure enough we broke through the clouds and we were 10 feet off the runway when we broke through the blackness. As we landed we rushed to the hanger and tied the plane down. 5 Minutes later the radio announced that the tornado was tearing through Xenia Ohio. This was quite a trip and hope that anyone caught in a tornado like that has the opportunity to tell his tale. I was very lucky. My Brothers business In Louisville was hit bad and he was almost wiped out. What an EXPERIENCE.. Survivor of one of the most harrowing experiences.”
“We flew over as close to Xenia as we could do to the restrictions about flying over a disaster area and saw the destruction. It was something to see and We did not have a camera with us so could not take pictures but saw the circle drives with the scattered wood and destroyed houses caught in the path of natures fury. We were thankful to those great guys way down in Cincinnati airport (actually in Kentucky) for their patience and knowledge to be able to direct us so accurately to our destination. The letter was getting so long I broke it up. Thanks again for the pictures . These are the first ones I have seen from Xenia.” Robert Schwartz

A few weeks from now will be the tenth anniversary of the May 27th, 1997 Jarrell, Texas F5 storm that killed many, in one of the worst tornadoes to ever hit Texas.

In 3 weeks, we’ll see the 8th anniversary of one of the strongest tornadoes ever measured in history…the F5 storm that struck the Oklahoma City area with 76 confirmed tornadoes in Oklahoma and Kansas, which put the outbreak in the top 10 for number of tornadoes in the U.S.

There are so many more stories…so many more storms…so many more personal observations. It’s a good time to take an hour or two to review what spring storm systems can occur near you, how you can be aware of threatening weather, and what you need to do should storms bear down on you and your family.

A look at the nation’s current weather at www.weather.gov right at this moment near Atlanta, with one warning nearby. A click on this link, bookmarked on your computer, can give you instant access to severe storms near you.

Well, it’s been a while since our last visit to this blog to update the worlds on the adventures of Rich in CollegeLand and MeatWorld. Our last posting was over two weeks ago, as you can see below. In the two weeks, we’ve seen the world change greatly.

Saddam is history, having been hanged in what pretty much amounted to a lynching by his adversaries.

Denver has been socked with major snow storms three weekends in a row.

My little hometown of Riverton, Wyoming made the WORLD news with a piece of a Russian Rocket supposedly landing south of town when it re-entered the atmosphere last Thursday (when I was OUT OF TOWN…dang it!) and was captured on video by an airborn TV news chopper live.

One of the local Riverton cops saw it fly overhead as he got the morning paper, and a Wyoming State Trooper found a 3 by 5 foot burned area near the Louis Lake Turnout on South Pass, which I saw a pic of…but no debris was found, even though NORAD has sent pros out to check the story out.

Many other things going on, and the latest is a report in a British Newspaper has reported that Israel has plans to use tactical nukes on the nuke labs of Iran Real Soon Now, although Israel is DENYING it….hmmm.

For me, this is a new year, full of promise, projects, a few classes, and some BIG changes. Future plans include a degree plan change ( to Journalism ), a new college (University Of Montana at Missoula), new business projects (an eBay store, an internet marketing push, adverts in several REAL magazines to sell my two published CD roms), and more.

Another tussel with Windows XP…this time on my laptop. Major errors, blue screen of death, missing XP files, and the XP Recovery Console failed to fix…so, I just removed the drive ( a 2 month old 120 gig sucker), backed everything up to one of my big external drives on the desktop, wiped the drive after backing up all the files, and just finished a FULL FRESH reinstall of Windows. It’ll take me a few weeks to bring it back to full and regular use, after reinstalling all the dozens of programs I use on it, but it should be fine.

At the same time I’ve been installing XP on the laptop, I’ve also been installing Suse Linux on a server I bought at the CWC used computer sale last year. It’s got two 18gig SCSI removable drives, and dual processors, but it’s an older model HP NetServer LPr. I plan on using this rack mounted server as the household media system, with our music and a few movies on it. I’ll add a monster drive (300 gig or more) later this year, after I figure out the media serving systems available for a linux box.

I’m also rebuilding my 75 Jeep Cherokee, with a new full block, new interior, and lots of upgrades. It’s been a few years since I’ve really had some fun doing vehicle work. My last major project was a 1974 Toyota Landcruiser, which I really wish I still had…drats. Before that, it was a 1978 Dodge Van (the cross over year) that I did a full engine and tranny swap on, and before that my original 1974 Ford Van (see a pic here). I spent many years doing work on many vans, and also did conversions and upgrades to cars, trucks, boats, and even an airplane. This year is going to be one that is HANDS ON in many areas.

Many web projects are coming as well. MAJOR upgrade things to SurvivalRing, Civil Defense Now, and more. A few entire NEW projects too, still under wraps. They’ll be announced as they’re ready.

Thanks for checking in. Look for much more frequent updates from me here on Cosmic Echoes!

Rich

The events of the last few weeks have been…shall we say…interesting?

The supposed testing of a nuclear weapon by North Korea. The warning the U.S. received from CHINA…20 minutes before the test was lit up. The concerns of Iran and THEIR nuclear program (did you know that Kim Jung Ill (aka …lil Kim or Pajama Boy) had IRANIAN scientists right there to see the test through? Does ANYONE know if the test really was nuclear, and not some huge-ass amonium nitrate bomb hidden in that old horizontal shaft of an old mine?

And then there is Al Queda.

Ramadan approaches…on clumsly little feet. Threats are flying all over the news, the web, back alleys, and more…chatter from the enemy combatants being lifted off the radio waves by scientists (on our side) on multiple continents.

Suspects are being observed…in some cases rounded up…in other cases stopped dead….literally…in their tracks by our team…thanks to folks like those scientists above…average citizens with a skill with computers, or language, or greater powers of observation. It is turning into World War Three…it is here.

Preparedness is hitting the main stream media. Survivor, after many years, is still running strong…but not for reasons having ANYTHING to do with Being Prepared. The Main Stream News is starting to Get It. Glen Beck is talking on a weekly basis now, on his radio show, and on his daily TV show on CNN. Glenn is a little bit TOO right wing in some of his comments, but many thoughts of his are spot on. Take a look at his store, and the top listed T-shirt is labeled with a pseudo fallout shelter shape, and the words, “We’re All Gonna Die”.

Here’s the cool thing about Glenn. He IS seeking out REAL pros in the preparedness genre. Namely, my good friend, Shane Connor of Ki4u.com, was on both Glenn’s radio show, and the following day, his TV show on CNN…talking about that think we like to call NUCLEAR PREPAREDNESS.

Shane did well…but toward the very end of the interview, Glenn pulled out the old DUCK AND COVER video from the 50’s, and downplayed the fact…again..as ALL MSM does…that nuclear fallout…nuclear terror…and family survival are mutually exclusive. As Shane mentioned…those in the immediate vicinity of a terrorist nuke, will die from the blast wave…the thermal wave…and flying debris or major flamage from the actual explosion. But, Shane’s main point…is that 95 percent of those in the area WON’T. Die, that is.

A nuclear detonation does NOT mean the end of the world, except for a very unlucky few in the immediate area.

A little knowledge…a little preparedness…and a level head…will see the vast majority of nuclear victims live to see another day.

I’ve known Shane since 2000. He is one of the GOOD GUYS. Check out his products. Do some research on tools and skills to survival a nuclear threat. And don’t hide in a hole…waiting for the end of the world.

Learn how to take care of yourself, and your family…and LIVE.

The news today has us thinking about bigger things….bigger than we can imagine at times…

The good news for now, is that Near Earth Asteroids don’t seem to be as much of a threat as they were yesterday, thanks to research from the Japanese Space Agency, and their Hayabusa probe. Even though the probe mission had problems, we learned some useful insight into the actual makings of a near 700 foot wide asteroid (it’s not as solid as we thought).

“The results were very interesting and shocking,” said Akira Fujiwara, a scientist on the Hayabusa team from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. “To mitigate asteroid threats, it will be very useful in the future.” Fujiwara and his colleagues published their findings in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.

Source

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/W. Reach (SSC/Caltech)

A Million Comet Pieces
This infrared image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope shows the broken Comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3 skimming along a trail of debris left during its multiple trips around the sun. The flame-like objects are the comet’s fragments and their tails, while the dusty comet trail is the line bridging the fragments.

Comet 73P /Schwassman-Wachmann 3 began to splinter apart in 1995 during one of its voyages around the sweltering sun. Since then, the comet has continued to disintegrate into dozens of fragments, at least 36 of which can be seen here. Astronomers believe the icy comet cracked due the thermal stress from the sun.

The Spitzer image provides the best look yet at the trail of debris left in the comet’s wake after its 1995 breakup. The observatory’s infrared eyes were able to see the dusty comet bits and pieces, which are warmed by sunlight and glow at infrared wavelengths. This comet debris ranges in size from pebbles to large boulders. When Earth passes near this rocky trail every year, the comet rubble burns up in our atmosphere, lighting up the sky in meteor showers. In 2022, Earth is expected to cross close to the comet’s trail, producing a noticeable meteor shower.

Astronomers are studying the Spitzer image for clues to the comet’s composition and how it fell apart. Like NASA’s Deep Impact experiment, in which a probe smashed into comet Tempel 1, the cracked Comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3 provides a perfect laboratory for studying the pristine interior of a comet.

This image was taken from May 4 to May 6 by Spitzer’s Multiband Imaging Photometer, using its 24-micron wavelength channel.

To download, choose your preferred resolution and file format below. “High-Resolution” files will always the highest resolution and widest crop available, intended for print. Other resolutions are provided for convenient on-screen viewing.

Screen-Resolution (450×360) JPEG (28 KB)
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About the Object Object Name: 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3
Object Type: comet

About the Data Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ W. Reach (SSC/Caltech)
Instrument: MIPS
Wavelength: 24 microns
Exposure Date: 4 to 6 May 2006
Exposure Time: 21 Hours
Release Date: 10 May 2006

Observers William Reach (Spitzer Science Center)
Michael Kelley (University of Minnesota)
Mark Sykes (Planetary Science Institute)
Carey Lisse (Applied Physics Laboratory/Johns Hopkins University)
Masateru Ishiguro (Seoul National University/Korea)