Since last week’s tantrum was never posted, this week will feature two seperate tantrums for your intellectual pleasure!

Tantrum #1: Holier-Than-Art-Thouism in Reacting to Storms

The bumping of a recent Eastern US Weather thread led to me this first tantrum.

Eastern thread

I am a storm chaser. Storm chasing is my principle hobby, and I take great enjoyment in it. Please note that the word “it” is the antecedent to the noun phrase “storm chasing.” “It” is not the antecedent to the noun phrase “death and destruction.” I love viewing mother nature and her most powerful creations. I am awed by it, and I am mesmorized by it. I do not, under any circumstance, enjoy other people’s misery. For some reason, small-brained people cannot distinguish between the two feelings. For me, it’s very, very clear.

Tantrum #2: Earth Hour
I’m going to tread really carefully with this one.

Earth Hour is a waste of time and resources. Let’s think about this for a second. Think about all the advertising that was done for Earth Hour this year. Think of all the energy it took to carry out that advertising. Then think about all the other energy initiatives that have been carried out in the past and what successes they have brought to changing the ways of the world.

It’s too late for the current generation to change their ways. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Focus in the schools, especially the elementary schools. They are the future, and they are the ones that are going to make changes in how the environment is treated.

And those are this week’s Tony’s Tantrums of the Week.

I’m piping mad right now. The events of the past three days involving a strong tornado and the SEC basketball tournament have steam pumping out of my ears. By now, we’ve all seen the video of the tornado striking the Georgia Dome during the Alabama/Mississippi State game on Friday night.

Video

For many, many years, the biggest fear in the weather community with regards to tornadoes has been the fear of a large sporting event being struck by a large tornado. This tornado did become large and strong, producing high-EF2 damage later in its path. However, it was only at EF1 intensity near the Georgia Dome, and the dome itself was only struck by the inflow jet into the tornado.

“THE TORNADO FIRST TOUCHED DOWN NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF SIMPSON AND
BURBANK STREETS IN THE VINE CITY NEIGHBORHOOD AT APPROXIMATELY 938
PM. THE TORNADO THEN TRACKED DUE EAST OVER THE CENTER OF THE
GEORGIA WORLD CONGRESS CENTER /ABOUT 100 YARDS NORTH OF THE GEORGIA
DOME WHERE AN SEC BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT WAS TAKING PLACE/…ACROSS
THE CNN/OMNI HOTEL COMPLEX AND PHILLIPS ARENA /WHERE AN NBA
BASKETBALL GAME WAS UNDERWAY/…OVER THE EQUITABLE BANK
TOWER…ACROSS I-85/75 AT THE EDGEWOOD EXIT…AND THEN INTO THE
COTTON MILL LOFTS ACROSS FROM OAKLAND CEMETERY. FROM THIS
POINT…THE TORNADO WEAKENED BUT CAUSED SPOTTY TREE AND ROOF DAMAGE
INTO EXTREME WESTERN DEKALB COUNTY NEAR THE JUNCTION OF BRAEBURN AND
JOSEPHINE STREETS…WHERE IT LIFTED. THE TORNADO HAD A TOTAL PATH
LENGTH OF SIX MILES AND A MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH OF 200 YARDS AT ITS
MAXIMUM STRENGTH. MAXIMUM WIND SPEEDS WERE ESTIMATED NEAR 130
MPH…WHICH IS A HIGH END EF2 ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE. AS IT
MOVED ACROSS THE GWCC/CNN/OMNI COMPLEX…THE TORNADO WIDTH WAS ABOUT
100 YARDS WIDE AND PRODUCED HIGH EF1 WINDS OF ABOUT 100 MPH.”

A tornado warning was issued eight minutes prior to the storm’s arrival.

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
930 PM EDT FRI MAR 14 2008

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR…
CENTRAL FULTON COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL GEORGIA

* UNTIL 1000 PM EDT

* AT 926 PM EDT…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 6 MILES WEST
OF ATLANTA…MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH. A TORNADO HAS NOT BEEN
SIGHTED…HOWEVER DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES STRONG ROTATION WITH
THIS STORM.

* OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO
PIEDMONT PARK AND TURNER FIELD.

The obvious question must present itself in this situation. Why the hell was the basketball game still going on with the tornado warning in place? When in the world could the officials be thinking allowing a crowd of 25,000+ people and two college basketball teams be in the open area of a stadium with a tornado warning in progress? Was there a plan for the event of a tornado warning? Or do they just not care about the safety of customers and players?

In either case, there is a total lack of respect for the lives of customers and players on the part of the planners of the tournament and the NCAA. The NCAA should be utterly ashamed of themselves. If that tornado had struck the stadium head-on at peak intensity, the casuality count could very well have been massive. It is deprave to allow this type of carelessness to exist. If this is the how severe weather is currently treated by major sporting committees, then it is undoubtedly time for the government to step in and force them to create disaster safety plans for sporting events. This is an outrage to put lives at risk like this. Imagine how bad it would look for our country if thousands of people were killed and injured at the basketball game or any other event in the future.

Yesterday, an EF2 tornado killed a woman at Lake City, FL, when a tree fell onto her mobile home.

The exact same thing happened with the previous killer tornado, an EF1 at Leeds, AL, on February 26th.

Year after year, people are reminded of the safety rules for tornadoes.  One of the biggest that is always emphasized is to leave mobile homes in the event of a tornado.  But year after year, the highest fatality totals occur in mobile homes.  So far this year, 41 of the 67 direct tornado deaths occurred in mobile homes; last year, the fraction was 52 of 81.

What more can possibly be done to spur people to take tornado threats seriously?  The NWS does all it can to spread the word on tornado safety.  The media always reminds people what to do in tornado situations.  A strong focus needs to be put on education of tornado safety in schools aside from where to go for the tornado drill.  Tornado safety training needs to start early.

And that’s Tony’s Tantrum of the Week for this week.  Stay safe.

Two videos have surfaced on YouTube from recent tornado outbreaks that really drive me up a wall. The first one is from the Jackson, TN, EF4 of Super Tuesday, and the second is from the Prattville, AL, EF3 of February 17th.

Jackson Video

Prattville Video

These two tornado videos bring to light the epitome of stupid. In the Jackson video, an EF4 drillpress tornado, with winds of 170 MPH, is barrelling into the town at 60 MPH. Even with the television on telling them how dangerous the situation is, these yahoos videotape, not being able to see the tornado, but wait until they hear it a block away to take shelter. If that tornado had been heading toward them, they would have certainly been killed.

But as stupid as the idiots in the Jackson tape were, the numbskull in the Prattville tape really takes the cake. Here’s another situation where the tornado is not visible (this time rain-wrapped) and the guy is out watching it. However, he stays there as the inflow jet passes right over him and large debris starts dropping all around. This idiot could have easily gotten himself seriously injured or killed by one of these pieces of schrapnel. But no, he had to go on to take what was really an unimpressive video of the tornado.

Both of these videos really underscore the ignorance of the general public toward tornado safety. As it stands, the NWS does all it can to protect lives and property and spread the word on tornado safety. Oh well, I guess sometimes you have to let nature take its course.

And that’s Tony’s Tantrum of the Week for this week. Stay safe and be smart.

EF2 tornadoes are widely considered “significant tornadoes” in the meteorological community. But I’ve recently left myself to ponder whether or not EF2s are “significant.”

In order to answer this question, I must ask myself what is really meant by “significant.” Is significant determined by historical precident or by effect on human life? Statistically, EF2 tornadoes are fairly common, with well over one hundred occurring each year. So statistically, in the historical record, EF2 tornadoes are not overly significant. The question then boils down to effects on human life. A low-end EF2 can be rated as such by simply destroying a barn, whereas a high-end EF2 can do tens of millions of dollars in damage to a city. A low-end EF2 will generally not destroy a frame house, whereas a high-end EF2 generally will.

So the answer to this question lies in rather gray area. In my opinion, not all EF2s are significant. Some, such as the Springfield, IL, tornadoes of March 12th, 2006, which produced one hundred million dollars of damage and rendered 1000 homes uninhabitable, are. Others, such as the Macon County, IL, tornado of April 2nd, 2006, which destroyed a large barn, are not. Well-constructed arguments can be made in both directions. My opinion is that, in general, a low-end EF2 is not significant, a high-end EF2 is, and the line is drawn about in the middle.

And that’s Tony’s Tantrum of the week for this week.