National Hurricane Center Predicts Near Or Above Normal Hurricane Season

I have a cousin in Virginia Beach whose wife is in home hospice and another cousin in Kill Devil Hills who decided to tough it out, so I'm interested in what's going on too. But there are ways I can -- under my own control -- find out what's happening hurricane-wise as well as the fact that I can chat, email, phone, or look at their Facebook pages to see what's happening with them personally, because they know their families are concerned and want to know.

Meanwhile, just south of us, three different communities had a series of fireball explosions virtually all at once on Thursday. Firemen could not keep up with the calls. Nearly 10,000 people were displaced in Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover.

But do you think there was coverage of this disaster while we were learning -- for the 50th time -- that Florence was downgraded to a Cat 1?

Nope. The best I could do was to listen to the local talk show callers, who were calling all day to tell us their experiences with the explosions/fires.

The wall to wall coverage of a tropical storm with reporters trying their best to horribilize the whole thing was frustrating and counterproductive.

 

Your area is known as Dixie Alley. More people are killed by tornadoes there than in the High Plains due to the higher population in Dixie Alley. Actually, I had never heard of Dixie Alley until just now thru online research.

 

I have been through 3 hurricanes and several tornadoes and between the two, I would rather the hurricane. There’s a lot more time to prepare for it or evacuate if necessary.
Unlike the hurricane, a tornado warning starts with a watch for which there is NO siren. Then, if there really is one touching down, a person only has a window of about 10-15 minutes to seek shelter. And, like my wife mentioned, sometimes there isn’t a siren to depend on.

Now, as far as being able to see one, the tornado that hit us a few years ago wasn’t really visible. Not because of the rain or wind or anything other than it was a CAT 4 and we were IN the tornado. Nothing to see there.

 

Anderson Cooper in a ditch. He is finally where he belongs.

 

Isn’t it strange that we live in an area that is just about surrounded by mountains yet we have more tornado watches and warnings per year than any other part of the U.S.

 

As @Bobby Cole said, I, too, have been through several hurricanes and tornadoes, and I find tornadoes more disturbing. I think as far as the warnings go, if a funnel cloud is seen on radar, a warning is issued. In the old days, we had to wait until one was sighted before issuing a warning, but now they rely on radar (I think). Technically, the funnel has to touch down before it is called a tornado. It is a funnel cloud if organized and still in the air, and "mamma" if it is not definitely organized as it appears as breasts hanging from the clouds. While living in Georgia on a small bass pond, a tornado came within 100 feet of our house and hit the pond. It essentially sucked the pond dry and deposited the contents on our front yard. The water quickly drained back into the pond, leaving hundreds of fish and turtles on the grass. Our children were fascinated! You have warning with hurricanes, but they have embedded tornadoes within them or they generate them in the bands of weather that reach out from the center of the storm.

We had to deal with the typhoons in the Pacific, and I recall a most amazing incident. A fleet tug was towing something (I can't recall what) across the Pacific Ocean and was in the path of a large typhoon. We had a submarine in the area, and when the eye passed over the sinking boat, the sub quickly surfaced and evacuated the boat then resubmerged. I don't know if the rescue was ever publicized as submarine operations are usually kept quiet, but we were all amazed that it was successful.

 

Don, you reminded me of a story: The Submarine That Sank a Train: The Extraordinary Raid of the USS Barb

 

I remember in one hurricane where a reporter was actually tied to a post. I don't know if his cameraman was tied to a post or not.

 

Sounds like Aeneas and the Sirens!

 

Looks as though we might be getting the remnants of Florence next week with gusts of up to 60 mph. Ridiculous, I know, but troublesome nonetheless.

 

You are getting the remnants of Florence in Germany?