Into the Storm: A book review
"Matt's compact Jeep became impossible to handle. Water rose on the road. We saw a family hiding in the nook of an overpass and decided that joining them was our best chance to escape danger. We parked the car and ran. Then the tornado ground straight in our direction. Thick tree branches snapped like bread sticks and made gunshot-style sounds that pierced the tornado's baritone howl. Mud flew everywhere. Air getting sucked into the tornado rushed through every seam in the overpass."
Meteorologist Reed Timmer, star of Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers, and writer Andrew Tilin have teamed up to write a highly entertaining and solidly educational book that is filled with gripping stories like this, detailing Timmer's amazing career as a storm-chasing meteorologist. Into the Storm begins in 1998, when Timmer enrolled as an undergraduate in the University of Oklahoma's meteorology program. His early chase stories leave one marveling that he is still alive, as his strong obsession to experience and learn about severe storms was not accompanied by much knowledge or common sense. The excerpt above is an account of his chase of the infamous F5 Bridge Creek, Oklahoma tornado of May 3, 1999--the strongest tornado ever measured, with Doppler-estimated winds of 302 mph. Timmer lucked out, as the tornado made a sudden turn and spared him its full fury. He goes on to explain in detail how taking shelter under an overpass in a tornado is a bad idea (the overpass can magnify the winds, you've elevated yourself into a region where surface friction is not slowing down the winds as much, and you're exposed to flying debris.)
Timmer's narrative of his encounter with the Bridge Creek tornado sets the tone for the book--chase stories interwoven with meteorological education. The meteorology is described in a way that a high school-educated person can understand, and is generally accurate and well-done (one exception: he fails to go into enough detail on how hurricanes get their energy, merely saying they get it from warm ocean waters.) Mixed in with the chase stories and meteorology lessons are details of Timmer's personal life, his past, and feelings about his severe weather fascination. These add a very human touch to the book that will make it appealing to a wide audience. A center eight-page section of color photos enhances the presentation, though I would have liked to see more photos illustrating the University of Oklahoma, the Storm Prediction Center, and the locations of the two dramatic hurricane chases told in the book. His chase stories of Hurricane Katrina (where he weathered the storm at the jail house in Slidell after getting arrested as a suspected looter), and Hurricane Floyd (where he spent the storm in a mobile home near the eyewall), are eye-poppingly insane. He also talks a good deal about the dilemma faced by many meteorologists--how to reconcile our passion for storms with the great suffering and destruction they wreak. He opens the book thusly:
"It's an interesting proposition, seeking happiness from tornadoes. For those few of us who are unquestionably mesmerized by them, chasing tornadoes can be the most fantastic experience in the world. Tornado chasing taxes your intellect and puts you at one with incredible, spectacular forces of nature. Chasing is also a fix for any adrenaline junkie and, if you do it often enough, can become your career. But an obsession with stalking tornadoes can kill or maim you too, and even if chasing doesn't leave you with physical scars or a need for crutches, it's hard to escape unscathed. You'll witness death and destruction of property that sickens your stomach and saddens your heart. Your family will worry about you. Significant others will tire of playing second fiddle. Peers will disagree with the way you chase, and you'll lose friends to your obsession."
Timmer achieves some degree of relief from this dilemma by realizing that storm chasers do a public service by calling in reports that lead to more accurate tornado warnings, saving lives. He is also dedicated to collecting data for tornado research using video and instrumented chase vehicles. Still, the dilemma of attempting to gain happiness from tornadoes is one Timmer does not entirely have the answers to, giving this book a human element often lacking in books written by scientists. I recommend Into the Storm to both scientists and non-scientists; the stories are amazing, and the science is presented in a non-obtrusive way that does not slow down the book, but instead enhances it. Teaching meteorology using stories is a great way to educate people, and Timmer has done a great service to the field of meteorology by writing this book. Three and a half out of four stars. Into the Storm is $16.33 (hardback) from amazon.com. The amazon website and Timmer's tornadovideos.net website also have a spectacular 2-minute video clip highlighting some of the chases documented in the book.
This review will appear later this year in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, and is Copyright 2011 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act September 2010 Page 2 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 USC ?108, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the AMS's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a web site or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, requires written permission or a license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy, available on the AMS Web site located at (http://www.ametsoc.org/) or from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or copyright@ametsoc.org.
Wunderground hiring a climate scientist
Weather Underground, Inc. is seeking a full-time scientist with excellent communication and programming skills to improve our climate change and meteorology education web pages. Initial task: use downscaled climate model output to generate "far-future" forecasts. The position requires an M.S. or Ph.D. in meteorology. Consult our employment web page for a full job description and application info. The increase in significant weather events over the past year has kept me tied up blogging, giving me little time to work on expanding the content of our climate change and weather education web pages. It is time to get some help!
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 — Blog Index
I want to thank all the little people.
Is the Wizard of Oz up for an award?
Or is the Lollipop Guild sponsoring the event?
Bureau of Meteorology hydrologist Jimmy Stuart told AAP the Cassowary Coast region had received 600mm (23+ inches!!) of rain in the past four days.
"The rain has eased off but there are still further falls forecast," he said.
Advertisement: Story continues below
The bureau has flood warnings issued for the Tully and Murray rivers.
The State Emergency Service has had dozens of call-outs over the weekend and Monday, the majority of jobs in Tully, Cardwell and Mission Beach.
Some suburbs in Cairns were also hard hit with 516mm of rain recorded at Kamerunga and 497mm at Cairns airport over the past four days.
The Cassowary Coast was hardest hit when category five Cyclone Yasi rampaged through in early February, damaging more than 850 buildings.
Cassowary Coast Regional Council mayor Bill Shannon told AAP the localised flooding would affect the ongoing cyclone clean-up efforts. more
Sky
That is truly awful news.
Can anyone find a recent sat pic of the area?
I bet the runoff into the Pacific is plainly visible from sat.
Not good news for the Reef I bet.
Not good at all. :o(
Link
Link
Link
Link
I got 1939 and 2011 mixed up again.
We often confuse the year we graduated high school with the current year, it happens to all of us.
Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers
By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe, Ap Medical Writer Sun Feb 27, 6:46 pm ET
Link
ATLANTA - Shocking as it may seem, U.S. government doctors once thought it was fine to experiment on disabled people and prison inmates. Such experiments included giving hepatitis to mental patients in Connecticut, squirting a pandemic flu virus up the noses of prisoners in Maryland, and injecting cancer cells into chronically ill people at a New York hospital.
Much of this horrific history is 40 to 80 years old, but it is the backdrop for a meeting in Washington this week by a presidential bioethics commission. The meeting was triggered by the government's apology last fall for federal doctors infecting prisoners and mental patients in Guatemala with syphilis 65 years ago.
U.S. officials also acknowledged there had been dozens of similar experiments in the United States studies that often involved making healthy people sick.
An exhaustive review by The Associated Press of medical journal reports and decades-old press clippings found more than 40 such studies. At best, these were a search for lifesaving treatments; at worst, some amounted to curiosity-satisfying experiments that hurt people but provided no useful results...
Who can guarantee this is not happening right now???
....a coming????? Just how old are you. LOL
Well kind sir, I dont have great, great, gggggreat nephews.....but I could have.....
I have 12 great-great nieces and nephews, but I have only one great-great-great niece born today, or should I say yesterday.
Congratulations are in order :}....sorry I'm so wrapped up in my own issues ( red x's everywhere )
Don Pedro Albizu Campos (June 29, 1893 or September 12, 1891 - April 21, 1965) was a Puerto Rican politician and one of the leading figures in the Puerto Rican independence movement.
The FBI files state that while in prison Albizu Campos' health deteriorated.[14] In 1956, he suffered a stroke in prison and was transferred to San Juan's Presbyterian Hospital under police guard.
He alleged that he was the subject of human radiation experiments in prison and stated that he could see colored rays bombarding him.
Officials suggested that Albizu was insane, although many doctors were able to examine Albizu and test for signs of radiation. The President of the Cuban Cancer Association, Dr. Orlando Damuy, traveled to PR to examine him. The burns on his body were reported by Dr. Damuy, where he diagnosed that they were the cause of intense radiation. It is said when they placed a metal paper clip with a film on Albizu's skin, the clip was radiated into the film. It is also said he did not receive any medical attention for five days and instead suffered. On November 15, 1964, Albizu was again pardoned by Munoz Marin. He died on April 21, 1965.
In 1994, under the administration of President Bill Clinton, the United States Department of Energy disclosed that human radiation "experiments" had in fact been conducted without consent on prisoners during the 1950s and 1970s. It has been alleged that Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos was among the subjects of such experimentation.[16]
What are you having a problem with? Maybe we can help
Well...lol...there is not 1 visual on this page..no radar, sattelite,......come tomorrow I will buy me a new computer...tornado season is here! I know those are those Plymouth State Radars that Keeper is posting, but I have red X's.
I don't think it is your computer, just your settings are off. Do you know how to reset them in the "Tools bar"???
lol
Guess Geoff didn't think it was funny. Haven't seen him since.
Thank You Keeper....that one is the "Best of the Rest"....and look at that dang squall line
Here is a picture of mine and it works just fine. Is yours older?
LOLOL......wish I did have one like that, it would be worth a fortune on Antique Roadshow...
That's too bad, I had a pretty good laugh myself haha
Naw, we have made a career out of teasing each other. He is good guy. I'm sure he got good chuckle out of it. He is probably thinking a good one to get me the next time, the sick little dude that he is. Bet it will be a zinger, too!
Night Grothar...:}
they are getting bigger
and not nearly as deep as they were....my goodness
the earthquakes are to the left of the map, right?
Yes...around the Guy, AR and Greenbriar AR towns...about 13 mi nne of Conway
Martini said the earthquakes started increasing in frequency over the past week and that the disposal well has seen an increase in use recently.
Lawrence Bengal, director of the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission, said a six-month moratorium was established in January on new injection wells in the area. He said four companies are operating already-drilled injection wells: SEECO Inc., Chesapeake Operating Inc., Clarita Operating LLC and Deep-Six Water Disposal Services LLC.
The moratorium, which is expected to end in July, is intended to allow time to study the relationship – if any – between the injection wells and earthquakes in the area.
The largest quake of the Guy Earthquake Swarm was a magnitude 4.0, which occurred in October, Ausbrooks said. The region could possibly see quakes reaching as high as 5.0, but he said anything above 6.0 is unlikely.
they have nerve to state how high they think it will go. but what if it is cause by the wells and it's reacting differently than other areas due to the location of this one. signs always ignored until after the damage is done.
Viewing: 551 - 601
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 — Blog Index