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
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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.
However, I'm also wathcing the earthquake activity from here in Kentucky. Hmmm, I'm am QUITE a bit speculative on the fracking notion. Fracking isn't a great thing based on studies, but we're not seeing these earthquake swarms happenning in other places where fracking occurs either. Not to mention a 4.7 like that which was felt in numerous states tonight. The area has a geologic history of erthquakes and something natural is happenning there. Fracking, even if it did not help the situation, is not the cause or the blame of this.
WaterWitch11, you did not share the source of your quote. Where did this come from? Would be interested to know more. Mean time, hope all is well.
Some companies tend to operate on the mottor of 'better to beg for forgiveness, than ask for permission...'
and also, you can't get blood from turnip, meaning they will just declare bankruptcy and move on.
The strains had to be preexisting but the injection could activate it.
From an earlier NYT article
"Mr. Ausbrooks said the fact that swarms had naturally happened here did not necessarily discount a link.
“'What you could be looking at is a case where the strain was already there,' he said. 'You’d be fast-forwarding the clock.'"
Yup... not a cause (there are ones that are anthropogenically caused also) but a trigger.
The slam dunk in this case was the shallow depth.
It would have eventually gone anyway but that is no excuse... same company who did the DFW one by the way.
Yah that particular company that operates the well in question does have a track record...
Fracking is not the problem (but a whole lot of other issues).
Well, I get to have fun at work today since it is my job to identify geomechanical threats :). Case for action even more proved.
Recycle the water :). GE already has equipment for that.
New criteria
Either one of three sets of criteria can lead to a "red flag" warning:
1. Four straight hours of forecast relative humidity of less than 35 percent and a forecast energy release component (a measure of fuel sources) of 35 or greater.
2. OR . . . A forecast humidity of less than 35 percent and a forecast sustained wind speed (at a 20-foot elevation) in excess of 15 mph.
3. OR . . . A forecast humidity of less than 35 percent and a forecast Lavdas dispersion index (a measure of atmospheric conditions) of 75 or greater.
The near 2000 acre fire just north of me has been contained..
Published: Monday, February 28, 2011, 8:02 AM Updated
Wildfires sweeping across West Texas destroyed 58 homes, forced evacuations and closed an interstate after heavy smoke caused an accident that killed a 5-year-old girl Sunday.
The fires blackened almost 88,000 acres and destroyed homes from the Texas Panhandle to the southern plains, Texas Forest Service spokesman Lewis Kearney said.
Heavy smoke from a wildfire near Midland, about 330 miles west of Dallas, was blamed for an eight-vehicle accident along Interstate 20 that killed the 5-year-old girl. The roadway was shrouded in smoke when a tractor-trailer hit the pickup truck she was riding in, said Trooper John Barton of the Texas Department of Public Safety. A man and another child were injured.
One firefighter suffered second-degree burns fighting a blaze near Colorado City, about 250 miles west of Dallas, but no other injuries were immediately reported.
The largest fire burned about 30,000 acres in the Panhandle northeast of Amarillo, destroying 27 homes and damaging seven others, Kearney said. A local kennel also was burned, but it was unclear how many animals died, said local emergency management spokeswoman Donna Makkhavane.
One of those homes belonged to Daniel Cook, a volunteer firefighter in Palisades. He said he heard the news over the radio.
Cook, 34, was staying at a shelter in a church south of Amarillo that was set up after residents were evacuated. He said someone told him that his "whole street was ash."
"I'm glad everyone got out safe," Cook said, noting that his uncle and his two dogs safely fled the house. "There is nothing you can do. You can't stop what you're doing to go protect your home."
Gusty winds that were fueling the wildfires weren't expected to weaken overnight, said Mark Stanford, chief of fire operations for the Texas Forest Service. He said conditions were "very severe."
Aircraft that help gather information about the scattered fires couldn't get into the air because of the winds. But humidity rose to about 25 percent in the Amarillo area by nightfall, which could offer some relief to firefighters, Stanford said.
Another wildfire scorched about 21,000 acres in a remote area north of Midland, just east of the Texas-New Mexico line. No homes were reported damaged, but smoke from the blaze was blamed for the accident that killed Cameron Dominguez, 5, and injured Juan Dominguez, 30, and 9-year-ol Elijah Arp. Juan Dominguez was in stable condition at Midland Memorial Hospital late Sunday and Elijah had been treated and released, hospital spokesman Mike Ross said.
The blaze that injured the firefighter near Colorado City destroyed three large oil storage tanks, two homes and an outbuilding. A hospital and nursing home in the city were evacuated late Sunday as a 1,000-acre wildfire approached, Kearney said.
Evacuations also were ordered in Matador, about 130 miles southeast of Amarillo, as a wildfire burning across 500 acres bore down on the town of 650 residents. Motley County Judge Jim Meador said the fire was threatening the south side of Matador late Sunday, and the evacuation order was expected to extend into at least Monday morning.
"It's still going good. It's moved through the southern edge of town and hasn't been contained. You can't see that area very good because of the smoke, but I've got reports of two homes burned," he said.
A wildfire also prompted evacuations in parts of Borger, about 40 miles northeast of Amarillo, though local officials said the imminent threat had eased as of nightfall Sunday.
Pfffth
At 1:15 p.m. EST Saturday, space shuttle Discovery began the nine-minute Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver, or "backflip." With Commander Steve Lindsey at the helm, Discovery rotated 360 degrees backward to enable space station astronauts to take high resolution pictures of the shuttle's heat shield. Lindsey then flew the shuttle through a quarter circle to a position about 310 feet directly in front of the station, allowing the station to catch up with it for docking at 2:16 p.m.
Sunspot Regions and Magnetic Loops by SDO (Saturday)
Prepared jointly by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA,
Space Weather Prediction Center and the U.S. Air Force.
Updated 2011 Feb 27 2200 UTC
Joint USAF/NOAA Report of Solar and Geophysical Activity
SDF Number 058 Issued at 2200Z on 27 Feb 2011
IA. Analysis of Solar Active Regions and Activity from 26/2100Z
to 27/2100Z: Solar activity was low during the past 24 hours.
Region 1164 (N27E46) produced several C-class events, the largest of
which was a C4/Sf observed at 27/0355Z. A possible filament eruption
around N15E70 was visible on SDO/AIA imagery at approximately
27/0930Z. An associated CME was observed on LASCO C2 at 27/1048Z but
is not expected to be geoeffective.
IB. Solar Activity Forecast: Solar activity is expected to be low
for the next three days (28 February - 02 March). A chance for
M-class activity exists from Region 1164.
IIA. Geophysical Activity Summary 26/2100Z to 27/2100Z:
The geomagnetic field was quiet during the past 24 hours.
IIB. Geophysical Activity Forecast: The geomagnetic field is
expected to be quiet on day one (28 February). Quiet to unsettled
conditions are expected for days two and three (01-02 March) due to
the effects of a recurrent coronal hole high speed stream.
III. Event Probabilities 28 Feb-02 Mar
Class M 35/35/35
Class X 01/01/01
Proton 01/01/01
PCAF Green
It snowed... again :(
Link
i'm doing good hydrus, hope you are doing the same.
NO BRITA FILTERS
It's biased by stupidity. Huffington post is a general interest site and so attracts the numbers that a general interest site would attract. Sites about global warming abound and so the numbers are difuse. On the onther hand, only a few denialist/traitor sites exists so they get the numbers.
It's sort of like the animals at the watering holes in Africa. As the water holes dry up, the animals that are too stupid or unable to travel have to come to drink anyway. The more intelligent and capable animals can move elsewhere independently where it is less crowded.
Yeah, according to some reports, Watts shilled for the votes more than the other finalists, so the term 'best' is extremely subjective here; it's kinda like when one network calls itself "fair and balanced": the title is only in the eyes of a few.
As another example, Friendly Atheist won for best religion blog. Really? But then again, an atheist site would know more about religion than WUWT would about science, so maybe that's a fitting win afterall... ;-)
ScienceDaily (Feb. 24, 2011) — Drier conditions projected to result from climate change in the Southwest will likely reduce perennial vegetation cover and result in increased dust storm activity in the future, according to a new study by scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of California, Los Angeles.
The research team examined climate, vegetation and soil measurements collected over a 20-year period in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks in southeastern Utah. Long-term data indicated that perennial vegetation in grasslands and some shrublands declined with temperature increases. The study then used these soil and vegetation measurements in a model to project future wind erosion.
The findings strongly suggest that sustained drought conditions across the Southwest will accelerate loss of grasses and some shrubs and increase the likelihood of dust production on disturbed soil surfaces in the future. However, the community of cyanobacteria, mosses and lichens that hold the soil together in many semiarid and arid environments -- biological soil crusts -- prevented wind erosion from occurring at most sites despite reductions in perennial vegetation....
Link
I hope ya feel better.
Advanced Degrees Add Up to Lower Blood Pressure
The difference education makes
Controlling just for age, Loucks and his co-authors found that women who completed 17 years of schooling or more had systolic blood pressure readings that were, on average, 3.26 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) lower than women who did not finish high school. Women who went to college, but did not pursue graduate studies, had a 2 mmHg benefit compared to less educated women. For men, going to graduate school versus not finishing high school made a 2.26 mmHg difference, with a lesser benefit for going to college.
Even after controlling for influences such as smoking, drinking, obesity and blood pressure medication, the benefit persisted, although at a lower level (graduate school gave a benefit of 2.86 mmHg for women and 1.25 mmHg for men)....
Link
My normal blood pressure is 90/50. What does that mean?
Did I mention that Admin hid your post for supporting Fox News?? Ridiculous.. too much liberals!
Maybe try and inquire as to how it works.
There are no real time admins here.
Were less Hannity and More "Masters" here
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