Steve,
I hope you didnt believe that hills would protect you from a tornado, because they wont. If you see one of those buggers on the plains and you have a road to run to, you run perpendicular to the motion of the tornado. A stationary tornado is one that is coming right at you. The Springfield to Monson Tornado two summers ago in Massachusetts left a twenty mile track up and down hills for twenty miles that looked like it had been cleared by bull dozers for the installation of high powered lines. Neat and clean, with trees barely touched a few feet in from the track itself. Un be effing leivable . Nick Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University <http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ From: Friam [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Steve Smith Sent: Friday, April 04, 2014 10:29 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] tornado discussion Nick - I think you got dope-slapped about swirlies in your bathtub, not tornadoes but I see why you might be shy (or else just like a good dope-slapping? I know I do!). Have you ever seen Sharknado <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2724064/> , it's a must see, trust me... before you watch _Snakes on a Plane_ or _Towering Inferno_ for sure! Three years ago I was traveling to Des Moines Iowa and back during Tornado Seasonin my wife's Honda Insight (tiny two-seater hybrid, weighs about the same as a big motorcycle, mostly aluminum and plastic-resin components, very aerodynamic!)... we stayed at a motel where the Discovery Channel Storm Chasers were staying... awesome post-apocalyptic vehicles.... I think there were about 5 total... then on our way back, just shy of the Black Hills of SD we had been watching a Tornado Weather brewing in front of us and with the radio on an emergency channel, we raced toward the shelter of the Black HIlls as several Twisters touched down... I wasn't tempted to "chase" them in any sense of the term. Do you drive to NM from Maine, braving Tornado Alley, yourself? When you coming home buddy? - Steve Like whale watching, there are folks who track down and watch tornados. Have you ever tried it? Probably pretty dangerous, but who knows, maybe not. It would be fascinating! -- Owen On Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 9:21 PM, Nick Thompson <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Dear Friammers, Its almost May, the season in which I provide posts on tornadoes and the rest of you dopeslap me for my naïve interest in them. A true sign of spring, this message is. I offer for your amusement the following: http://www.americanwx.com/bb/index.php/topic/43293-tornado-in-michoacan-mexi co/ It contains two videos of an urban tornado in Mexico, the second of which (marked NASA) is by far the longest, steadiest portrait of a tornado I have ever seen. There are many mysterious aspects of this storm --- the high base, the innocent sky, the absence of any lightning, or even any precipitation in the region all seem strange. I considered that it was a hoax of some sort, but there is yet a third video of this same storm, taken from another angle, and in this case, the video takers have to take shelter from falling stuff. Another feature of this storm that makes it exciting is that it picks up long strands of agricultural debris (plastic row covers, perhaps?) which have the effect of visualizing the circulation of the storm outside the dustcolumn that we normally think of as the tornado. One of the thing that makes tornadoes seem so implausible is that the column itself often seems quite strand-like and delicate. Please let me know what you think. N Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ <http://home.earthlink.net/%7Enickthompson/naturaldesigns/> ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
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