Are you scared of any weather characteristics?

[mattweather]

Anyone scared of winds, rain or other weather characteristics?

I kinda scared of hurricane forces winds but not often, it fun!:D

[BigDon]

Well, living in a warm place that has a cold water current right off shore protects me from typhoons, (Pacific ocean don't you know) and where I live only has maybe two or three thunderstorms a year so the novelty doesn't wear off, I'd have to say its not weather per say but earthquakes. I have a deep dread of being in bed, having the ceiling collaspe down on me, then having the place catch fire. You have to admit, in anybodies book, thats pretty grim.

[Tog_]

Aside from the odd blizzard now and then we really don't have much in the way of dangerous weather here. That one tornado that ripped through downtown a few years back not withstanding. Floods can be an issue here, but not like floods in the Midwest. Even when we get them in town, they are more like flash floods that last a few days. Very swift water. One year they sandbagged some of the main roads and turned downtown into a small canal. It was a novel approach to the problem that actually worked really well.

Lake effect snow is fun somethimes. One section of the city will get well over a foot of snow with the rest getting a few inches. There is no way to really know when it will happen or what part of town. I went out one day to find my car buried up to the door handles, then plowed in. For all their flaws Neons are snow beasts. I drove out of that without even needeing a shovel.:D

We do get something most winters called an invesrion. Because the city lies to the southeast of the Great Salt Lake, and is bordered on the east by a large backward C shaped mountian range, when a high pressure moves in, it seals all the yuch over the city. In January of 1986 (i think it was) we had the inversion last for over a month. I want to say 46 days (So yes, into Feb.) Highs of 28, lows of 25 (F) and about 400 yrads/meters visibility due to the fog. Nothing but gray air and brown ice that used to be snow. Meanwhile, up in the canyons and anything east of the mountains, or above about 6000 feet, it might be 50 and sunny. I do hate the inversion, just becasue it's so depressing after a while. The only thing that really gets rid of it is a huge low pressure with high winds that brings a big storm.

Oh, high winds... We had a freight train blow over a few years back. Tipped the whole thing right off the track that runs beside I-15, the main north south route through the state. We get microbursts too from time to time. They are kind of like a really big sneeze. For a few seconds a downdraft will hit a small area with winds well over 100 MPH. One news report said 300 but that seems incredibly high to me. I had the awnig I was standing under blow up, over our house where it then cleared the next two lots in a trailer park before landing in a vacant lot. There really wasn't time to be scraed of that though.

We are going to have a major Earthquake here though. It's listed and 'any minute now' under the when column, and it's been that way for several years. On the plus side, Salt Lake has very few tall buildings, and by tall I mean 15+ floors. The bad news is that most are old and probably not designed with quakes in mind, though Jay would certainly have better insight there. Also many people around here don't realize there is a big one coming, and since they don't expect it, few will really know what to do when it hits. When we get a mag 3 quake in town it will make the news and people will be concerned for a few days, so a 6 to 8 will be a real eye opener.

[Gillianren]

I actually quite miss thunderstorms. But, meteorologically speaking, Washington is pretty boring. It rains. A lot. It never gets too cold. It never gets too hot. (Except by my standards!) We seldom get snow (more's the pity). We're too far north for hurricanes. Our geography's wrong for tornadoes. It just rains. A lot.

As for earthquakes . . . the last earthquake of any size that we had up here, I was in a concrete-construction building designed with thin walls and thick floors. (Translated: it'll pancake, not fall over.) So I was lying there in bed, thinking, "I'm about to get floors three through five on my head." Then again, apparently the guy responsible for evacuating the fourth floor of the library building was running up and down the halls screaming, "We're all going to die!"

[Argos]

Yeah, I´m scared of Summer. A sunny hot day is what I call the blues.

[farmerjumperdon]

I love extreme weather, up to a point of course. Nature unleashing it's fury is quite elegant.

We are at the northern edge of tornado territory. There are a couple small towns near us that have basically been wiped off the map in past history. Barnsveld (or something like that) was one. They rebuilt it in the same place. Richmond was another. They rebuilt the town a few miles north, and named it New Richmond. The few residents that stayed behind established the teeny tiny berg of Boardman.

Spent an evening on a North Sea ferry in a storm and waves that I guess weren't that extreme, but to me was VERY exciting. I went out on the deck for a minute (can't believe they let me) and was awestruck by the size of the waves we were in. They looked taller than the ship, but it could have been an adrenaline induced perceptual exxageration.

Our porch faces west (the direction from which we get most of our heavy weather). I like to watch the windmill do it's thing as storms roll in. Starts out spinning pretty good, slows as the front rolls in, slowly does about a 180 rotation, then begins to spin again. That's when you know things are about to break loose. Yeha!

We also get some lightning displays that are very nice. Got hit about 2 months ago. Knocked out the well pump. A bolt that actually hits the house is incredible. We heard it sizzling for a good 2 seconds before the pop, and then a boom that shook the house like I've never felt before. I said to Sherri "That either hit the house or one of the very near trees." Sure enough, next time we went to the tap - no water.

Nature can be so beautiful and dangerous at the same time.

[farmerjumperdon]

Found a couple links to the big one in New Richmond. The list of dead is knid of eerie as I know the descendants of some of those families.

http://www.gendisasters.com/data1/wi/tornadoes/new-richmond1899.htm

This site:

http://www.tornadoproject.com/toptens/8.htm

. . . lists it as #8 in the top 10 worst tornados in US history (it occurred in 1899). We live smack dab in between the 2 tiny towns mentioned (Burkhardt and Boardman).

The moving of the town and establishment of New Richmond appears to be either just folklore, or there was an even earlier disastrous tornado not mentioned; but the artlcle specifically mentions both towns (Boardman and New Richmond) as already existing.

[mugaliens]

You mean other than being struck by lightening, caught up in a tornado, having my wings snapped in two by severe convective activity or drowned by torrential flooding?

No... Why do you ask?

[Roving Philosopher]

(Translated: it'll pancake, not fall over.)
You mean the walls were packed with thermite?? :p


I love weather of all sorts. I can remember watching a thunderstorm roll in, and the afternoon sky going from bright to pitch black in the space of about 15 minutes. I've been through a flood, a hurricane, blizzards, and saw a tornado. And, of course, countless thunderstorms (one of the perks of growing up in the midwest).

I was at college during the hurricane. The dorms were 12 stories tall, and basically big, ugly, concrete towers. Floors 7-12 were evacuated to lower floors. I lived on the 6th floor. So I was on the highest occupied floor. The building was swaying noticeably. I can only imagine what it was like on the 12th floor.

[gethen]

My only fear is our well getting hit by lightning (again.) Generally, I just like the change in weather we have around here. I wouldn't like living where there was no dramatic change in the season.

[Tinaa]

I grew up in tornado alley in the Texas Panhandle. We had tornado drills more often tjhan fire drills in school. We always had a cellar so I never worried much about them. Hail and high winds were a part of summer and snow and high winds part of the the winter.

The flash flooding down here near SA bothers me more than the tornados ever did.

[Argos]

I wouldn't like living where there was no dramatic change in the season.

Me too. Unfortunately I´m doomed to live in a place like that.

[Gillianren]

I grew up in tornado alley in the Texas Panhandle. We had tornado drills more often tjhan fire drills in school.

After our last big earthquake, one of the maintenance workers in the dorms admitted that she hadn't a clue what to do about earthquakes, as she'd grown up in, like, Iowa or something. She said she knew what to do about tornadoes, though--which I don't. We decided you should get taught in the schools what to do about all of them, because no one will teach you if you move somewhere as an adult.

[ToSeek]

You mean other than being struck by lightening, caught up in a tornado, having my wings snapped in two by severe convective activity or drowned by torrential flooding?

No... Why do you ask?

You have wings? :surprised

[mattweather]

I not sure that i am scared of lightning at all? Hrmm you not answer that.:(

[Frantic Freddie]

Here in the Southwest,the main dangers are flash floods,it can be sunny & all of a sudden you've got 3 feet of water movin' at 30 mph in a canyon or arroyo.I stay on high ground durin' the monsoon season.

We have some spectacular lighting storms.One night during one of them,a friend was visiting & while we were imbibing good bourbon,he suggested that we walk up to the top of the hill behind us to watch it.

I told him I didn't think that was a real good idea.

[Jim]

I grew up in tornado alley in the Texas Panhandle. ... The flash flooding down here near SA bothers me more than the tornados ever did.

In Houston, it's hurricanes (which have floods and high winds and often spawn tornados).

[Ozzy]

I grew up in southern NSW (Australia) and we had a weather phenomenon called a "southerly buster" where a cold front moving up from the south would hit with a bang. You could watch the shadow of the front moving down the hill towards our house. Then boom... smack inthe middle of strong winds. We'd have to run around grabbing the washing and closing the windows. Very exciting when you are kid (bit scary but not too much) ... not much fun for Mum.
Sweltering Sydneysiders (to the north of us) had a fondness for the Southerly Buster and would eagerly anticipate its arrival for some relief.
I was in a band called "Southerly Buster". :boohoo: :dance:

As for scary weather ... hmmmm I know I sound like a bit of a sook, but thunder has always scared me and now I live at the base of the Koonyum Range which was supposedly named because that is the noise the thunder makes as it echoes around the caldera. Sometimes its so close and loud it shakes the house. (or at least it feels like it does to me). I keep waiting for the lighning strike but as we have some really large trees closeby I rationalise that the lightning will hit them before they hit the house. :eek:

[mattweather]

Nice, well i normally scared from those severe storms in northern NSW esp Ozzy lives too, i live at Ballina which is not far away from you. I wondering do you scared or freaked out of our severe storms? Pretty alot here though:)

[Ozzy]

I get scared from severe grammer abnormalities!

[mattweather]

LOL! Nice one!!!:)

[Gillianren]

I get scared from severe grammer abnormalities!

Grammar.

[mattweather]

Grammar.
Oh dear! You lost it all:eh:

[BigDon]

The single most awesome weather event I've experienced was when my ship skirted through the edge of super-typhoon Hazel. Three normal typhoons collided and merged into one. The intent was to head into it and get it behind us. We had most of the aircraft stuffed into the hanger bay or if they had the range, flown off to Guam, so the flight deck was clear and me and my friends watched as the storm approached near sunset.

Directly above us the sky was clear and the oncoming cloud bank went from horizon to horizon and blocked all the light underneath it. It looked for all the world like you were in a big crystal egg that was being swallowed by a giant snake. When we got into it, it even took us for a ride. (The Constellation was 1074ft long, weighed more than 85,000 tons and its filghtdeck, all 4.5 acres of it, was 80 ft off the water.)

We encountered horizontal rain at painful velocities and 35ft+ seas. Now during storms we would get spray and "white water" over the bow but in this storm we were taking green water over the bow and onto the flightdeck. We tried to get further out of this storm when rader from our ship and the escorts showed that there were eleven catagory 4 tornadoes within a 35 mile stretch of horizen. I was way below decks by this time. That was the only time I saw mass sea-sickness on a carrier.

I really felt sorry for the little destoyers. They would buck up out of the water and when they came down again their back ends would lift out so far it would expose the screws, causing their engines to race from the lack of water resistance. You could actually hear this at some distance. This can lead to engine failure which would have been a very bad thing.

The funniest weather phenomenom I've encountered was when I went to Nellis Airforce Base in Nevada. It was blistering hot and the flightline was scorching. This big cloud comes overhead and begins to rain on us but the rain doesn't reach the ground! Everybody is getting wet from the shoulders up but the ground is dry! We were walking around asking if this was some kind of joke the Airforce cooked up.

[Gillianren]

Oh dear! You lost it all:eh:

What?

[mugaliens]

You have wings? :surprised

I'm a private pilot - thunderstorms are bad juju.

[mugaliens]

The funniest weather phenomenom I've encountered was when I went to Nellis Airforce Base in Nevada. It was blistering hot and the flightline was scorching. This big cloud comes overhead and begins to rain on us but the rain doesn't reach the ground! Everybody is getting wet from the shoulders up but the ground is dry! We were walking around asking if this was some kind of joke the Airforce cooked up.

Sounds like virga!

[BigDon]

Yah Mugs, I knew the name of it but not the spelling and was afraid I'd type a Mexican vulgarity by mistake.

[Graceless]

I love thunderstorms, but I always get a bit antsy during tornado season. I lived through one very bad one, and I'm very wary when the storms start to roll in after a few days of scorching heat.

I've also been in a few flash floods in the past few years, so now I'm doubly cautious in the summer months. One was so damaging that within five minutes my car was flooded out and I had to swim (on a completely flat street) out of my car window. My poor Tempo was never the same again.

[jkmccrann]

Grammar.


I should warn you Gillianren, teaching grammar to some Australians is akin to getting a camel through the eye of your average needle.

Just be careful with your needles though, some may feel more than merely pinpricked! ;)


Oh, ps - you can fix mine up anytime as I'm always willing to listen - although in relation to capitalisation, It'll probably slip my mind fairly quickly. btw - kidding about the `needling'

[Gillianren]

I should warn you Gillianren, teaching grammar to some Australians is akin to getting a camel through the eye of your average needle.

I assure you, teaching grammar to some Americans is just as hard. Get me to tell you work stories sometime.

[Titana]

I think the only weather characteristic that could really scare me would be a tornado. But I sure don't think that around where I live I would be seeing one soon. If we are lucky, it will rain probably 3 times in one year...! At the moment the weather is terrible, humidity is up to 16 % and temperature at 113 F.....:(



Titana