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tornado discussion

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Nick Thompson

tornado discussion

Dear Friammers,

It’s 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-mexico/

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.

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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Owen Densmore

Re: tornado discussion

Administrator

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 <[hidden email]> wrote:

Dear Friammers,

It’s 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-mexico/

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/

============================================================
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

Steve Smith

Re: 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, 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 <[hidden email]> wrote:

Dear Friammers,

It’s 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-mexico/

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/

============================================================
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

Nick Thompson

Re: tornado discussion

In reply to this post by Owen Densmore

Owen,

There’s a marvelous article in the national geographic a few months back about some Chasers who got chased. Gives you an idea how very dangerous it can be. Tornadoes are rarely as wide as that one was, but still. Worth a stop at the library. I should think the main danger would be all these other guys hurtling around country roads talking on their cell phones and looking at the sky. I wonder how many storm chasers have been killed in roadway accidents. Penny and I got caught in a storm in Clayton a few years back that was a outflow boundary rather than a tornado, although in the early stages of an outflow boundary they can look the same. I want to tell you when you have one of those things coming at you down a road with no sideturns, it’s pretty hard to think straight. The Official instructions for what to do if you can’t find shelter, is to get out of the car and jump in the ditch. We pulled over as the thing came on and I looked out the window beside the car. The ditch had two feet of water and hail slush. No way I was getting in there.

I called my friend in the weather bureau and asked him what he would have done. He said, “I wouldn’t have been there.”

So, now that I have had that advice, I will probably never drive into a tornado watch area again.

Nick

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

From: Friam [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Owen Densmore
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2014 9:33 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] tornado discussion

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 <[hidden email]> wrote:

Dear Friammers,

It’s 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-mexico/

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/

============================================================
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

Nick Thompson

Re: tornado discussion

In reply to this post by Steve Smith

Steve,

I hope you didn’t 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/

From: Friam [mailto:[hidden email]] 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

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 <[hidden email]> wrote:
Dear Friammers,

It’s 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-mexico/

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/

============================================================
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

Steve Smith

Re: tornado discussion

Steve,

I hope you didn’t believe that hills would protect you from a tornado, because they wont.

Well, not exactly "protect" and if you've been to the "black hills" they is a bit more like small mountains... and anecdotally at least, tornadys just don't form nor live long over complex topography. I wasn't really worried, mostly because I'm not a worrying kinda guy. Even a track the width of a power-line isn't likely to intersect with *my* track at the same time, probably even if I were playing "storm chaser". But... having seen the vehicles *designed* for such activity (was it real or was it affectation?) I was primed to think a little more about it than usual.

Here in NM we had a singular tornado touch down south of SFe near Waldo a few years ago... the eastern plains see them off and on...

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.

We really only had one road, the one we were on, and our only choice was go forward, stop, or turn back.

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 .

Mother nature laughs at us while we squirm in our seats. And we thought she loved us! Is it tough love or is she just a sadistic bitch?

============================================================
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

Owen Densmore

Re: tornado discussion

Administrator

She loves you. And also the tornado.

On Sat, Apr 5, 2014 at 9:04 AM, Steve Smith <[hidden email]> wrote:

Steve,

I hope you didn’t believe that hills would protect you from a tornado, because they wont.

Well, not exactly "protect" and if you've been to the "black hills" they is a bit more like small mountains... and anecdotally at least, tornadys just don't form nor live long over complex topography. I wasn't really worried, mostly because I'm not a worrying kinda guy.    Even a track the width of a power-line isn't likely to intersect with *my* track at the same time, probably even if I were playing "storm chaser".   But... having seen the vehicles *designed* for such activity (was it real or was it affectation?) I was primed to think a little more about it than usual.

Here in NM we had a singular tornado touch down south of SFe near Waldo a few years ago...   the eastern plains see them off and on...

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.

We really only had one road, the one we were on, and our only choice was go forward, stop, or turn back.

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 .

Mother nature laughs at us while we squirm in our seats.   And we thought she loved us! Is it tough love or is she just a sadistic bitch?

============================================================
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

Steve Smith

Re: tornado discussion

She loves you. And also the tornado.

Yes, it is an erotic dance I'm sure... why else would people try to drive straight into them like a moth to a flame!

On Sat, Apr 5, 2014 at 9:04 AM, Steve Smith <[hidden email]> wrote:

Steve,

I hope you didn’t believe that hills would protect you from a tornado, because they wont.

Well, not exactly "protect" and if you've been to the "black hills" they is a bit more like small mountains... and anecdotally at least, tornadys just don't form nor live long over complex topography. I wasn't really worried, mostly because I'm not a worrying kinda guy.    Even a track the width of a power-line isn't likely to intersect with *my* track at the same time, probably even if I were playing "storm chaser".   But... having seen the vehicles *designed* for such activity (was it real or was it affectation?) I was primed to think a little more about it than usual.

Here in NM we had a singular tornado touch down south of SFe near Waldo a few years ago...   the eastern plains see them off and on...

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.

We really only had one road, the one we were on, and our only choice was go forward, stop, or turn back.

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 .

Mother nature laughs at us while we squirm in our seats.   And we thought she loved us! Is it tough love or is she just a sadistic bitch?

============================================================
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