Tornado worrying situation

It's extremely rare for us to get tornados here is Aus.  Does happen occasionally, but nothing like those in the american mid-west.

We were away on a road trip last week touring around the wheat growing areas of western Victoria.  It's pretty common to see "willy willies" or "dust devils", which is just a small twister that picks up a lot of dust and tumble weeds.  This is a fairly dry area but this year has had a lot of rain, so I was surprised to see a couple of these little twisters.  Saw one on the road ahead and it wasn't gonna budge, so we drove straight through it.  Really weird feeling as it throws you one way and then the other.  Biggest concern was getting the van sandblasted, but no obvious harm down.  Took a bit of cleaning when we got home though.

Just a little off topic, one reason for the trip was to visit the "art silos".  A lot of the small towns out there are struggling to survive, so a few have come up with this intiative to attract the tourist dollar.

VERY COOL

I've started up a new thread about our holiday with more pictures. Look for "Our Road trip".

Rod.

Oldenginerod wrote:It's extremely rare for us to get tornados here is Aus.  Does happen occasionally, but nothing like those in the american mid-west.

We were away on a road trip last week touring around the wheat growing areas of western Victoria.  It's pretty common to see "willy willies" or "dust devils", which is just a small twister that picks up a lot of dust and tumble weeds.  This is a fairly dry area but this year has had a lot of rain, so I was surprised to see a couple of these little twisters.  Saw one on the road ahead and it wasn't gonna budge, so we drove straight through it.  Really weird feeling as it throws you one way and then the other.  Biggest concern was getting the van sandblasted, but no obvious harm down.  Took a bit of cleaning when we got home though.

Just a little off topic, one reason for the trip was to visit the "art silos".  A lot of the small towns out there are struggling to survive, so a few have come up with this intiative to attract the tourist dollar.

VERY NICE artist work , thanks for sharing ,Buddy.

About 300-350 mile from me Kentucky got hit hard with a EF3 https://weather.com/ Bad stuff !!

only been on this earth a bit more than 40 years and here in the mid south seems like tornado's in december didnt happen up until 4 or 5 years ago. am i wrong? just seems odd. hope all here is well and away from the destruction. prayers up to all the families affected from ark. to il. and all those between. just thankful for what ive got, when ive got cause only tomorrow knows whats in store

I live about 20 miles from Mayfield, KY, one of the towns that was essentially wiped away, and had been following the storm track Friday night when I lost power. The last image I had seen had my hometown square in the middle of the of the track, but it veered north of us, luckily for us, but not for Mayfield. The local images show how terrible and extensive the devastation is -- the majority of downtown has been destroyed plus residential areas on either side of the city center. Many small towns in western Kentucky grew up around a central square, usually with a courthouse in the middle -- this was the layout of Mayfield. The best description I can give is of a town, bombed out, during WWII. As thankful as I am for escaping the storm, my feeling are equally strong for those folks left with nothing but a debris strewn lot.

It is but another example of how insignificant humankind becomes when faced with natural disasters. My power was restored Sunday afternoon, but still no internet or landline. Currently, I'm working from another location, equally close to Mayfield.

I'm glad to hear you're safe Andrew.

I've been seeing the the pictures and videos of the absolute destruction of those tornadoes, it's amazing... the town of Mayfield is essentially gone. I take it many people are still unaccounted for. My heart and prayers go out to all those people.

We got dumped with a little over a foot of snow here that day, with those more on the south-eastern side of the metro getting upwards of 2 feet. Here we were up here complaining about having to move snow and deal with the roads (mostly the idiots on the roads), meanwhile it's hell on earth just some states away. I'd take the snowstorm any day over that.

I lived through the Blizzard of 65 in Joliet IL before moving to Fridley MN and experiencing a Tornado the left our home bikes and yard stuff untouched BUT entirely took out the immediate house north of us. Nothing left but basement, wires, and gas pipes and spraying water, that Tornado jumped a highway and wiped out an entire trailer park. Lot's of dead.

Before all this trans pacific journey on USS Mann headed to Taiwan experienced 2 typhoons...very cool for an ignorant 9 year old.

Here in Cen Texas wife and I saw the funnel form above us that totally wiped out Jerrell Texas.

Later I was TDY to Gulf Port Mississippi when a Hurricane totally wiped out the Navel air station..

I am also a 23 time watcher of the movie Twister...

Ma nature can be a real hard arse...I to this day I do Not believe any is MAN MADE

Not one member reading this can definitively say EXCACTLY right now how many active volcanoes there on the earth with out a Duck Duck go or Google search. Go ahead I will wait
I hypothesize that all the Volcano ejecta, combined with the 4, in last 5 yea,r Sun's Massive Solar Storm Corona ejecta impacting earth, have hastened what we perceive as dramatic CLIMATE change....and in my not so humble opinion-- I believe it is NORMAL cycle of this 4 + billion year old EARTH and we are powerless to change it in any meaning full way

Sadly loss of life is tragic.... but in context, this week we killed more citizens on the highways....totally preventable in most cases

fredvon4 wrote:.I to this day I do Not believe any is MAN MADE

Not one member reading this can definitively say EXCACTLY right now how many active volcanoes there on the earth with out a Duck Duck go or Google search. Go ahead I will wait
I hypothesize that all the Volcano ejecta, combined with the 4, in last 5 yea,r Sun's Massive Solar Storm Corona ejecta impacting earth, have hastened what we perceive as dramatic CLIMATE change....and in my not so humble opinion-- I believe it is NORMAL cycle of this 4 + billion year old EARTH and we are powerless to change it in any meaning full way

https://youtu.be/WJj5ifJy3CA https://youtu.be/_CkbbuMkrMY about the 12:17 mark outta make one scratch his head