Hurricane Sandy is fast approaching the U.S. East Coast and is on target for landfall in southern New Jersey this evening. The effects of the storm are already being felt across a large part of the Mid-Atlantic region.
The Weather Channel is of course providing 24 / 7 coverage of the historic storm on television and the network now has a live feed of its broadcast available that can be viewed below. You can also view WeatherNation TV here for news from an alternative source.
When faced with a tornado what would you do? Do the smart thing and drop the camera and seek shelter.
Just as we were wrapping up Severe Weather Awareness Week on ThorntonWeather.com, disaster struck the nation’s south. Dozens of tornadoes brought death and destruction and at the same time Mother Nature allowed us to learn valuable lessons.
Extreme weather events have gotten more and more attention thanks to Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and other forms of social media. Television shows like Discovery’s Storm Chasers and shows on the Weather Channel feed a seemingly insatiable desire to see these events. They give the impression that anyone can stare down major storms with few repercussions but that is far from the truth.
Professional weather watchers, meteorologists and storm chasers cringe at some of what we see when these events happen. People with seemingly no clue of the destructive and unpredictable nature of what they are looking at put themselves in harm’s way for 60 seconds of fame.
The severe weather outbreak of recent days highlights the folly of those uninitiated and untrained in these phenomena. One particularly striking video has emerged of a man in Wilson, North Carolina watching as a tornado approaches, talking on the phone and shooting video.
The video (below) is scary to watch as the man is oblivious to what is coming toward him at 50mph. We implore all ThorntonWeather.com readers to do the smart thing – seek shelter when severe weather. Don’t become a statistic for a photo or a video.
The Weather Channel's new season of Storm Stories will feature the Windsor Tornado from May 2008. This scary image was taken by the webcam of MyWindsorWeather.com as the twister tore through the town on May 22, 2008.
This Sunday, February 22nd at 6:00pm MST, the Weather Channel will premiere the new season of its series Storm Stories. Most notably, the first episode will highlight a weather event from last year that struck very close to home – the May 22nd Windsor Tornado.
For those that haven’t seen Storm Stories, it is an exciting, sometimes scary and sad series discussing significant weather events as seen through the eyes of those that experienced it firsthand. For the Sunday episode, renowned storm tracker Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel will tell the story of the twister using footage from a variety of sources, including the video most have seen from KUSA (see below).
The kickoff of the new season of Storm Stories is actually the beginning as well of the Weather Channel’s ‘Tornado Week’ in which twisters are front and center. Other episodes of note during the week:
Monday – the “Parkersburg, IA, Tornado” on May 25, 2008, killed seven people and demolished the southern half of the town; first-hand accounts are given by residents.
Tuesday – the “Greensburg, KS, Tornado” on May 5, 2008, wiped out the entire town. The story is told through the experiences of next-door neighbors who saved a mother and her baby from the rubble.
Wednesday – “Super Tuesday” tornadoes cut a swath over a wide area Feb. 5, 2008; touching stories come from people that were affected in Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Thursday – the “Boy Scouts Tornado” hit the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in western Iowa last June, catching everyone off guard. The surviving scouts are forced to put their training to use in the midst of a terrifying situation to help keep injured scouts alive in the aftermath.
John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel, is an outspoken critic of the global warming theory.
John Coleman is the founder of The Weather Channel and an outspoken critic of the global warming theory. In years past he has called global warming “the greatest scam in history” and has called for suing Al Gore and others that hype the theory in order to force a debate on the merits of it.
As he has done in the past, Mr. Coleman advocates that global warming is a hoax and nothing more. He says we have taken a “dramatic turn toward a colder climate. The last two bitter winters have lead to a rise in public awareness that CO2 is not a pollutant and is not a significant greenhouse gas that is triggering runaway global warming.”
Mr. Coleman provides some interesting background on how former Vice President Al Gore came to become such an advocate for the manmade climate change theory.
The 2009 National Storm Chaser Convention will be February 13 - 15, 2009.
The dates for the 11th annual National Storm Chaser Convention have been announced. The event will be held February 13th to the 15th at the Red Lion Inn in Parker. As usual there looks to be a great lineup of speakers and of course it will certainly be informative and fun. The agenda is still being finalized but some of the highlights announced thus far include:
This year’s convention promises to be the biggest and best yet! The convention is held each year in Denver, Colorado, and is geared for you, the storm chaser, spotter and storm enthusiast, to be the premiere gathering of the year. Because of the intense severe storm and hurricane season that 2008 brought, we have been able to gather some of the best scientists and forecasters in the world to present at this year’s convention. Dr Steve Lyons, hurricane expert for The Weather Channel, will be this year’s keynote speaker. From the National Hurricane Center, we welcome lead forecaster Dr Jack Bevens.
On the severe storm side, we welcome Dr Greg Forbes from The Weather Channel, and are also excited to welcome back Dr Howie Bluestein. We are also excited to have Rich Thompson, lead forecaster at the Storm Prediction center, as well as meteorologist Jon Davies. Tim Marshall will once again bring is attention getting presentation to our convention. We have several other speakers that you won’t want to miss!!! So sign up early and tell all your friends to come to the 2009 National Storm Chaser Convention.
Hurricane Sandy is fast approaching the U.S. East Coast and is on target for landfall in southern New Jersey this evening. The effects of the storm are already being felt across a large part of the Mid-Atlantic region.
