Tornado vs. Hurricane... and other adventures....

Mini-Dew arrived back from her field trip to downtown Atlanta, where their buses traveled through some of the tornado-stricken areas, and she was so eager to get her pictures back (film camera) to see how her pictures turned out. Unfortunately, she didn't realize that using a flash inside the bus was not the best idea, but she still got some great shots for me of some of the damage (pardon the glare). Thanks, Mini-Dew. Her photographs of the damage from the March 14, downtown Atlanta tornado show a good amount of roof damage and trees down. She said that as they were passing through, news crews were setting up.Now, onto other things... leaving Wally World this week, I noticed this very funny and sadly inaccurate magnet on some one's vehicle. I hope the pic will work... (darn, it won't... I took it with my camera phone in the dark, go figure). Oh wait, they had their URL on the magnet... conveniently enough... www.teamhurricane.com. All I can say is that I hope they are better with martial arts than with weather knowledge... (for those who don't know... that is a tornado graphic, not a hurricane). Kind of like in the "Twister Sisters" TV show where they showed the hurricane graphic for the supercell location... While I am discussing that, maybe I should take this time to really tell you about the differences. This may be redundant for some of you, especially my CWG (Cool Weather Geek) friends, but bear with me, please. According to Wikipedia:

A hurricane (tropical cyclone)... is a storm system characterized by a low pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and flooding rain. A tropical cyclone feeds on the heat released when moist air rises and the water vapor it contains condenses. They are fueled by a different heat mechanism than other cyclonic windstorms such as nor'easters, European windstorms, and polar lows, leading to their classification as "warm core" storm systems. While tropical cyclones can produce extremely powerful winds and torrential rain, they are also able to produce high waves and damaging storm surge. They develop over large bodies of warm water, and lose their strength if they move over land. Depending on their location and strength, tropical cyclones are referred to by other names, such as hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression and simply cyclone.

The above graphic is a satellite image of Hurricane Felix as a Category 5 hurricane just before landfall in Nicaragua, on September 4, 2007. Satellite imagery is the only way to effectively view a hurricane. They are MANY miles wide. They do not come in looking like anything... yes, you will see cloud movement, heavily sheared, in a large scale rotation (sort of a curved shear as convective bands turn around the eye of the storm), but they do not look anything like those really spectacular supercell shots that Mike Hollingshead took that have been circulating through email FALSELY as pictures of Hurricane Katrina... she didn't look anything like those shots, folks, impressive as they are, and they ARE AWESOME!

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air which is in contact with both a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, a cumulus cloud base and the surface of the earth. Tornadoes come in many sizes but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris. Most tornadoes have wind speeds between 40 mph (64 km/h) and 110 mph (177 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (75 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before dissipating.

I don't personally (yet) have any pictures of tornadoes. I have only been chasing for two years at this point, and as of yet, have not seen a tornado personally (well, not since chasing), just some awesome shelf clouds, great storm structure, strongly rotating wall clouds and a few funnel clouds, but MANY of the storm chaser links to the right have some incredible photographs of tornadoes. Please check them out. Whew, I feel better now.

I feel inclined to share this story, though I know with my history (see Adventures in Lawn Mowing Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 for more information), I am setting myself up for some ridicule and humiliation. It's just too funny not to share. I guess the picture tells most of the story, you might be a redneck if... your lawnmower currently sits in your driveway on BLOCKS!!! Well, onto the story. Unfortunately, it's that time again. I have had an enjoyable break from yard maintenance, but it was definitely time to hop back on Ol' Red, something about the grass being knee high, makes the neighbors a little testy... anyways, 'tis the season. So, I fire him up and hop aboard for yet another adventure in lawn mowing. Now, I would like to think that I have mastered this machine. I have figured out how to keep it from backfiring. I have figured out how to avoid most obstacles, even gotten a pretty good feel for the turning radius... evidently, not a good enough feel. I was trying to cut in close to the bushes to get the stuff underneath (trying to avoid weed eating, which I HATE!!!) Well, too close, a little too close, to the point where Ol' Red got stuck, so I had to back up, turn hard and kaploo-ey, the doggone tire just up and fell off the wheel. Apparently, my sharp turning allowed the air to escape from the tire (I can almost hear the air now, "Quick, escape while you have a chance!!! Dewdrop is MOWING AGAIN!!!!"... probably somehow in cahoots with Ol' Red... "We'll show that swing/toad/deer statue/horsefly killing woman who's boss!"...) So, with that, I am not able to complete the job. As a result, the beautiful purple weeds that have sprouted up in my yard will stick around for another day. sigh. At least, the weeds are pretty... lolHave a lovely day,
~Dewdrop

Adventures in Yard Maintenance... Part 3 (not a post for arachnophobes...)

It was that time already... yard maintenance time. Good grief. Didn't I JUST do that?! Anyway, you know me, I hopped on ol' red, bottled water in the handy dandy beverage holder, and I was ready to go, thinking... I can do this. I can mow, edge, and weed eat my yard without swingicide and without toadicide... I hadn't even considered deer statue-icide and horsefly-icide. Quite a lead in, huh? Well, I think I should start with pic #1, just for those of y'all out there who are deriving some sick pleasure from my freakishly destructive lawn mower experiences... Poor guy didn't even see it coming. At least it happened instantly, no suffering. I swear, I didn't know he was there! Let me set this up though, shall I? I am mowing my lawn, taking extreme caution in avoiding the swing, the trampoline, the tree, the grill, the fire pit and the shed. In fact, it was while I was coming in tight around that shed that I noticed 4 visitors, unwelcome guests, more like. I took pictures so you can see why I might have been distracted from the job at hand. Let me just tell you that these things have a total span of about 3 1/2 to 4 inches, and they are just generally freaky. It's no wonder I killed the poor yard decoration. There were only 4, but I have 5 pics of them... don't know which one I shot two pics of... so... here you are...I must admit... though I have gotten quite good at killing, even decent sized, spiders around the house, these things, these "garden spiders" scare the bejeebers out of me... so, though they aren't welcome, looks like they will be sticking around until I can get my exterminator to take care of them for me... It just so happens, he'll be stopping by tomorrow. Yes, yes, I know they aren't venomous, but good grief... Mini-Dew is all sorts of creeped out. So, you can see that with this level of distraction, it is understandable that I might accidentally run over a completely obstructed lawn decoration. Poor little guy. So, I guess that makes me 3 for 3... sigh.

Oh, I haven't explained the horsefly-icide. OK, so I finish mowing the lawn, and it's time to edge, so I am out there doing a fabulous job, and I feel something on my elbow that feels like it's biting on me. I swat it off with my other hand and realize that it is a wamma-jamma horsefly. I am not talking a little horsefly, either. This thing was about 3/4 of an inch in size. So, I swatted it away, right? Then... this thing has the gumption to chase after me! So, I am briskly walking away from an attacking horsefly with a running edger. I do the only logical thing when this thing wouldn't get off my case, I started swinging the edger blade at it... I showed him. Trying to bite on me... he had SOME NERVE!

Anyway, the yard looks absolutely beautimus. :-)

Good night (Oh, it appears Tropical Depression Ingrid is hanging on for dear life...),
~Dewdrop

The future Ms. Gabrielle???

Storm Chasing Mikey was right... Invest 99L is looking good spinning off the coast of Florida. Nice circulation, good solid convection on the eastern side of the center of circulation. I definitely think it will develop into a tropical depression this afternoon. The last advisory on Tropical Depression Felix was issued this morning. Hot on its heels though, looks like we could have the up and coming Gabrielle.

Locally, lots of dry air associated with some high pressure at both the surface and aloft will ward off any shot at convection today. Limited cloud coverage will allow the temps to get up there... mid 90's is what they are telling me... not too bad... I mowed the lawn yesterday, and had an unfortunate encounter with a toad, but I swear he was a kamakaze. He leapt right into the path of his demise. Then, as if that wasn't enough toadicide, the neighbor's cat launched himself against my front door in pursuit of (no doubt) a nice juicy evening snack. I saw him out on my front step chewing, shortly after the thud. Crazy feline. Today, I edge. (Gosh, hope I don't get stuck with PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Amphibians, for this post. I swear, there was no avoiding it... poor little toad.)

That's it for me.

Have a lovely day,
~Dewdrop

The Lawnmower 500

Y'all are just going to love this one, and let me tell you, I am almost ashamed to tell the story, but it makes for good reading, so here it goes. Sorry, but the only aspect of this that is weather related is that the swing was incredibly weathered from years of sun and rain... and I was out in the dark mowing to try to escape the unbearable heat... how's that for an introduction???

For the first time ever in my life (yes, yes, I know, sheltered life), I was gearing up to mow the lawn... no, I won't be too melodramatic about that. It's a riding lawn mower, so it's not as if I had to exert any effort, but it was something I had never had to use before, so I was clueless. After some quick lessons on operation, set up with water in my handy dandy drink holder, I was on my way (only after the sun had gone down...) So, there I am zooming around the yard, pleased that I was mowing my own lawn for the first time in my whole entire life. I was rather proud that I was doing such a good job... that's when it happened... I was trying to come in tight around the weathered old, rotting backyard swing... and perhaps, just maybe, I was cutting it in a little too close, and the doggone swing jumped out in front of my lawnmower, and somehow it just crumpled down to the ground... It was the craziest thing. I was still getting comfortable with the whole break pedal thing. Unfortunately, with the swing having jumped out in front of me like that, it snapped the supporting arm in the "A-frame", so it is not going to be much of a swing for a while. OK, OK, apparently I have speed issues... I can't help it. ;-) (So, any votes for me driving during the chase-cation???) Anyways, it was an adventure, when I caught that thing, and it started going down, and I could hear the wood splintering... I thought I was a goner... I just knew that blasted thing was going to fall on me. Thank God, it did not. When I told Mini-Dew about what happened, she was shocked, but her first question was "Are you OK?" Adventures in Lawn Mowing.... what not to do... lol

Now, looking at weather, keeping an eye out the the Africa/Cape Verde area for the area that Mikey pointed out. I can see what he's referencing, and I wonder if it will happen... All we can do is wait and watch, right? It could do something... maybe...

Heat is still the big weather concern right now locally and in several other places... I would like to take a moment to remind EVERYONE that heat is the number one killer. Aside from the fact that that means I was RIGHT, it is important to take extra precautions while working outdoors, keep hydrated and take frequent breaks. Heat exhaustion can be VERY dangerous. Also, do not leave children or animals inside parked vehicles for any amount of time. Vehicles become like an oven, and it very likely could have a devastating outcome. Be cautious...

Happy Monday!
~Dewdrop