Meteorological Apocalypse Fails To Materialize
Spring is a dangerous time for weather in this neck of the woods.
The Gulf of Mexico starts to restake its warm, humid claim over the land while the north is slow to give up its grip, sending a few more cold fronts before retreating until the fall.
When that Gulf air clashes with the invading cold, ugly things can happen: hail, high winds, heavy rains and tornadoes.
One of the most profound events for which I coordinated news coverage was the Jarrell tornado in May 1997. I was managing editor of the Killeen Daily Herald, and we saw the tornado-spawning supercell coming just south of Waco.
I deployed reporters all up and down Interstate 35, but it was in Jarrell, just north of Georgetown, where one of the most horrific tornadoes in history, a monster F5, touched down and chewed up the town, killed 27 people, touched.
If you ever see a tornado's aftermath, the impression will never leave your mind. In Jarrell, sandblasted slabs were all that were left of homes. Chunks of rotting human flesh lay everywhere. Cars were picked up and thrown hundreds and hundreds of yards away.
You can read more about it here: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/coolimg/jarrell/index.html
Because of this tornado catastrophe, as well as others I've witnessed over the years, I get an uneasy feeling about this time of year when, like Tuesday, the last gasps of winter cold arrive.
Dire forecasts predicted hail, heavy rain and perhaps some killer tornadoes. I had the day off yesterday and spent much of my time running to the computer to check the storm line's location. I rearranged the garage to make room for my wife's new car, sheltering it from any hail.
It looked pretty ugly there for a while just west of Houston, but by the time the line reached Southeast Texas, it was little more than a hiccup.
I haven't read up on why it petered out, but I'm glad it did. Hurricane Rita filled up my disaster dance car for a long time.
But with at least a couple of months to go in the annual Gulf-north fistfight, I'm not taking my eye of the weather radar anytime soon, and neither should you.
The Gulf of Mexico starts to restake its warm, humid claim over the land while the north is slow to give up its grip, sending a few more cold fronts before retreating until the fall.
When that Gulf air clashes with the invading cold, ugly things can happen: hail, high winds, heavy rains and tornadoes.
One of the most profound events for which I coordinated news coverage was the Jarrell tornado in May 1997. I was managing editor of the Killeen Daily Herald, and we saw the tornado-spawning supercell coming just south of Waco.
I deployed reporters all up and down Interstate 35, but it was in Jarrell, just north of Georgetown, where one of the most horrific tornadoes in history, a monster F5, touched down and chewed up the town, killed 27 people, touched.
If you ever see a tornado's aftermath, the impression will never leave your mind. In Jarrell, sandblasted slabs were all that were left of homes. Chunks of rotting human flesh lay everywhere. Cars were picked up and thrown hundreds and hundreds of yards away.
You can read more about it here: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/coolimg/jarrell/index.html
Because of this tornado catastrophe, as well as others I've witnessed over the years, I get an uneasy feeling about this time of year when, like Tuesday, the last gasps of winter cold arrive.
Dire forecasts predicted hail, heavy rain and perhaps some killer tornadoes. I had the day off yesterday and spent much of my time running to the computer to check the storm line's location. I rearranged the garage to make room for my wife's new car, sheltering it from any hail.
It looked pretty ugly there for a while just west of Houston, but by the time the line reached Southeast Texas, it was little more than a hiccup.
I haven't read up on why it petered out, but I'm glad it did. Hurricane Rita filled up my disaster dance car for a long time.
But with at least a couple of months to go in the annual Gulf-north fistfight, I'm not taking my eye of the weather radar anytime soon, and neither should you.
posted by Brian Pearson at 10:38 AM
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