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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / April 2005Colorado Experience OT
I was sad to read about the Colorado hurricane and it reminded me of our first trip to the US. I had always longed to visit my cousins in Fort Collins and as it was our first trip out of New Zealand I was hysterical with excitement. I had corresponded with them since I was a child and treasured the wondeful pictures they sent me of beautiful Colorado. We travelled all over their area with them in a campervan and went to many States including Utah, Montana and Wyoming. Our trip was every bit as exciting as I thought it would be and was the start of a love affair with America and Americans. But one thing happened that I will never forget. The sky grew dark and it began to hail - not just any old hail, this hail was as big as tennis balls and thudded into the ground outside like bombs. The new car in the driveway next door was dented all over and sadly I believe a baby was killed. My cousins had a shingling business and were in great demand for new roofing. I can still hear my cousin's comment. "Aw, this is nothing, you should see it when it really hails!!!" Bev  SignatureCats aren't clean, they're just covered with cat spit. >I was sad to read about the Colorado hurricane and it reminded me of our >first trip to the US. I had always longed to visit my cousins in Fort [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >I can still hear my cousin's comment. "Aw, this is nothing, you should >see it when it really hails!!!" It sounds like you were lucky not to see a genuine American tornado. The largest hail that I have seen were about grapefruit-sized, back in 1974. After the hail stopped falling, I went outside to look at the hailstones, then looked up just in time to look up the spout of a funnel cloud (tornado with the base not touching the ground) as it went by 300 feet or so overhead. At that point, I lost all interest in hailstones and headed for my basement. SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria >> I was sad to read about the Colorado hurricane and it reminded me of >> our first trip to the US. I had always longed to visit my cousins [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > went by 300 feet or so overhead. At that point, I lost all interest > in hailstones and headed for my basement. Lucky you had a basement. I don't quite understand not having basements in the southern US (unless it's a water-table thing, which here in west Tennessee, it is not). Been through a couple of those terrifying funnel clouds, even some that touched down very close by. It's not fun. Persia is a smart cat; she headed to the bathroom in the middle of my apartment with me and hunkered down while the sirens were blaring. Jill Believe I might be able to explain the lack of basements, at least in s.FL, Jill...if you dig into the ground where I came from, it's about 2 feet of dirt (unless, of course, you are on land "built-up" on landfill) till you hit solid coral rock and limestone! Cost of blasting that out would be prohibitive for most of us, I think, to make a basement. There are sections of the area where "tri-level" homes were built, in the 60's and early 70's, but the lower level was not as deep as a true basement, like they have here in CO. Would you believe in my early 20's a tornado roared through Little River (a section of Miami) where we lived? It woke me up @ 2 a.m.- sounded just like a train very near.....only I knew there were no railroad tracks around. It went by 2 blocks away from our house, tore up a few stores, and upended several police cars! To this day, I think that was much worse than any 'cane - including the "biggies" - we lived through in my childhood. >>> I was sad to read about the Colorado hurricane and it reminded me of >>> our first trip to the US. I had always longed to visit my cousins [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > > Jill <snip> >Would you believe in my early 20's a tornado roared >through Little River (a section of Miami) where we lived? >It woke me up @ 2 a.m.- sounded just like a train very >near.....only I knew there were no railroad tracks around. It went by 2 >blocks away from our house, tore up a few stores, and upended several police >cars! I had a similiar experience at Ft Campbell Kentucky back in the mid 70s. I was napping on my bunk in the barracks when what sounded like a loud train went by. I didn't think anything of it and went back to sleep. When I fully woke up later I heard about a tornado which had touchsed down across the street from the barracks - and also realised that there weren't any train tracks nearby. Luckily ours touched down in an open field and lifted off again, not doing any damage. SignatureSteve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy and Little Bit stouchst@JUNKsirinet.net [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html >Would you believe in my early 20's a tornado roared >through Little River (a section of Miami) where we lived? > To this >day, I think that was much worse than any 'cane - including the "biggies" - >we lived through in my childhood. Isn't it a little odd how folks react differently to disaster? I grew up in Lakeland where 'canes came through regularly but were pretty much tamed by the time they got to our inland city. Then I spent 13 years in Cape Canaveral where 'canes were more threat than actuality. Even so, I'm absolutely terrified of them, spent too much time in the panic of the "possibility." Sure glad I'd left Florida before last year's storms!!! Now I live in the "Tornado Alley of the South" where being hit by one is a "probability" rather than "possibility" but have no fear of them. I've even, on one occasion, stood at our picture window watching the funnels passing by! It's insane 'cuz they are devastating - my mind tells me they're far worse than 'canes but my reactions show no flicker of anxiety. So I'm pretty weird, eh? Jeanne > Now I live in the "Tornado Alley of the South" where being hit by one > is a "probability" rather than "possibility" but have no fear of them. > I've even, on one occasion, stood at our picture window watching the > funnels passing by! It's insane 'cuz they are devastating - my mind > tells me they're far worse than 'canes but my reactions show no > flicker of anxiety. So I'm pretty weird, eh? For me it's the total opposite. When we were stationed at Ft Campbell, tornados were a very real and possible terror. Rob was on duty one evening when three different tornados touched down on the airfield. I have never seen one, and the biggest hail stones I even saw were the size of my thumb nail, but those puppies still terrify me. However, I now live in hurricane alley, have been in four hurricanes so far, and the far edges of a couple more, and they don't terrify me like they should. Now watch us get the monster hurricane of the millennium and me have to eat my words. Pam S. >> Now I live in the "Tornado Alley of the South" where being hit by one >> is a "probability" rather than "possibility" but have no fear of them. [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >they should. Now watch us get the monster hurricane of the millennium >and me have to eat my words. Were you aware that hurricanes commonly trigger tornados around their periphery? From what I have heard, the tornados generated by Hurricane Andrew did more damage than did the straight-line winds. SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria >>> Now I live in the "Tornado Alley of the South" where being hit by >>> one is a "probability" rather than "possibility" but have no fear [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > periphery? From what I have heard, the tornados generated by > Hurricane Andrew did more damage than did the straight-line winds. I don't understand "straight-line winds". In fact, I never heard the term until 1998 and I've been living in tornado country since 1971. Been through several. They said the storm of 1998 wasn't a tornado. That's funny; I heard the freight train and the roofs were blown off of a number of buildings not far from me. But it wasn't a tornado. Huh. Perhaps not in the technical sense, but dammit, that was a tornado! Jill >>>> Now I live in the "Tornado Alley of the South" where being hit by >>>> one is a "probability" rather than "possibility" but have no fear [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > > Jill Be thankful. We get them every summer and they are often as damaging as a tornado. It's a wind that is at least 100 mph, traveling in a straight direction. Flattens fields and rips up trees. I've even seen lamppole damage that *looks* like tornado damage, all twisted up. >> I don't understand "straight-line winds". In fact, I never heard the term >> until 1998 and I've been living in tornado country since 1971. Been through [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >direction. Flattens fields and rips up trees. I've even seen lamppole damage >that *looks* like tornado damage, all twisted up. I suspect that there sometimes are short-lived tornados that never get officially diagnosed. Back about 20 years ago, a storm hit my parents' neighborhood, downing four trees along a path about 200 feet long. Trees a few yards to either sides lost small branches; those further to either side lost only leaves. The logical explanation for such localized damage is a funnel cloud that broke up after a few seconds of "life". There is another phenomenon called a downburst. This occurs when a rapidly-descending downdraft in a storm hits the ground, causing a sudden outward blast of wind from the point of impact. Such downbursts have caused plane crashes before, when they hit a plane that was just taking off or was just about to land. I was outside once when such a downburst hit; the wind went from a slight breeze to about 70 miles per hour in a period of just a few seconds. I was literally almost blown off my feet, not having expected the wind blast. After 10 seconds or so, the wind went back to being just a slight breeze. SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria >>> I don't understand "straight-line winds". In fact, I never heard the term >>> until 1998 and I've been living in tornado country since 1971. Been through [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > blast. After 10 seconds or so, the wind went back to being just a > slight breeze. Wind is an amazing force. >>> I was sad to read about the Colorado hurricane and it reminded me of >>> our first trip to the US. I had always longed to visit my cousins [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] >Persia is a smart cat; she headed to the bathroom in the middle of my >apartment with me and hunkered down while the sirens were blaring. My current house doesn't have a basement, only a crawl space, so about all I can do in a tornado is take shelter in my hallway. My bathtub is too shallow to give me any protection. About half an hour after I saw the tornado described above, we decided to go take shelter in our church, about half a mile away. This turned out to have been a good idea; when we returned home, several hours later, we found that runoff had flooded our yard sufficiently to reach a basement window, and the basement had close to five feet of water in it. SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria >>>> I was sad to read about the Colorado hurricane and it reminded me >>>> of our first trip to the US. I had always longed to visit my [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > all I can do in a tornado is take shelter in my hallway. My bathtub > is too shallow to give me any protection. That's not exactly true. It's not the bathtub per se but the pipes in the walls which provide protection. Of course, this assumes the bathroom isn't on an outside wall with windows. Mine aren't. Jill > About half an hour after I saw the tornado described above, we decided > to go take shelter in our church, about half a mile away. This turned > out to have been a good idea; when we returned home, several hours > later, we found that runoff had flooded our yard sufficiently to reach > a basement window, and the basement had close to five feet of water in > it. Well, the FL method when taking refuge in your inner-room bathroom tub is to drag a mattress over top of however many of you are in tub, including pets (stuffy but keeps flying objects from killing you if your roof goes). However that might not be effective w/tornados. After H.Andrew they found several people in their tubs who had died from debris slamming into them after their roof blew off....but the bathroom and tub still stood. >>>> I was sad to read about the Colorado hurricane and it reminded me of >>>> our first trip to the US. I had always longed to visit my cousins [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] > a basement window, and the basement had close to five feet of water in > it. >>Lucky you had a basement. I don't quite understand not having basements in >>the southern US (unless it's a water-table thing, which here in west [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >a basement window, and the basement had close to five feet of water in >it. We have an unfinished basement. But it is full of spiders and other creepy crawlies. And if there is a lot of rain with a storm, we wouldn't to be down there anyway. One time a few years ago before the current drouth, another of the frequent storms that year dumped a lot of water and the basement was flooded. We had to pump it out. We also have a very shallow water table here. My well is only 30 feet deep. -- CATherine
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