Well that wasnt fun!

[John]

Good to hear all are well. Kinda reminds me of what my place looked liked after the 2nd hurricane in 2004. Only we had a bit more damage. We had telephone poles snapped off at the base. The only thing holding them up was the wires. I'll take a Tornado over a hurricane any day. You have less notice but you also have less time to worry about it. With a hurrricane its 5 days of wondering and then after, if you left, its a day or two before you get back and you stll don't know.

I agree with your take on hurricanes vs. tornados... but both will kill you. Tornados (and I've been in two) are amazing, they are quick but what they hit is destroyed, everything. Hurricanes seem to last forever in the areas they hit, big time damage... but now we know they are coming days in advance. I'd rather run from a hurricane than get hit by a tornado.

Minnesota gets storms but not a lot of them. To far north. Mike (KV) sees more of the rough stuff than we do.

This straight line wind things baffle me, I don't understand them. The one that hit us wasn't in a big storm IIRC, sort of came out of nowhere. Also it was night when we have fewer major storms... most seem to happen in the afternoon or evening of a very hot and humid day in summer.

Do we have a weather expert in our group... what causes straight line winds exactly?

[PurpleMustReign]

OOH, OOH, pick me!!

Straight line winds are caused by a number of things, but the most common is when the line of storms accelerates (which you can see on the radar as a "bow echo", where it looks like a bow used in archery) and causes large pressure changes as it moves forward. The large pressure difference causes the air to be pushed forward at a rapidly increasing rate, and the faster the storm is moving, the faster the winds can be. Frequently on a radar image you can see a small green line in front of the storm, which indicates a "gust front", AKA straight line winds (see sample radar image; storm is moving SouthEast, gust front is moving ahead of storm, and moving much faster than the storm itself).



Another thing that can cause them is when the storm wekens rapidly and sends down a huge burst of energy (called a "downburst"), and similar to when you pour water on to the pavement, the energy has nowhere to go but out. Most of the energy goes forward, although some can go other directions. That causes a very quick but strong straightline wind that can do tons of damage and seems to come out of nowhere. The storm John is referring to probably had something like that going on.

[Cliff]

Thanks PMR, I didn't know that.

[Raptorman]

Living in WI while growing up I had the experience of being around 2 tornado's. Now they did not hit my house but they were close enough. I guess wanting a tornado over a hurricane is a double edged sword. With a tornado it's here and then gone in a matter of minutes. Hurricanes drag it out for days. Both are bad, I would just prefer to get it over with. The worst are tornado's in FL. We have this little problem, we have no basements to run into so you get to pick the safest room in your house. Which is usually the laundry room right off the garage. Not fun. At least in WI we had warning sirens to let us know about the possible tornado's.


PMR - Good explanation on the straight line winds. When I first told my wife about them she thought I was nuts because she had never heard of them before. About a month later they had a story on the weather channel about them.

[PurpleMustReign]

PMR - Good explanation on the straight line winds. When I first told my wife about them she thought I was nuts because she had never heard of them before. About a month later they had a story on the weather channel about them.

People don't realize how powerful straightline winds can be. a 70mph wind can knock down trees, powerlines, and maybe even take shingles off of roofs. Most people assume that when there is much structual damage or trees down that it was a tornado, when straightline winds can do more damage because of the large area it can cover.

[VikingBolt]

I would take some straight line winds over earthquakes anyday. I do have to say though, after visiting California, I would seriously consider moving there if the cost of living wasnt so rediculous.

Ah, yes, I remember those days/nights of ducking down in the basement waiting for the tornedo to HOPEFULLY pass by us without damage.
I remember having the car hooked up to the headbolt heater on those really cold below zero winter nights/days.
I remember driving home from work those days when the blizzards came in around noon.
Knowing all these things would happen 'every year' on a pretty regular basis.

After coming to So. Calif and hearing what sounded like a train roar and the bed bouncing a little like bad springs one time only, or hearing the shower door rattle several seconds, feeling a little sway back and forth a couple times.

Lived in Minnesota for 28 years and So. Calif for 35 years. Guess I'll take the infrequent earthquake to the yearly tornedoes/blizzards.

[Raptorman]

Lived in Minnesota for 28 years and So. Calif for 35 years. Guess I'll take the infrequent earthquake to the yearly tornedoes/blizzards.

Until your house falls into the ocean or is swallowed up by a big crack in the earth.

But hey, by the year 2050 mine should be underwater.

[Vikingsfan2026]

^ Lol. Count me in with that. Just when everyone thinks FL is the perfect vacation get away.

Anway, glad everyone was alright, but I'm not too sure on the Hurricane and Tornado thing. I've been through pleanty of hurricanes (Yea, the famous 2004 season, oh joy), and as said, you've got time to prepare for them. Yet tornados are a lot stronger in some cases and can occur without warning. (I was told that I went through a small one back in elementry school) To top it off, I've also been in a downburst. Those aren't fun either.

[John]

Thanks Josh.

Our property was hit by a small tornado once and straight line winds once. The tornado (missed the house) did the least damage.

[Raptorman]

Lol. Count me in with that. Just when everyone thinks FL is the perfect vacation get away.

It is the perfect get away. I would love to come here, visit, then "get away". Unfortunately my wife does not do well with the cold of the north, otherwise I would move back to WI in a second.

We were visiting my parents one Christmas and coming out of a theater after a movie. No one had hats or scarfs on. My wife was bundled up to the max. She asked me why no one had hats on. I told her it wasn't cold yet. Must have been about 20 degrees at the time. Lady walking next to us said, "Well he's right, it's not cold yet".

[glg]

<threadjack>

So, we got a taste of that kind of thing last night. Lost power about 8:30 PM in the most annoying outage I've ever seen. Go up front, they have power across the street. Go in back, they have power across the alley. No power up and down my side of the street and none in the next block over. Lights still on at Wrigley, lights still on in the high rises on the lake. Saw a car smashed by a big tree branch on the way to work. Power came back sometime early afternoon today.

[John]

Power out is a real pain. I don't suppose you have a propane generator like we do, huh?

Some of those buildings must have swayed in that wind. You know what geeks the local weather people are here... when they led with Chicago I knew you guys were getting hit.

[Vikingsfan2026]

^ Power Outages are even worse in FL! Lol. After Hurricane Charley, our power was out for about a week to a week and a half! To add to that, our own power company weren't even the ones to get us our power back, it was a company from Georgia.