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Friends in Need When Nature Hiccups, Natural Disasters forum
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post Aug 19 2009, 10:36 PM
Post #91


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Oh, crap. Sure hope everything's alright, oDoug.

Tornadoes are scary. Would rather be in an earthquake instead any day.


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ElkGroveDan
post Aug 19 2009, 10:52 PM
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QUOTE (dvandorn @ Aug 19 2009, 02:28 PM) *
Hey, guys -- spent a good hour in the basement of my call center here in St. Paul, waiting out tornado warnings.


That was rather selfish of you Doug. Next time would you please lean out the door with a good camera and get some photos for your friends here? You have permission to return to the basement when the first cow flies past.


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dmuller
post Aug 20 2009, 12:58 AM
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QUOTE (ElkGroveDan @ Aug 20 2009, 08:52 AM) *
when the first cow flies past.

Isn't St. Paul a city? You might want to make the first flying 4WD the trigger for going to the basement rolleyes.gif

QUOTE (dvandorn @ Aug 20 2009, 08:28 AM) *
(I wish there was a smiley for the emotion "whew!")

typical umsf suggestion: dd.gif


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dvandorn
post Aug 20 2009, 02:12 AM
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Well, I'm home, everything is just fine here. No damage whatsoever right here. I did drive the mile or so down the road to where there were reported touchdowns, found a nice neat line of uprooted trees (a couple had dropped back down onto adjacent homes, breaking them up a bit), found a local record store closed for tornado damage where the owner reported to me that the roof had lifted off the building and then settled back down -- you could see the front wall of the building bowing out towards the street near the top. Tons of store windows blown out, glass all over the roadway, uprooted trees trees blocking streets, etc.

Apparently, observers in the top stories of the 70-some-story IDS Tower in downtown Mpls saw the funnel (by this time not on the ground) go by, with entrained debris *above* them at their 600-some-foot vantage point. As the funnel collapsed completely, they watched the debris fall out of the sky and onto the streets below. (Sorry, Dan, no cows -- just tree branches and such.)

Overall, the damage was limited to a few very small areas where the twisters actually touched down (on the ground or onto the roofs of buildings), and there have been no reported deaths or serious injuries. I even have power, the cable never went down, etc.

And Dan -- first off, if I thought there was *any* chance I could get a pic of a tornado, I'd be all over it, bosses or no bosses. I have been within a few miles of tornado touchdowns several times in my life, and have never, ever seen a funnel on the ground. It's one of the things I'd like to be able to do before I die. Unfortunately, the actual tornado activity was a good 10 miles away from my workplace, and there was just no way I could sneak out of the building and go looking for it. Especially since no one knew there were actually tornadoes touching down until a good half-hour after the event.

All in all, sort of a fun day! wink.gif

-the other Doug


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post Aug 20 2009, 04:10 AM
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Uh...don't take this wrong, dude, but I hope you don't have this kind of fun again for a long, long time! rolleyes.gif

Glad everything's okay for you.


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CosmicRocker
post Aug 20 2009, 04:51 AM
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I too, am glad to hear that all was well, after all. Coincidentally, we had a tornado touch down near here yesterday. It caused some damage and injuries in Beaumont, TX. Curiously, my wife was on her way to do some shopping in the same area hit by the tornado when she decided to take an unusual detour to shop elsewhere. I'm glad she did. She might have ended up in the middle of the danger.

BTW, O'Doug...I was visiting your lovely state in July, and I must say it truly was a pleasant experience compared to the July's down here. I actually had to turn on the heat in our RV on some of the nights. We drove up to the Keweenaw peninsula of Michigan and then followed the shore of Lake Superior to Duluth and then around the north shore to Grand Marais, sightseeing and hunting for Lake Superior agates. Lake Superior and its shores are one of the geological wonders of this planet. We wrapped up the trip hunting for agates in some of the gravel pits near Moose Lake and then saw some amazing agates at Moose Lake's Agate Days event.

We passed through the twin cities rather quickly on our hasty trip back home. The next time I am up that way I'll try to contact you to see if we can get together for a beer or a coffee. There are still several Minnesota rock specimens that I want to collect.


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post Aug 29 2009, 08:07 AM
Post #97


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It's fire time again here in SoCal. According to the LA Times, JPL is closed through Sunday night due to the nearby Station Fire; you can get updates from a generated Google map here.

Best wishes to everyone @ JPL, and to Emily & her family in Pasadena. It's gotta be noxious up there; you can see the smoke bank hanging over the foothills even from the South Bay area.


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ilbasso
post Aug 29 2009, 02:37 PM
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Maybe Spirit sent those fire clouds along...if Spirit's sky is going to be hazy, perhaps she's trying to evoke a sympathetic response in Earth's weather system at Home Base.

Best wishes, all. I was in Santa Cruz 2 weeks ago within a couple miles of a forest fire. Even if you don't feel in immediate danger of burning, the smoke makes even walking across a parking lot unbearable. I never unpacked my suitcase all week, just in case we were asked to get out quickly.


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post Aug 31 2009, 02:54 AM
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Fire approaching the Mt. Wilson Observatory (webcam from Emily's blog.)

sad.gif ...let's all hope for the best.


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djellison
post Aug 31 2009, 06:30 AM
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This one is nasty. I"m keeping track with friends on Facebook. Only one family I know has been evacuated, and they were pretty close to JPL. Keeping everything crossed - there are some proper heroes fighting this thing up there.
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remcook
post Sep 1 2009, 02:49 PM
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The Mt Wilson cam is starting to look more and more smokey sad.gif ph34r.gif
http://www.mtwilson.edu/fire.php
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Guest_PhilCo126_*
post Sep 1 2009, 04:43 PM
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It looks like NASA-JPL was closed to all except mission-critical employees on Monday, Aug. 31...
Mt Wilson has the 100 inch telescope well enclosed but the stairway to it is made of wood ... Fingers crossed!
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brellis
post Sep 1 2009, 05:25 PM
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RoverDriver lives in La Crescenta - hope you're okay, Paolo!
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maschnitz
post Sep 1 2009, 11:30 PM
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According to MODIS, the fires had been climbing up on both the east sides and north sides of the mountain. But thankfully, in the latest MODIS update, it looks like the fire has gone quiescent. Barring flare ups - maybe Mt. Wilson has ducked a bullet?

Side notes: I'm also in Pasadena; most everyone in La Crescenta, La Canada/Flintridge, Altadena, etc, are only affected by this in the lungs. The air is awful lately. (Seriously....air with TEETH. Reminds me of China!) Only a few houses on the south side of the mountains have been burnt. It's mostly houses on the north side of the mountains, and cabins in the mountains, that have been burnt. Good luck to everyone!

Also, it's very hard to tell what's going on at the summit of Mt. Wilson, exactly, right now - visibility is very poor and the few people still up there are very busy. We know via the LA Times that there is a fire squad up there right now, lighting backfires. Go get 'em guys!

EDIT: Looks like I counted my chickens too soon!
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post Sep 2 2009, 12:45 AM
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Hope that Paolo doesn't mind me saying this, but I've heard from him & he's okay.


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