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Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Chit Chat _ Friends in Need When Nature Hiccups

Posted by: belleraphon1 Jul 29 2008, 11:23 PM

Sincerely hope all you UMSFers on the West Coast are OK! Read Emily's blog....
http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001576/

Widfires and now an earthquake... scary...

Concern from an Ohioan who only worries about getting snowed in once or twice a winter season.

Craig

p.s. With global climate change this forum may get a few posts or two in this century!

Posted by: mcaplinger Jul 29 2008, 11:32 PM

QUOTE (belleraphon1 @ Jul 29 2008, 03:23 PM) *
Concern from an Ohioan who only worries about getting snowed in once or twice a winter season.

Portions of Ohio are, of course, in the New Madrid Seismic Zone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Seismic_Zone

Posted by: nprev Jul 29 2008, 11:37 PM

Thanks for thinking of us, Belleraphon; no biggie, we're fine. It was one hell of a jolt (and lasted quite awhile!), but apparently no serious injuries or damage AFAIK. Emily said she's okay as well.

I was on the 5th floor near downtown, and it shook crazy; can't imagine what the people in the skyscrapers felt. Thinking I can get a fancy condo on the 60th floor or above somewhere here for cheap over the next week or so... tongue.gif

Posted by: belleraphon1 Jul 29 2008, 11:38 PM

"Portions of Ohio are, of course, in the New Madrid Seismic Zone."

Point well taken.....mcaplinger blink.gif

Craig

Posted by: belleraphon1 Jul 29 2008, 11:44 PM

QUOTE (nprev @ Jul 29 2008, 06:37 PM) *
Thanks for thinking of us, Belleraphon; no biggie, we're fine. It was one hell of a jolt (and lasted quite awhile!), but apparently no serious injuries or damage AFAIK. Emily said she's okay as well.

I was on the 5th floor near downtown, and it shook crazy; can't imagine what the people in the skyscrapers felt. Thinking I can get a fancy condo on the 60th floor or above somewhere here for cheap over the next week or so... tongue.gif


Your quite welcome, nprev.... glad you and Emily are ok!!!!

As mcaplinger pointed out, we Ohioans are on a fault. Back in the 80's, I can actually remember a slight jolt, the floor kinda weaving for a moment, but no biggie.

Funny you should mention skyscrapers. I was talking about that with my office pal. We were trying to imagine what it is like to be on the 60th floor of a skyscraper gone weavy! VERY SCARY.

Craig

Posted by: nprev Jul 29 2008, 11:55 PM

Well, I'll puff up my chest and act all brave here, but California doesn't have anything on Alaska when it comes to quakes. I felt at least two of this magnitude when I was there from 2001-2004 (one shook me out of bed), and there was a really bad one in 2003 right near the center of the state that shook Anchorage for a full two minutes...actually saw vehicles rocking back & forth on their wheels during that.

The good news story from all this bravado is that modern building codes really are pretty sound for dealing with these things. My house in Anchorage (built in 2001) suffered zero damage, nor did any of my neighbors. I can't imagine what sorts of things you have to do to a skyscraper to make it earthquake-survivable, but clearly whatever they are, they work. (With you on the 60th floor observation, though; not a happy feeling, for sure!)

Now, Ohio has tornadoes...MUCH scarier, IMHO! Went through one of those in New Jersey (of all places) in 1997, do not wish to repeat the experience.

Posted by: volcanopele Jul 30 2008, 12:05 AM

Meh, I lived in Kansas for 13 years and saw a grand total of ONE tornado, and that was a puny EF-0. I think it blew some deck furniture around.

Posted by: belleraphon1 Jul 30 2008, 12:21 AM

Have lived in Ohio my entire life....

Only tornado I ever "experienced" missed me by a hair.... if that is what it really was, and I did not know it until fterwards. Was living in an apartment complex at the time, third floor, corner bedroom. Had the window open during what I thought was going to be an intense thunderstorm (black cloud effect), and the air suddenly whoosed out......sounded like a wind tunnel being sucked through a vaccuum. Afterwards a friend said they saw a small funnel cloud lift up just before it would have nipped by corner bedroom...

I have seen plenty of awesome black clouds and thunderstorms wrack with hail and bluster. And I actually LOVE a good winter blizzard... my daughter and I would get all wrapped up cozy and walk around the block as the snow wailed....

But to have the ground dance under my feet... well... THAT SCARS ME!

Craig


Posted by: nprev Jul 30 2008, 12:47 AM

Ah, ground-dancing ain't so bad... rolleyes.gif

Here's my tornado story. Out on the flightline @ McGuire AFB on an early June evening. 10-12 C-141s lined up & chained at the nose gears to the ground in anticipation of bad weather. I looked over to the West, to the edge of the base where there was a line of trees. The sky above them was black, red, yellow, green...(no direct sunlight! Electrostatic/flourescent effects?) Oh, crap.

The expediter truck came roaring up & picked me up, because there was a tornado warning. I jumped in with my toolbox, along with 20 or so other people & their tools, just riding on top of them (little bumpy). We blasted back to the squadron building just as the rain began.

Once there, me & a couple of other people who were stupid (okay...we wanted to smoke) stuck our heads out of one of the side doors to do so. It was pitch black out, and there were these things that looked like small black dust devils whirling around outside. There was a small tree about 10 ft. (3m) in front of the doorway, and as I watched one of the "dust devils" hit the tree...and broke it in half!!!! I said "TORNADO!!!!", and dived back inside.

Once the all-clear was given, we went back out to the flightline. All the nose gear chains had broken. Some of the planes looked normal, still facing forward, but their nose gears were sideways: they'd been blown one way, then blown back. Several aircraft weren't so lucky; their noses (radomes) had crashed into the wingtips of adjacent planes. A transient C-5 had a #1 engine that was flat on the bottom and a bent left wing; the tornado had rocked the plane so hard that it had impacted the ground. Spookiest of all, the treeline at the edge of the base had a neat cutout about 300m wide where the damn thing came through and hit the base. All told, it missed us being out there by about 2 minutes at the most.

Are tornadoes scarier then earthquakes? To me, oh, hell, yes!!!!!! unsure.gif

Posted by: belleraphon1 Jul 30 2008, 01:16 AM

nprev... good story...

Nature is awesome and impressive...... and I think that is one of the reasons we all love planetary astronomy.
It hits us somewhere at our core. We cannot help ourselves but be scared and love it at the same time.

Don't know if any of the above makes sense ... but I am constantly impressed by nature's power....

Actually probably just had one too many beers... long day (but not as long as you folks in CA) and I have one cat with her tail wrapped over my wrist while another is doing the keyboard shuffle....

You all take care and know we UMSFers are here for each other.

Craig




Posted by: ElkGroveDan Jul 30 2008, 01:18 AM

Oh come on Nick. I disagree. Do I have to tell my earthquake story?

Posted by: nprev Jul 30 2008, 01:43 AM

Yes, you do!!! Give it up, big guy!

Posted by: Juramike Jul 30 2008, 03:30 AM

I was in my lab on the 6th floor of the UC Berkeley chemistry building when the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loma_Prieta_earthquake hit (7.1 on the Richter scale) back in 1989. We had boiling solvent stills and gas cylinders rattling back and forth. The doorjamb I was standing in cracked away from the wall about an inch and a half. I still remember the look of the woman across the hall as her frozen smile transformed into scream. Our floor's balcony had a chilling view of the Marina district fires across the bay flaring in San Francisco when the gas mains went up. We didn't find out about the Cypress Structure collapse until much later.

That whole experience kinda sucked. I was a tad jittery for a few years after that.

[Later the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_Hills_firestorm came within few miles of campus and torched my old neighborhood. I remember racing in to campus to back up multiple copies of my graduate thesis. Yeah, I been through the "shake and bake".]

-Mike

Posted by: nprev Jul 30 2008, 03:35 AM

Ye gods, Mike! That had to be beyond terrifying for everyone. (Chilling image: woman with a fixed smile morphing into a scream. You could write an entire novel around that image...and should.)

It really isn't the quake itself that's scary,IMHO; it's the aftermath. You just don't know what the hell might have happened until it's over; you're quite powerless to do much at all when it's in progress, because priority #1 is to make sure that your own head, limbs, etc. don't get shmushed during the event itself.

In retrospect, the lack of power to control your own fate is the worst aspect. Get in a doorway, sure, but THEN what?

Posted by: Juramike Jul 30 2008, 04:24 AM

QUOTE (nprev @ Jul 29 2008, 11:35 PM) *
In retrospect, the lack of power to control your own fate is the worst aspect. Get in a doorway, sure, but THEN what?


I think the most frightening part was not knowing when the shaking was going to stop intensifying.

The thought "OK, that was fun. We can stop this now...." went through my head after the wall cracked.

The other thought of "Uh oh, is this going to be the big 'Game Over'?" also started to run through my head (right about when the woman started screaming).


The entire quake lasted only 15 seconds, but it seemed much, much longer. I distinctly remember feeling the two waves. The initial up and down motion of (ha, ha, another earthquake!) to the side-to-side swaying-on-a-train wave of (Oh crap! This is IT!!).

I think at some point the primal subbrain was starting to run the show and allowing my higher brain functions free reign of paranoia and fear (or just recording the moments for later playback).

Posted by: dvandorn Jul 30 2008, 04:41 AM

We're talking the October 17, 1989 World Series quake, correct, Mike?

I thought I heard that the quake lasted about 36 seconds, at least at Candlestick Park (as it was named then). I was safe and sound in Chicago at the time, but I took a keen interest in what happened at Candlestick. I was (and still am, poor me) a Cubs fan, and that year the Cubs had lost the NLCS to the Giants. So, World Series Game One was happening not in my beloved Wrigley Field, but at Candlestick. (And on my 34th birthday, no less.)

I was so immersed in baseball at the time that I made sure I got home in time to watch the game coverage as it began. I was watching while the picture broke up and you heard the announcer call out, rather excitedly, "I think we're having an earthqua..." That sudden cut to the feed, not only mid-word but mid-IMPORTANT-word, was one of the more chilling things I can recall witnessing.

Anyway, over the next couple of days the Commissioner's Office and the Giants hired engineers to determine if Candlestick was safe for the upcoming Series games. They determined that the upper deck had flexed back and forth longitudinally, and that while the supports were still solid and reliable, another 15 to 20 seconds of additional flexing would have brought the upper deck down -- right onto the lower deck. A full minute's worth of shaking would definitely have done it. (At least, that's how I recall the reports at the time.)

There were something like 60,000 people at the stadium right then. I still get a really dense hot thing in the pit of my stomach when I think about *that* possibility...

-the other Doug

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Jul 30 2008, 05:48 AM

QUOTE (nprev @ Jul 29 2008, 05:43 PM) *
Yes, you do!!! Give it up, big guy!


My wife and I had just moved into a new rental house in Northridge, California in 1994 right before our first baby was due. She was due Tuesday January 18th, but since she was breach the doctor decided to due a C-section the Wednesday before at the hospital near my wife's work, Glendale/Verdugo just 15 minutes down the 118 Freeway. So they finally kicked us out of the hospital Friday night and I was terrified that this fragile little baby was now our responsibility. I spent the weekend fussing around the two of them until Sunday night Allison finally told me to get lost and get some fresh air. So I went over to the Northridge Mall a few blocks from our home and browsed new baby cribs since we were just borrowing one to get started. I wandered around a department store called Bullocks and at closing time I was the last one out as they locked the doors behind me - in fact it would later turn out that I was the last customer to ever shop in that store. Monday was a holiday for me so I stayed up late with Allison watching TV and trying to get used to this whole idea of being a parent. We went to bed around midnight.

Around 2:00 she woke us up crying and Allison nursed her back to sleep. Then again around 4:00. Shortly after that, (I still remember the clock said 4:26) she woke up crying again. Allison said "She can't be hungry I just fed her. So I said, "well maybe its the diaper. Now is as good a time as any for me to figure this out. You stay in bed". So we were among the very few who had the lights on at that hour. There was nothing wrong with the diaper so I began to discuss with Allison whether or not to put a new one on. As I was standing there (4:31) I felt a really smooth rocking swell cross the house the way a small wave goes under a boat on a calm lake. I can still hear my words to this day. I said out loud "Funny that kind of felt like an earth...." and I never finished the sentence. It felt like a truck hit the house. I saw everything twist and fall and fly through the air and the lights went out as I reached down and scooped up the baby off the bed. As I took three giant steps to the bathroom doorway I could feel my knees hit the floor between bounces. The roar and the noise was deafening as everything in the house that could break broke at once. I held onto the doorway with one arm and the baby with the other as that house rocked back and forth like a martini shaker. I was only five or six feet away from Allison who was screaming "Where's the baby!!?" and the roar was so loud she couldn't hear my shout back that I had her. Allison landed knee first into a picture frame and sliced open her knee. When the first round of shaking stopped I let go of the wall and pulled her up next to me and then the shaking began again.

When the shaking seemed to stop we stood there in the pitch black half naked and in bare feet with devastation all around us. Then all of a sudden BANG! and crash, a window had popped out of its twisted aluminum frame and fallen out into the back yard, then bang, bang bang more windows kept popping out. I told her to stay put while I went to get a flashlight. Three times I started down the hall and three times the shaking resumed and I would go running back to hold them. When I finally did make it to the kitchen to find the flashlight I stepped on broken glass that darn near sliced my toe off. When I finally made it back to Allison we started looking for clothing so we could get outside - it was really cold even for Los Angeles that morning, like the low 40s or so. A neighbor came pounding on our door since by then everyone on the street was outside except for us. I grabbed a dozen or so blankets and we finally went out to the car and I started it up and put on the heater. The rocking back and forth in the car continued until sunup and then for the next several days. I tried to take Allison to the hospital to get her knee stitched (and my toe) later that morning but the place was a zoo and we were worried about having a newborn baby around all those crowds and confusion. So we spent the next night in our Ford Bronco SUV with the dog and the cat. The next morning it took something like three hours to make the normally 20 minute drive to Burbank airport. I put Allison and the baby on a plane to San Francisco where her mother lived and I didn't see them for the next three weeks as I worked to make the house livable again. In hindsight I think of how lucky we were that the baby was delivered when she was. That morning the 118 freeway that I would have taken to the maternity hospital collapsed about 20 feet. Several people drove over the edge in the dark, one was killed. The department store I had been in the night before crumpled completely in half and a custodian was crushed under a parking structure there. An apartment building a half mile down the street from us collapsed and 17 people were killed. I think ultimately 57 people were killed that morning by the Northridge earthquake. Everything we owned that could break, did break with the exception of our wedding china which was still packed in boxes from our recent move.

I can't seem to find any scanned pictures from that week (I have them somewhere but its mostly a memory I try to forget), but here's what the baby and I looked like the day before.

 

Posted by: dmuller Jul 30 2008, 06:12 AM

Just out of curiosity ... does the JPL have backup mission control centers somewhere in the US?

Otherwise I've been lucky with disasters. Felt a few Earthquakes in Switzerland, typhoons in HK and Taiwan & was in Malaysia during the boxing day tsunami but well away from the coast, and of course still remember the big chemical fire in Basel, Switzerland (not really a natural disaster)

Posted by: mchan Jul 30 2008, 06:38 AM

Like Juramike, I was also in school, but in San Franciso, during the 1989 quake. I was in the basement instead of on the upper floors. (Come to think of it, I don't know if one place would be much more survivable than the other if the building collapsed.) It was briefly scary, but nothing like EGD's experience.

I also felt the 1994 quake EGD described, but from San Jose which is about 600 km north. Woke me up with a gentle rocking, and I was prepared to jump out of bed. Then it subsided, and after a few minutes, I said ho-hum (after having gone thru the 1989 quake) and went back to sleep. It was not until much later that morning that I turned on the radio and heard the news.

Posted by: nprev Jul 30 2008, 10:24 AM

blink.gif ...Dan, I stand corrected. Earthquakes are indeed scary!!! God, that was one hell of a harrowing experience for you & your family, and you're sure right about the lucky timing of your daughter's birth!

Posted by: jasedm Jul 30 2008, 01:30 PM

Glad to hear all ok over there. We're very lucky here in the UK as far as earthquakes go - the biggest one in the last quarter century was a 5.2 Richter shock centered near Market Rasen in Lincolnshire in February this year - enough to knock over a few Victorian chimneys.....The strongest ever officially recorded was 6.1 on the Richter scale, recorded in 1931.
I've lived in the UK all my life and never personally felt any tremors (mind you I do sleep like a log).
Below just for interest is the record of all fatalities (11) attributed to earthquakes in the UK since 1580:

Date Epicentre Magnitude Number of deaths, Place, Cause
6 Apr 1580 Dover Straits >6 2, London, falling masonry
15 Jul 1757 Penzance 4.5 1, Penryn, fell out of window
7 Sep 1801 Comrie 4.5 2, near Edinburgh, falling masonry
18 Sep 1833 Chichester 3 1, Cocking, falling rock
22 Apr 1884 Colchester 4.5 1, Wivenhoe, shock, (uncertain)
1, Manningtree, suicide
1 Feb 1915 Conisbrough <3 1, Conisbrough, Falling rock
7 Jun 1931 North Sea 5.6 1, Hull, Shock?
12 Dec 1940 Porthmadog 4.7 1, Criccieth, Fell downstairs

Of these, five were arguably caused by panic at the tremors, leaving only 6 certifiable deaths due to earthquake damage in the last four centuries.





Posted by: djellison Jul 30 2008, 01:37 PM

I felt the Market Rasen one - it woke Helen and I up!

Doug

Posted by: ilbasso Jul 30 2008, 01:48 PM

I was born during an earthquake on Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan. My mom said that the OR room lights were swinging back and forth over her and the doctors were trying to decide whether to lean over her to protect her or finish getting me out! The doctors told her afterward that this was a portent that I was destined to move the world. Obviously that has not happened. Yet. I'm biding my time.

The biggest earthquake I remember was also in Japan, in Okinawa, when I was 10. It was pretty violent. I felt like I was on roller skates and someone was sliding the floor randomly under my feet. My dad, as he had been trained, ran over to and stood in a doorframe. The rest of us kids were just standing there in the living room, thinking "WTF????"

Posted by: dvandorn Jul 30 2008, 01:55 PM

I was born and raised in central Illinois, not far from where the New Madrid fault passes through that state. Back when I was in my early teens, there was a fairly minor tremblor (something like 5 or less on the Richter scale). I was on the lower floor of our split-level house, and didn't notice a thing. My parents, upstairs, felt the house move a tiny bit. But I felt nothing.

I've been close to disasters and never had them actually impact me in any way. About a year ago, a major highway bridge over the Mississippi River here in Minneapolis collapsed into the river. It was a stretch of the highway I've driven over hundreds of times, had driven over it the day before. But I was a good 15 miles away when it happened.

I've had tornados pass within five miles of my location, in conditions where nothing beyond a wall of black churning cloud was visible from where I was standing.

The apartment building in which I lived for two years at the end of my college career burned to the ground -- seven months after I graduated and moved out.

I've been driving down the highway at 100 km/hr in an old beater car, pulled off to get gas, and had an entire wheel decide to break off the car... after I had slowed down to a crawl.

Some, I'm sure, would say Providence keeps its hand over me, shielding me from danger. As for myself -- I have a vague sense of always being cheated out of seeing and experiencing really exciting things that seem to happen all around me, but never *to* me.

I ought to be glad, I suppose. But I'm not... the more fool, I.

-the other Doug

Posted by: tedstryk Jul 30 2008, 02:00 PM

Scariest natural disaster I have experienced was a tornado a few years ago. We lived on the side of a small hill at the time, and it totally leveled the forest at t e top of the hill. Then, thanks to the topography, it jumped directly over our house (The upper limbs of some of the trees were ripped off but nothing on farther down was damaged, with the exception of the mailbox that got hit by a falling limb). It touched down again about a block away and ripped the roof of several houses.

Posted by: TheChemist Jul 30 2008, 02:05 PM

I live in one of the most seismogenic places on Earth, southern Greece, so I can totally relate to the experiences of our Californian friends. My hometown was totally destroyed by a series of earthquakes in the mid 50s and rebuilt from scratch. Luckily (for me), I was not born then smile.gif
Despite many experiences, I cannot get used to this phenomenon, and every time I get as scared as the first time I felt the earth move violently, which was in 1980. During the last few years we actually have a peak in seismic activity in the region, but what can you do ?

If you look at http://www.emsc-csem.org/Images/ALERT/2008/07/30/CSEMk3700.wide.seismicity.jpg of regional seismicity since 1963, you can actually trace the European and African tectonic plates as they meet and push each other just south of Crete.

Posted by: ilbasso Jul 30 2008, 02:19 PM

QUOTE (dvandorn @ Jul 30 2008, 09:55 AM) *
Some, I'm sure, would say Providence keeps its hand over me, shielding me from danger. As for myself -- I have a vague sense of always being cheated out of seeing and experiencing really exciting things that seem to happen all around me, but never *to* me.

-the other Doug


One of my coworkers has had to give CPR to three people during meetings, two of whom died in his arms. Another of my coworkers has - on two separate occasions - been in the back seat of a limo when the driver had a heart attack and collapsed while driving down the highway.

I do feel extraordinarily lucky never to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm glad to let other people experience that kind of "character building"!!

Posted by: AndyG Jul 30 2008, 03:03 PM

QUOTE (jasedm @ Jul 30 2008, 02:30 PM) *
We're very lucky here in the UK as far as earthquakes go


We certainly are. The first of the three I've felt - and the biggest - was on Boxing Day, 1979. It happened in the early hours, and it was an odd experience walking up to something like that - both the novelty of the event and the semi-conscious state I was in made it all feel very unreal.

Andy

Posted by: Greg Hullender Jul 30 2008, 03:24 PM

I was on the 14th floor of the Metro Tower in Foster City, CA during the Loma Prieta quake in 1989. I was in an interior hallway, so when the lights went out, I was in darkness. The building was swaying so much that it kept tossing me against either side of the hallway -- while making the kind of noise a subway train does when it comes into a station. I remember thinking "this is what it feels like the moment before you die."

The shaking stopped. The emergency lights came on. We scrambled down the stairs to the exits, where guards were telling us "run away from the building -- glass may be falling." So we paired up at the exits and sprinted away, like students in some fraternity initiation event. From the middle of a grassy plaza a hundred yards away, I turned and looked back to see the Tower was completely unscathed. It didn't even lose a window.

But the brick walkway around it was jumbled in places. Apparently when the shock wave rippled through, some of the bricks didn't come back down quite where they went up.

It was a long walk home.

--Greg

Posted by: elakdawalla Jul 30 2008, 04:28 PM

Wow, Dan, that's a harrowing story. I wasn't here for the Northridge quake, but the stories I've heard from friends and relations all have that common theme of babies. My babysitter and her 6-month-old son were staying at a pregnant friend's apartment in the west valley; her son missed being crushed by a falling piece of furniture by two inches, she said, and after it was over they couldn't get the door to their apartment open -- they had to yell for help to get out a window. My nephew was born on the night of the earthquake, far away in Dallas, but my in-laws, who live in Valenica, didn't find out they were grandparents until two days later, becuase it was impossible to get in touch. They had had a dinner party the night before, and all of their English china had been carefully washed and left on the dining table to dry. No more china. No more chimney, either, but at least my in-laws were themselves unharmed.

Yesterday's quake wasn't a biggie. As long as they're not too big, they're more fascinating than terrifying (though this one did have me running for the closet). I distinctly felt the three different types of earthquake waves -- the first rapid sharp vibration of the P waves, the larger-amplitude rocking and rolling of the S waves, and then the ocean-swell-like Rayleigh waves petering off at the end. Some readers have pointed out that the fact that the shaking lasted so long and that I felt those three different phases should have told me that the quake wasn't very close to me -- if I'd been closer they would have piled on top of each other, but at 50 miles away their different speeds had caused them to spread out in time by the time they got to me.

My babysitter told me that they were watching TV, and Anahita looked up at her at the first shaking, then when it got heavier she stood up and grabbed her blanket and stared at the babysitter as if to say "what the heck is going on?" They were sufficiently far from any topply furniture so the babysitter figured they were safest where they were unless things got really violent.

My tornado story is: throughout the time I lived in Fort Worth, Texas, there were only warnings, no funnels anywhere close. Then, in 2000, I was visiting Fort Worth to scope out a site for my wedding. I'd visited several locations including one downtown. I was in a bar in Dallas with some friends when someone said, "hey, on TV they're saying there was a tornado in Fort Worth." It had ripped right across the west side of downtown -- it just barely missed hitting the museum district, plowed into a 7-story office building (the headquarters of the Cash America pawn shop chain), blasted off all its glass and sucked out all the contents of the offices (it was one of those open-floor-plan office buildings, with offices made with cubicle partitions), which dispersed the funnel just a bit so it leapt over a few more things, then it ran straight into one of the tallest buildings downtown, a 30-story glass-walled skyscraper with a restaurant at the top. It destroyed most of the windows in that too and did a lot of other major damage downtown, but the BankOne building seemed to have robbed it of most of its strength. Amazingly, only two people were killed. The site I had favored for my wedding was half a block away from the BankOne building. I called them the next morning and they said they'd not had any significant damage. I figured if they could survive a tornado they could survive my wedding, so I put the deposit down that day! The BankOne building was condemned for a while, with plywood covering its facade for more than a year, but someone eventually bought it and it's recently been renovated and turned into condos. The Cash America building was also, amazingly, renovated. The funniest news I heard after the tornado was that the FBI had had a local office on one floor of the Cash America building. So the morning after the earthquake there were several city blocks around the Cash America building that were crawling with people wearing "FBI" baseball caps, picking up wet pieces of paper on the ground, examining them to see if they were sensitive material, and either dropping them or putting them into shoulderbags. Here's some http://www.dallassky.com/fwtornado.htm.

Here's http://www.durangotexas.com/eyesontexas/tornado/fwtornado.htm on the slow pace of the renovation of the BankOne building.

--Emily

Posted by: stevesliva Jul 30 2008, 04:31 PM

QUOTE (ElkGroveDan @ Jul 30 2008, 01:48 AM) *
I didn't see them for the next three weeks as I worked to make the house livable again.

Eek... terrifying. I hate to ask as it probably doesn't make anyone thrilled to recall, but was anything covered by insurance? I've heard that it is prohibitively expensive, so generally houses are uninsured against quake damage.

Posted by: elakdawalla Jul 30 2008, 04:37 PM

Very few private insurance companies write earthquake coverage, but some do. You have to buy it separately from your regular homeowner's insurance policy. Also there is earthquake insurance underwritten by the state, but I think that has coverage limits, I'm not sure though. You can get insurance, you just have to pay extra for earthquake coverage, just as you have to look hard and pay extra for flood coverage in Louisiana. I would argue that if you can't afford to insure your California house against earthquakes, then you can't afford that house!

--Emily

Posted by: stevesliva Jul 30 2008, 04:56 PM

QUOTE (elakdawalla @ Jul 30 2008, 12:37 PM) *
I would argue that if you can't afford to insure your California house against earthquakes, then you can't afford that house!

Why do you hate America? tongue.gif

Posted by: Del Palmer Jul 30 2008, 09:54 PM

QUOTE (dmuller @ Jul 30 2008, 07:12 AM) *
Just out of curiosity ... does the JPL have backup mission control centers somewhere in the US?


I don't believe they do, but it sounds like all mission teams have a contingency plan for earthquakes. Here's the Cassini plan (extract taken from the Cassini website in 1999):

QUOTE
A Major Earthquake in California. Yes, we even have plans for this goblin! If a major earthquake were to strike, communication lines between JPL and the remote Deep Space Network, which we use to communicate to the spacecraft, might be broken for hours to possibly days. And with a probability of about 2 percent per year of a "major" earthquake, we'd better be ready for it if it happens. Our strength in this area is Cassini's distributed network, with scientists planning observations all over the country. The spacecraft sequence files, not to mention the science observations, will be stored in more than one location. Of course, after an earthquake we'd have to make sure our operations team can get somewhere secure to continue to plan spacecraft events, but with sequences being 28 days long, it's likely we'll have some time to recover and get a team to develop the next 28-day sequence before the current sequence ends.


Posted by: nprev Jul 30 2008, 10:15 PM

QUOTE (elakdawalla @ Jul 30 2008, 08:28 AM) *
Yesterday's quake wasn't a biggie. As long as they're not too big, they're more fascinating than terrifying


True. The frequency of earthquakes in Alaska is far higher then it is here in SCal, and I used to feel at least one little one per week; first thing I'd do is go check the http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/recenteqs_sub/index.html for the juicy details. smile.gif

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2003/fs014-03/ in 2002 was scary, though. I was pulling AF Reserve duty, and all of a sudden I heard a corner-mounted heater banging against the wall of the shop. We all ran outside; the light poles for the flightline were swaying, vehicles rocking back & forth on their wheels...went on for at least two minutes, thought it'd never stop.

My house was just fine, though. You have to bolt them to a concrete foundation there with that in turn bonded to some deep anchors down to the bedrock. Even the water heater has to be strapped to a wall.

There are no extremely tall buildings in Anchorage for a very good reason! blink.gif

Posted by: edstrick Jul 31 2008, 10:12 AM

It's not a safe universe to live in.
I don't know anybody who's gotten out alive.

Posted by: nprev Jul 31 2008, 08:04 PM

True enough...but I have a vision of myself at age 175 or thereabouts with at least one functional eye & arm, still able to surf & watch the latest news from the Moonbases, the Mars Colony, and of course the progress of the Titan Expedition...then I get hit in the head by an exceedingly rare meteor, which my descendants will subsequently sell for tickets offworld.

Not seeing any room at all for quakes & tornadoes there! mad.gif rolleyes.gif

Posted by: dvandorn Aug 1 2008, 04:09 AM

Gee, Nick, it sounds like you're a good candidate for "upgrade"!

Cybermen of the world, unite! smile.gif

-the other Doug

Posted by: ilbasso Aug 1 2008, 04:43 PM

Funny, was just re-reading Ray Kurzweil's paper on "The Singularity" the other night. I'm waiting for the internet experience enhanced with nanobots in my synapses to make me think I'm actually on Mars!

Posted by: nprev Aug 1 2008, 05:16 PM

QUOTE (dvandorn @ Jul 31 2008, 09:09 PM) *
Gee, Nick, it sounds like you're a good candidate for "upgrade"!


<Sigh>...I got a laundry list now, and it's only gonna get longer. Amazing how your body's warranty seems to expire the moment you turn 40...

Posted by: belleraphon1 Aug 31 2008, 10:44 PM

To all our UMSF friends (and everyone else) in the Gulf Coast...

Best Speed to a safe land of call.... north and east my friends...

Craig


Posted by: CosmicRocker Sep 3 2008, 06:22 AM

Luckily, Gustav's bark was worst than his bite, at least for those of us in SE Texas. As soon as I learned that Gustav made landfall in Louisiana, and not near our house, we hurried back to become some of the first to return to our neighborhood on Labor day. I was hoping to at least experience some tropical storm weather when we returned, but was disappointed as the passing fringes of the storm only gave us some long-lasting breezes and maybe 1/4" of rain. Currently Gustav's remnant is drenching the area we originally escaped to, so my plan to evacuate inland and sneak back in behind it worked perfectly.

QUOTE (dvandorn @ Jul 31 2008, 11:09 PM) *
Gee, Nick, it sounds like you're a good candidate for "upgrade"! ...

Perhaps, but remember what happened http://www.tv.com/futurama/obsoletely-fabulous/episode/165486/recap.html? unsure.gif

Posted by: nprev Sep 4 2008, 03:18 AM

Yeah...I'm old-fashioned. I haven't even installed a USB port in my head yet... tongue.gif

Glad to hear that all is well, CR! Gonna be a long hurricane season, it seems; sure hope that you guys stay dry throughout!

Posted by: imipak Sep 12 2008, 07:17 PM

It sounds like it's going to get http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1082&tstamp=200809 over the next 48h or so.

QUOTE (Wunderground blog)
Ike is [...] poised to become one of the most damaging hurricanes of all time.


Hope that's hyperbole. To the Houston-area umsf's - take care, y'all, wishing you dry heads (and feet!)

Posted by: belleraphon1 Sep 13 2008, 12:01 AM

For all in Ike's path... heart is with you.

Craig

Posted by: volcanopele Sep 13 2008, 12:37 AM

hmm, well, I guess it is a good thing they moved next year's LPSC from South Shore Harbor...

The storm surge potential looks particularly bad, more typical of a Cat 4 than a high Cat 2. Add the size and the fact that it looks like it making landfall just southwest of Galveston... ohmy.gif

Posted by: Tman Sep 13 2008, 03:51 PM

Now this picture from the partly flooded Galveston Island looks strange http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/ap_fire_ike_080912_ssh.jpg
There's a http://www.chron.com/databases/stormmap.html that shows spots in and around Houston where flooding and damage have been reported.

Posted by: CosmicRocker Sep 16 2008, 05:08 AM

QUOTE (imipak @ Sep 12 2008, 01:17 PM) *
... Hope that's hyperbole. To the Houston-area umsf's - take care, y'all, wishing you dry heads (and feet!)

I was hoping it was hyperbole, too, but it really is pretty bad down here. We evacuated, but returned as soon as the storm moved inland enough that the winds we would be driving through were less than 40 mph. I wanted to get home as quickly as possible to begin any necessary repairs that might be needed.

So far, we haven't been able to get home, because all of the roads in our area are still flooded. Today we were able to get within a few miles of our home. Yesterday, we couldn't get within 15 miles, so things are apparently improving. We have second-hand reports that the rising water came up to the street in front of our house and stopped, so I think we avoided water damage. I don't know about wind damage. The people who live across the street from us probably had 6 feet of water in their house. A city nearby with a population near 10,000 was completely flooded. Every home there suffered flood damage. There are probably many similar coastal communities.

I think our subdivision was built over 50 years ago, and no homes here had ever been flooded until this hurricane. Reportedly, quite a few homes were flooded this time. Supposedly, two large barges are laying across the highway going out to our neighborhood. They would have to have been blown more than ten miles over surge flooded land to beach on that elevated roadway. I'd love to get some pictures of them. I am trying to capture pics of the devastation, and plan to post them to a Picasa web album after I get home. I'll post a link here.

We're living in an RV, and luckily we have a generator and a Verizon aircard for an Internet connection, as well as other amenities some around here lack (like satellite TV and AC). We are fortunate, so far. Gasoline is in short supply, because electrical power is nonexistent in all of the Beaumont-Port Arthur area and most of Houston. Some businesses have generators, and are open for business.

Many thanks to those of you wishing us the best. I'm trying to look at this as just another adventure, but I am getting too old for many more adventures of this kind. wink.gif

Tman: That was a great picture of fire, water, and wind. smile.gif

Posted by: hendric Sep 16 2008, 08:31 PM

Some pictures from Ike
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html
Also, that house in picture 11 is visible in this overhead view, at the left middle.
http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/ike/geo-C25883958.jpg
More overhead photos
http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/ike/


Posted by: CosmicRocker Sep 17 2008, 04:00 AM

We finally made it back home tonight. The county road was passable all day, but we had to wait until evening while the road was used by ranchers trying to round up and evacuate 3000 head of cattle from pastures that had been flooded with salt water. We were extremely fortunate in that our house had only minor damage that I can easily repair. Two large Yellow Pines fell away from the house. I wish the four remaining ones had fallen, too. They are a significant threat if they fall on the house in the next hurricane.

I'll be pretty busy tomorrow helping some of my less fortunate neighbors, but I'll try to get an album of pictures up when I have time. In the meantime, our local radio station http://www.klvi.com/pages/HurricaneWatch.html?feed=296507&article=4235854 with links to a lot of local pictures and video. Of course, you could also http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&q=hurricane%20ike.

Oh yeah, here's a little surprise we found on our front porch as we drove up. The poor thing didn't look very well, but I kept our little dog in the vehicle until I could assess the situation. I was sorry to note that when I walked up to it and tapped it's tail with my foot, it did not move. I wonder what did the little fellow in. I was thinking of skinning it out. Anyone here know anything about curing gator hides?

I guess I had better start googling...


Posted by: djellison Sep 17 2008, 06:55 AM

QUOTE (CosmicRocker @ Sep 17 2008, 05:00 AM) *
We were extremely fortunate in that our house had only minor damage that I can easily repair.


That's good news - seeing some of the devastation out there just breaks my heart. I can't even begin to imagine what I would think or do if our house just washed away.

There's a picture of a guy who's had a yacht land on his car. I think an dead Alligator might beat that.

You didn't try CPR on it did you?

Posted by: Tman Sep 17 2008, 11:42 AM

Good to hear that! The devastation around the coast looks frightening. Something between tsunami and tornado. Can't imagine from my experiences to be exposed for hours in such a strom. Here their attacks last at most few minutes or seconds in "such" high level.
I just wonder how long it will take to get all electrical power installations waterless or at least partly operative.

What do you think, what was the reason for the Alligator's death?

Posted by: paxdan Sep 17 2008, 01:55 PM

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/ike/photo-comparisons/bolivar.html

Posted by: imipak Sep 17 2008, 08:15 PM

Glad you and your family and house are OK, Mr Rocker. Looking on the bright side... if you fell the remaining trees, you'll have a better view of the night sky smile.gif

Some of the images at the links Hendric posted are incredible; reminiscent of the aftermath of a nuclear blast. The scale of the destruction doesn't really come home until you look at the satellite imagery. It also seems that Galveston in particular had a narrow escape from something worse, which boggles my imagination in unpleasant ways.

Posted by: CosmicRocker Sep 18 2008, 05:29 AM

QUOTE (Tman @ Sep 17 2008, 06:42 AM) *
... What do you think, what was the reason for the Alligator's death?
wink.gif I didn't want to admit it at first, but the poor thing died after I tried to administer CPR to it. laugh.gif

I got some great pictures today of the two barges stranded across the four-lane highway near our home. I thought it might be fun to make a http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=3015&view=findpost&p=126106with them.

Posted by: CosmicRocker Sep 23 2008, 07:18 AM

I've had people wanting more images of our home and it's environs after Hurricane Ike. I have posted some of the more interesting ones in this web album. I'll add images to the album as I am able. In some ways, this hurricane has been surreal...
---Link deleted, now that it is no longer needed---

We are doing well, and it appears that our electrical power may return sooner than predicted. smile.gif

Posted by: belleraphon1 Oct 13 2008, 10:06 PM

From Emily's blog...

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001692/

"Meanwhile, it's October and therefore fire season here in Los Angeles. Neither of the two rapidly developing wildfires in northern Los Angeles County threatens The Planetary Society, but one is uncomfortably close to my neighborhood, in an apparent repeat of the fire fun we enjoyed three years ago (though this time, I must say, the wind is much worse). I just checked and didn't find any satellite imagery of the fires yet -- neither TERRA nor AQUA has passed over Los Angeles since these fires started. I'm not sure how much more DPS coverage I'll be able to do today! "

Wish everyone well ....

Craig

Posted by: nprev Oct 14 2008, 12:06 AM

Thanks, Craig. It's much closer to Emily than any other member I know of (NE of downtown LA proper;. I can see the smoke from down in Torrance, though), but it shouldn't make it into Pasadena...still a lot of geographic separation there.

On a personal note: Gotta go under the knife this Fri for a hernia, and the damned thing apparently hemorrhaged over the weekend; without being too graphic, trips to the loo have been disproportionately frightening. Going to the doc tomorrow, might be going in for surgery sooner. (Note: Noticed the stupid thing like six months ago, was too busy to take care of it...NOW it hurts, NOW it's scary...you got one of these, don't wait, just go get it fixed!!!)

Posted by: Shaka Oct 14 2008, 05:19 AM

OK, Tinman! We won't expect many coherent posts out of you on Saturday. But we expect you back in swing by Sunday PM. *
Can't let Doug build up too great a margin.
You're our only hope to catch up with him.
cool.gif
* Demand a recovery room with wide-band Net access.


Posted by: ustrax Oct 14 2008, 10:20 AM

Nicholas, Be Brave! smile.gif
We'll be here crossing our fingers!

Posted by: djellison Oct 14 2008, 12:30 PM

Youch
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?subset=AERONET_La_Jolla

(and good luck with the Hernia np - you might come out bionic with the weave matting they use to hold them in place!)

Doug

Posted by: nprev Oct 14 2008, 01:30 PM

Thanks for the good wishes, guys; it's much appreciated! smile.gif

Re bionic: I've been asking them to replace my existing plumbing with dolomite-enhanced PVC for years, but do they listen? Nooo...damn cheap contractors!!! rolleyes.gif

Posted by: belleraphon1 Oct 14 2008, 04:16 PM

Yes, nprev... best wishes...

Craig

Posted by: elakdawalla Oct 14 2008, 07:42 PM

QUOTE (djellison @ Oct 14 2008, 04:30 AM) *
Youch
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?subset=AERONET_La_Jolla


*cough cough cough* The fire's a bad one, but fortunately it's keeping several miles away from me. There are even blue skies overhead today. But everything smells like smoke. I have friends who live in one of the canyon communities to the west of me, who were evacuated yesterday and are now inhabiting my guest room indefinitely.

Every year there are fires somewhere in the Southland (that's what they call southern California in the local media), and every year I'm amazed and impressed with the preparedness and performance of the firefighters and all the other organizations who support them, from the police to animal control (the latter sends out armies of trailers to go into evacuated communities and grab horses and other large animals and take them to shelters -- the same canyon communities that are prone to wildfire are usually ones with lots of horse owners). These fires have the potential to be a huge and costly disaster, burning hundreds or thousands of homes. But because of year-round preparedness, enforcement of brush clearance ordinances, rules about roof materials and the proximity of large trees, even what species of trees, and the readiness of more than a thousand firefighters, they can let the fire do what it wants with the brushland while protecting nearly every home and outbuilding from being burned. In the areas that are actively burning right now, the TV helicopters reveal that nearly every driveway has a police car parked in it, and a fire truck on the street; tactical teams of firefighters march into the backyard of each house, one by one, defending it as the fire burns past. Spotters on the ground call in the aerial troops, skycranes and super scoopers dumping water on hot spots. If you drive through burned areas in the days after a fire you'll see acre after blackened acre, abruptly bordering lush green backyards and untouched Mission-style homes with bright red clay tile roofs. It's amazing.

--Emily

Posted by: nprev Oct 14 2008, 11:56 PM

The response really is amazing as Emily described. The coordination alone is marvelous, considering that you're dealing with city, county & state government agencies; these guys are on the spot in MINUTES if something breaks out, and this is a huge area (maybe 2500 square miles) we're talking about. There's a lot to be learned here about organizational management.

Posted by: dvandorn Oct 15 2008, 04:20 AM

QUOTE (nprev @ Oct 13 2008, 07:06 PM) *
Gotta go under the knife this Fri for a hernia... <snip>... Going to the doc tomorrow, might be going in for surgery sooner.

As someone who survived hernia repair 20 years ago, I can tell you that it's not all that uncomfortable -- they work through a relatively small incision, and depending on the location of the hernia, the healing repair is often (and was for me) less painful than the hernia itself is.

Have you heard if the surgery has been moved up? I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to know when you're going under the old knife.

I've had two full-on operations in my adult life, where I was put completely out with drugs. One was the hernia repair 20 years ago, the other was the emergency removal of my appendix about five years ago. My one best memory from both is the completely relaxed and relief-drenched feeling of waking up in the recovery room, in no pain and with a drug-supplied sense of self-satisfaction at surviving the pain and coming out the other side.

Vaya con dios, my friend...

-the other Doug

Posted by: CosmicRocker Oct 15 2008, 05:50 AM

Well, all I can hope for would be the best for all of you who are potentially in harm's way, whether it be by fire or knife. As has been noted, it truly is nice to see how well most modern-day emergency responders perform when called upon. smile.gif Take care.

Posted by: nprev Oct 16 2008, 12:48 AM

QUOTE (dvandorn @ Oct 14 2008, 08:20 PM) *
Have you heard if the surgery has been moved up? I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to know when you're going under the old knife.


Hey, oDoug, and thanks for your concern. Nope, ain't been moved up; surgical theatre availability is tight in this quite populous city, and apparently this isn't life threatening for several weeks (still scares me, though.)

On the lighter side, I was able to watch the last season of The Sopranos finally as well as season 5 of Aqua Teen Hunger Force on DVD; dunno what I'm gonna watch after the freakin' surgery now, but that was fun!

Posted by: dvandorn Oct 17 2008, 06:15 AM

Hey, Nick -- tried to leave you a PM and your mailbox is full!

Here's a brief precis of what I wrote (and will send to you once you clean out your mailbox a bit):

Good luck! I'm sure everything will turn out fine!

And avoid watching really funny things for the first week or so after the surgery. You don't want to indulge in a lot of energetic laughter. Trust me, I know... huh.gif

-the other Doug

Posted by: nprev Oct 18 2008, 01:12 AM

Thanks, Doug; cleaning on inbox accomplished! smile.gif

Just now got back from the hospital; it's done, flyin' on Vikodin now, but it still hurts like hell. I'm thinkin' the the classic gangster movie gutshot might be the most painful thing imaginable; the doc told me that intestines do NOT like to be handled, I believe it!

Thanks again to all for your kind wishes; it's great to have friends!:)

Posted by: nprev Feb 3 2009, 01:23 AM

Sorry to resurrect this, but seems appropriate. Are all our UK friends weathering this sudden snowstorm all right? Looked pretty miserable on the news over here in the States!

Posted by: helvick Feb 3 2009, 04:47 AM

Don't know about the UK but here in this part of Ireland (just west of Dublin) we've had the first proper fall of snow since January 2001. Now that's only about 10cm which I'm sure anyone used to proper winters would laugh at but we really aren't kitted out for this here, roads are treacherous and we have no snow plows, nobody has adequate tyres for icy conditions and the airports\trains\buses are all grinding to a halt. It's not actually all that cold - -2 to -5C, we had a couple of much colder snaps just before Christmas but they were dry so provided folks have made it home it's not really all that bad. Things are a lot worse in the UK though to be fair.

My main worry is that I'm supposed to be heading off to sunny Madrid later today for a few days teaching the folks in Dell about some of their cool new toys and I was really looking forward to it but it seems there is a risk that Dublin airport is likely to be shut down and I may not escape. smile.gif

Posted by: stevesliva Feb 3 2009, 05:09 AM

http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_11610667?nclick_check=1

QUOTE
London, the city that survived the Blitz, crumbles under a little snow

Posted by: Stu Feb 3 2009, 06:36 AM

QUOTE (nprev @ Feb 3 2009, 01:23 AM) *
Sorry to resurrect this, but seems appropriate. Are all our UK friends weathering this sudden snowstorm all right? Looked pretty miserable on the news over here in the States!


Fine here in Kendal... we had about 3"/4" in the end, but you'd have thought we were in the middle of THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW the way some people were whining and panicking. Makes me wonder how people in Siberia and Norway etc cope - oh hang on, no it doesn't, I know their secret - THEY'RE NOT WUSSES!!!!! rolleyes.gif

Posted by: ngunn Feb 3 2009, 09:39 AM

Well I'm snowed in here in Wales, but that's not particularly unusual. You won't hear any more of it on the international news once it's cleared up in London.

Posted by: Tesheiner Feb 3 2009, 11:20 AM

QUOTE (helvick @ Feb 3 2009, 05:47 AM) *
<snip>
My main worry is that I'm supposed to be heading off to sunny Madrid later today for a few days teaching the folks in Dell about some of their cool new toys and I was really looking forward to it but it seems there is a risk that Dublin airport is likely to be shut down and I may not escape. smile.gif


Sunny Madrid eh?!? Here're a few pictures. wink.gif

The first one is from sunday morning and the remaining ones are from the 9th of January. It's not uncommon to see some snow falling in the Madrid area at least once in the winter. But THAT amount is really out of the scale, specially the storm on the 9th. Madrid's airport was closed for hours, schools closed too, and the traffic jams on the main highways were really huge. I was in Germany part of the week and that day we were supposed to fly back to Madrid but the chances were slim due to the delays and finally no way once Barajas (Madrid's airport) was closed. We would have to spend the night in Frankfurt but finally decided to take a flight to Zaragoza (300km east of Madrid) and make the final leg by train because the railway network was fine. In a normal situation a would be at home at 7pm but that time I was back at 4am.

Posted by: imipak Feb 4 2009, 09:50 PM

Getting snowed in can be inconvenient, and I guess that a bump does show up in the mortality rates when they come to collate the stats at the end of the year (due mainly to falls), but it doesn't really compare to proper weather, like what you have over yonder - hurricanes, earthquakes, rains of fish, etc. It makes a nice traditional news event for a few days, particularly if there's nothing much else going on.

I live on top of a hill right on the Welsh border at the southern end. The Atlantic western approaches / Bristol Channel (with prevailing westerly winds) is just down the road, so one of the main weather patterns that produces snow (wet Westerly wind meets cold easterly) tends to dump snow on us more heavily than the relatively flat / low-lying, and apparently more news-worthy, parts of the country. I was driving an unfamiliar loan car home from work on Monday (a heavy diesel Skoda estate car) vs my normal somewhat nippier car*. By the time I got a few miles from home and left the heavily gritted main roads, there was a fair bit of snow lying on the carriageway. As I drove (cautiously! carefully! slowly! Honestly, officer!) down a snowy hill 3 miles from home, without any warning or provocation the thing span 60* or so anti-clockwise, then all the way back to 60* the other way, somehow missing both a row of parked cars and the lorry coming up the hill the other way, before slithering to a halt at a comical angle across the middle of the road. $ABS++ . ...which was nice, although I could almost see the "thinks" bubble above the lorry driver's head :> ) Got home with no further excitement, but around 8pm the power went out. So for the rest of the evening, it was reading stuff called "paper", by oil and candlelight. Power returned overnight, but the DSL didn't! It's finally started working tonight (Trillian: "Did you manage to make some sense of the controls?" Ford: "No, we just stopped fiddling with them.") Electricity I can live without, but the net?! Not so much.

(* '97 Celica, a less boy-racer looking one of http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=celica%20gen%206&gbv=2, which I {} BTW!)

Apparently we're due another pasting tonight. Never mind, our Anderson shelter's quite cheerful and homely, and we will drown out the noise with a jolly singsong. Stiff upper lip, chaps!

Posted by: dmuller Feb 7 2009, 11:55 AM

Though I am not directly affected, we have major bush fires in SE Australia. News just out (http://www.abc.net.au/news/) report that 14 people perished (maybe up to 40) in bush fires near Melbourne, Victoria. It's a beautiful country side were it happened, been there a couple of times. Scorching heat (Melbourne 47, Western Sydney 42, my place 40) and strong winds didnt help the situation. Lets hope it doesnt get any worse, NSW's having a hottie tomorrow.

Edit: not to forget, two states up in Northern Queensland they have a massive flooding event there

Posted by: ustrax Feb 8 2009, 03:35 PM

QUOTE (dmuller @ Feb 7 2009, 11:55 AM) *
Lets hope it doesnt get any worse...


It did, in a terrible way...just terrible...
Hope all you UMSFers downunder are OK and let's pray for this to have an end.

Posted by: dmuller Feb 9 2009, 12:38 AM

QUOTE (ustrax @ Feb 9 2009, 02:35 AM) *
It did, in a terrible way...just terrible...

It has indeed turned into the worst natural disaster in Australia, and sickest of it all is that some fires were deliberately lit. 108 have perished (there are fears that this number could go to 170) and some towns are still threatened by fires. It's a real tragedy.

Posted by: nprev Feb 10 2009, 03:03 PM

The enormous magnitude of this disaster is becoming more and more apparent. I sincerely hope that our Australian friends are safe, and remain so.

Posted by: nprev Apr 7 2009, 12:10 AM

Unfortunate to resurrect this thread yet again, but best wishes to and hopes for our fellow UMSFers in Italy after yesterday's terrible earthquake.

Posted by: MahFL Apr 7 2009, 04:24 PM

My condolencies too.

I'd rather cope with hurricanes any day....at least you can see those coming.
From the pics it looked like a lot of new buildings were ok but the old ones crumbled badly.

Posted by: nprev May 18 2009, 03:47 AM

Breaking news...We just had a 5.0 (prelim) quake in LA centered about 5 km NW of where I live...quite a sharp jolt! My wife is freaked!

Posted by: Astro0 May 18 2009, 04:06 AM

USGS is http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/US2/33.35.-119.-117.php it as a 5.0 with 3.1 aftershocks.
Hang tight nprev!

EDIT: A friend at JPL just replied saying "What earthquake?!".
He didn't even feel it blink.gif

Posted by: nprev May 18 2009, 04:20 AM

No sweat! That was a good one, though; all my neighbors were outside as well (we went to the front doorway immediately).

(Sigh)...My wife's not sleepin' tonight, I'll wager. She hates these things.

Posted by: brellis May 18 2009, 04:31 AM

It was a mild rolling quake in Santa Monica. It did roll for quite a while, causing me to entertain the possibility that it would get stronger! blink.gif

edit: I was in LA during the 1971 quake, watched my younger brother's crib bounce across the bedroom. He was all jacked up about it -- "do that again!"


Posted by: RoverDriver May 18 2009, 04:40 AM

I am in La Crescenta and definitely felt it. Both the 5.0 and the 3.1.

Paolo

Posted by: nprev May 18 2009, 04:49 AM

Should've mentioned I'm in Torrance. Real strong shake, whole building was creaking.

Posted by: dvandorn Aug 19 2009, 10:28 PM

Hey, guys -- spent a good hour in the basement of my call center here in St. Paul, waiting out tornado warnings. (Actually, spent a half-hour downstairs, got back to my desk and another warning was issued, so trundled right back downstairs for another half hour.)

Nothing hit right near my workplace, but apparently there were tornado touchdowns within about a mile of my house in Minneapolis. I won't be home for another 90 minutes or so, but talking to a friend in the same area, it appears that there was not much damage in my neighborhood.

I'll let y'all know if my home is still where I left it... later. smile.gif (I wish there was a smiley for the emotion "whew!")

-the other Doug

Posted by: nprev Aug 19 2009, 10:36 PM

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

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

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Aug 19 2009, 10:52 PM

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.

Posted by: dmuller Aug 20 2009, 12:58 AM

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

Posted by: dvandorn Aug 20 2009, 02:12 AM

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

Posted by: nprev Aug 20 2009, 04:10 AM

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.

Posted by: CosmicRocker Aug 20 2009, 04:51 AM

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 http://agatelady.blogspot.com/2009/07/moose-lake-agate-days-show-post-1.html 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.

Posted by: nprev Aug 29 2009, 08:07 AM

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 http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=117631292961056724014.0004720e21d9cded17ce4&ll=34.075412,-118.070068&spn=1.255784,1.312866&t=p&z=9.

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.

Posted by: ilbasso Aug 29 2009, 02:37 PM

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.

Posted by: nprev Aug 31 2009, 02:54 AM

Fire approaching the Mt. Wilson Observatory (http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm from Emily's blog.)

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

Posted by: djellison Aug 31 2009, 06:30 AM

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.

Posted by: remcook Sep 1 2009, 02:49 PM

The Mt Wilson cam is starting to look more and more smokey sad.gif ph34r.gif
http://www.mtwilson.edu/fire.php

Posted by: PhilCo126 Sep 1 2009, 04:43 PM

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!

Posted by: brellis Sep 1 2009, 05:25 PM

RoverDriver lives in La Crescenta - hope you're okay, Paolo!

Posted by: maschnitz Sep 1 2009, 11:30 PM

According to http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/wms.php, 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 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/pitched-battle-underway-to-save-mt-wilson-from-fire-as-officials-cite-progress-elsewhere.html!

Posted by: nprev Sep 2 2009, 12:45 AM

Hope that Paolo doesn't mind me saying this, but I've heard from him & he's okay.

Posted by: Astro0 Sep 2 2009, 03:51 AM

Seen elsewhere on the interweb, but I thought may be of interest here.
The recent Station Fire behind JPL - beautiful and really scary at the same time.



I hope that Mt Wilson will be OK.
We lost Mt Stromlo in Canberra back in 2003 and I still feel sick in the stomach everytime I go up there.
Lots of rebuilding since then but the history that was lost was just devastating.

Posted by: PhilCo126 Sep 2 2009, 06:23 PM

Although the TV news showed aerial images with smoke very close to the 100 inch dome, good news prevailed;
http://palomarskies.blogspot.com/

Posted by: RoverDriver Sep 4 2009, 05:03 PM

Cough, cough, cough...

The Station Fire is still burning, but AFAIK noone in MER (or JPL) had any damage or injury. Maybe you have already seen this time-lapse video of JPL shot last Fri/Sat http://vimeo.com/6325431. JPL is the complex of white buildings in the lower right. In this video my house is outside the frame to the left. The fire got quite close to JPL. I left late on Friday and the view was quite impressive. The lab was closed on Monday except for essential personnel.

The fire got to within 100' of my property line where I have tall trees. I left my house when I saw that the hill in front of my house was on fire. There are lots of tall trees around my house and was sure I would have lost it in the fire. I packed quickly, took my pictures, documents, my backup hard drive, my kids drawings but had forgotten to take my record collection that I have since high school. On Sunday morning I was allowed to walk up the hill in Briggs Terrace to fetch more things. I left my record collection but took my signed copies of Squires and Jim Bell's books. Priorities!

As a side note, I had left my mail and web server at home on during the fire and periodically was pinging the server to see if my house was still there. Needless to say my server responded every time.

I was able to return home on Tuesday evening and I was amazed to see that in spite of the fire getting close, nothing got damages or burned. Everything was covered in ash and soot, the air quite unbreathable, but I was amazed at what the firefighters were able to do. Things are getting back to normal. Got the house and back yard cleaned up. I still need to repair the pool pump and clean up the pool (forgot to turn off the pool pump). My kids were happy: watching cartoons on TV, playing on their laptops, and school was closed!

Sharon, rover driver Frank and TAP/SIE Linda were quite close as well, and had to evacuate as well. Scott lives in Pasadena, far enough not to be evacuated.

Paolo

Added a picture I took last Friday 8/28 at around noon.

 

Posted by: elakdawalla Sep 4 2009, 05:11 PM

Agreed, the precision and professionalism of the firefighters who protect property during California's wildfires is awe-inspiring every year.

Scary how close it got to you Paolo -- I'm happy that all ended well! It's good to hear from you after a long hiatus in posting to UMSF.

--Emily

Posted by: mcaplinger Sep 4 2009, 05:30 PM

QUOTE (elakdawalla @ Sep 4 2009, 10:11 AM) *
Agreed, the precision and professionalism of the firefighters who protect property during California's wildfires is awe-inspiring every year.

Perhaps slightly less awe-inspiring in 2003 when every house in my neighborhood in suburban San Diego was burned to the ground, and CDF refused to allow the Navy to drop on it. rolleyes.gif

I'm certainly glad the outcome in Pasadena was better.

Posted by: Tesheiner Sep 4 2009, 10:06 PM

It was a close call. Glad to hear from you and that everything is ok.

The closest I got to a situation like that was on the beginning of July when a fire started on a large field right behind my back yard almost at midnight; it was a local holiday at the neighborhood and the fire started due to some fireworks. It expanded very quickly but fortunately the wind was not going in our direction but to the left and the firefighters came in less then 10min. The fire got to about 100m of my fence.
If the wind would have been in our direction I would certainly had to wake up the kids and left them with our neighbors at the other side of the street.

Posted by: climber Sep 5 2009, 08:02 AM

QUOTE (RoverDriver @ Sep 4 2009, 07:03 PM) *
I still need to repair the pool pump and clean up the pool (forgot to turn off the pool pump).

Dear Paolo,

I had a stop over at LAX at 5 am last thursday and couldn't see any fire from the plane. Strange.
Regarding cleaning the pool, you may want to free Spirit first so you'll have plenty of "cleaner" available at work.
Glad I can write some humour now that the situation has improved.

Posted by: nprev Sep 5 2009, 09:40 AM

The smoke blanket was extremely thick, Climber; in fact, it was so thick that it often looked like a large cumulus (nearly cumulo-nimbus, in fact) cloud formation from the LAX area & southward.

Paolo--great news!!! Welcome back, brother, and great to hear that all the other MER gurus @ JPL are also in good shape!

Posted by: PhilCo126 Sep 5 2009, 10:43 AM

Indeed good news... LA Times wrote;
http://joy.chara.gsu.edu/CHARA/Slides/Rutten.pdf
Thanks to these guys;
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-fire3-2009sep03,0,2110651.story

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Sep 5 2009, 04:26 PM

QUOTE (RoverDriver @ Sep 4 2009, 10:03 AM) *
Everything was covered in ash and soot,


Have you thought about shoveling some of that up and trying it in the testbed?

Posted by: Stu Nov 19 2009, 09:45 PM

In case anyone was wondering if I'm okay, as the raging floodwaters close in over Cumbria, after 3 days of non-stop rain, yes, I'm fine, thanks! laugh.gif Kendal where I live is relatively untouched - flooding in some low-lying areas, river horrendously swollen and lapping at its banks, but no major damage. Unlike where my mother lives, up in Cockermouth. There the town centre is under several feet of water, and RAF helicopters are airlifting people out of houses as boats go up and down the Main Street...

I was in Penrith all day, one of the speakers at a training day for local Council people, hoping to make them aware of the problems of light pollution. The plan was to end the day with a coach trip to Kewsick - but seeing as Keswick is now eligible to be twinned with Atlantis, that didn't happen.

Very difficult times up here in the Lake District. We've got off very lightly here in Kendal.

Posted by: Astro0 Nov 19 2009, 09:49 PM

Stay dry mate.
The exact opposite here in Australia. Another big dust storm over the last few days and the the hottest November tempeatures on record! 35-40C+ for 13 days straight in some places.

Posted by: dmuller Nov 19 2009, 10:14 PM

... add to that the 'catastrophic bush fire alert' in 3 states today. There's a fire going about 50 kms from the Narrabri Australia Telescope but it's not under threat.

Posted by: Stu Nov 19 2009, 10:38 PM

Some pics of Kendal tonight... http://www.flickr.com/photos/38065120@N04/sets/72157622713631821

Posted by: Sunspot Nov 19 2009, 11:23 PM

Things are looking pretty serious in parts of Cumbria - seems we may have a record breaking one day rainfall event - possibly approaching 300mm. With even more to come too.

Posted by: Stu Nov 19 2009, 11:29 PM

My old hometown of Cockermouth in real trouble - river burst its banks earlier today, Main Street flooded, several rescue helicopters thwup-thwupping over the town, hoisting people to safety, and now power cuts as power substations in the town are overwhelmed with floodwater. sad.gif

Posted by: nprev Nov 19 2009, 11:52 PM

Oh, jeez, Stu, not good. Do you have any friends or relatives there? Hope that everything turns out as well as it can.

Posted by: Stu Nov 20 2009, 06:30 AM

My mother and sister live in Cockermouth, and lots of my friends too. Thankfully they all live on higher ground - my mum and sis live up a hill - but the middle of town is now a disaster area, with water 8ft high, and the Main Street is literally a river of filthy brown water, with waves rolling down it, as firemen in dinghies pull people out of houses. There are reports of rescuers having to breakin to houses through their roofs to pull people out. Just unbelievable. My mum and sis have got a couple of friends staying with them - their house was hit mid-evening, with water halfway up their stairs, I gather. Awful, just awful.

Some video on Sky News' site here: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Floods-RAF-Helicopters-Rescue-Stranded-Residents-In-Cockermouth-Cumbria/Article/200911315458572

Posted by: Sunspot Nov 20 2009, 08:06 AM

According to the met office, some parts of Cumbria may have had 345mm of rain !!!!

Posted by: nprev Nov 20 2009, 08:23 AM

God.

Glad that your mom & sister are okay, Stu. 345mm/24 hrs? That's incredible.

Posted by: imipak Nov 20 2009, 11:00 AM

Hope you & yours are all OK Stu. It's looking pretty grim up there. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8369934.stm

Flooding's a lot more disruptive (and the effects last a lot longer) than it might appear to the casual TV news watcher. (In Gloucestershire we had our 500-year flood in 2007; I hear these are being described as a 1000-year event. I think someone's actuarial stats could do with revising...)

Posted by: ustrax Nov 20 2009, 04:10 PM

Hang in there Stu, hope everyone's safe.
Things will get better.

Posted by: jasedm Nov 20 2009, 06:35 PM

Thinking of you all up there - we southerners have had it pretty easy this time round.

Posted by: belleraphon1 Nov 20 2009, 08:14 PM

Stu ... wishing you, your family, and friends, safe passage through all this.

Craig

Posted by: Juramike Nov 20 2009, 08:23 PM

Poking through the metsat images, I think the energies might be remnants of extratropical strom Ida. From Honduras to the Carolinas and to Ireland and the UK, this was one long swath of destructive flooding.

My wishes and hopes to those affected.

Posted by: jasedm Nov 20 2009, 09:28 PM

Feel very humble - my garage was 6" deep in water when I got home from work - my lawnmower may never work again, but my home is safe - can't imagine losing the bottom floor of my house to the floods. Thinking of all those people on airbeds tonight...



Posted by: belleraphon1 Dec 2 2009, 02:45 AM

I do not get personal on a usual basis. But this forum is very special to me, even if all I only contribute is a WOW for what you folks do. This forum is part of my family, because you all love what I love...

My daughter Rachel caught the H1N1. The virus progressed to strep pneumonia and then ARDS. On Wednesday November 25 she went on a ventilator. Without that she would have died. She has twin sons. The apples of my eye. This pernicious disease brought her to this state in a blink of time.

Watch your twenty year olds! This disease has such a weird demographic.

Craig






Posted by: Astro0 Dec 2 2009, 03:03 AM

OM.. Craig, that's terrible news!
As a member of your extended 'family', my thoughts are with you and your daughter at this time.
Keep your chin-up, and 'faith' in your heart.

Posted by: nprev Dec 2 2009, 03:08 AM

Likewise, Craig...my God, that's just terrible. Sure hope she's getting much better.

Posted by: belleraphon1 Dec 2 2009, 04:10 AM

Thank You, Astro0 and nprev, my freinds.... You all really are my extended family.

Rachel has always been a fighter. Now is no different.

But please watch your friends and family and do not take this disease lightly. When it does hit, it hits like Thor's Hammer.

Craig




Posted by: Juramike Dec 2 2009, 04:15 AM

Craig, I hope the very best for your daughter's speedy recovery.

This virus strikes amazingly quickly. There have been reports of oseltamivir (Tamiflu)-resistant strains in North Carolina.

If anyone out there in UMSF-land is in a high risk group, H1N1 vaccinations are now becoming widely available.

You can locate flu vaccine locations (both H1N1 and seasonal) by typing in your location in the box on this website:
http://www.flu.gov/

Posted by: belleraphon1 Dec 2 2009, 04:34 AM

Good info, Mike...thanks ...Do not takes this disease lightly!
Not much of a risk for old guys like me... but.. watch the ones you love.
I am off to bed now... but the purpose of mentioning my daughters dilemna was to shout beware.
Best to all of you....
Craig

Posted by: Hungry4info Dec 2 2009, 05:47 AM

I'll keep your daughter in my thoughts. I'll pray for a speedy recovery.

Posted by: Stu Dec 2 2009, 06:25 AM

Very sorry to hear that Craig, an awful time to you. I hope she recovers well, and soon.

Posted by: Tesheiner Dec 2 2009, 07:03 AM

Oh ****! sad.gif
Our children and us have been fortunate for the time being but we also had news of some not-so-fortunate people in the area. My thoughts with you for a quick recovery.

Posted by: remcook Dec 2 2009, 08:02 AM

sad.gif all limbs crossed for a speedy recovery

Posted by: PDP8E Dec 2 2009, 04:53 PM

Craig,
Our thoughts are with your daughter.
One of our daughters is in that 'weird demographic' you spoke of; she is in her first-year of college in Boston.
all our best to your family...

Posted by: stevesliva Dec 2 2009, 05:07 PM

Craig, that's extremely cruddy. I'm sorry.

I made essentially the same comments that will follow below on some off-the-cuff comment elsewhere that the H1N1 thing is being manufactured by the media because they want a story. In reality, it's anything but. It's for real. It really is much worse than the seasonal flu in having very negative effects on a larger number of people.

My wife is an ER resident, and she was working in the pediatric ICU during September. The number of otherwise healthy children ending up in the ICU on a ventilator was quite a shock to her. Sure, for every child on a ventilator, there are 100 who "just" got the flu... but those (off-the-cuff) odds are pretty chilling! Is that terrifying? Of course it is! It's not just a media thing. Pretty much all of the H1N1 cases were recovering, but even so there's the real scary actual situation of hospital units being filled with H1N1 sufferers.

Get vaccinated if you have the chance! Don't let cynical people who's only anecdote is "no one I know has been sick" convince you this thing's not serious.

Posted by: elakdawalla Dec 2 2009, 05:24 PM

The demographic is certainly weird. We're pretty sure the whole household had H1N1 this summer. I (recently post-maternity), the 3-year-old, and the 2-month-old were all recovered in a few days of fever and aches. The healthiest person in our household, the 35-year-old, very physically fit, very health-conscious husband was down with a high fever for five days. It didn't make sense.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery for your daughter, Craig.

Posted by: MahFL Dec 2 2009, 07:06 PM

My 15 year old stepson had it, no real problems.
I once had the regular flu and literally could not get out of bed for about 18 hours.

Get well soon.

Posted by: hendric Dec 2 2009, 07:54 PM

I had something pretty bad about a month ago. Had to stay home from work for two days. I went to the local Minute Clinic, and they tested me for H1N1 and it was negative, so I "just" had some random virus that kicked my butt.

Posted by: belleraphon1 Dec 2 2009, 08:04 PM

Thanks everyone.

Does not hurt to take this serious and get vaccinated.

Very scary and heart breaking to see my child like this. But she is a strong young woman. She'll beat this.

Craig

Posted by: stevesliva Dec 2 2009, 08:33 PM

QUOTE (hendric @ Dec 2 2009, 02:54 PM) *
they tested me for H1N1 and it was negative


Last I heard, the test for H1N1 wasn't particularly reliable. Tamiflu's given either way in many cases.

Posted by: belleraphon1 Dec 6 2009, 03:09 AM

Just want to let everyone know my daughter is responding positively to treatments. Long and painfull process. She is a fighter.
Family is moving along day by day.

Craig

Posted by: nprev Dec 6 2009, 03:16 AM

Good news, though sorry to hear that she still has some struggles ahead. Thanks for the update, Craig; I was wondering how she was.

Posted by: Stu Dec 6 2009, 07:04 AM

Thanks Craig. All our thoughts are with you and your family.

Posted by: nprev Dec 13 2009, 06:07 AM

Something to watch: The rain is coming down hard in LA tonight, and the burn area near JPL & particularly the neighboring community of La Canada Flintridge is vulnerable to mudslides.

Some limited home evacuations in this area have begun; let's keep several UMSF members & project people who live in that area in mind.

Posted by: sgendreau Dec 13 2009, 07:12 PM

I'm there. It's clear this morning and no major slides. Workers were all over the hills all night reinforcing, bless them -- we could see their lamps.

Vegetation is already popping up here and there from a shower last month, and this will speed it. Fingers crossed.

Posted by: belleraphon1 Dec 15 2009, 02:06 PM

All...

update on my daughter.

Rachel has made remarkable progress over the last week. She is out of ICU and now in a physical therapy ward.
Aside from wanting to see her sons she is most worried about getting her voice back.

Strong young woman who may well be home for X-Mas!!!! I cannot wait to see her and her two boys together again.

Craig




Posted by: Stu Dec 15 2009, 02:33 PM

That's great news Craig - what a wonderful Christmas present for her and for all of you! smile.gif

Posted by: Juramike Dec 15 2009, 02:41 PM

Excellent! I hope her recovery is speedy!

Posted by: nprev Dec 16 2009, 12:41 AM

VERY glad to hear this, Craig. This will be quite a special holiday season for your family after all! smile.gif

Posted by: ustrax Dec 17 2009, 09:52 AM

GREAT news Craig! Here's for a fast total recovery! smile.gif

Another thing, tonight I woke up with an earthquake:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009qhac.html
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_qhac_t.html
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/events/us/2009qhac/us/index.html

Posted by: nprev Dec 17 2009, 10:03 AM

Whoa! blink.gif 5.7--that's pretty hefty! Any damage, Rui?

Posted by: ustrax Dec 17 2009, 10:11 AM

Besides putting an end to a very cool dream?...Nope! tongue.gif

Posted by: nprev Dec 17 2009, 10:13 AM

Glad to hear that! smile.gif

That's an extremely disconcerting feeling, to say the least...takes you a few seconds to figure out what the hell's happening as well!

Posted by: ustrax Dec 17 2009, 10:32 AM

Curiously I knew immediately what was going on...we have that fear of a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1755_Lisbon_earthquake imprinted on our collective minds... wink.gif
At that hour it could have been a tragedy with everyone sleeping...

Posted by: Stu Dec 17 2009, 02:30 PM

Well, with all the dark energy from all those Leonard Cohen records gathered in one spot, I'm not surprised the Earth let out a heavy, depressed sigh during the night Rui...! laugh.gif

Posted by: nprev Dec 17 2009, 02:34 PM

That's it, then. Emptying all my books from the shelves, and boxing the fine china as I speak... tongue.gif

EDIT: Rui, not to make light. The 1755 quake was obviously a significant event in a great many ways.

Posted by: ustrax Dec 17 2009, 05:15 PM

We don't take it lightly, since little we all, somehow, expect an event like that to take place...we don't forget that we live in a risk area, nature doesn't allow it, my parents went through a big one in 1969 and I remember feeling another in 1981.
It can happen or not, we're waiting, that's all we can do... smile.gif

Stu...did you saw my gift for you today? laugh.gif

Posted by: PhilCo126 Dec 20 2009, 05:25 PM

Take care!

Posted by: belleraphon1 Dec 23 2009, 02:54 AM

ustrax.... glad you faired well. Only earthquakes encountered in Akron, Ohio (my diggs) are little teeny tremors. Not sure how I would react to dancing with buildings!

Wanted to let everyone know my daughter is out of the hospital now! She gets outpatient physical therapy. She is doing fine but her vocal cords are still slack. Strong young woman is now with her boys (with a lot of TLC from her family)!

This illness hit her like a brick but she is bounding back.

Craig

Posted by: Stu Dec 23 2009, 06:52 AM

That's great news, Craig, you must be so relieved. Going to be an amazing and very emotional Christmas for all of you, I'm sure.

No earthquakes here in Cumbria but a LOT of snow, a good 6, maybe 7" in the last couple of days. Of course, our gritters and salters were caught unaware so Kendal and its surroundings look like a cross between a car demolition derby and Narnia, but the thaw has set in.

Went on a photo safari yesterday and got some nice piccies. Some of these are in 3D, by the way..

http://twitpic.com/uny8z

http://twitpic.com/unyjk

http://twitpic.com/unz29

http://twitpic.com/unz7g

Posted by: belleraphon1 Dec 24 2009, 12:14 AM

QUOTE (Stu @ Dec 23 2009, 01:52 AM) *
That's great news, Craig, you must be so relieved. Going to be an amazing and very emotional Christmas for all of you, I'm sure.


Thanks Stu... needless to say, my Christmas wish has already been met.

Craig

Posted by: nprev Dec 24 2009, 02:10 AM

Indeed it has, Craig, and I'm very, very glad. smile.gif I am especially glad that she'll be around her kids & out of the hospital; the joy of that alone will speed her recovery!


--------------------------


2010's gonna be good for you and yours, man, and I personally think really good for us all.

I wish happiness & peace for all of the UMSF family, as well as a suggestion: Just smile broadly & nod at one stranger sometime this season. They may well wonder just what the hell's wrong with you, but something pleasant will stick in their minds, and further smiles will ensue down the line. It's like a nuclear fission reaction...nothing wrong with that! wink.gif

(Boy, am I shooting my evil robot persona to hell or what? Ahhh, who cares??? Happy holidays!!!)

Posted by: remcook Feb 28 2010, 11:15 AM

Concepcion suddenly has a different meaning these days :S

Posted by: climber Feb 28 2010, 03:32 PM

Yep, I had 2 collegues there the day before and more near Santiago but they are all ok.

Posted by: nprev Apr 15 2010, 09:57 AM

Just saw on CNN that http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/04/15/iceland.flights/index.html?hpt=T1 are closed due to ash from the Icelandic eruptions. Are you guys expecting an ashfall? If so, get some surgical masks ASAP!

Posted by: jamescanvin Apr 15 2010, 10:37 AM

No, not expecting any ashfall, the ash is very high and disperse and should pass right on over us.

It is only a danger to aircraft at altitude, hence why the entire UK airspace is essentially closed today. ohmy.gif

Posted by: Sunspot Apr 15 2010, 10:46 AM

Perhaps we will see some interesting sunsets this evening?

Posted by: nprev Apr 15 2010, 10:53 AM

Yeah, I'd expect some awesome sunsets, Spot! smile.gif Hell, might affect the entire Northern Hemisphere for that matter.

Glad to hear that there won't be any ground deposition; that crap is nasty. Very abrasive, so you don't want to breathe it or even wipe it off the hood of your car. Learned the latter lesson the hard way by messing up the hood of my parent's new Ford Pinto during the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens (don't think I've been quite forgiven to this day!) rolleyes.gif

Posted by: climber Apr 15 2010, 12:26 PM

QUOTE (jamescanvin @ Apr 15 2010, 12:37 PM) *
No, not expecting any ashfall, the ash is very high and disperse and should pass right on over us.

It is only a danger to aircraft at altitude, hence why the entire UK airspace is essentially closed today. ohmy.gif

Thank you my friend.. it'll pass overhead and will fall at my place!
Seriously, let's wait a bit as "they" are talking about ash falling down

Posted by: Stu Apr 15 2010, 03:38 PM

Fingers crossed these ****** clouds clear and allow me to hike up to the castle, with my new camera, and get some pretty volcanic sunset shots... smile.gif

Posted by: nprev Apr 15 2010, 03:55 PM

You'll probably have more than one chance. That volcano doesn't look like it's ready to shut down anytime soon. (You never know, though.)

Posted by: Ant103 Apr 15 2010, 04:10 PM

Picture of the volcano plume. Very impressive ohmy.gif
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2010105-0415/NorthAtlantic.A2010105.1135.2km.jpg

(switch to 250m to have the BIG picture)

Posted by: Greg Hullender Apr 15 2010, 04:57 PM

I'm supposed to be in Iceland in two months. I note that the last time this particuar volcan erupted, it went on for a year . . . Maybe I should reschedule.

--Greg

Posted by: NickF Apr 15 2010, 05:14 PM

The lack of contrails overhead is quite striking. And no aircraft noise, either smile.gif

Posted by: Stu Apr 15 2010, 05:43 PM

Grrr.... we've had days and days of clear / pretty clear evening skies, and now, of course, with a possible volcanic sunset to enjoy, the cloud is as thick as Ready Brek! Curses! My plan to trek up to the castle and photograph the sunset with my new camera, whilst listening to tonight's Big TV Event, before heading back down into Kendal to attend the "Pie and peas supper" following Stella's drama group's 2nd night performance of G&S's "The Sorcerer" looks like being cruelly thwarted... mad.gif

Posted by: Paolo Apr 15 2010, 05:50 PM

I have the chance of having planned to get back to Italy for the end of next week, not this one!!

Posted by: NickF Apr 15 2010, 10:40 PM

A rather attractive image of the Eyjafjallajoekull ash plume courtesy of NEODASS/U. Dundee/NASA

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/8623301.stm

Posted by: Ant103 Apr 15 2010, 11:01 PM

I'm in contact with guys located at the North of France and they are both seeing ashfall ! It's not heavy, very light and soft, but they can see it. And they said that the ambiant is very special, with a strange "cold ash" smell. ohmy.gif

Posted by: Stu Apr 15 2010, 11:23 PM

Sky cleared at 8.30pm! smile.gif Raced to the castle, and I think... maybe... perhaps... the first photo in this blog post here shows a hint of volcanic colouration in the sunset...?

http://cumbriansky.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/an-amazing-evenings-observing

Even if it doesn't, it was a fantastic evening...! smile.gif

Posted by: nprev Apr 16 2010, 12:37 AM

Think you did get a hint of volcanic effects there, Stu; very nice pics! From what I remember after St. Helens, sunsets were generally redder & lasted longer due to more high-alt backscatter after the Sun went below the local horizon; never saw anything really more dramatic than that.

Posted by: Tom Tamlyn Apr 16 2010, 05:40 AM

>>I'm supposed to be in Iceland in two months. * * * Maybe I should reschedule.

And miss the chance to visit an active volcano? If you're taking a tour with geologist guides, I would hope that they would be able to improvise something memorable. Although I suppose not all active volcanoes are suitable for tourists ...

TTT (edit: jealous of your trip whenever you take it)

Posted by: remcook Apr 16 2010, 07:24 AM

...at least there were some advantages of this ash cloud...


 

Posted by: Stu Apr 16 2010, 08:17 AM

WOW... more than a "hint" in those shots, remcook! smile.gif

Posted by: vikingmars Apr 16 2010, 01:04 PM

QUOTE (remcook @ Apr 16 2010, 09:24 AM) *
...at least there were some advantages of this ash cloud...

Confirm : same color as seen in the right pic yesterday evening in Paris. Now CDG Airport closed as well... sad.gif

Posted by: Bjorn Jonsson Apr 16 2010, 04:02 PM

QUOTE (Greg Hullender @ Apr 15 2010, 04:57 PM) *
I'm supposed to be in Iceland in two months. I note that the last time this particuar volcan erupted, it went on for a year . . . Maybe I should reschedule.

At this time it's impossible to tell what the sitation is going to be in two months but the amount of ash usually gets less as time passes. The really bad thing now is that the wind direction is extremely unfavourable for aviation - it probably couldn't have been worse. The eruption itself isn't all that big even though the effects are great due to its location (aviation and the evacuation of large areas because it's subglacial and therefore causes floods).

Posted by: Bjorn Jonsson Apr 16 2010, 08:32 PM

It's no longer overcast around the eruption site; the plume is now visible from the ground. This is the plume a few minutes ago. This is from a webcamera located approximately 35 kilometers from the eruption. Lots of ash here:


Posted by: Sunspot Apr 16 2010, 08:40 PM

Here are some pics from this evening - North Cambridgeshire, not sure if they are regular clouds or not, the sky was totaly cloud free apart from these. May send them to spaceweather.com and see what they asy.

Posted by: nprev Apr 16 2010, 09:08 PM

Whoa, Bjorn! blink.gif That thing's just churning away. Do you know if it's had any further explosive eruptions that could have propelled more material into the upper atmosphere?

Posted by: Bjorn Jonsson Apr 16 2010, 10:06 PM

There are constant explosions that happen when the hot magma melts the ice.

Posted by: Stu Apr 17 2010, 07:11 AM

(yawning)

Got up at 5am this morning, hoping to see a blazing, glorious, magnificent sunrise, all marmalade orange and violent purple and gold... nothing. Well, nothing unusual. The Sun did rise, which is always a good thing, but it was just a normal sunrise, nothing spectacular. I think we're just too far west of the dust stream to be affected. Oh well, it might change.

In the meantime, I wrote something after going shopping in Carlisle yesterday...

http://astropoetry.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/new-blue

BTW: here's that webcam mentioned earlier: http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli

Posted by: briv1016 Apr 17 2010, 08:05 AM

Same page, better angle:

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-valahnjuk/

Posted by: Stu Apr 17 2010, 08:32 AM

Wow, much better, thanks.

Posted by: max Apr 17 2010, 09:45 AM

One more webcam: http://www.vodafone.is/eldgos/en
Might take a short while for first image to appear.

Posted by: AndyG Apr 17 2010, 09:57 AM

QUOTE (Ant103 @ Apr 16 2010, 12:01 AM) *
...a strange "cold ash" smell. ohmy.gif


I smelled something similar around midnight Thursday/Friday. A touch of "burnt" with a dollop of "sulphurous" - very faint, but definitely noticeable. It's ten years since I was in Iceland: I didn't think I'd be sniffing the place before seeing it again! I was strongly reminded of Apollo astronauts' opinions regarding the smell of moondust.

As to the ash-fall, here (Central Scotland) it's very obvious on car bodywork. Similarly-sized small grains which are really sharp and "edgy". Mostly black/dark grey, but there are quartzy bits within. A careful hosing of the old jalopy will occur later. laugh.gif

What has surprised me is the air quality. It's poor: there's clearly lots of dust still up there, but the sunsets/rises are, as Stu says, just "normal". mad.gif

Andy

Posted by: Tman Apr 17 2010, 02:07 PM

Here in Switzerland, all day long, you get the impression that above in the sky all is a bit redish instead of white or grayish (between the blue).
And something is clearly missing over the head and in the ears..., oh no plane in the air since midnight.

Posted by: ilbasso Apr 17 2010, 05:31 PM

This friggin volcano is delaying my son's return from his year-long deployment in Afghanistan. It took him 8 days to get from his FOB to Kuwait, and he has been grounded there for the better part of a week now waiting to make the last legs home. He has been wearing the same BDUs since April 2...I imagine he's going to smell worse than the volcano by the time he finally gets home!

Posted by: nprev Apr 17 2010, 05:42 PM

Oh, that SUCKS, Jonathan!!! sad.gif Man. Can't they straggle him home through an eastern route, or does he have to go with his unit? (He might be able to hop through Diego Garcia-->Kadena-->Travis is what I was thinking.)

Only bright spot is that I hear from my stepson that Kuwait has some clubs & decent restaurants these days, so hopefully he's getting some chillax time as he waits.

Posted by: Paolo Apr 17 2010, 06:19 PM

QUOTE (Tman @ Apr 17 2010, 04:07 PM) *
Here in Switzerland, all day long, you get the impression that above in the sky all is a bit redish instead of white or grayish (between the blue).


ditto in northern France

Posted by: Explorer1 Apr 17 2010, 07:16 PM

If all else fails, there's always the old fashioned transatlantic crossing method: ships.
wink.gif

Are there no large airports in North Africa that can help with traffic?

Posted by: climber Apr 17 2010, 09:28 PM

South West (Toulouse etc...) of France and Spain are still out of trouble to handle trafic, no needs to get tp North Africa. Plane come from Madrid over my place as usual.

Posted by: Stu Apr 17 2010, 11:29 PM

Watching the volcano webcam... night there now, obviously, so pitch black, but is that *lightning* flashing within the plume?

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-valahnjuk

Sorry to hear about your son's delayed return home Jonathan, you must all feel mad as hell about that. sad.gif

Posted by: ilbasso Apr 17 2010, 11:37 PM

QUOTE (Explorer1 @ Apr 17 2010, 03:16 PM) *
If all else fails, there's always the old fashioned transatlantic crossing method: ships.
wink.gif

Are there no large airports in North Africa that can help with traffic?


Somehow that made me think of the movie "Casablanca" - the only safe way out of Europe at the time being through North Africa!

I received word that my son was catching a flight out of Portugal today. I'm anxiously awaiting word of his arrival back in the US!!

Posted by: nprev Apr 17 2010, 11:41 PM

Great news, man! Is he coming out of Lajes Field in the Azores? That's pretty far south of the Portuguese mainland, IIRC.

Posted by: Explorer1 Apr 18 2010, 05:35 AM

Something else I've been wondering, can't find an answer anywhere:

Is there some technical reason jets can't just fly at a lower altitude then the ash cloud? It has something to do with 'cruise altitude' and engines being less fuel efficient in a denser atmosphere, right?

Posted by: nprev Apr 18 2010, 05:44 AM

Yeah, low-alt flying eats a LOT of fuel; can't go nearly as fast, either, since you're dealing with much denser air.

Also, it's a much rougher ride for the same reason, which is not only uncomfortable for passengers but not good for the aircraft structurally. There are also potential noise-abatement issues over populated areas; the engines have to be on a higher throttle setting to maintain airspeed.

Posted by: Explorer1 Apr 18 2010, 05:49 AM

Balloons and dirigibles would be mostly unaffected though right? Or propeller planes....

Weird how I'm thinking of all these alternate modes of transport; it's funny how something as tiny as a dust particle can grind an entire continent to a halt, when a hundred years ago most people wouldn't have noticed this at all!
All our amazing technology still pales to nature's every whim, whether on Earth, in it's skies, or beyond

I'd better stop, I'm getting scarily close to being poetic here! ohmy.gif

Posted by: nprev Apr 18 2010, 06:23 AM

Actually, most airliner-sized prop planes use turboprop engines, meaning that they're driven by small jet engines, so the ash ingestion problem for engine compressor blades still would apply. However, they fly at lower altitudes (possibly below the most concentrated areas of ash) & they're slower, of course, so the leading edges of the wings wouldn't be eroded as much. They might well tolerate these conditions better than "real" jets.

Yeah, it is funny how new technologies always encounter new challenges. 150 years ago, the worst solar storms could only mess up telegraphs; today, they can royally screw up not only a variety of vital satellite-based services, but also take out power grids!

Posted by: djellison Apr 18 2010, 10:48 AM

I wonder why they can't fly out from LHR at, say 8,000, get west of Ireland then accelerate up to M.81 and FL350 from there. I understand the need for safety first, but it does seem a little bit like they've thrown their hands up and said "Ok - Volcano - you win" rather than trying every possible route in and out in the mean time.


Posted by: nprev Apr 18 2010, 11:33 AM

I'm sure that's possible to do within the limits of fuel consumption rates for many models of aircraft, Doug. Think that the blanket ban is an abundance of caution in the name of safety, though. The UK civil aviation authorities apparently don't want to take a chance that even one plane will get itself into a dangerous situation be it from ash ingestion or trying to hop the Atlantic with a minimal fuel reserve.

Posted by: djellison Apr 18 2010, 12:27 PM

As a pilot friend of mine once told me, the average 747 flight taking off from London to New York has NEARLY enough fuel..... to get half way back wink.gif

Posted by: nprev Apr 18 2010, 06:00 PM

Like I said...an abundance of caution! rolleyes.gif

As you might have guessed, I got a war story for this, though. There I was, flying to Norfolk, VA from Rota, Spain aboard a C-141 in the mid-90s. We were about halfway across the pond, and I was up in the cockpit trying to get at least one of the plane's two HF radios working; damn things both decided to quit at once, and the -141 didn't have any sort of SATCOM at the time, so we were pretty much cut off from the world.

All of a sudden, the red "cabin pressure" light came on, and both of the pilots immediately put on their O2 masks; according to the gauge, we were losing pressure pretty rapidly. We were @ FL360 or so, and they immediately began to descend to 10,000 ft. so that the rest of us could keep breathing. The aircraft commander told me to grab the loadmaster & try to find & plug the leak, since we didn't have enough fuel to reach North America or turn back to Europe at that point if we had to stay below FL010!

So, I went downstairs & told the loadmaster what was going on. He said he'd felt a pop near the restroom, so we checked there first. As soon as we opened the door, we felt a breeze; the toilet tank seal had apparently popped off, and all our air was blasting out through the commode! (It was very fortunate that nobody happened to be sitting on it when this happened; that would have left one hell of a mark!) So, we grabbed some blankets & pillows & stuffed them into the john, then poured a bunch of water over it all. The water eventually froze somewhere down in the mess & finally stopped the leak; we climbed back up to cruise altitude & made it to Norfolk. (I even fixed the radios!)

So, yeah: I fully support abundant caution when it comes to aviation. You never know what's gonna happen at decidedly inconvenient times!

Posted by: ilbasso Apr 18 2010, 07:25 PM

QUOTE (djellison @ Apr 18 2010, 08:27 AM) *
As a pilot friend of mine once told me, the average 747 flight taking off from London to New York has NEARLY enough fuel..... to get half way back wink.gif


That reminds me of the Marx Brothers line in "Monkey Business" - something along the lines of, "We fly all the way across the Atlantic and we are just about to land when, maybe one foot from the runway, when what do you know? We run out of gas, so we have to go back."

FYI, my son made it back home to Ft. Bragg last night! I haven't had the chance to debrief him on his final flight path and waypoints. The important thing is that the plane made it to Bragg with him on board!

Posted by: Tesheiner Apr 18 2010, 07:51 PM

QUOTE (nprev @ Apr 18 2010, 08:00 PM) *
... and they immediately began to descend to 10,000 ft. ... if we had to stay below FL010!

That's FL100. wink.gif

Posted by: nprev Apr 18 2010, 09:13 PM

Hey, you're ruining the story, Tesh! tongue.gif

(You're right!)

Posted by: climber Apr 19 2010, 07:31 AM

Not ruined Nicolas, it's a nice one! I flew on Transall C160 so didn't have this kind of troubles (not talking about John's) since FL never get THAT high.
I went to Berlin at the time of THE WALL (I remember very well seing it from the sky while landing) and the corridor was so narrow that volcanoes ashes would have been a BIG problem.

Posted by: Juramike Apr 19 2010, 12:46 PM

Some pretty impressive volcano eruption pix in this person's flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fredrikholm/sets/72157623722362673/
("Evacuation" with the horses is really impressive)

Posted by: Ron Hobbs Apr 19 2010, 02:55 PM

Today's APOD is a pretty impressive pic of the volcano.

Posted by: stevesliva Apr 19 2010, 06:00 PM

Lightning in the ash column:
http://www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/perm/iceland/eyafallajokull_20100416-en.html

Amazing photos.

Posted by: Shaka Apr 19 2010, 08:34 PM

Wow. http://www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/perm/iceland/eyafallajokull_20100416-en.html?id=6 ohmy.gif

Posted by: Explorer1 Apr 19 2010, 09:47 PM

QUOTE (Shaka @ Apr 19 2010, 01:34 PM) *
Monsters from the Id[/url] ohmy.gif



Yeah, it does remind me of Doom!

Or am I thinking of the wrong Doom? wink.gif


Posted by: ilbasso Apr 20 2010, 12:16 AM

I was thinking of the Krill monster in "Forbidden Planet."

Posted by: stewjack Apr 20 2010, 01:15 AM

QUOTE (Shaka @ Apr 19 2010, 03:34 PM) *
"Wow. Monsters from the Id"


I remember that phrase from a science fiction movie, late 1950's or early 1060's. I don't remember the movie title but it featured "Robbie the Robot." laugh.gif

EDIT
Right Jonathan It was called "Forbidden Planet"? I don't remember the name Krill, but you are undoubtedly correct.

Posted by: nprev Apr 20 2010, 01:29 AM

To be an utter purist, wasn't the extinct alien species called the "Krell"?

(Your basic alien krill would have to be pretty freakin' big to be scary, after all... rolleyes.gif )

Posted by: ilbasso Apr 20 2010, 02:12 AM

Oh, right. I was thinking of Forbidden Planet of the Sea Monkeys.

Posted by: Shaka Apr 20 2010, 02:27 AM

A hundred foot tall crustacean would scare me!


Unless it was in a salad. cool.gif

Posted by: Bjorn Jonsson Apr 20 2010, 09:11 PM

This is an absolutely amazing video that shows shockwaves in the ash cloud:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BicT13ecUbc

Posted by: Juramike Apr 20 2010, 09:41 PM

Wow! Thanks, Bjorn! This is truly impressive!
I just did my part in helping it go viral.

Posted by: ugordan Apr 20 2010, 10:00 PM

QUOTE (Bjorn Jonsson @ Apr 20 2010, 11:11 PM) *
This is an absolutely amazing video that shows shockwaves in the ash cloud:

The shockwaves are actually made visible in the water vapor clouds, but wow! That has got to be some of the most spectacular volcano footage I've ever seen.

Posted by: djellison Apr 21 2010, 05:27 AM

Well, the UK is getting back into the skies, just seen my first contrail in 6 days!

Posted by: MahFL Apr 22 2010, 11:02 AM

QUOTE (djellison @ Apr 21 2010, 06:27 AM) *
Well, the UK is getting back into the skies, just seen my first contrail in 6 days!


Surely Doug you mean UK airspace is open for businesss again, by domestic and foreign airlines....... rolleyes.gif

Posted by: Floyd Jun 2 2010, 05:09 PM

Stu: Very sorry to hear of another disaster (man made) in Cumbria. Hope you are well.

Floyd

Posted by: Stu Jun 2 2010, 05:18 PM

Thanks Floyd, yeah, it's been a ghastly, very surreal day. I'm many miles away from where the shootings were today, but at one point there was a rumour going around that the police had chased the gunman in his car through Kendal. Thankfully that turned out not to be true. But the shootings were in the area where I used to live before coming down here, so it's been horrible seeing many of the towns, villages and streets I know so very well caught up in this horrific incident and all over the news programmes. 12 people dead, many more injured... terrible.

Posted by: Ian R Jun 2 2010, 06:04 PM

I'm just hearing about this now... terrible, terrible news. The first thing it reminded me of was the awful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre tragedy. I remember listening to the events of that day unfolding over the radio, very vividly indeed.

Posted by: nprev Jun 2 2010, 06:43 PM

Tragic to hear this, Stu. Glad you're okay, and best wishes for your friends & family in the region.

Posted by: Ian R Dec 21 2010, 11:44 PM

Cumbria's been hit again: this time by a tremor:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12056634

Let us know if you're okay, Stu.

Posted by: djellison Dec 21 2010, 11:59 PM

Well - he's tweeting about it smile.gif

We're getting drowned over here in LA - something like 210mm ( 8.25 inches ) of rain in the last 4-5 days. Most of it in the last 45 hrs.

Posted by: volcanopele Dec 22 2010, 12:13 AM

Earthquakes in England. Endless rain in LA... What's wrong with this picture?

Posted by: Stu Dec 22 2010, 12:42 AM

All's well here smile.gif Almost dead on 11pm the building shook with a real jolt, then another smaller one. I initially wondered if it was just another truck or lorry thundering up the road, because we get a dozen or so 'tremors' from those every day, but the vibrations continued for another ten, twenty seconds maybe, and it just felt... different, like a kind of interior rumble, very odd. Anyway, within moments people from all over Cumbria were Tweeting about it, and it turns out the tremor was mag 3.6, centred on Coniston. No damage reports, and I'm happy to confirm that although our christmas tree swayed a lottle the dalek and Tenth Doctor perched near the top stayed safely in place... smile.gif

Quite an exciting day - lunar eclipse this morning, tremor this evening! laugh.gif

Posted by: nprev Dec 22 2010, 12:47 AM

QUOTE (volcanopele @ Dec 21 2010, 04:13 PM) *
Earthquakes in England. Endless rain in LA... What's wrong with this picture?


laugh.gif

Glad you're okay, Stu. It's been a busy week or more over there, seemingly!

Posted by: djellison Dec 22 2010, 12:55 AM

Meteo-nurd factoid. Per year per sq Km.... the UK has more tornadoes than the USA.

Posted by: volcanopele Dec 22 2010, 01:27 AM

QUOTE (djellison @ Dec 21 2010, 05:55 PM) *
Meteo-nurd factoid. Per year per sq Km.... the UK has more tornadoes than the USA.

Always have to remind people that despite the fact that I am originally from Kansas, I have only seen one tornado in my entire life.

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Dec 22 2010, 01:52 AM

QUOTE (Stu @ Dec 21 2010, 04:42 PM) *
Quite an exciting day - lunar eclipse this morning, tremor this evening! laugh.gif

Somewhere there is a late-night talk radio host with a gravelly sounding voice implying a connection unsure.gif

Posted by: Astro0 Dec 23 2010, 07:16 AM

Stay dry Californian-UMSF'ers. wink.gif

"I'm dreamin' of a dry Christmas, just like the ones I used to know." laugh.gif

Posted by: nprev Dec 23 2010, 07:53 AM

Thanks, Astro0. It's pretty much over now, just a few sprinkles here & there. (What we call a "torrential rain" here would usually be characterized as a typical storm almost anywhere else in the world...) rolleyes.gif

Still, as a direct result of the fact that it doesn't rain here much, events like this can have some dire effects on the hilly areas of the greater LA area particularly in the burn areas like last year's Station Fire. In addition to some prominent UMSFers, a number of JPLers live in or near that area; best wishes to them all for a safe, quiet holiday season.

Posted by: helvick Dec 23 2010, 08:24 AM

I've seen three tornadoes (well 2 water spouts and 1 proper tornado on land) and just missed one that I didn't see that destroyed a bunch of houses about two miles away from where I live now. As a kid though I grew up right on the coast where we got the full anger of North Atlantic storms on a regular basis - we'd get Hurricane force (75mph or greater) sustained winds at least once a year and when those hit land you get all sorts of interesting gust effects that produce the really violent small scale vortex effects like water spouts. I'm not sure if they are technically tornadoes now that I think about it but with a tight vortex and wind speeds well above 100mph I'm not sure that the mechanical origins matter all that much. When the storms can throw around 100 ton boulders from sea defences as if they were pebbles you know that when the forecast said "Severe Storm" that they weren't joking.

I'd happily swap a couple of those for the cold we're having now. We're now heading into the fourth consecutive week of heavy snow and sub zero temperatures. It hit -15C last night according to my car and yet again I have to dig the blasted thing out from under a foot deep blanket of snow.

Posted by: djellison Dec 23 2010, 08:35 AM

I've seen videos of basically, small rivers carrying quite large rocks straight over someones driveway about a mile outside of JPL. I had no problems ( I'm a few miles from the foothills ) - but it had a lot of us on edge. About 11 inches of rain in 5 days all told. That's about 1,400 tons of water over a football pitch.

Posted by: nprev Dec 23 2010, 08:49 AM

Yeah, Doug, you guys in or near the hills really bore the brunt of this (though I think that the OC got whacked pretty hard this morning as well.)

Downtown...no real problems. This afternoon on El Segundo Blvd, though, I drove through by far the heaviest rain I've seen since we moved here...the street was flooding literally as I watched, the rate must have been several cm per hr for at least five minutes. Such things are both awe-inspiring & humbling to witness.

Posted by: Sunspot Dec 23 2010, 10:46 AM

QUOTE (helvick @ Dec 23 2010, 08:24 AM) *
I've seen three tornadoes (well 2 water spouts and 1 proper tornado on land)


I saw a tornado from here in the Summer and one in October at Sheringham..

Posted by: bkellysky Dec 27 2010, 04:53 PM

Nature hiccuped a blizzard here in the northeastern US. Lots of fluffy snow with depths of 1 1/2 feet (half a meter) plus drifts. Winds to 60 miles per hour in gusts last night, still very breezy today. The road are being cleared, but there are many residential streets that are totally blocked off with the piles from the plows. We're ok, thankfully we have power and heat, but intercity transport is not happening (air) and starting to run (trains).
I'll post a photo on http://bkellysky.wordpress.com/

bob

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Dec 27 2010, 05:38 PM

I just want everyone to know that I'm having a difficult time here in Northern California. The rays of sunlight are streaming in through the French doors next to my computer and making it very difficult to read my monitor. Also with all this sunshine and the warming temperatures my wife is now insisting that I go organize the back patio and pick up around the yard since we are having company next Saturday. So please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

Posted by: tedstryk Dec 27 2010, 05:44 PM

QUOTE (ElkGroveDan @ Dec 27 2010, 05:38 PM) *
I just want everyone to know that I'm having a difficult time here in Northern California. The rays of sunlight are streaming in through the French doors next to my computer and making it very difficult to read my monitor. Also with all this sunshine and the warming temperatures my wife is now insisting that I go organize the back patio and pick up around the yard since we are having company next Saturday. So please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.


I don't know how you'll manage.

Posted by: volcanopele Dec 27 2010, 05:53 PM

QUOTE (ElkGroveDan @ Dec 27 2010, 10:38 AM) *
I just want everyone to know that I'm having a difficult time here in Northern California. The rays of sunlight are streaming in through the French doors next to my computer and making it very difficult to read my monitor. Also with all this sunshine and the warming temperatures my wife is now insisting that I go organize the back patio and pick up around the yard since we are having company next Saturday. So please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

Lucky you. I'm having to deal with these clouds. And it's only going to get up to the mid-60s today. I'll probably freeze.

Posted by: Stu Dec 27 2010, 07:16 PM

Been very snowy here in Kendal. Very icy, too. I had a nasty slip on the way to work the other week, but luckily my fall was broken by a fence, then a car and then the pavement, one after another... rolleyes.gif Snowed overnight last night, and quite thick on the ground at lunchtime. Not as bad as some places, and of course nowhere near as bad as you're experiencing over there in the US, but perfect for photography... smile.gif




Posted by: PDP8E Dec 27 2010, 09:53 PM

Elk Grove Dan! - I hear you brother!
I would pitch in and help , but we just wrapped up 24 hrs of blizzard conditions - Now the wind is howling, the snow is drifting. The wind chill is -15F
I have a six foot tall plug of snow at the end of the driveway (thanks town plows!) and Logan airport is closed. On the bright side, I do have power back on, heat is OK, and the fridge in the garage is chock full of beer... (I think I am taking tomorrow off....hickup!)

Posted by: djellison Dec 27 2010, 10:18 PM

I also had a hell of time time driving up some very well cleared roads to temporarily enjoy some lovely snow fall over 6kft behind Mt Wilson, before returning back to a sunny 20C/60F Pasadena.

Posted by: brellis Dec 27 2010, 11:20 PM

The mountains behind Wilson were so white yesterday morning! Gonna be a beautiful backdrop to the Rose Parade.

Posted by: Shaka Dec 28 2010, 12:20 AM

OH LORDY!
We just WISH we had your problems,
here in Hawaii.
cool.gif

Posted by: Astro0 Dec 28 2010, 01:01 AM

Were the last few posts the very first "UMSF International Four Yorkshiremen Sketch".
"Living in blizzard conditions?! You were lucky!" laugh.gif

Posted by: PDP8E Dec 28 2010, 02:44 PM

This is the front door to our little electronics company this morning (I make it in --- after shoveling some more!)


Posted by: lyford Dec 28 2010, 06:20 PM

Stu - your panoramas are quite nice!

This is as close as we can get to a "White Christmas" in San Diego - socked in with fog!



Though we are back to having ElkGroveDan's problems now: clear skies and sunshine. biggrin.gif

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Dec 28 2010, 06:40 PM

I spoke too soon. We're expecting 2.1 inches in Southern Sacramento County tonight and widespread flooding. (Though I'm on top of a hill, so not worried.)

Posted by: SFJCody Jan 13 2011, 05:47 AM

I'm alive and well here in Brislantis.

Posted by: elakdawalla Jan 13 2011, 05:49 AM

That's good to hear -- I'd been wondering if the deluge had affected any UMSFers. Keep your head above water and best of luck to you and your neighbors sad.gif

Posted by: volcanopele Jan 13 2011, 05:57 AM

QUOTE (SFJCody @ Jan 12 2011, 10:47 PM) *
I'm alive and well here in Brislantis.

Great to hear you are okay, and that you are keeping a good sense of humor about it.

Posted by: nprev Jan 13 2011, 06:46 AM

Been wondering how you guys were doing down there, SFJ, admit that I was a bit afraid to ask. Hope that you & our other Australian friends are okay & stay that way!

Posted by: SFJCody Jan 13 2011, 07:07 AM

The flood water is just a short walk from where I live.

 

Posted by: Astro0 Jan 13 2011, 09:52 AM

Hey SFJ, stay dry up there in Brislantis!
I'm sure another drought is just around the corner mate smile.gif laugh.gif

No seriously, you know what they say "Queensland. Beautiful one day, Venice the next."
Oh and New South Wales challenges you to a game of water polo at Suncorp Stadium wink.gif

It's cool everyone, Australians cope with disaster using humour and self-deprication all the time. It's just the way we are.

OK serious mode - everyone in Australia is thinking of all of you up there in Queensland. We're ready to do whatever is needed to get you back on your feet. Stay safe.

Posted by: cbcnasa Jan 14 2011, 03:11 PM

It is good to hear that everyone is ok downunder, I guess the 2 feet of snow here is not so much to have to deal with.

Posted by: SFJCody Jan 16 2011, 08:48 AM

Just got back from volunteering. Am tired, bruised and coated in foul smelling mud. smile.gif

Posted by: Astro0 Jan 16 2011, 12:23 PM

One of the new Aussie heroes in our midst folks.
The reaction by the public to the flood crisis has been amazing.
People in their tens of thousands have been volunteering, helping complete strangers, working through the mud and mess trying to bring whole communities back to life.

Thanks you SFJCody! smile.gif

Posted by: SFJCody Jan 17 2011, 11:21 AM

It just feels like the right thing to do. I escaped essentially unscathed so it seems fair that I should put in a few hours every weekend to help others who were less fortunate.

Posted by: nprev Jan 17 2011, 10:19 PM

Admirable. smile.gif You're good people, SFJ.

Posted by: Astro0 Feb 2 2011, 02:42 AM

Spare a thought for our friends in Queensland tonight who will be in the path of Cyclone Yasi (Category 5 at the moment) bearing down on them tonight.
This is the largest storm to ever hit Queensland and comes only weeks after the devasting floods.
There's an ocean storm surge coinciding with a high tide as well as 250kph winds, so damage from this 500km wide storm has the potenital to be significant.
You can follow the storms path here: http://www.goes.noaa.gov/sohemi/sohemiloops/shirgmscol.html

Stay safe Queenslanders.

Posted by: nprev Feb 2 2011, 03:12 AM

Well said, Astro0. Been thinking about the Queenslanders all day, actually; sure hope that they catch a good break here somehow.

Posted by: Stu Feb 2 2011, 05:01 PM

If any of our members are under or near this monster... all of you, take care down there...




Posted by: nprev Feb 3 2011, 04:07 AM

If this report from http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/03/us-australia-cyclone-idUSTRE70U16S20110203 is accurate, it seems that Queensland was indeed spared the worst possible. I sincerely hope so.

Posted by: centsworth_II Mar 11 2011, 03:31 PM

Thoughts go out to our friends in Japan. Pandaneko has been helping out http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=6508&view=findpost&p=167912 with translation of Jaxa documents lately and he and Subaru have participated in the Hayabusa threads in the past. Any other UMSF members in Japan?

Posted by: pandaneko Mar 19 2011, 01:00 PM

First of all our thanks go out to all those countries who are helping us at the moment. What follows is my accout of what it felt like and a few things I have noticed.

I was probably 800km away from the first epicentre (and there were two more breakages in succession over a distance of about 500km). Each breakage lasted about 100 seconds.

I and all others who have mobile access knew that a very strong tremor was approaching because we get an automatic e-mail warning when your area is going to be affected a tremor with (shaking) severity larger than 4. I had, I think, about one minute warning. All the tremors I had experienced until that day were under 3 minus. This time, I experienced 5 plus.

However, as far as I am concerend it was a very strange one indeed. All those quakes I had experienced were of short duration, sometime a fraction of a second and were all kicks, impulses lasting a few seconds at the most.

This one was totally different. It was not a very violent tremor, perhaps it was, but I did not feel ferociously violent elements in it. Instead, the ground rolled a great deal, not up and down, but sideways, and lasting for 5 mininutes. It seemed not ending at all.

My guess now is that all those higher frequency tremors failed to reach my area. I was standing by the side of my car and I did see it shake violently side to side and sometimes up and down.

Now, tsunami, it is a Japanese word, meaning narrow bay tidal waves. The areas most affected by the tsunami were protected against severe tsunamis. This is because historically these areas were frequently devastated by tsunamis. There was one town which was famous for its protective barriers.

Many overseas observers had visited this town in order to plan for their own barriers. This town had two barriers in pararell, each reaching to the height of 10 m. However, they did not work at all as the actual tide height easily exceeded 20m, wiping out the whole town.

You could have planned for 20m waves or more, but there is this cost issue.

Now my serious thought about evacuation. Normally, they suppluy blanckets and they usually arrive too late, say 5,6 days after the shake and that was the case this time. So, what people did was to rip off school and gym curtains to wrap themselves (no water, no heating, no gas, no electricity, no food and snowing outside with temp down to minus 10 C, of course).

I am now convinced that sleeping bags should be supplied, because with blanckets cold air still sneaks in.

Regulated power cust are imposed now and I went out to buy battery-powered fluorescent lamps, but they were all sold out. So, I had to buy Coleman's buthane lamps, which turned out to be rather good. All the rooms in my house are (electricity) air-conditined and the living room has an additional gas heating system.

As it turned out this gas heating system did not work when power is down. Kitchen gas system does work. My wife was just recently talking about changing our kichen heating to induction heating and I am glad that we did not do that. For a start, it does provide some heat and for that matter Coleman's also provide some heating. That is good, because under this controlled power cuts you lose 7 hours of heating/day (usually 3.5 hours, but double that when it is cold and that is exactly when you need heating!).

About nuclear reactors, I am glad that hydrogen explosions took place. If they did not happen there is no easy way to pour water into those pools. This shows that you need to prepare for even unimaginable situations when trying to use nuclear reactors.

Thanking once again for your concern and help.

Pandaneko

Posted by: elakdawalla Mar 19 2011, 08:27 PM

Pandaneko, I'm glad to hear from you that you were far from the devastated areas. Thank you for your account, and best wishes for your country's rapid recovery.

QUOTE (pandaneko @ Mar 19 2011, 05:00 AM) *
This one was totally different. It was not a very violent tremor, perhaps it was, but I did not feel ferociously violent elements in it. Instead, the ground rolled a great deal, not up and down, but sideways, and lasting for 5 mininutes. It seemed not ending at all.


This is my experience of large but distant earthquakes too, though yours lasted far longer than any I've experienced. Last year there was a biggish quake in northern Mexico, Mag 7.2 about 400 km away from Los Angeles. At my house it felt like a few rolling ocean waves passing by -- slooow up, sloooow down, up and down a couple of times, each "roller" lasting several seconds. I think you are right about the high-frequency waves damping quickly, while the low-frequency ones travel farther; also, the high-frequency waves will be "noisy" and tend to cancel each other while the low-frequency ones will be more coherent. http://is.gd/xaCKSm where you can see the up and down motion of the waves radiating out from the earthquake source.

Posted by: eoincampbell Mar 20 2011, 06:57 PM

I think Pandaneko exemplifies the Japanese sprit!
You're in our thoughts with the recovery effort.

Posted by: pandaneko Mar 23 2011, 03:15 PM

QUOTE (eoincampbell @ Mar 21 2011, 03:57 AM) *
I think Pandaneko exemplifies the Japanese sprit!
You're in our thoughts with the recovery effort.


Thanks, and I think I will be reporting on this more as time goes on. Right now, my biggest concern is the regulated power cuts. In between them, I need to gather info on next cuts and radiation. My responses will be slow and minimum, for the time being. I think that this regulated power custs will last for the next 2 years.

One piece of good news is that yesterday (22 March) a dolphin was found struggling in a rice paddy field filled with sea water (as the area had sunk by 1.2m) in Sendai area, 2 km inland. (To me, it is like a n elephant found stranded on a tree after a tsunami!) Despite severe food shortage there they did not eat it and it was safely released back into the Paciffic.

It is good to see on TV the flight deck of Ronald Regan (US carrier off the coast of Sendai) piling up with nappies and waters and all other supplies. My salute goes to US armies, air, sea and ground. Most grateful.

Pandaneko


Posted by: tasp Jun 8 2011, 12:14 AM

Any regulars or viewers here that are or will be affected by the current Missouri River flooding emergency please know you're in my thoughts.

My house will not be inundated by flood waters, but my area will have disruptions in internet, electricity, transportation, and cell and land line phone service.

Posted by: nprev Jun 8 2011, 02:11 AM

Oh, crap. sad.gif Good luck, Tasp.

For some reason this hasn't been on the media screen much, though it definitely should be.

Posted by: tasp Jun 8 2011, 03:39 AM

Local media coverage will expand to national when the peak water arrives in several days. The duration of this flood will also be unusually long.
I have been studying the Army Corp of Engineers inundation maps. Amazing (to me at least) at the accuracy they have for the location elevations. Were space based technologies used to scan this area? They have noted local 'mudholes' and slopes all but unnoticeable from my local perspective.

Also, it seems the snowfall on Enceladus was more accurately characterized last year than that which fell in Montana . . . . .

Posted by: nprev Aug 26 2011, 03:08 AM

Just a note to encourage good wishes for our UMSF friends--and everyone else--on the US East Coast who may be affected by Hurricane Irene.

Juramike is in NC--the state most likely to bear the brunt of the storm--but thankfully well inland. That doesn't exempt him from torrential rains, though.

Hang tight, man, and hope this is a non-event after all is said & done.

Posted by: PDP8E Dec 2 2011, 06:02 PM

To all the UMSFers on the west coast, AZ, UT, and others affected:

Hope all of you are well after the wicked winds in the west.

Posted by: djellison Dec 2 2011, 06:49 PM


JPL's weatherstation reported a peak wind of only 65mph - elsewhere in Pasadena I've heard reports of 90mph+ Thursday from about midnight till 4am was terrifying.

Had a tree down infront of my house - had to axe my way to work yesterday. Lots of roof shingles down. Pasadena is a mess - hundreds of downed trees, several hundred homes damaged - I've seen half a dozen crushed cars. But - no reports of serious injury so far.

Posted by: nprev Dec 3 2011, 12:21 AM

Wow. blink.gif The hillside really took the brunt of it, apparently.

I was traveling so missed most of it; Kay said downtown LA wasn't bad (all those buildings.) However, I will say that was the bumpiest damn flight I've been on in years (flew to San Jose); NOBODY was allowed out of their seats, and rightfully so.

Posted by: Syrinx Dec 3 2011, 04:06 PM

My fence was felled last night here in San Jose. Last night and this morning seem to have the worst winds so far in my area.

Unfortunately I have a flight to Vegas this morning sad.gif. I see the same flight before mine departed on time but arrived late.

Posted by: brellis Dec 5 2011, 09:10 PM

Wow! What a serious wind storm! A giant oak tree came down outside my studio in South Pasadena, CA. I had been in its path minutes prior to it coming down. Thankfully, no injuries, just a lot of sore muscles from chopping it up and clearing the debris.

 

Posted by: Floyd Oct 29 2012, 07:28 PM

A little wet and windy here in Boston and other parts of the east coast. Power out for two hours, but back on---so I can visit UMSF smile.gif

Posted by: Phil Stooke Oct 30 2012, 01:12 PM

We lost power (at home, not at the University) last night for a few hours - London Ontario was at the outer edge of the storm. Much worse further east.

Phil


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