Ian

looks like the monument was damaged in some form The U.S. Capitol Police reports that the Washington Monument has been damaged after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck near the nation's capital. http://www.realclear...fter_quake.html

it's predictable, is all. none of us were talking about the actual scale when saying violent.. you probably knew that.

We would not even be having this convo if it was violent as termed by USGS since many of us would be under rubble. I get the interest in sharing the wealth but there are some things that are predictable in life and one is Californians mocking others earthquake understanding abilities.

I'm sure it depends on where you were etc. I'm not that concerned with a scientific term in a random discusion on a weather board. If it had been much bigger/closer to DC we'd have been in deep **** so we should just be happy it was not.

Californians always have a field day when quakes happen in non quake areas. I've felt plenty ... It was 'violent' for a few seconds by our standards.

foxnews report apparently.. so probably right, and a lie ... tho not surprised there is damage in/around the city

pretty much the same. when i looked out and saw my boss running for the exit i figured it was a big deal. i was unable to get any cell service at all.. it's nice how these things work when you need them.

wapo has a pic of the cathedral.. does look like one of the smaller spires fell partially

it was for most of it but we had about 2-3 seconds of more violent shaking nearer the end

same.. it felt like many west coast ones i've felt. i hear the washington monument is leaning!

this was pretty standard to me though it's been a while now since i've felt one that big. often you get a slower/nicer roll then a big shock after a bit. same thing here. i hit the doorway right away.. many here seemed to think it might be a bomb or something (DC!). not too bad, tho the walls started making noise and i briefly imagined the building going down...

chair in the wall seems to make sense especially if the chair was metal. it did not penetrate terribly deeply into the exterior.

being sandblasted by large objects cant be fun

I thought maybe you worked for the NWS/associated... apologies. Don't need to state again my larger thoughts on Accu -- I've been plenty unkind to them over the years. However, I don't think Mike Smith and his team are non-scientists or something-- that's for sure. I do find that at least outwardly there are communities within the larger ones who have no interest in debating.. it's 'our way or you're moron'. Unfortunate.

Not to my knowledge. And I don't see that normal statement in your sig so maybe I'm off, but your statement was part of why I made my comment. You're clearly extremely intelligent etc., I just found it offputting.

I find the back and forth between NWS types and AccuWx kind of amusing. It's almost like grade school. Again, I'd back the NWS 9+ out of 10 times but sometimes things just get too emotionally driven and people don't even actually look at things which are worth addressing as they are blinded by the other stuff. I have no doubt that there are assessments going on within the gov as to what went wrong this spring.

It's almost too bad WeatherData is part of Accu... since it seems people will make judgments before even knowing what they are doing there.

I've never been a fan of AccuWx but after meeting Mike Smith it's hard not to believe in his motives.

I don't think that's what the discussion is about at all.

I'm not sure the issue is always false warnings etc, tho undoubtedly that is part of it... some of it is likely communication. There are still plenty of people who don't even know the difference between a watch and a warning. I don't know if the science is truly there yet that you don't have to overwarn at the margins "just in case" etc. I do think that the conventional wisdom of finding an interior room is not necessarily helpful in the extreme cases. I don't know what the other option on that level is though other than figuring out a way to have a better idea that a tornado is going to be an EF3/4/5 before or as it is happening. Still, some people probably just can't get to where they need to be to survive in some cases.

I think they have some point whether or not it was a good time to send that. I'm as big a supporter of the NWS as you'll find, but this year makes it pretty clear something is still wrong with the warning system imo.

i canned it for you.. decent detectiving anyway.

Good to hear you're OK... good luck getting through this, I'm sure it is not easy.

Yeah, I'm not sure I read the last line the first go at it. I agree -- I expect he is OK, at least physically.

I think so. Definitely his first name.