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The Lion's end to March banter and discussion, part deux!


Typhoon Tip

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I'm kind of a nerd the other way though - I'm really fascinated by hot spells/heat waves.  Do you know that heat related deaths rank the top of the list of other killers of weather over the last 100 years?   Why it is not recognized as one of the majors (blizzard, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes) is beyond me.     

 

Folks who seriously look into things like that are well aware of what big heat can do, but for the general public and much media, sudden impact is far more newsworthy than something that takes place over several days/weeks.  One example - from 1000+ miles away, I only became aware of the magnitude of disaster in CHI 1995 well after most of the heat-related fatalities had occurred, because it wasn't making the evening news until then.  Put an EF2 causing only 1/100 of that event's death toll into a suburb of CHI and it's the top story.  (If downtown, it leads for days.)

 

As for winter vs. summer, I find cold exhilarating, big heat debilitating - merely personal preference, one that's probably shared with most folks here.

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Just another dune crusher down here;

 

FALMOUTH       CLOUDY    39  27  60 E22G31    29.48R WCI  29
HYANNIS        CLOUDY    42  28  57 E13G30    29.45F
CHATHAM        CLOUDY    41  28  60 E23G29    29.49F WCI  31
NANTUCKET      CLOUDY    42  31  64 E18G30    29.44F
MARTHAS VNYRD  CLOUDY    40  30  67 NE25G32   29.46F WCI  29

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Folks who seriously look into things like that are well aware of what big heat can do, but for the general public and much media, sudden impact is far more newsworthy than something that takes place over several days/weeks.  One example - from 1000+ miles away, I only became aware of the magnitude of disaster in CHI 1995 well after most of the heat-related fatalities had occurred, because it wasn't making the evening news until then.  Put an EF2 causing only 1/100 of that event's death toll into a suburb of CHI and it's the top story.  (If downtown, it leads for days.)

 

As for winter vs. summer, I find cold exhilarating, big heat debilitating - merely personal preference, one that's probably shared with most folks here.

 

It's an interesting point about the duration of warning and event - but death is still death.  If it is taking that many lives, it's just as important - yet public awareness efforts are not really there.  

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LOL... not sure I've ever seen such a large system where "pink" was the predominate precipitation shade.

 

Let's also keep in mind, Intellicast tunes up their sensitivity to make that product more appealing.  If you go to NWS sites around the area, it's far more shredded and showery and localized than that image alludes.    

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I'll tell you something interesting about convection... you get sort of desensitized to the "type" of drama your local thunderstorm climatology suggests you get most often.  

 

For example, though we have had an EF3 or 4, hell ... 1953 was an arguable 5, ever so rarely, most of the time our severe days a middling compared to most other places save the West Coast.  Heck, even a drecho rolling through Chi town can have sky looking like something out of War Of The Worlds.   So the weather consumer in SNE gets used to a certain type of convection and don't really know.    

 

If you took the average weather enthusiast, or even Meteorologist, out of day-in-day-out New England, and stick them out in eastern Oklahoma on April 21st, when there is a SSE wind gusting to 32Kt, it's 88/71, and there is -3SD 700mb level cold tongue punching into the western part of the state from the WNW, odds are ...said participant will be running to find an outhouse at the sight of the sky later in the day.   But the hardened mid westerners, I've seen them coming in and out of Arby's Roast Beef stores in an ambling blithe on videos while that is going on above them before.  

 

That's the difference in large part.  If we got convection of that ilk around here, the weather contributors might tune in a bit more during the warmer months.  

 

I'm kind of a nerd the other way though - I'm really fascinated by hot spells/heat waves.  Do you know that heat related deaths rank the top of the list of other killers of weather over the last 100 years?   Why it is not recognized as one of the majors (blizzard, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes) is beyond me.     

 

 

Well you know the answer to that last part. There isn't anything tangible to "show" with a heat wave. You can easily photo/video the four hazards you mentioned and then report that on national news. But a heat wave really doesn't look any different than every other dog day of summer. Unless you can into seriously dry conditions and have some drought effects you can show the rest of the country.

 

As for the that third paragraph, you're absolutely right. The overwhelming majority of the region has no clue what a truly severe thunderstorm looks like. They think they do, but in reality they'd have bricks in their shorts if they experienced something fairly run of the mill in the Midwest. It is definitely a step up from our "typical severe" around here.

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Well you know the answer to that last part. There isn't anything tangible to "show" with a heat wave. You can easily photo/video the four hazards you mentioned and then report that on national news. But a heat wave really doesn't look any different than every other dog day of summer. Unless you can into seriously dry conditions and have some drought effects you can show the rest of the country.

 

As for the that third paragraph, you're absolutely right. The overwhelming majority of the region has no clue what a truly severe thunderstorm looks like. They think they do, but in reality they'd have bricks in their shorts if they experienced something fairly run of the mill in the Midwest. It is definitely a step up from our "typical severe" around here.

I could never live there

 

I don't like the baby t-storms we get

 

We occasionally get a "nice" one though

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Well you know the answer to that last part. There isn't anything tangible to "show" with a heat wave. You can easily photo/video the four hazards you mentioned and then report that on national news. But a heat wave really doesn't look any different than every other dog day of summer. Unless you can into seriously dry conditions and have some drought effects you can show the rest of the country.

 

As for the that third paragraph, you're absolutely right. The overwhelming majority of the region has no clue what a truly severe thunderstorm looks like. They think they do, but in reality they'd have bricks in their shorts if they experienced something fairly run of the mill in the Midwest. It is definitely a step up from our "typical severe" around here.

 

I really wish we could get more EML days. My interest definitely would be peaked more as far as tstms go, but tough to get very excited for some CG and pea size hail. Don't get me wrong..I still love a good tstm with heavy rain and CG...but more often than not it's a disappointment.

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I really wish we could get more EML days. My interest definitely would be peaked more as far as tstms go, but tough to get very excited for some CG and pea size hail. Don't get me wrong..I still love a good tstm with heavy rain and CG...but more often than not it's a disappointment.

 

Plains drought FTW?

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I really wish we could get more EML days. My interest definitely would be peaked more as far as tstms go, but tough to get very excited for some CG and pea size hail. Don't get me wrong..I still love a good tstm with heavy rain and CG...but more often than not it's a disappointment.

 

Try living in the heart of it then moving back. :axe:

 

That's truly where my fetish lies though. I love snowstorms, but severe storms are just a notch above for me.

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Well you know the answer to that last part. There isn't anything tangible to "show" with a heat wave. You can easily photo/video the four hazards you mentioned and then report that on national news. But a heat wave really doesn't look any different than every other dog day of summer. Unless you can into seriously dry conditions and have some drought effects you can show the rest of the country.

 

As for the that third paragraph, you're absolutely right. The overwhelming majority of the region has no clue what a truly severe thunderstorm looks like. They think they do, but in reality they'd have bricks in their shorts if they experienced something fairly run of the mill in the Midwest. It is definitely a step up from our "typical severe" around here.

 

So true!  It's not "flashy" and commercially attractive enough for it to become headliner stuff until the damage is already done - but that is the fault of the people/consumers in that case, along WITH the news agencies/science.   Because if the latter communicated/enlightened the former enough, just maybe there would be some commercial interest in "how hot it might get"??

 

Anywho ... I do recall one flashy picture of heat - just once.  It was the big heat experienced in Texas some years ago.  Railroad tracks had to be relaid, because when they turned the camera down the length of them, they had warped.  Now ... I don't know if it was the heat wave its self that warped the tracks; considering they are iron, and ferrous doesn't melt below 2,000F, let alone even become malleable (e-gads), probably not, but the heat did something to the Earth they lay upon - perhaps.  Either way, seeing the tracks warped was something!

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Try living in the heart of it then moving back. :axe:

 

That's truly where my fetish lies though. I love snowstorms, but severe storms are just a notch above for me.

 

I'll probably go out there in a few years for a week or so. Sure a tornado would be awesome, but a real MCS ripping through OKC at 1am would probably be like no other.

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