Tornadoes today in Dallas

    It was pretty frightening, but truthfully nothing we aren't used to (after all, we did plant ourselves in the middle of tornado alley). What WAS frightening was the fact the cell entered into the metroplex, which very, very rarely happens.

    Tornadoes are incredibly dangerous, but the precautionary systems established here more than contribute to the prevention of death so long you aren't an idiot. For instance, I'm in northwestern Fort Worth, nearly 40 miles from where these tornadoes touched down, but still, warning sirens went off. It was essentially a wake up call telling the populace "Hey shitheads, Mother Nature is fucking shit up within your vicinity so be prepared for her to mess with you, so shelter up."

    Property, however, is fucked. The damage is definitely within the hundreds of millions, if not more. If a cell can toss tractor trailers 100s of feet into the air, you better believe the real estate damage is high.

    What scares me most is that this is just the beginning of tornado season, and the weather so far has been pretty dangerous. Extreme flash floods, severe hail, tornado development, etc., and it's only April. This season lasts up until at least August (usually mid-September it ends), and if this is just a preview of what is to come, our area needs to be cautious. Two rainstorms have alone contributed to a 6+ feet increase in lake elevation in my area, and mind you, we were in a terrible drought.

    Cynically speaking, my message to mother nature: bring it. Let's see what the you can do. Realistically, the only thought through my mind is "fuck." This year may not be too harsh thinking long-term, but this next decade we're in for a wake up call.

    Yeah, someone posted on FB about it yesterday. God damn man, at least there's no casualties. I hope the id-software folks are alright too, although the majority of them are in Richardson, right?

    Who the hell builds a city in the middle of tornado country? That said, excusing the stupidity of your city's forefathers, I wish all you guys the best and hope you all manage to escape unharmed!

    The most exciting thing I've seen in the UK was a tiny little, 1 meter wide tornado that was blowing up a few leaves and spinning around at less than 5 miles an hour. It was hilarious, I almost felt sorry for it.

    Quote from PogoP

    Who the hell builds a city in the middle of tornado country? That said, excusing the stupidity of your city's forefathers, I wish all you guys the best and hope you all manage to escape unharmed! The most exciting thing I've seen in the UK was a tiny little, 1 meter wide tornado that was blowing up a few leaves and spinning around at less than 5 miles an hour. It was hilarious, I almost felt sorry for it.

    Historically, the Spanish. Geographically, this area is prime real estate for pushing livestock, and if you throw in the American Civil War and its boundaries (specifically Fort Worth and its surrounding rivers), you've got yourself one hell of a money maker. It's an interesting history to say the least.

    Well it was just a figure of speech, point being that it is in tornado alley!

    Man that sucks! My aunty lives over in Florida and they always get bad hurricanes over there. Why is that America always gets such extreme weather effects, and we see nothing like that?

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    ":1ddiyq3c]Also, Dallas is actually in the outer ring of the tornado alley, not in the middle.

    Dallas isn't where these incidents occurred. It was many kilometers west.

    And Pogo, the North Atlantic Current to my knowledge contributes to hurricanes, but I'm not too familiar with the specifics. Also, think of how large the states actually are. Our climate and geography is so incredibly diverse and we're located in a rather neutral temperature zone (not too far/close to the equator) so we're destined for the development of storms that royally fuck our shit. Not trying to bombard you with geo or history lessons and such, these events just strike home (both location and knowledge wise), so might as well share my take!

    Yeah!!! I want 50 meter high tsunamis and 2,000 mph tornados in Cambridge, right now!!!! It would probably make certain parts of the UK cleaner

    Quote from PogoP

    Why is that America always gets such extreme weather effects, and we see nothing like that?

    Geography. Given it's latitude in conjunction with adjacent major bodies of water and large land masses (ie, Canada!), it often gets big cells of cold air from the north and moist warm air from the south. When hot and cold cells like that contact each other you often get huge, violent storms. This means everywhere from Texas to Minnesota is essentially "tornado alley" in broad terms. However, from a geo-statistical perspective, places like Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa are often the worst hit. Further, some of these states have large plains with few mountains making it easier for tornadoes to form and sustain themselves.

    Otherwise, I'm glad to hear mapcorians around affected areas are okay.

    When I'm so old I can't wipe my ass by myself I would love to be swept up by a tornado for my death

    Might just book one of those tornado chasing holidays and secretly run (or limp) off into one muwhaha

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