pmorin Loc: Huntington Beach, Palm Springs

We have for the next few days a Tropical Storm Warning in our location in So Cal. First time since 1938-39, something like that.
I began to think of how many different weather conditions I had been in and tried to come up with a list. Wow, I’ve been in some nasty crap. Ice storms in Massachusetts, snowstorms in Massachusetts, South Dakota. 90 below in S Dakota (with the wind chill), Tornados in Iowa, Missouri, Texas and S Dakota. Cyclones in the PI, Hurricane at sea off the Falklands, and some pretty forceful storms here in SoCal when I was still working and climbing telephone poles during them. Not to mention the times in S Dakota when I would have to go out during a Lightning storm and hook up the PTO on the tractor to the generator when the chicken house lost power. Ya only had so long once those big fans stopped working before the temperature went up too much and you’d start losing hens to the heat. The heat waves are not new, just more frequent and much more intense.

Would love to see other’s experiences.
Pete

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Interesting post Pete. I would like to post a few ideas.

Reliable weather data only goes back a hundred years or so. A negligible period in geological time. Heat waves may be more frequent and more intense or they may not be. We just don't have enough data to be sure.

The first Tropical storm to hit California since 1939 is meaningless unless we get another Tropical Storm significantly before or after 89 years have passed. Even then one data point would be meaningless.

Impact of weather events on people are meaningless unless population and population density is taken into account. Examples:

A tornado ripping through 10 or 20 miles of corn field was not even worth mentioning back in the day. Build a town or city in the path of the same tornado and you have a disaster.

Allow developers to build subdivisions on known flood planes, slide prone hillsides and loss of life and property is just a matter of time.

Allow building where natural resources, water, power, etc. are not available and you must expect trouble.

In all reality we just don't have enough data to draw valid conclusions yet.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

I am not going to out-do you on this. But as a Eagle Scout and a Junior Assistant Scoutmaster and Scoutmaster, training makes all the difference.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Here in southwest Louisiana we had two hurricanes, a flood, a record freeze, and Covid all in one year. How's that?

pendennis

During my time in the Navy, I was stationed in Rhode Island, in 1969. Hurricane Camille had wreaked havoc with the Gulf coast, and it turned east, headed back into the Atlantic and made for New England. Our base secured after we put masking tape on windows, etc.

Being the brave souls we were and knowing we were immortal, we loaded up a car with beer and headed for Narragansett Beach and watched Camille pass off Block Island. We enjoyed the view, never realizing the danger.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Using science, it's possible to get all sorts of information going back over 100,000 years. Climate is changing faster should be expected, whether we deny it or not.

Daryls Loc: Waco, TX

Right Scruples, training and preparedness - "Be Prepared!"

Daryl

Daryls Loc: Waco, TX

Jerry,

Earth's climate has been changing ever since it was formed. Earth's climate will continue to change long after humans disappear. Once the Earth's climate stops changing, it will die. Now if you want to be where the climate isn't changing, the Moon is a clear choice. The Moon's climate hasn't changed since it took up orbit around the Earth.

Daryl

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

To PENDENIS: Thank you for your service.

Being an Eagle Scout means a lot to people who can appreciate the rank…..
I had MREs. I had them secured and when Hurricane Sandy came in for a visit, my job was to assist the US Coast Guard amongst other branches evacuating patients from Bellevue Hospital. We worked in teams of sixes climbing up the stairs and carrying patients down (wrapped in hard plastic sheets) to the ground floor waiting ambulances. The weight wells in the basement would flood with water. During a break I offered my MREs up. All of the coasties refused. When I told them they were kosher they all grabbed them up. The boxes I brought them in were empty and back we went. In a couple of months I received the patch to sew onto my bag.

(Download)

pendennis

Daryls Loc: Waco, TX

Pendennis,

Way to Be Prepared and to help others in need! Everyone needs to be prepared to survive an emergency/disaster situation on their own for 72+ hours. We cannot count on the government to be there immediately - just witness what is still occurring in Maui after the wildland fires. FEMA and the Red Cross has a lot of useful free resources to assist with your planning and preparedness activities.

Daryl

HOHIMER

Can you clarify the following for us? 'hard plastic sheets' , 'weight wells '....Thanks!

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

There were people who had a hurricane party in an apartment complex on the beach in Mississippi for Camille. As far as I know they were never found!

Don

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

A couple of hurricanes -- one in Charleston, SC, and one here in PA. We lived in Summerville, SC when Hugo hit and Summerville was one of the hardest hit areas. It is where the president flew into to look at the damage after the storm. Of the 11 homes in our cul-de-sac, 8 had trees through the roof -- one house had 2! We were lucky and only had a few roof shingles torn off, a piece of gutter pulled down, and a tree across our chain-link fence. We had been hit by a severe hail storm a couple of weeks earlier and already had an appointment to have our shingles totally replaced. Because of this, we were one of the first houses to get a new roof. Sandy hit the Jersey Shore a few years ago and caused problems well into our area of PA. Some homes in the area were without power for six days or longer. We were again lucky and had only a single-day outage. We also had a severe hail storm in our present home in Nazareth, PA and for the second time, State Farm paid for a whole new roof! When I lived in Memphis we had a number of very bad storms but I only remember once there was tornado activity. It must have been a very small twister because it only tore up trees in a small area of a block or two. They determined it was a tornado due to the way the trees were twisted rather than just broken off or uprooted. I've been in about three large snowstorms since living here, the largest was 30". Flooding is also a problem in this area due to a lot of streams, creeks, and rivers. Our neighborhood sits pretty high so no problem with water coming in but at times we have had to drive around flooded areas.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear. The hospital beds are too rigid and too heavy to be carried down the stairs. They cannot be turned around the corners 22 floors times 2 for each flight of stairs. To facilitate carrying patients down the stairs teams of six would climb the stair. In each hospital room there are usually two patients. An acrylic sheet would be slid under the patient. The patient would be wrapped up and cloth belts would secure the patient inside. Five people would carry the patient down the stair. As one person got tired, the free person would take their place. Why would we do that? Why not use the elevators? In the basement elevator have weight wells. As the elevator ascends to the top floor weights descend and are kept in a hole or well. As the water surged into the basement it would flood the well rendering the elevator useless. When water filled the well the weights could not be lifted out.

Furthermore, much of the extremely heavy equipment such as MRIs X-ray machines, CT scanners are in the basement. Repairing these is impossible because a part or piece cannot be switched out and replaced.

At each stairway entrance we had rest stations and water bottles to be given out.

By the way, there was no power so no pumps were working. The toilets didn’t work. The problem was solved by pouring the water from the bottles of the cooler into the toilet.

As an employee of Bellevue Hospital , I have been there for 21 years. I have friends who have been there 40 years. Don’t get me wrong. I have seen and witnessed much.

Please accept my apology for not clarifying a few things. I don’t want to out-do anyone else here on UHH. We all have our talents.