The United States of Esoterica

The worst I can recall was a mini Tornado in upstate NY when I was in college, around Fall of 1998. It had a funny meterological name, but it was essentially a near-Tornado where some tornados started but barely got going.

I saw a huge dumpster lifted about a foot hight and landed upon a curb. I have a pic somewhere of where this dumpster ended up and it is amazing. Come to think of it, I have quite a few from this storm. Syracuse University had a big "outdoor concert" planned and all set up for and the storm ripped up the whole complex, tossing porta potties and light rigging everywhere.

It was a great time for everyone. I also lived through quite a few blizzards here in Boston, but they mostly just cover things with a foot of snow.

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"Give a lunatic a keyboard and a modem and that's what happens." -- Jeff Rense, 2.25.5

"An artist has got to be constantly in a state of becoming." -- Bob Dylan

I think what you are talking about is called a "micro burst." Localized in area, but very energetic.

You are correct, sir. It was a micro burst.

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"Give a lunatic a keyboard and a modem and that's what happens." -- Jeff Rense, 2.25.5

"An artist has got to be constantly in a state of becoming." -- Bob Dylan

I had never seen a tornado before until I was about 17 and driving around Albuquerque with my sister. We are looking up at this cloud and I say that looks like a tornado and she says something like yeah, but we can't get a tornado here. That is what we were always told that Alb couldn't get tornadoes because of the mountains. So I kept driving towards the thing and we get to where it has just passed and there are a few trees ripped out of the ground and laying in the road. That was when we finally realized it was a tornado. Later that night when watching the news the weatherman explained that the story many people in Alb were taught about a tornado not being able to happen because of the mountains just wasn't true. I guess I was lucky I hadn't left a minute or two earlier that day or we would have driven right into it.

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"So much good, so much evil. Just add water."
Markus Zusak

Hmmm...I've been a couple of blocks from an F1 Tornado. Really awesome but scary thing to see. I've also been on the outer edge of a typhoon when I lived on the Southern coast of Korea. I've also been through one Typhoon, even though I was inland, but it was still pretty powerful, and I've been in a couple of tropical storms. I was in a couple of floods in Haiti and New Orleans as well. I can't say which one was the worst, probably the Hurricane that I was on the 23 floor of an apartment building was the worst. I thought for sure the windows were going to blow in.

The scariest moments in storms, big or small, are when lightning strikes not too far from where you are.

Nature is an awesome thing.

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"Rare events are always unexpected, otherwise they would not occur." -Nassim Taleb

This may have been a micro burst - - - but we were driving over the San Diego mountains (not official name) - - from San Diego to Arizona.

It started hailing and raining so hard it was almost like a thick "banging" fog. Nothing you could do - - could not pull over because you are on a mountain road - - maintained a 20 mph speed - - for about 45 minutes - - trying to stay on pavement.

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You Can Not Expect of People What They Have Not Yet Learned . . . .

All of the lower 48 states have had tornados. Mountains make it difficult for them to form, and it usually prevents large ones from forming. But they can still form. LA has had a few tornados. Even Salt Lake City, at 1,500 feet above sea level and nestled in a valley between two mountain ranges has had several of them. One a few years ago killed a person and tore up the downtown of the city. Denver will get them from time to time as well, but Denver is on the boundaries of the great plains, where the tornados will originate.

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"Rare events are always unexpected, otherwise they would not occur." -Nassim Taleb

Luckily, i've never experienced any of the above here in the San Joaquin valley of northern CA. Once in a blue moon we've had threats of tiny, baby, distant tornadoes, but i've never seen one. The only real threat is earthquakes, but even when the last big one hit in San Fran. it felt like a gentle roll under foot. I'm going to go knock on some wood right now!

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A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man awoke in the night. ~J.M. Barrie

LOL PB - - I was born and raised in SoCA - - - 45 years worth.

I never even thought of Earthquakes.

However - - - for several months now I can not get the first week of September out of my mind - - I see or feel a disaster in CA - - maybe an earthquake in Los Angeles area.

I told my daughter who lives in Redondo Beach - make sure your gas tank is full through out the month of September - - in case you have to leave.

I don't want to be right.

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You Can Not Expect of People What They Have Not Yet Learned . . . .

That's so bizarre Oscar, because i've been having the same feeling lately. It didn't help when Stan Deyo was saying a really big one could potentially hit us soon and somehow cause a tsunami that could flood the entire central valley. I've been having many recurrent thoughts about being ready and heading east to the Sierras in case of such an incident. Maybe watching everything about this disaster in New Orleans is making me paranoid, but it truly makes one think. Of course, Gordon M. Scallion, Edgar Cayce, @ others have been saying CA was going under water years ago, so I won't hold my breath.

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A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man awoke in the night. ~J.M. Barrie

Oh no, I just had to open my big mouth! I just saw this on Unknowncountry.com:

Southern California Earthquake Swarm
02-Sep-2005

An earthquake swarm is being reported by the US Geologic Service Earthquake Hazards Program in the Brawley Seismic Zone immediately south of the Salton Sea in southern California. The swarm began on August 28, and reached a sustained level of higher activity (quakes in the 4.5-5.0 region of intensity) on August 31. The swarm is continuing at this time.
It is similar to swarms that occurred in the Brawley area in the 1970s and 1980s. In the past, a quake on the cross-fault of the type that is taking place now triggered magnitude 6.2 and 6.6 events in 1987. The activity taking place at present is ten miles from the major San Andreas, San Jacinto and Imperial faults, and shows no obvious signs of destabilizing them at this time.

To check USGS's ongoing observations on this earthquake http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsUS/Quakes/quakes_all.html

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A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man awoke in the night. ~J.M. Barrie

hmmmm - - interesting.

Well - being from SoCa - - - Earthquakes are pretty routine.

But - - having been stuck on "first week of Sept. for months now" - - and now this swarm of smaller quakes.

By the way - - I'm in Yuma AZ - - not far from the Salton Sea and Brawley.

Maybe Beach Front Property in Arizona is not that ridiculous.

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You Can Not Expect of People What They Have Not Yet Learned . . . .

And Hawaii apparently :

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page1083.html

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"Give a lunatic a keyboard and a modem and that's what happens." -- Jeff Rense, 2.25.5

"An artist has got to be constantly in a state of becoming." -- Bob Dylan