4/30/12 Storm Shelter Surge

More and more families are staring to take matters into their own hands against dangerous storms by building their own storm shelters. Some people are hiring companies to do it for them, others are building them with their own bare hands.

Companies like Twister Safe, Storm Defend, Survive-A-Storm, and National Storm Shelters all have products that can be placed either in/under your garage, in a closet, or buried on their own plot of land. While sizes vary to the specific brand, most can fit up to 4 people. Before the Joplin, Missouri tornado of last year, one of those companies, Twister Safe, only had four employees. They now employ 20, and the company is still growing.

"Business has probably quadrupled, at least," owner Enos Davis said. "We're selling 400 to 500 a year now, compared to maybe 100 before."  Below is a picture of one of the newly-built shelters in Joplin, Missouri.

Many of these safe rooms feature thick steel or concrete walls and doors that can withstand winds up to 250 mph. Most of them have no windows, no light fixtures, and no electricity (many keep flashlights or battery operated lanterns inside). They are simply meant to be a small, reinforced place to ride out the storm. Depending on the company, and your geographic location, these shelters generally cost anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000.

FEMA has given funds to states like Alabama, Missouri, and Mississippi, just to name a few, to have community storm shelters built for people to go when storms are on the way.

Others have opted to build their own shelters, like Freddie Wooten of Henegar, Alabama (pictured below with his shelter). He decided to build his own after his community was hit by an EF5 tornado last April. He gathered the supplies and everything necessary to build it at his own cost.

Sources: Associated Press, Yahoo News

4/22/12 Earth Day Green Inventions

Earth Day is always a day to remind us to be green. People all over the world try to conserve energy use, clean up their communities, plant new trees and flowers, among many other things. Every year "being green" seems to become cooler and trendier. However, it isn't always the cheapest trend. Thanks to a few new products though, that is expected to change.

First we will start will efficient light-bulbs. Trading out your incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescent (CFL) ones will save you money on your electric bills, but some people aren't convinced. Many of the complaints about using CFL bulbs revolve around what to do if the bulb breaks, since the clean-up process is not only lengthy and tedious, but also dangerous since there is a large amount of mercury in CFL's. The more common complaint is that they cost more initially, and takes a while to see a return on your investment. However, there is a new super-duper energy-efficient LED light bulb that just came on the market that hopes to curb those last 2 complaints.

This is the new Philips award winning LED energy efficient light bulb. This new bulb can reportedly last up to 10 years or more, which will ultimately save consumers money, because they won’t have to replace these bulbs nearly as often as others. The big hold-back...the price. The sticker price for this bulb is $60, however, thanks to online deals, rebates and subsidies, the price that consumers will pay will likely only be around $40-50. So how does a homeowner justify spending that much on a light-bulb? The company says that the bulb will save plenty of energy also, since it consumes less than 10 watts while producing light equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent bulb (an 83% energy savings).


Another idea is solar panels. Well, the panels themselves aren't a new idea, but using them on windows to generate electricity with a nearly transparent plastic film that can be sprayed on or rolled on with an adhesive, that is new. The solar energy industry is trying to come up with new ways to incorporate solar energy in people's homes, without having to place bulky panels on the roof. New Energy Technologies has developed new plastic polymers that can be sprayed right onto your windows to create a film which will then produce electricity. The product is called SolarWindow, and the process generates electricity using natural or artificial light, such as fluorescent lighting, even on homes that do not face south.

“It will generate electricity even in low light conditions, so you can coat windows that are facing east or west,” says , says John Conklin, chief executive officer of New Energy Technologies. The hope is while this new product won't be able to produce the same amount of solar energy that rooftop panels do, they will cost much less, making them a more affordable option for many people.

Sources: LA Times, Christian Science Monitor, Philips, Time Magazine, Arizona State University

4/17/12 Weekend Tornado Recap

Over the weekend many dozens of tornadoes were reported in several states. There were a total of 110 tornado reports for Saturday, but there were likely only 75 that actually made it to the ground. A total of 6 people dies, all of which were in the state of Oklahoma. There were also around 50 injuries from tornadoes in other states. Below is a map of the tornado warnings and actual corresponding reports of tornadoes that touched down on Saturday.

Nebraska- The big story here was the baseball size hail, and a lot of it. There were 7 tornadoes in the state, but most of them hit farmland and rural areas, so there were no injuries or fatalities, and just some minor structural damage to some barns, outbuildings, and some trees down.

Kansas- Multiple tornadoes hit here including two EF3's in western part of the state. Sedgwick county, where Wichita is located, has preliminary damage estimates as high as $283 million. There was also an EF4, the highest rated tornado from Saturday's storms, near the town of Salina.

 

Oklahoma - Oklahoma governor declared a state of emergency for 12 counties. The town of Woodward, which is about 140 miles NW of Oklahoma City, was the hardest hit. This is where all of the tornado fatalities came from. Thousands remained without power well into Sunday.

Iowa-This state in particular had a large part of the town of Thurman, which is in the western part of the state, destroyed by an EF2 tornado. Thankfully there were no injuries or fatalities in that area. The state as a whole received four tornadoes, two of them were EF2, one EF0, and one EF1.

In total there were seven EF0 tornadoes, five EF1 tornadoes, three EF2 tornadoes, four EF3 tornadoes, and one EF4 tornado across four states in the Great Plains. Below is a breakdown of the confirmed rated tornadoes in each state:

EF4- Salina, KS
EF3- Wichita, KS
EF3- Woodward, OK
EF3- Greensburg, KS
EF3- Macksville, KS
EF2- Cook, NE
EF2- Thurman, IA
EF2- Creston, IA
EF1- Nebraska City, NE
EF1- McClelland, IA
EF1- Manchester, KS
EF1- Tipton, KS
EF1- Dodge City, KS
EF0- Sterling, NE
EF0- Talmage, NE
EF0- Council Bluffs, IA
EF0- Manchester, KS
EF0- Oxford, NE
EF0- Hardy, NE
EF0- Deshler, NE
**There was also a confirmed tornado in Lincolnville, KS, but it has not yet been rated.

Sources:  CBS News, Associated Press, NOAA, Storm Prediction Center, KWCH, Robert Hurkes.

New Tornado Warning Wording

UNSURVIVABLE, CATASTROPHIC, COMPLETE DEVASTATION. These are just some of the new words that will be added to future Tornado Warnings to add emphasis to the possible dangers. At the beginning of the month five weather service offices located in Kansas and Missouri will use a new kind of warning wording that's based on the severity of a storm's expected impact. They claim that the goal is to be able to more effectively communicate the risks people about to face with an impending storm in their area.

"We'd like to think that as soon as we say there is a tornado warning, everyone would run to the basement," said Ken Harding, a weather service official in Kansas City. "That's not how it is. They will channel flip, look out the window or call neighbors. A lot of times people don't react until they see it."

The new wording will be tested using two tiers of warnings for thunderstorms and three tiers for tornadoes, each based on severity. After the testing period is over, a research team in North Carolina will analyze the results, and help the weather service decide whether to expand the new warnings to other parts of the country.

"We have found in Mississippi and Alabama and various other Southern states that people feel they would constantly be going to a shelter if they heeded every tornado warning," Laura Myer, a social science research professor at Mississippi State University, explains. "For people in mobile homes, that's the craziest thing. To get to a shelter, they have to leave home. They feel like if they left during every watch or warning, they would be on the road all the time."

Andy Bailey, a meteorologist with the NWS office in Missouri, said it might look something like this: "THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TORNADO WITH COMPLETE DEVASTATION LIKELY. ... SEEK SHELTER NOW! ... MOBILE HOMES AND OUTBUILDINGS WILL OFFER NO SHELTER FROM THIS TORNADO — ABANDON THEM IMMEDIATELY."

The reason for the weather service's written bulletins is to target the primary audience-broadcasters who issue warnings on the air along with emergency managers that activate weather sirens. They are hoping that the new wording would give folks who would be in a tornado event like Joplin, Missouri, an urgency that's hard to ignore.

"After hundreds of times of similar thunderstorms approaching Joplin, many of those with tornado warnings attached, and you see them pass ... after all those storms, you kind of get jaundiced about the warnings and tend not to give them the weight you probably should give them," said Jeff Lehr, a reporter at The Joplin Globe, and long-time Joplin resident.

Sources: Yahoo News, Associated Press, NWS

4/1/12 Big Blue Planet: 50 Years of Photos

Earth has been photographed by NASA for the last 50 years, although the images have certainly changed over time. The first from April 1960, was a grainy black-and-white image taken by the Television InfraRed Observation Satellite, or TIROS-1, which carried with it two small cameras, one for capturing wide views of the Earth as a whole, and the other for more detailed views. In its first three months alone the satellite took 23,000 images, which were used mainly for weather forecasting.

In 2005, NASA created the "Blue Marble: Next Generation" series, which was a year's worth of observations taken by various satellites. The series was named after a famous photo of the Earth taken by the Apollo 17 crew in 1972. Recently, NASA has gone a few steps further by taking new pictures from the perspective of 7,918 miles from Earth. Images were taken during six orbits of the Earth and stitched together to create a single composite image. Earlier this year NASA released two such images of the Earth, one of the Western Hemisphere (below) in January. Then a few weeks later, they released an image of the the Eastern Hemisphere (above).

Another famous picture from space is that of Earth at night. These images were originally created by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and the Operational Linescan System (OLS) to view clouds by moonlight. Since most cities tend to be along coastlines, even without the underlying map, the outlines of many continents would still be visible due to this. Interestingly, the U.S. interstate highway system appears as a lattice connecting the brighter dots of city centers when you zoom in.

Sources: NASA, GSFC, NOAA, TechWeb, Information Week

3/26/12 6 Tips For Surviving A Tornado

In the last 2 years the U.S. has seen record numbers of tornadoes and tornado related deaths. While the scale of tornado outbreak days may not continue to go up, we certainly have to prepare for the worst. Here are some safety, planning, and survival tips for tornadoes.

1. KNOW WHERE TO GO
Having that safe spot already planned out helps you save time, which there isn't always a lot of when severe weather strikes. An underground location such as a basement is best, but other places such as closets, bathrooms, etc. are good as long as they do not have a window. In those locations you want to stay low to the ground, and crouch down almost like you are in the fetal position. Do not wait until severe weather strikes to figure this out. Have your plans set in motion ahead of time.

2. KNOW YOUR LOCATION
Do you know what county you live in? Do you know where in your county your town in located (southwestern edge, northeastern corner, etc.)? What time zone do you live in? These are very important things to know since ALL warnings are county specific, and often to only a portion of a county. For example, a tornado warning will usually read something like this, "Tornado Warning for eastern Smith county until 10pm Eastern Standard Time". You have to be able to listen or read those warnings and understand if that affects you or not because sometimes they do not list many specific towns in the warnings.

3. WINDOWS EQUAL DANGER
Do not stand or seek shelter by windows or glass doors. Not only is the glass very weak when it comes to flying debris, which can puncture through a window very easily. Also, that causes the glass to shatter and become a new weapon to cause injury. Also, there is a myth that states you should open your windows in a tornado to alleviate the pressure differences in your home, but this is not true, and can actually cause more damage to your home by providing a free entry point for flying debris.


4. DON'T STAY IN A MOBILE HOME
Mobile homes are not very safe at all. In fact, a mobile homes that is not tied down can be flipped or tossed in a 75mph wind. A trailer that is tied down can flip at speeds of 100mph. However, a minivan will not start to flip or be tossed around until winds hit a minimum of 140mph. So if you live in a mobile home, you need to get to a safe structure (even if it a grocery store or school down the street) before the storms hit. If you do not have enough time to do so, you should get in your car, as that will be a safer place than your mobile home. You should get in the back, and crouch down below window level and cover yourself with pillows and blankets in case the windows break.

 This picture shows a mobile home that was not tied down that flipped over onto the car, which did not roll over, have it's windows busted out, or get punctured by debris.







 5. HAVE A SAFETY KIT
You should have a Rubbermaid-like container of a few things set aside, in your safe spot if you have the room. Your kit should include things like flashlights, a blanket for every member of the family (including pets), a few pillows, bottled water, and essential prescriptions such as inhalers, diabetes medicines, etc.

6. WATCH vs. WARNING
A Tornado Watch means conditions are favorable. Typically these are issued a few hours before the weather is supposed to hit your area so you have time to prepare. During this time you should start charging your cell phones, make sure you have fresh batteries in your flashlights and weather radios, and gather up your safety kit. A Tornado Warning means either a tornado/funnel cloud has been spotted and reported to the National Weather Service, or the radar is indicating that a tornado is imminent, so you need to seek shelter right away. The time for preparation is no longer an option here. When this happens you just need to grab your family and pets and get to your safe spot immediately. 

Sources: Chattanooga Times Free Press, National Weather Service, NOAA, Athens News

3/19/12 Holy Pollen Batman!

Most of the Midwestern and Southeastern United States have had unseasonably warm temperatures in February and March. Record high temperatures have been set the last few days in cities like Chicago, Nashville, Louisville, Indianapolis, Huntsville, and St. Louis to name a few. Many of those same cities and a few more are expected to tie op break record highs through Wednesday of this week.

Those warm temperatures have caused a lot of trees and flowers to bloom earlier than normal, and at a record rate. Atlanta's pollen count today was 8164 which is not only the highest recorded count in Atlanta ever, but it shattered the previous record of 6013 back in 1999. The thing to note is that the previous record was set on April 12, which is when the highest amounts normally occur in the southeast.

Do you suffer from allergies, here's a few tips from WebMD: 

• Try to stay indoors whenever the pollen count is very high (pollen counts usually peak in the mornings). 
• Keep your doors and windows closed whenever possible during the spring months to keep allergens out. An air purifier may also help. 
• Clean the air filters in your home often. Also, clean bookshelves, vents, and other places where pollen can collect. 
• Wash your hair after going outside, because pollen can collect there.
• Vacuum twice a week. Wear a mask because vacuuming can kick up pollen, mold, and dust that were trapped in your carpet.
• Leave your shoes at the door. Pollen can be tracked inside on shoes, therefore it’s important to leave them outside or at the door during the peak of pollen season.
  

Sources: Atlanta Journal Constitution, Atlanta Asthma & Allergy Clinic, The Examiner