Heeding the lessons of previous monstrous storms, Jamaican officials aren’t testing fate with Hurricane Beryl. In a preemptive move to raise alertness, the country’s Prime Minister declared the island a disaster area before the storm landed. An island curfew is now in place, with capsizing nine-foot storm surges forecasted to swamp the island’s southern shore.…
America is splintering into diametrically opposed factions. Radicals on both sides of the polarizing political spectrum continue to sling barbs and diatribes toward one another with little prospect of reconciliation. Unfounded claims of a stolen election beat the slow drum of war on the far right while left-leaning zealots believe democracy itself is under attack…
Following a busy 2023 storm season, meteorologists say the 2024 hurricane season will feature 17 to 25 named storms. The National Weather Service expects eight to 13 of those tropical storms will become hurricanes. Furthermore, forecasters believe four to seven hurricanes will reach category 3, 4, or 5 strength. While meteorologists don’t have psychic capabilities,…
Where would your family seek cover during a tornado? While more than 1,200 tornadoes touchdown annually in the United States, millions of residents don’t have adequate storm protection. While advances in meteorology have improved tornado warning response times, the window of opportunity to escape harm is narrow. Without a tornado shelter, most storm-stricken residents resort…
A quick-rolling line of severe thunderstorms rocked Texas Thursday evening. Strong winds knocked out skyscraper windows while flooding downtown Houston streets. City officials said the storms killed at least four people while leaving thousands of more in the dark as crews race to restore power. Nearly one million customers are reportedly left in the dark…
Do you know that Japanese weather patterns can affect the annual number of tornadoes in the United States? Although the island nation is thousands of miles from the heart of Tornado Alley, migrating sea surface temperatures off Japan’s eastern coast in the winter can fuel North America’s springtime weather. Weather and climate don’t happen in…
Depending on their velocity and targeted population concentrations, tornadoes can pack similar strength to a hurricane, albeit for shorter durations. Tornadoes can also strike further inland leaving no community insulated from sporadic storms. On average, more people are killed in tornadoes (71) than hurricanes (+40) annually. With such striking similarities, reasonable minds would believe that…
You may be thinking, “What does a factory in North Carolina know about tornadoes?” While conventional wisdom suggests that engineers a thousand miles away from Tornado Alley wouldn’t understand the complexities of Texas-sized twisters, this couldn’t be further from the truth! Last night, a tornado touched down within miles of our Wilkesboro factory, downing tree…
America has always been fascinated by the grim and macabre. “If it bleeds, it leads” has become a prevailing marketing tactic by newscasters. Americans can’t get enough of calamity and headlines portending destruction – as long as it’s far away from us. We are a nation of both thrill-seekers and masochists looking to live vicariously…
March is Madness in Ohio, but not because the college hoops season is reaching its climatic grand finale, although we’re sure there’s plenty to be ‘upset’ about following a mammoth tornado that destroyed several mobile homes, killing three people. According to the National Weather Service, the half-mile wide tornado pummeled the area surrounding Indian Lake with punitive…