What's going on??

[Queen of Poop]

I didn't know that 2011 was the year of the DISASTER!

Good grief, look at what's going on:

Earthquake and tsunami in Japan followed by nuclear disaster
Earthquakes in New Zealand
Fires in Northern Alberta and the Southern US
Floods all over the place
More tornadoes than ever
And hurricane season looming

What the heck's going on with our world???

[happylabs]

Don't know but it is scary. We have had two months of rain here in Pennsylvania. I sometimes wonder if it isn't the environment and pollution that are causing the terrible storms but who really knows.

[moosmom]

I asked myself the exact same question. What IS going on???????

[Karen]

I have a theory that it is more to do with the fact that every bit of news related to a disaster is picked up and makes headlines everywhere because of the 24-hour news cycle, and while a lot is happening, and it is sad.

Japan for example is on an active fault line, and has earthquakes often, just this one was unusually large. And the fault lines and continental plates are all, of course connected to each other, so it is not really surprising that NZ and Japan both had big quakes near each other, if you at plate tectonics.

[pomtzu]

Earthquakes - understandable.

Erratic weather???

[Lady's Human]

Nothing new. If it bleeds, it leads.

Tornadoes in the midwest? Tornado alley, anyone?

We had range fires constantly at Ft Hood, some of them huge, cnn didn't cover them in 1990.

24 hour news cycle coupled with human reaction to sensationalist reporting.

[pomtzu]

However, tornadoes this season have been much worse than any season I can ever remember - and I've been on this old dirt ball for a lot of years!
All weather patterns in general have become very unpredictable in recent years, as compared to years gone by - IMO of course!

[Lady's Human]

How quickly the tornado clusters in OK in 1999 are forgotten. Finger of god that re-wrote the fujita scale?

[Bonny]

However, tornadoes this season have been much worse than any season I can ever remember - and I've been on this old dirt ball for a lot of years!
All weather patterns in general have become very unpredictable in recent years, as compared to years gone by - IMO of course!

I agree with you Pomtzu. The weather is very very extreme. We know longer get a nice morning shower of rain but winds to the maximum with deluging downpours.


I don't think 1,500 people missing in Joplin is anything to ignore or think it is hyped up news. Tornado's can & do touch down with a number of funnel clouds in one area. One can follow the other in a trail of destruction.

There are more people now & larger towns then when I grew up so more destruction.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Nothing new. If it bleeds, it leads.

Tornadoes in the midwest? Tornado alley, anyone?

We had range fires constantly at Ft Hood, some of them huge, cnn didn't cover them in 1990.

24 hour news cycle coupled with human reaction to sensationalist reporting.

Yep, tornado alley. But I have lived here my entire 60+ years and I can assure you we've never had a year like this with this many and this big of tornadoes. Just to be sure, I checked with my bro who is 3 years older. He agrees. Makes me wonder if there may be something to the 12/21/2012 thingy.

The tornado that hit Joplin was an F5 with 200mph winds. Wouldn't that be more like a hurricane force?

[Lady's Human]

Hurricane winds are normally much lower than tornado winds, hurricanes are usually in the 75-125 MPH range.

The Tornado that hit Norman, OK a few years ago was an aberration, it was the first time a tornado had actually hit Norman in recorded history.

We've had tornadoes reported around here, but mainly because the radars have gotten better, and they sent weather teams out to go look at the damage to see if it was really a tornado.

A large % of what are now named storms would have never been noticed 60 years ago, because they are now picked up on weather satellites. Given local experience the past couple years with tornadoes being reported, it doesn't take that much of a jump to logically conclude that teh weather isn't getting worse, but reporting is getting more accurate and more hyped.

[cassiesmom]

We had some pretty stormy weather here in Chicagoland last June. I hope June 2011 isn't a repeat of June 2010!