Sept. 15th Announcement?

[Christopher A. Williams]

On Tue, 2003-09-16 at 04:00, Telsa Gwynne wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 16, 2003 at 12:49:33AM -0400 or thereabouts, MJang wrote:
> 
> > Give these guys a break. If you have ever prepared for a hurricane, i
> > you would understand how difficult anything is during this process.
> 
> I have seen Twister. Does that count? Oh wait, that was tornados. 
> Seriously, living in a country which doesn't have hurricanes, I
> just take it on trust that they're big and nasty.
> 
<snip...>

"Big and nasty" is pretty close.

I grew up in Oklahoma City - dead center of the famed "Tornado Alley". I
still have family there. "Twister" is fairly accurate for Hollywood in
the look, sound and behavior of these storms, but nothing can prepare
you for an F4 to F5 twister. They are truly terrifying with core winds
well over 300MPH (480 KPH for our European friends). I've spent enough
time huddling in storm cellars and bathrooms to know.

Hurricanes are, by comparison, absolute monster storms. A category 5
hurricane has sustained winds of over 165MPH (about 265KPH). I
understand this storm has been recently downgraded to a category 3
(115MPH winds). That's still considered a very dangerous storm. The
National Weather Service is also saying it could still regain strength
before coming ashore.

One more thing: Hurricanes often spawn tornadoes within them.

Be safe guys!

Chris

--
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"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence,
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