Thursday, April 03, 2008

Great Plains weather . . .

. . . can be very interesting.

Mrs. Bulldog and I - and another very clever blogger that I know - spent most of our lives in the Great Plains area. The weather on the Nebraska/Iowa border and on the Missouri/Kansas border can be . . . well, extreme.

While Mrs. B and I lived in Omaha, we saw two tornados. One F2 storm hit less than a half-mile from our house. The other was an F4, and blasted across town four miles away.

Mike Hollingshead is a storm chaser from Blair, NE. His storm photos are simply amazing. Give his website a look. Here's a Nebraska example.



Now this may look fierce, and it is. However, compared to hurricanes, tornadoes are generally much smaller, last a much shorter time and cause less overall damage.

I would rather live in tornado country than hurricane country. Call it the Wildebeest effect. In tornado country, you have only one lion chasing you, he gets tired very quickly, and there are lots of other Wildebeests milling around. Chances of getting eaten are pretty small. On the other hand, a hurricane is a whole pride of lions, backed up by reserves, and they don't tire out for days. Chances of getting eaten are much greater.

. . . All of which may cause you to ask why Mrs. B and I now live in Virginia. The answer is that we DON'T live in Virginia during hurricanes. We go inland.