Oklahoma City - US weather forecasters issued an unusually strong tornado warning for Saturday, saying conditions are ripe for an outbreak in the heart of the country that could be a "high-end, life threatening event."
It was only the second time in U.S. history that the Storm Prediction Center issued a high-risk warning more than 24 hours in advance, said Russ Schneider, director of the center, which is part of the National Weather Service. The first time was in April 2006, when nearly 100 tornadoes tore across the southeastern U.S., killing a dozen people and damaging more than 1,000 homes.
Storms were already kicking off in Oklahoma, where a twister whizzed by the nation's tornado forecasting headquarters but caused little damage.
The strongly worded message came after the National Weather Service announced last month that it would start using terms like "mass devastation," ''unsurvivable" and "catastrophic" in warnings in an effort to get more people to pay attention. It said it would test the new warnings in Kansas and Missouri before deciding whether to expand them to other parts of the country.
Friday's warning, despite the strong language, was not part of that effort but just the most accurate way to describe what was expected, a weather service spokeswoman said.
It's possible to issue earlier warnings because improvements in storm modeling and technology are letting forecasters predict storms earlier and with greater confidence, said Chris Vaccaro, a spokesman for the National Weather Service.
In the past, people often have had only minutes of warning when a siren went off.
"We're quite sure tomorrow will be a very busy and dangerous day in terms of large tornadoes in parts of the central and southern plains," Vaccaro said. "The ingredients are coming together."
The worst weather is expected to develop late Saturday afternoon in Oklahoma and Kansas, but other areas also could see severe storms, forecasters said. The warning issued Friday covers parts of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.
The weather service confirmed a tornado touched down about 4 p.m. Friday near the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, where it is based. Non-essential personnel at the storm center and students were ordered to take shelter, officials said.
Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Keli Cain said there were no reports of serious injuries.
"This is just a fraction of what's to come tomorrow," Vaccaro warned.
Norman Regional Hospital and an affiliate treated 19 people for mainly "bumps and bruises," and one patient remained hospitalized in fair condition late Friday, hospital spokeswoman Kelly Wells said.
Earth Changes
A loud boom and shaking was reported around 8:45 a.m. Friday and was heard and felt all by 10News viewers from all around San Diego County. Sallene Leang was working at a Seaport Village store when she felt the shaking. "What I heard this morning ... just the doors rattling; I didn't know what it was. I didn't think it was an earthquake because the ground wasn't shaking," said Leang.
The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed the shaking was not an earthquake. A representative from MCAS Miramar said they did not know what caused the booming sound. Midway-area resident Carol Hill told 10News she thought the loud sound was her neighbor banging on her windows. "All at once there was a knocking noise and a rumbling vibration on my kitchen window," Hill said. One person said: "We felt it in Coronado but it did not feel like an earthquake. We thought it felt like an explosion or something."
The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed the shaking was not an earthquake. A representative from MCAS Miramar said they did not know what caused the booming sound. Midway-area resident Carol Hill told 10News she thought the loud sound was her neighbor banging on her windows. "All at once there was a knocking noise and a rumbling vibration on my kitchen window," Hill said. One person said: "We felt it in Coronado but it did not feel like an earthquake. We thought it felt like an explosion or something."
© Getty Images/Scott Olson
Damage caused by Hurricane Irene in Eastern North Carolina, US in August 2011
Damage caused by Hurricane Irene in Eastern North Carolina, US in August 2011
Storm names are decided on by the WMO and run on a seven-year cycle (so the list of names used in 2011 will be used again in 2017) in the Atlantic Basin and eastern North Pacific Basin, unless retired for causing a considerable amount of casualties or damage. Irene is the 76th hurricane name to be retired from the Atlantic list since 1954, according to a statement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Irene will be replaced on the list with "Irma."
Police have been inundated with calls about loud bang, believed to be a series of sonic booms.
Fire crews are also investigating the source of the noise and Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue are liaising with neighbouring counties.
Thames Valley Police duty inspector Phil Rogers said people have reported the noise, from Chipping Norton, Burford, Banbury and North Newington, right out to Swindon and Warwick.
Fire crews are also investigating the source of the noise and Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue are liaising with neighbouring counties.
Thames Valley Police duty inspector Phil Rogers said people have reported the noise, from Chipping Norton, Burford, Banbury and North Newington, right out to Swindon and Warwick.
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Approximately 90 percent of all earthquakes and approximately 75 percent of all volcanic eruptions occur along the Ring of Fire.
Considering the fact that the entire west coast of the United States lies along the Ring of Fire, we should be very concerned that the Ring of Fire is becoming more active. On Wednesday, the most powerful strike-slip earthquake ever recorded happened along the Ring of Fire. If that earthquake had happened in a major U.S. city along the west coast, the city would have been entirely destroyed.
Scientists tell us that there is nearly a 100% certainty that the "Big One" will hit California at some point. In recent years we have seen Japan, Chile, Indonesia and New Zealand all get hit by historic earthquakes. It is inevitable that there will be earthquakes of historic importance on the west coast of the United States as well. So far we have been very fortunate, but that good fortune will not last indefinitely.
In a previous article, I showed that earthquakes are becoming more frequent around the globe. In 2001, there were 137 earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater and in 2011 there were 205. The charts and data that I presented in that previous article show a clear upward trend in large global earthquakes over the past decade, and that is why what happened this week is so alarming.
© Reuters
Residents sleep on the floor of Baiturrahman Mosque after a powerful 8.6 earthquake and a series of aftershocks hit Banda Aceh, in Indonesia's Aceh province, on Wednesday.
Residents sleep on the floor of Baiturrahman Mosque after a powerful 8.6 earthquake and a series of aftershocks hit Banda Aceh, in Indonesia's Aceh province, on Wednesday.
Wednesday's 8.6-magnitude quake and a powerful aftershock were "strike-slip" quakes and the largest of that type recorded, Kerry Sieh, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said.
"It's an exceptionally large and rare event," he said.
"Besides it being the biggest strike-slip earthquake ever recorded, the aftershock is the second biggest as far as we can tell," Sieh said.
Strike-slip quakes involve the horizontal movement of colliding earth plates, and are less powerful than those where there is vertical movement.
This is the 3rd morning in a row at roughly 3:00 am. The sound starts with a rumbling in the ground, and then the sound continues for roughly 30 minutes or so. Can not explain where it is coming from, it seems as if it is coming strait from the sky with not a single plane in sight.
If anyone has anymore info. on this sound we are hearing, I would very much appreciate any explanation to what we are experiencing here in Oregon.
If anyone has anymore info. on this sound we are hearing, I would very much appreciate any explanation to what we are experiencing here in Oregon.
Columbus, Ohio - A loud noise heard near Delaware and Marion counties concerned many residents Thursday evening.
10TV News received reports that residents in Hilliard, Galloway, Westerville and Canal Winchester also heard the sound.
According to the Delaware County Sheriff's Office, a low-flying jet broke the sound barrier and created a sonic boom.
10TV News received reports that residents in Hilliard, Galloway, Westerville and Canal Winchester also heard the sound.
According to the Delaware County Sheriff's Office, a low-flying jet broke the sound barrier and created a sonic boom.
© Steve Bower | shutterstock
In Alaska, changes in moose migrations no longer line up with the hunting season, creating problems for native tribes who depend on the meat.
In Alaska, changes in moose migrations no longer line up with the hunting season, creating problems for native tribes who depend on the meat.
But increasing research is showing some of these relationships are falling out of sync as climate change alters important cues, such as the arrival of spring warmth.
"There are going to be winners and losers," said David Inouye, a biology professor at the University of Maryland, who has followed seasonal events at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado since 1973. "The ultimate outcome will be that some species go extinct and some manage to adapt."
This isn't just a problem for the natural world. Shifts in seasonal events can have direct implications for humans, "because we, as human societies, are adapted to certain seasonal conditions," said Shannon McNeeley, a postdoctoral researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) who has studied how a mismatch is playing out in Alaska. There, changes in the moose migrations have made it difficult for native people to obtain the meat they need during the legal hunting season.
"This more subtle seasonal change has not been a main focus of climate research," McNeeley said. "I think it is going to be one that emerges more and more as we see these changes happening, and we start to have more conflicts around this."
A Motel 6 in Port Allen, Louisiana had an unusual guest on Thursday, a 5-foot-plus alligator that wandered up to the building from a nearby canal. It was first spotted by a hotel employee, but it was a guest who attempted to subdue the animal before police and animal control personnel arrived on the scene. The man was bitten and later admitted to a nearby hospital.
Animal control personnel managed to trap the alligator and release it back into the wild. Spring is when alligators mate and seek out places for safe nesting. Reuters quotes parish animal control director Richard Summers as saying that sometimes alligators wander away from their normal habitats and "just get lost."
Animal control personnel managed to trap the alligator and release it back into the wild. Spring is when alligators mate and seek out places for safe nesting. Reuters quotes parish animal control director Richard Summers as saying that sometimes alligators wander away from their normal habitats and "just get lost."
Comment: This boom, occurred just six hours after a similar massive boom that shook houses over large swathes of England was heard. That boom was also blamed, by British authorities, on military jets. What are the odds? Given the large number of meteorite sightings in recent years, it is far more likely that these booms were caused by overhead meteorite detonations and the US and British governments are scrambling to cover it up.
Note some of the comment of eyewitnesses left on at the original link of this article: