Did You Know...

...First three months of 2015 show fewest U.S. tornadoes in three decades

For The First Time Since 1969, No US Tornadoes Reported In March

Quiet Start To Tornado Season

But don't let that stop you.

The NDP...

...still out of touch with Saskatchewanians:

Saskatchewan government fails to tackle climate change in provincial budget

"Environment critic Cathy Sproule said budget cuts in the last several years have shown the government's lack of action.

"

Climate-change deniers exist and ... that's something that is disappointing when we see that kind of attitude within our government," said Sproule.

The NDP will have "a lot more questions" if Eyre is elected in Saskatoon Stonebridge-Dakota in the next election, she said."

[---]

"We have the highest per-capita emissions in the country, which is embarrassing."

[--]

"Eyre noted in her column that there have been several extreme weather events in history — from extensive flooding in Saskatchewan in 1974 to tornadoes in the mid-western United States in the 1930s.

"Could it be the weather's always been a bit wacky and prone to periods of extremes?" she wrote. "Ontario may have roasted last summer and a 40 C day there last week inevitability made the evening news. But the province has always been prone to high heat."

Will it ever end??

Does Not Compute

Tornadoes's increased frequency, strength linked with climate change

"The climate change may be playing as a key role in the strength and frequency of tornadoes, according to a research by a Florida State University geography professor. Tornadoes are forming at a greater density and strength than ever before, but they are forming for fewer days per year."

[---]

"According to the NOAA/National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center, the 2011 tornado season had nearly 1,700 storms and killed more than 550 people. While in 2014,there have been 189 storms with a death toll of 43.

Many researchers dismissed the impact of climate change on tornadoes because there was no distinct pattern in the number of tornado days per year, as said in the past by James Elser. In 1971, there were 187 tornado days, but in 2013 there were only 79 days with tornadoes."

Wow!! That Was Close

We interrupt this series on my dad to bring you a weather report:

I was asleep on the couch this afternoon and woke up at about 6:30 to news on the radio that tornadoes had been sited in several communities just north-east of here. There were warnings of possible tornadoes for the Indian Head area! Yikes!!!

A few minutes later, they announced that the warnings had been lifted. Right now there is heavy rain and strong winds blowing ominous black clouds across the sky.

I'm still here. Power must have been out because clocks in both bedrooms were blinking.

Today in History...

On the radio station that my ears are usually glued to, they are making a big deal out of the 100th anniversary of the "Regina Cyclone". For anyone who has not had the privilege of having to listen to this, on this day in 1912, a tornado ripped through the small prairie city, capital of the (still fairly new) province of Saskatchewan. That event remains the most deadly tornado in Canada's history, we've been told. A total of 28 people were killed.

I've been thinking and wondering what our leftie greenie babies think about this. They keep wanting us to believe that storms and weather disasters are increasing in number and intensity and more and more people and buildings are being killed/destroyed all because of human induced global warming. It never seems to occur to them that one hundred years on, there are a lot more people and a lot more buildings, and that alone would account for the number of deaths and the sweep and cost of the damage to structures.

Ya'll probably remember a vicious tornado ripping though the Missouri city of Joplin last year. In 1880, Joplin's population was just a little over 7,000. Today, it's very nearly 10 times that. Surely factors such as that must be considered in any assessment about whether there are changes to severe weather patterns.

And speaking of Missouri, take a look this chart from Wikipedia:

List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks

Note the following, from that webpage:

• Exact death and injury counts are not possible, especially for large events and events before 1955.

• Prior to 1950 in the United States, only significant tornadoes are listed for the number of tornadoes in outbreaks.

• Due to increasing detection, particularly in the U.S., numbers of counted tornadoes have increased markedly in recent decades although number of actual tornadoes and counted significant tornadoes has not. In older events, the number of tornadoes officially counted is likely underestimated.

Note also, that the deadliest tornado in the US took place in 1925, eighty-seven years ago.

Case closed.

Kansas, Here We Come

This part of knuckledraggerland is on the northern edge of tornado alley. On the radio today, all day long, they were broadcasting about locations where tornadoes had been sited and/or touched down or where plow winds had been knocking semis off the road onto their sides, etc., etc.

Luckily for me, most of this was happening further to the northwest. All we're getting is thunder and lightening. Maybe it will rain and cool things down. My air conditioner has been working real hard, but it's still pretty warm in the house.  Ice cream and cold bottles of Coke have helped, but that's not healthy. But we're all gonna die somehow - tornado or too much bad food, or roofs collapsing. Godspeed to the people of Elliot Lake. Especially those who were just out doing a bit of shopping.  Lawyers are gonna get rich. Tony Merchant, where are you?

Of Course...

...tornadoes ALWAYS hit trailer parks.

"One person is dead, dozens are injured and some are trapped in their homes after a powerful storm system bearing a string of possible tornadoes moved across the Midwest and battered a tourist hub and mobile home park in southwest Missouri."

Oh well, they're just rednecks down there, you know. /sarc

Oh, I know. It's CAGW.