Texas Fires & The Devil Went Down to Georgia

Yesterday was a wild weather day for some folks. Here in my neck of the woods, wildfires were a problem. There were three big ones to note with one in particular near Benjamin, TX that was intense. The convective plume was so intense, it was creating serious pyrocumulus clearly visible on satellite. I apologize for not saving an image of that, but perhaps the NWS will post something and I'll link it here later. My parents were on a trip back from North Texas and they said it actually looked like a storm until they got close to it. They reported that an army of firefighters and at least one tanker plane were fighting it.

In any event, I saved an interesting radar image that detected the plumes of smoke from the fires. Note the smaller fires and the direction of the smoke plumes behind the front.


Then as I was channel surfing last night, I passed The Weather Channel (really the Home & Garden Channel) and saw a radar image of two big bruiser cells in Georgia. I stopped there and jumped on the computer and fired up GR3. I watched as the tornadic storm and strong rotation passed over downtown Atlanta. And sho'nuff, a tornado smacked the downtown area. I won't regurgitate news links here, but feel free to use that nifty Google search tool for Atlanta area TV stations and newspapers.

I found it particularly amusing that CNN got hit. The amusing part really was how they reacted to it. It certainly proves once again that alot of news media people are bumbling idiots outside of a controlled production environment. One reporter for them just outside their damaged facility was the poster child for such idiocy. The woman at the anchor desk was a strong contender. I have to wonder if broadcasting or "journalism" schools these people attended endeavor to erase any and all abilities of common sense and the ability to mentally process (and retain!) information. Ugh. Enough ranting on that.

I also have to rant about the Georgia Dome where a big NCAA B-ball game was ongoing. They pretty much took a direct hit, but the structure was able to withstand it....barely. I don't have attendence figures, but the dome is capable of holding 70,000 people. I'll be conservative and go with 30,000 people. Despite at least 10-15 minutes lead time from the NWS issuing a tornado warning for this storm and projected path towards the facility, nobody bothered to interrupt the game. Play didn't stop until the tornado was already assaulting the arena and trying to rip the top off. The rafters and suspended equipment swayed dangerously above the players and fans.

In short, it was ALREADY too late to take shelter. Had this been a stronger tornado, we could easily have seen hundreds (maybe thousands) of fatalities and many more serious injuries here alone. Many people inside there would have been sucked out and slung across Atlanta....not a pretty thought. It would have been a disaster rivaling that of Katrina. Medical and emergency services would have been severely overwhelmed and grossly inadequate.

Afterwards, there would be a big federal investigation and finger pointing in the following months with the conclusion that the disaster could have been significantly mitigated if they would have had a "tornado action plan" in place and activated. Laws would then be passed making such plans mandatory for major arenas (just like fire safety codes) around the country. Yes, as usual, it takes a major disaster to truly effect change. So why not do that now BEFORE a disaster strikes? Maybe this close call will wake some people up...but I'm not holding my breath.

And lastly, I want to slap the hell out of the TV commentator at the game that said "I've been told that in situations like this, a dome stadium is the best place to be". WTF? Who told him that? Where did he conjure up that idea?

Here's a little lesson from "Safety Bear®": Domed stadiums (or ANY large span roofed buildings) are not safe from ANYTHING other than rain. Tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes are not to be confused with a rainshower. Here's a gold star for you.

Again, why are so many media people complete idiotic, mindless, clueless, and witless morons living in a world totally devoid of common sense? How is it that despite a relentless education campaign about severe weather safety, they fail to miss it all and instead come up with something like that? "Uh, I've been told that when a ship is sinking, it is best to remain on the ship." Totally amazing. Never underestimate the power of stupidity. Maybe we need to spin the NWS flooding safety slogan and create a new one: "Use your head. Don't be dead". I'm trademarking that by the way for anybody out there wanting to rip it off like my Holiday Inn Express slogan. ;-)


By the way, a big congrats to Team Tim Reed for being nominated for the 2007 YouTube Awards for best eyewitness video. (That should certainly get a couple of mustache twitches within the CFDG compound, eh?) They face some serious competition, but in all unbiased fairness I think they should win. The "Battle At Kruger" is a strong contender and one incredible video which I'd vote as second place. Third place goes for the "Don't Taz Me Bro" video as I simply love to see foaming-at-the-mouth shrieking and hysterical liberals get zapped. LOL!!!