You Need Not Leave Home...
...to experience those things you want.
I love science (yes, I'm repeating myself) and I love volcanoes, earthquakes and tornados - all those weird, wacky, powerful, decimating sorts of things. Now, don't get me wrong - I don't like the human disasters part - although when you think about it, five to forty deaths in a tornado that rates as an F5, cuts a miles-long swath is not a bad death toll. Think about it - something like that can kill far more people than that. But I don't have an interest in that part. I'm just fascinated by the nature - the powerful strength of the air, the earth, magma moving beneath the surface.
I have not seen a volcanic eruption, but I have experienced three earthquakes (all very, very minor) and one tornado. The tornado was by no means an F5 (which is fine) but it was scary as hell and pretty much satisfied any desire I had to be that close to one. On 31 May 1999, a tornado ripped through Lake Parsippany, not a half mile from the house. It did not tear up any houses directly but it dropped huge trees on houses and cars and did an enormous amount of damage.
I awoke around 0230 from a crash of thunder that was like a detonation. The cat was unnerved - Chelsea was totally unaware of it but Ariel was very upset and high-strung. I made myself some tea, and watched the storm through the window. I moved into the kitchen when the wind became too out-of-hand to watch. The kitchen, in the back of the house facing east, had one protected window (it had an awning over it) and the side window was heavy glass blocks like you'd find in a bathroom - it allows in difuse light but no direct light. (The view was the nieghbour's house and nothing else, so this was good thinking on the previous owner's part.) I knew I was safer in there, with the storm raging from the west and the small window there. I was sitting with Ariel when the distinctive sound of a freight train passing by was clearly audible. All that raging storm and that is exactly what I heard. There is just one problem - no trains pass through Parsippany. The closest place to get a train is Morris Plains (not at all close enough to be audible) and those are only commuter trains. It was scary. I knew that meant a tornado from all the documentaries, books and online reaserch I've seen and read. I was unnerved. I had never experienced anything like that and I have not since.
And I did not need to go to Texas or Oklahoma to do this.
I went to Texas twice and not a single tornado showed up. I suppose that this is really a good thing, but I wanted to at least experience one super-cell storm. Not even a rumble sounded to allow for any satisfaction. I have always wanted to go on a storm-chasing journey but have never managed it. But we had a tornado (an F2) pass just down the road from me in New Jersey, a state that averages 3 tornadoes a year. I spent time in a state that averages 248 tornadoes a year and had NOTHING!
I have been to California right on the San Andreas fault and how many earthquakes occured when I was there? Nothing - not even the slightest hint of a tremblor. Nothing. Really nothing. But when I was taking an astronomy class here in New Jersey I felt two tiny earthquakes in the house in Wayne - they were so minor I did not know what they were until I went for my next class and the scientist there showed us the siesmograph.
On 22 April 2002 I awoke around 0600. I went up to my computer in my office, which was the top floor of the house. I remember sitting there while typing and thinking something wasn't right. I kept thinking about this as I was working on a letter. And then it hit me. It was quiet. I don't mean it is 0600 and nothing much was going on, I mean it was dead quiet. There should have been explosive noise coming from the birds in the trees at dawn and there was nothing. Not a peep. It was that total lack of noise that got my attention.
I remember looking around and becoming aware of my pen, resting on my desk, moving... gently rocking back and forth. So was the monitor. It was very subtle, but very striking, too. The pen got to a point where it slowly rolled off of my desk. After maybe 20 to 25 seconds of this, it stopped. I was looking around - there were no sounds, no truck driving by, nothing that could have caused this... it was an earthquake! Sure enough, a day later, I went to the USGS Web site and there it was - an earthquake in Plattsburg, NY - right at the time I felt it - a magnitude 5.4 quake - that, for this area, is exceedingly strong. I went on and posted my experience and there were others that had posted feeling it in areas more south than I was. Amazing, right?
So I went to California in 1999, and felt nothing. I was in Texas in 2001 and again in 2002 and experienced nothing. I never left home in 1986, 1999 and 2002 and experienced three minor earthquakes and one mid-strength tornado. Sometimes you need not leave home to find those thing you wish to experience!
I love science (yes, I'm repeating myself) and I love volcanoes, earthquakes and tornados - all those weird, wacky, powerful, decimating sorts of things. Now, don't get me wrong - I don't like the human disasters part - although when you think about it, five to forty deaths in a tornado that rates as an F5, cuts a miles-long swath is not a bad death toll. Think about it - something like that can kill far more people than that. But I don't have an interest in that part. I'm just fascinated by the nature - the powerful strength of the air, the earth, magma moving beneath the surface.
I have not seen a volcanic eruption, but I have experienced three earthquakes (all very, very minor) and one tornado. The tornado was by no means an F5 (which is fine) but it was scary as hell and pretty much satisfied any desire I had to be that close to one. On 31 May 1999, a tornado ripped through Lake Parsippany, not a half mile from the house. It did not tear up any houses directly but it dropped huge trees on houses and cars and did an enormous amount of damage.
I awoke around 0230 from a crash of thunder that was like a detonation. The cat was unnerved - Chelsea was totally unaware of it but Ariel was very upset and high-strung. I made myself some tea, and watched the storm through the window. I moved into the kitchen when the wind became too out-of-hand to watch. The kitchen, in the back of the house facing east, had one protected window (it had an awning over it) and the side window was heavy glass blocks like you'd find in a bathroom - it allows in difuse light but no direct light. (The view was the nieghbour's house and nothing else, so this was good thinking on the previous owner's part.) I knew I was safer in there, with the storm raging from the west and the small window there. I was sitting with Ariel when the distinctive sound of a freight train passing by was clearly audible. All that raging storm and that is exactly what I heard. There is just one problem - no trains pass through Parsippany. The closest place to get a train is Morris Plains (not at all close enough to be audible) and those are only commuter trains. It was scary. I knew that meant a tornado from all the documentaries, books and online reaserch I've seen and read. I was unnerved. I had never experienced anything like that and I have not since.
And I did not need to go to Texas or Oklahoma to do this.
I went to Texas twice and not a single tornado showed up. I suppose that this is really a good thing, but I wanted to at least experience one super-cell storm. Not even a rumble sounded to allow for any satisfaction. I have always wanted to go on a storm-chasing journey but have never managed it. But we had a tornado (an F2) pass just down the road from me in New Jersey, a state that averages 3 tornadoes a year. I spent time in a state that averages 248 tornadoes a year and had NOTHING!
I have been to California right on the San Andreas fault and how many earthquakes occured when I was there? Nothing - not even the slightest hint of a tremblor. Nothing. Really nothing. But when I was taking an astronomy class here in New Jersey I felt two tiny earthquakes in the house in Wayne - they were so minor I did not know what they were until I went for my next class and the scientist there showed us the siesmograph.
On 22 April 2002 I awoke around 0600. I went up to my computer in my office, which was the top floor of the house. I remember sitting there while typing and thinking something wasn't right. I kept thinking about this as I was working on a letter. And then it hit me. It was quiet. I don't mean it is 0600 and nothing much was going on, I mean it was dead quiet. There should have been explosive noise coming from the birds in the trees at dawn and there was nothing. Not a peep. It was that total lack of noise that got my attention.
I remember looking around and becoming aware of my pen, resting on my desk, moving... gently rocking back and forth. So was the monitor. It was very subtle, but very striking, too. The pen got to a point where it slowly rolled off of my desk. After maybe 20 to 25 seconds of this, it stopped. I was looking around - there were no sounds, no truck driving by, nothing that could have caused this... it was an earthquake! Sure enough, a day later, I went to the USGS Web site and there it was - an earthquake in Plattsburg, NY - right at the time I felt it - a magnitude 5.4 quake - that, for this area, is exceedingly strong. I went on and posted my experience and there were others that had posted feeling it in areas more south than I was. Amazing, right?
So I went to California in 1999, and felt nothing. I was in Texas in 2001 and again in 2002 and experienced nothing. I never left home in 1986, 1999 and 2002 and experienced three minor earthquakes and one mid-strength tornado. Sometimes you need not leave home to find those thing you wish to experience!
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