The most incredible tornado footage ever recorded

You can't get more up-close and personal with a tornado than this:


Check out an amazing 360° video of the twister here.

DIY trashcan tornado shelter

This is a follow-up to yesterday's post. I really don't know what to think of this. Part of me thinks it's an ingenious idea, but part of me thinks it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. You be the judge:


(via The Tea Party Economist)

Amazing video of tornado in North Dakota

This is the most amazing video footage of a tornado I've seen:


Watch the raw video (complete with NSFW language) here.

(via The Tea Party Economist)

The upside to air pollution? The government can't spy on you.

(Photo: China Foto Press)

Who knew smog had a silver lining? The South China Morning Post reports that the thick, blinding smog shrouding Beijing is rendering surveillance cameras virtually useless, and scientists are being called in to shed some light on the subject. One possible solution being tossed around is to use radar to help keep "sensitive areas" more secure.

Meanwhile, the Chinese people may enjoy a somewhat brief respite from Big Brother's prying eye.

Global cooling? Arctic ice cap grows 60% in one year

Just six years ago, the BBC reported scientists' dire prediction that the Arctic summers could be ice-free by 2013:

Professor Wieslaw Maslowski told an American Geophysical Union meeting that previous projections had underestimated the processes now driving ice loss.

Summer melting this year reduced the ice cover to 4.13 million sq km, the smallest ever extent in modern times.

Remarkably, this stunning low point was not even incorporated into the model runs of Professor Maslowski and his team, which used data sets from 1979 to 2004 to constrain their future projections.

"Our projection of 2013 for the removal of ice in summer is not accounting for the last two minima, in 2005 and 2007," the researcher from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, explained to the BBC.

"So given that fact, you can argue that may be our projection of 2013 is already too conservative."

"Yikes! It's 2013 now! What about all those poor polar bears?!"

Don't worry. The bears will be just fine. Mail Online reported on Saturday that the Arctic ice cap has actually grown larger. In fact, it is nearly one million square miles bigger than it was this time last year. That's a 60% increase in 365 days. Looks like some scientists will be frantically scrambling for more grant money in the coming months.

(Image: Mail Online)

To those who have been paying attention, this comes as no surprise. Global temperatures have remained steady for the last decade-and-a-half. Even the climate scaremongers at The New York Times can't ignore the obvious. Is it any wonder why the term "global warming" has since been replaced with the more ambiguous "climate change"?

So cheer up. Waterworld is still the stuff of science fiction, and Greenland won't be turning green again anytime soon. Perhaps it's time for these Chicken Little climatologists to simply chill out.

Amazing video of a rotating supercell in Texas

Read about it here.

(via Colossal)

Recent tornado outbreak a result of 'global cooling'?

That's what scientists were saying four decades ago, as this 1975 Newsweek article shows:

It's worth reading through the entire article, but here's the relevant excerpt:

In England, farmers have seen their growing season decline by about two weeks since 1950, with a resultant overall loss in grain production estimated at up to 100,000 tons annually. During the same time, the average temperature around the equator has risen by a fraction of a degree – a fraction that in some areas can mean drought and desolation. Last April, in the most devastating outbreak of tornadoes ever recorded, 148 twisters killed more than 300 people and caused half a billion dollars' worth of damage in 13 U.S. states.

To scientists, these seemingly disparate incidents represent the advance signs of fundamental changes in the world’s weather. The central fact is that after three quarters of a century of extraordinarily mild conditions, the earth's climate seems to be cooling down. Meteorologists disagree about the cause and extent of the cooling trend, as well as over its specific impact on local weather conditions. But they are almost unanimous in the view that the trend will reduce agricultural productivity for the rest of the century. If the climatic change is as profound as some of the pessimists fear, the resulting famines could be catastrophic.

Any wonder why so many scientists and politicians now opt for the more ambiguous term "climate change"?

(via The Tea Party Economist)

An undeniable truth (11/10/2012)

You cannot rely on fair-weather friends in an emergency.

Lightning strike during baseball game sends players scattering; fearless grounds crew apparently immune to electricity

About the only sparks during last night's game between the Minnesota Twins and the Texas Rangers occurred in the fourth inning when a bright flash of lightning and a deafening clap of thunder sent players scattering to their dugouts. The ensuing delay lasted for about 45 minutes.


Don't you just love the dedication to safety? "Oh, no! Lightning! Quick! Send out the grounds crew to cover the field!"

What Global Warming?

You mean our planet's climate actually fluctuates? Some scientists are just now figuring that out:

The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists. Their predictions – based on an analysis of natural cycles in water temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans – challenge some of the global warming orthodoxy's most deeply cherished beliefs, such as the claim that the North Pole will be free of ice in summer by 2013. According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, Arctic summer sea ice has increased by 409,000 square miles, or 26 per cent, since 2007 – and even the most committed global warming activists do not dispute this.

Just wait. Al Gore will take the credit for this.

Media Bias Exposed

Is Your Car Ready for Winter?

New Orleans Hit Hard by Global Warming

In Dixie Land where I was born in
Early on one frosty mornin'
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land

Born in New Orleans myself, I can't say I recall what the weather was like on that July morning so many years ago, but I doubt it was like what the Big Easy has been experiencing lately:

A rare snowfall blanketed south Louisiana and parts of Mississippi Thursday, closing schools, government offices and bridges, triggering crashes on major highways and leaving thousands of people without power.

Up to 8 inches of snow was reported in parts of Louisiana. Snow also covered a broad swath of Mississippi, including the Jackson area, and closed schools in more than a dozen districts.

A heavy band of snow coated windshields and grassy areas in New Orleans, where about an inch accumulated. A peak of 8 inches was reported in Amite, about 75 miles northwest of New Orleans, said meteorologist Danielle Manning of the National Weather Service in Slidell.

This latest climactic catastrophe, along with the fact that 2008 is about to go down on record as the coolest year of the decade, should vindicate the Nobel Prize-winning Al Gore once and for all.

Global Warming = More Ice?

How's this for an inconvenient truth? Seems there's enough ice for all those cute, cuddly polar bears after all.

June 12 is Carbon Belch Day

Speaking of global warming, one group of skeptics is planning to launch "Carbon Belch Day":

Conservative grassroots group Grassfire.org wants people to waste as much energy as possible on June 12 by "hosting a barbecue, going for a drive, watching television, leaving a few lights on, or even smoking a few cigars."

The point: the group wants to "help Americans break free from the 'carbon footprint guilt' being imposed by Climate Alarmists."

Sign me up!

Proof of Life on Jupiter

According to NASA, the giant planet is experiencing global warming:

For about 300 years Jupiter's banded atmosphere has shown a remarkable feature to telescopic viewers, a large swirling storm system known as The Great Red Spot. In 2006, another red storm system appeared, actually seen to form as smaller whitish oval-shaped storms merged and then developed the curious reddish hue. Now, Jupiter has a third red spot, again produced from a smaller whitish storm. All three are seen in this image made from data recorded on May 9 and 10 with the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. The spots extend above the surrounding clouds and their red color may be due to deeper material dredged up by the storms and exposed to ultraviolet light, but the exact chemical process is still unknown. For scale, the Great Red Spot has almost twice the diameter of planet Earth, making both new spots less than one Earth-diameter across. The newest red spot is on the far left (west), along the same band of clouds as the Great Red Spot and is drifting toward it. If the motion continues, the new spot will encounter the much larger storm system in August. Jupiter's recent outbreak of red spots is likely related to large scale climate change as the gas giant planet is getting warmer near the equator.

So, how do I know that there is life (probably human) on Jupiter? Because, as everyone (or at least Al Gore) knows, climate change is only brought about by human activity. Therefore, we can logically conclude that life exists on Jupiter.

Springtime in Minnesota

Ah, springtime in Minnesota!

There's nothing better than waking up on a Saturday morning like today, going downstairs, pouring yourself a cup of coffee, and stepping out onto the deck to enjoy the warm...

What the...?!


Think I'll go drink this by the fireplace.

Are Twins Fans Sure They Want an Outdoor Stadium?

From KARE11.com:

The Minnesota Twins host the Anaheim Angels at the Metrodome Monday evening -- a game that likely would have been canceled if the Twins were already in their new outdoor ballpark.

Twins spokesman Kevin Smith said when the ballpark opens in 2010, the team will likely work with league officials to schedule a later home opener to decrease the likelihood of a snow-out.

Winter storm advisories. Heavy snow warnings. Yep. It's baseball season in Minnesota.

Global Cooling Now a Threat Due to Too Much Conservation

Lemon Harangue News

ST. PAUL, Minn. - For many regions across the country, this is the coldest, snowiest April in over a century. The calendar says that spring has sprung, but freezing Midwesterners beg to differ.

"Our outdoor Easter egg hunt had to be canceled," said Edith Johnson, director of children's activities at the Winona Public Library. "It's just heart-breaking to see 30 frozen little kids wandering around the yard looking for eggs that are buried under eight inches of snow. Sure, I like the snow and cold as much as the next Minnesotan, but enough already!"

Randy Miller, a postal carrier in Duluth, agrees. "I can't believe I'm still walking my route in my long underwear in April. Usually, by this time, I'm in darks socks and shorts. What happened to global warming?"

That's what others are beginning to wonder.

The plight of freezing, snowbound Americans hasn't escaped the notice of environmental activists in the nation's capital. Al Gore was quick to express his sympathies. "I know this weather has been hard on people," he said in a press conference Wednesday. "But how do you think I feel? We've already had three global warming conferences snowed out--and that's money out of my pocket."

What caused this sudden climate shift? The former vice president thinks he may have had something to do with it, citing record sales of hybrid cars and energy-saving light bulbs as contributing factors to the cooler temperatures. "I'm surprised that people took my movie, An Inconvenient Truth, so seriously," he said. "I'm not used to being taken seriously. And while I'm impressed by people's willingness to make sacrifices to fight global warming, my concern now is that there is too much conservation going on."

Gore seemed to backtrack from previous remarks he had made. "Global warming was certainly a grave threat, but I'm afraid now that we may be over-compensating. Yes, I did say that 'this planet has a fever.' But we don't want it to die of hypothermia, either."

My Fourth Time Shoveling in 24 Hours...and It's Still Coming Down

Okay, that's it for me. Thanks very much, ladies and gentlemen. You've been great. See you in the spring.

A Winter Haiku

Deep, wet, drifting snow
Look! My neighbor's snow blower
Thou shalt not covet