Timothy Birdnow

I largely disagree. What we are seeing IS entirely normal - it's just we didn't have so many people and so many building in the past as we do now. We are always building in flood zones, in earthquake zones, in tornado alley. We do this and are suprised that we are sustaining increasing damage and cost. What did everyone think?

One "Apocalyptic Disaster” After Another Right Now?

BTW I live in St. Louis and the tornado that hit us was not "massive" but simply hit in a very bad spot - the Central West End, which is heavily populated. It's not all that unusual though; the worst tornado disaster in St. Louis hit in the same neighborhood in 1927 - either an F3 or F4 (historians are uncertain). Also, in 1959 a big tornado swept through a neighborhood not too far from the Central West End, obliterating it to the point the whole neighborhood had to be torn down. In it's place an entertainment district was built - the world famous Gaslight square (which has since been torn down as the neighborhood around it makes Haarlem or Watts look gentrified.) So big tornadoes in this spot are not uncommon.

I would also remind everyone of the F4 monster tornado that flattened Joplin, Mo. back in 2011.

People also need to remember that in 1974 the U.S. was hit by over a hundred tornadoes. So this isn't unusual. 334 people died in this super-tornadic event.

Kentucky often gets hit by tornadoes; it's largely flat once you get past the mountains. Nice land for tornaodoes to form and move. Again, not all that unusual.

At any rate we've always had these kinds of disasters but in times past they were local and at most got a one-line mention in newspapers. Now, with 24 hour coverage, we have them trumpeted to all the world all the time. A dust storm is not at all unusual for Chicago, for example, but in bygone times we just didn't hear about it. On May 10, 1934 Chicago got hit with a huge dust cloud, as did so many other places during the Dust Bowl. Chicago sits on the prairie after all. Dust storms and locusts cometh from prairies. Chicago also got hit with a big dust storm in 1985.

While there may be some climatic event that is triggering these weather phenomena, they certainly aren't new.

Do read the comments, some are very good, many quite conspiratorial.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 09:49 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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