Tornadoes

Tornadoes occur in many parts of the world. Tornadoes are destructive forces of nature and are found frequently in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains during the spring and summer months. In an average year, 800 tornadoes are reported nationwide, resulting in 80 deaths and over 1,500 injuries. Tornado is defined as a violently rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. The most violent tornadoes are capable of tremendous destruction with wind speeds of 250 mph or more. Damage paths can be in excess of one mile wide and 50 miles long. Thunderstorms develop in warm, moist air in advance of eastward-moving cold fronts. These thunderstorms often produce large hail, strong winds, and tornadoes. Tornadoes in the winter and early spring are often associated with strong, frontal systems that form in the Central States and move east. Occasionally, large outbreaks of tornadoes occur with this type of weather pattern. Several states may be affected by numerous severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. During the spring in the Central Plains, thunderstorms frequently develop along a "dry line," which separates very warm, moist air to the east from hot, dry air to the west. Tornado-producing thunderstorms may form as the dry line moves east during the afternoon hours. Along the front range of the Rocky Mountains, in the Texas panhandle, and in the southern High Plains, thunderstorms frequently form as air near the ground flows "upslope" toward higher terrain. If other favorable conditions exist, these thunderstorms can produce tornadoes. Tornadoes occasionally accompany tropical storms and hurricanes that move over land. Tornadoes are most common to the right and ahead of the path of the storm center as it comes onshore.

EL NINO

Have you ever experience rain for about a week none stop? Well in the year of nineteen ninety seven El Niño hit on the pacific coast. El Nino is a change in wind direction and with that change there is rain. El Niño is very different from La Niña, which hits over in the East Asia. Well my experience I was in first grade and El Niño hit in the winter.  Being the Best on the Beach Elementary it was not that year. The classes that were at sea level reached about a foot of depth. Those classes were for the sixth graders and fifth graders. That whole week or two they had wet classrooms. Through out the school the carpet only got soaked. Other than the school, the city of Newport Beach the water reached the sidewalks. My mother at that time had a Honda Civic so it felt like we were driving in the ocean. Being that El Niño is rain, that season it happened it would be raining a whole day and then stop for awhile. As several people dislike the rain, El Niño has been a favorite memory for me. School during El Niño was not that much fun because recess was spent playing board games and I did that at home.

El Niño is distinguished by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific. El Niño is an oscillation of the ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific having important consequences for weather around the globe. Some consequences are increased rainfalls across the south of the US. Trade winds blow towards the west across the tropical Pacific. These winds pile up warm surface water in the west Pacific. The temperature of the sea is about 8 degrees C higher in the west, with cool temperatures off South America. Rainfall is found in rising air over the warmest water, and the east Pacific is relatively dry. During El Niño, the trade winds relax in the central and western Pacific leading to a depression of the thermo cline in the eastern Pacific, and an elevation of the thermo cline in the west. The eastward displacement of the atmospheric heat source overlaying the warmest water results in large changes in the global atmospheric circulation, which in turn force changes in weather in regions far removed from the tropical Pacific.

Earthquakes

Earthquakes are caused when rock underground breaks along a fault. This energy causes the seismic waves that make the ground shake. When one rubs things together they tend to stick, so when two blocks of rock or two plates are rubbing against each other, they will stick a little. The sliding process is not smooth; the rocks catch on each other. The rocks are still pushing against each other, but not moving. The rocks break because of all the pressure. With the pressure comes the earthquake. During the earthquake all that the blocks of rocks or plates are doing is find a place where they can be stuck to each other again. The spot underground where the rock breaks is called the focus of the earthquake. The place right above the focus (on top of the ground) is called the epicenter of the earthquake. Earthquake-like seismic waves can also be caused by explosions underground. These explosions, however, don't cause very strong seismic waves. Sometimes seismic waves occur when the roof or walls of a mine collapse.

Funny thing about earthquakes for me back in Newport Beach, California there were not many earthquakes as one feels here in Arizona. I recall having the neighbors’ house being remodel and the street felt like an earthquake. Being on the second floor the movement of the ground was stronger. So what is the first thing one should do? Go under a table or bed in my case. It was so much fun just knowing that I knew what to do in this type of issues of the environment. In the three years here in Somerton I have been in two earthquakes this year. The first one, I was at work with my mother and the fans and frames in the reception area moved. Outside the cars that were parked moved about half a foot. As everybody knows an earthquakes consist of aftershocks. Well after that the mini after shocks were felt able.   On Easter Sunday, an earthquake well known that the most disaster was done in Mexicali was something different I have felt in my nineteen years of life. At around four o’clock the ground started to shake. The trees would lean back and forth. At the time of the earth quake I was at a picnic with my church and we were jumping rope. To be honest I thought it was all the weight of my friends jumping the rope that was moving the ground.  So being outside the earthquake is not so bad.

Lightning

Have you ever seen light fall from the sky?

Well when there are thunderstorms keep your eye out for that light I am speaking of.

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Cloud To Air

    When a thunderstorm has lightning, every minute that goes by it is beauty that nature brings to the earth. Some people are afraid of lightning, which one should be because one strike of lightning can kill a person. My experiences of lightning have been in the three years that I lived here in Somerton and when I traveled from California to San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora. One winter on my way to San Luis I drove in a thunderstorm through the desert before arriving to Yuma. The clouds of course were pitch black and lightning fell from left to right of the road. There were sequences of several lightning bolts in a row. If I remember correctly the lightning color was red and purple. The closer I drove the more excited I got. Recently, on August 26, 2010 a thunderstorm came through the city of Somerton. The thunderstorm started off by strong winds. After an hour of just winds there was drizzle of rain and then it showered for about fifteen minutes. Rain does not like to pour over Somerton that long. Along with the drizzle lightning bolts started to fall. The color of the lightning was blue and it lighted up the town. I can not wait for more thunderstorms.

Lightning Between CLouds

    Lightning comes from thunderstorms and are arranged when liquid and ice particles above the freezing level collide. This then builds a large electrical field in the clouds. Lightning can occur in three different places: between clouds only, between the cloud and air, and between the cloud and the ground. The temperature of Lightning can reach fifty thousand degrees Fahrenheit, which is hotter than the surface of the sun. The heat that is produced from lightning can catch an object on fire.