Freaks of the storm by Randy Cerveny

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Freaks of the stormby Randy Cerveny
Death by natural causes ... or
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PLEASE DONT BLAME THE MESSENGER!
AP (December 12, 2007) Ice storm leaves nearly
1 million without power Storm tapers off, but
another forecast to develop over the southern
Plains
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We know that, in the past, its been HOT DRY
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And COLD WET
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But always STRANGE
Like the aftermath of a July hailstorm in Norton
Kansas
Lets look at some strange bizarre weather
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TORNADOES

• In 1955, nine-year-old Sharon Weron was riding
  home on horseback when a tornado lifted her and
  her pony carried over 3 fences and then dropped
  them about 1000 feet from where they were picked
  up.

• In a 1896 tornado, a wood board was jammed
  through an iron bridge!

• And chickens can be plucked of their feathers!

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Weve all seen the famous Wizard of Oz tornado
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Tornadoes, of course, can be incredibly
destructive as Grand Island, Nebraska
discovered back in the 1980s
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A couple of years ago, the Director of the Severe
Storms Forecast Center and I came across a very
odd tornado story Supposedly a bean was shot
through an egg by a tornado without breaking the
egg!
After much searching through old archives we
found a 1950s photograph from Scottsbluff
Nebraska taken by a Weather Bureau man
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Hurricanes
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Elves
New Lightning
Sprites
Blue Jets
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Snow Oddities?
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Hail Oddities
However, in June 2003, a hailstone fell in Aurora
Nebraska that reset the record. It measured a
whopping 18.75 inches in diameter!
On September 3, 1970 three kids in Coffeyville
Kansas found a hailstone that was determined to
be 17.25 inches in circumference and 5.6" in
diameter and weighed an incredible 1.67 pounds
(0.77 kg).
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A ladybug in a hailstone?
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But surely things like raining fish or frogs is
impossible, right?
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Even desert storms can be weird
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our Arizona Thunderstorm Chasers captured a
rare photograph of a gustnado
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And what about the future?
Climatology is a VERY young science only about
30 years old or so so take everything that I am
about to say with a large grain of salt.
Just a few centuries ago, these predictions might
have gotten me burned at the stake
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I, and four other climatologists, were tasked
with determining the future climate of the
Southwest so that designers could properly
construct the Yucca Mt. Nuclear Depository to
last its designated lifetime.
So, in essence, we were asked to come up with
probably one of the longest forecasts ever made
10,000 years! So will it be
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Surprisingly, for 10,000 years, the answer is
COLD!
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So weather is always changing and will be into
the future. It is also constantly odd
But sometimes it can even help people create new
ideas and unusual inventions
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Back in the days of Nebraskas Kansass
settlement, a bad drought and the lure of gold
led many in the Great Plains to head west to
Pikes Peak.
Most headed out by horse and wagons with varying
results
but a few inventive souls created a very unique
transportation system to get to the gold fields
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In the Great Plains (especially during a
drought), the winds can blow consistently and
strong!
So three people began thinking Why not build a
wagon that is powered by something else other
than horses?
One of those three was a man named Samuel Peppard
a miller from Kansas City. He first built,
then tested and redesigned and, finally, set sail
in a wind-powered wagon with the goal of reaching
Denver Colorado first sailing north into
Nebraska
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He sailed north along the Oregon Trail to the
Platte River and then started south along the
South Platte River
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Currently, my students and I are working to
recreate that interesting vehicle. First, we
have built a 1/12th scale model the Dust Devil
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This summer we will be building the Dust Devil II
a full-scale replica of Peppards Windwagon
So hopefully, by Summer 2009, a windwagon will
once again be sailing through Kearney!
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So even today we are continuing to rewrite the
book on weird weather
Thanks for your interest in Freaks of the Storm