bzzzzt … “Scott is calling in from Radisson… Scott, could you tell us what you’re seeing there at the moment” … bzzzztt …. “Yeah, it’s raining really hard here, bolt lightning and crackle my deck furniture is all over the yard and there’s branches down everywhere”… bzzztt… “Thanks Scott and stay safe” … cracklebzzzt… “No problem, and have a good one, eh. Go Riders!” …
The lightening crashed and the rain pelted the side of the house, and one roll of thunder seemed to go on forever. My ears perked up… the sound was getting louder – and closer. There was no mistaking what it sounded like;
The tornado descends as a violently rotating funnel cloud and sounds like the rumble of a freight train…
That’s when the horn blew for the level crossing.
the imagination, a wonderful device to fill the nights deprived of electricity……….
Ahh, that’s nothing Kate. Try months of “10 minute updates” for the greatest flood BC never had (2007).
“Also dominating this year’s top weather stories were menacing floods in British Columbia. With a record deep mountain snow pack, the threat of flooding tormented thousands of residents for months.”
http://www.ec.gc.ca/doc/smc-msc/m_110/toc_eng.html
oh you live that close to the trucks do you!
The first day I arrived in Marshal Minnesota from Arizona, as I stood in the back yard talking to my new neighbor the warning siren went off.
“Testing the air raid warning?” says I.
“Nope. Tornado siren.” says he.
Yep. Loooove the prairies. Love ’em.
Those statistics seem to indicate that, in Canada, fewer people are injured by tornadoes than level crossings.
erk the link does not compute. If the odds of dying in Canada are 12,000,000 to one and, the non comprehensive list at the link has 127 dead well were there at least 1,524,000,000 Canadians. More people than in China, I bet this was peer reviewed just like the earth being in the centre of the universe.
There was a Category 5 twister in Elie Manitoba near the end of June last year. Contrary to the comforting words from the Environment Canada site end of paragraph 4 “Fortunately, Canada has never seen such a storm”. See it on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEUXr6FMtWk&feature=related
That list dates back to the 1800’s. If you take an average per year and compare it to population, you will get a closer number.
Either way, it is not a valid number. It is kind of like saying you have a 1 in 100000 chance of being caught in a flood. If you are not in a Tornado zone or a flood plain, either one is almost impossible.
It computes dinosaur … take a look at it on an annual basis. It’s not cummulative, just because you didn’t die this year because of a tornado doesn’t mean you have a 1 in 6m chance next year.
Oh how I don’t miss that, since moving to BC to a town with no railway.
We used to live in a small prairie town with one of the mainline railways running through it. One time we put some out of town guests up in our local motel. The older gentleman in the group was from the NWT and had never heard or seen a freight train up close. Early in the morning as it rumbled through town (about 50 meters away) the poor old guy hit the roof. He thought for sure it was coming in the door.
Marshall, Minnesota, eh Phantom? We stayed in a motel there last fall. No air raid sirens just the hardest most uncomfortable bed in the good ol’ USofA. Now on the other hand, the beds in Biggar, Sask. are quite comfy mainly because they are bigger.
I used to live in Regina … looked after railway, police and weather site equipment and communications systems….. most of which had a habit of failing when …. there was a storm. As a result I drove better than 100thousand clicks every year on trouble calls across the province.
Prairie thunderstorms are awesome entertainment.
You know what’s really fun? Standing outside in a big storm and videotaping the lightning…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/i_love_the_slow_loris/2646424593/
Not as much fun as watching some tard pay the price for it!
Big “G” Productions!