Damage in the Smoky Mountains from the April 27 tornadoe s.  Video and photos at the link.

Thank you Kevin L. Nenstiel for the kind words and the review of Mike's book WARNINGS: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather . Kevin teaches English at the University of Nebraska and wrote on his blog that "Mike Smith Saves the World from Weather". http://wordbasket.blogspot.com/2011/09/mike-smith-saves-world-from-weather.html Mike doesn't wear a cape to work, but he could. His passion is to save lives by providing early warnings for severe weather and he is a champion trying to save the tornado sirens use for only an acutal tornado and not to be used as a severe thunderstorm warning as some communities continue to do. Mike feels that the general public has become jaded to the threat of a tornado and the first inclination for some people is to go outside and look up into the sky to evaluate the threat for themselves. Mike feels that even one life lost in a tornado is too many and he wants people to be prepared so that a tornado ...

The Wall Street Journal  had a special section last week on smart ways to build a greener environment in general with cities a particular focus. The article I was most impressed with was some specific suggestions here . One of those suggestions pertains to walking and biking. I got to see a brilliantly executed example of this in Dallas ten days ago with their Katy Trail. They took the abandoned right-of-way from the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (a/k/a "Katy") paved with with two lanes (one walking, one biking). Here are some photos I took of this surprisingly busy trail. My son, Richard with Maggie, on the walking part of the Katy Trail. The bikers are on the biking part of the Trail.  The trail has pet-friendly disposal stations, 911 markers, etc., everything that would be needed for people to feel safe and healthy. The trail actually goes places: Richard now walks to the American Airlines Arena (on the trail). Businesses are also springing up such as the r...

Two of the Sunday comics I saw today are worthy of comment: As a father who happens to be a scientist, I certainly identify with the frustrations of trying explain science to my children. click to enlarge The Wizard whiffs with this effort I'll put the track record of weather forecasting up against financial forecasting any day. Hmmmm. Someone should write a book about that. 

Immediately below is a posting about the tornado watch for northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas that was in effect yesterday afternoon and evening. Were there any tornadoes? Yes. In fact, we had a twofer: Two tornadoes going on at the same time from the same storm. The video below (hat tip: Accuweather.com) shows a rope tornado at the right and a more conventional cone-shaped tornado at the left. Here is what the radar looked like as the tornadoes were developing. For weather fans: We know that the RFD is important to tornado formation. It is infrequent that radar shows the "rear flank downdraft" (blue arrow) and its position relative to the hook. As far as I know, neither tornado did any damage. ADDITION: Friend Jim Reed captured the tornado on the left. You can see his photos here .

Until 11pm. Note the probability of "severe" (≥1" diameter) is "high" so put the car in the garage. At 3:05pm CDT, thunderstorms are developing over northeast Oklahoma and moving northeast. Keep an eye on the weather if you live in these areas.

With a hat tip to David Faulkner, here is the man himself singing "Fly Me to the Moon." Scroll down two posts to read the story of Sinatra, the Rat Pack and a Learjet posted yesterday.