Observing strong wind
Most of us can agree that the weather is changing. Where things come apart is when we try to define how much. This morning on the news I learned that there are more hurricanes and tornadoes than ever in our part of the world. Hurricanes are easy to spot. Tornadoes, not so much. I think you actually have to be there to see one go by. And there is the rub. We are now better at spotting such activity. As a result the quantity has gone up. Makes sense. But when we learn that the centre of activity has moved from one part of the country to another we must bring into the equation that we are now more alert. Not just in the sense of sirens howling. Or alarms on our telephone. We now watch for subjectivity and we try to predict subjectivity whereas a century ago not so much. For example I live in a part of the country that almost never experiences tornado action. I do remember a moment 50 years ago when the wind hit a level in summer that dropped people to the ground. I was there. But was it a tornado? I will probably never know. I did go back into the archives of the climate people and there the answer was mitigated. Once more equate question of if you don’t see it did it happen. I confirm that in my own backyard there have been no tornadoes since I arrived here. Will that change? I do not know. After all I was trained to observe weather not predict weather. I think you need a mainframe computer for such things and although I could buy something large enough to fill a house, I will be unable to program it effectively. So, I to turn to those who know about such things. But back to the idea that the number of tornadoes has gone up. I can remember some scary moments in Ontario. Those were when I was in the area when something came through. Seeing a small shed be lifted from my sisters backyard to the neighbour’s is one thing, seeing the roof of a building made out of brick cutaway is quite another and that shopping cart that we watch dancing. Those are all isolated incidents so I am not going to say Oh yes the number has risen. I will accept that if you don’t see it it might have happened.
