My hometown had a tornado today ..

[SoCalDem]

As a native Kansan, I must say the reaction to it did not surprise me.. Kansans are to tornados, as Californians are to earthquakes.. Impressed, but not all that scared :)

Check out the reactions & pics..

CNN said they had baseball sized hail too..
(they exaggerrated a bit maybe :)..)
It's nice to see that people still hang out at Indian Rock Park..:)

http://www.salina.com/rdnews/story/6608-rain

[elocs]

1. I feel fortunate that although I live in Wisconsin, my hometown has never had a tornado.

It may be that the geographic conditions make it difficult for funnel cloud formation. Or there's the old Native American saying that where the 3 rivers meet there will not be a big wind (the Mississippi River, the Black River--from which I live 1 block, and the La Crosse River). Storms in both the summer and the winter go around us. I have watched radar of storms approach from the west and when they get to the Mississippi they go to the north and south.

There has been lots of flooding from the storms last week, but not in the city of La Crosse. We got 5 inches of rain while communities around us got up to 10 inches. La Crosse has a northside and a southside and in between is a big old marsh which gets very dry in the summer. But guess where all that water goes when there is flooding? A natural reservoir which also acts to filter the water. Lots of wildlife in there too.

Up here we have the attitude about winter storms and blizzards and cold. It's like, well, so? That's what happens here.

[SoCalDem]

2. 1969 Salina.. 3-rivers myth debunked

The saline, The Smoky Hill & The Solomon rivers converge in Salina..and once night that summer we had THREE TORNADOS go through between 1 am and 4 am.. One per river, we joked :)

[gullwing300]

4. I remember that. I used to fly up to Salina from McPherson to fill up the plane

with jet fuel that the MPR dealer didn't carry. :D

[PsN2Wind]

6. Growing up in Wichita

we all knew that supposedly, according to the Indians, "a tornado will not strike where the waters meet". The Big and Little Arkansas converge in Wichita and for many years it seemed to hold true BUT.............
And for those that don't know. the rivers are the Big and
Little "R Kansas", not Arkansaw.

[elocs]

8. Well, until it doesn't work here, it's working. I won't complain.

The must be some kind of reason why storms so frequently go to the north of the south when on radar they have been coming from the west directly toward the city.

[SoCalDem]

9. It's just the law of averages..works for us most of the time... until

it doesn't ..

Fingers crossed for you:hi:

[elocs]

14. Well, it's worked for at least 150 years.

If it works for another 150 years I will be happy. :)

[gullwing300]

3. Rivers (or lakes) have no influence on tornados...where they go is determined by

pressure gradients and advection. The reason most cities haven't been directly hit is simply because they're tiny in area compared with all the open country. ;-)

[elocs]

13. Geography must have some influence on the formation of tornadoes,

otherwise there would be no tornado alley in the U.S. and their occurrence would be random. There is even a geographical band in Wisconsin where tornadoes are more frequent. Whatever the reason may be, geographical or otherwise the city of La Crosse has never had a tornado touchdown and seldom has the severe thunderstorms which spawn tornadoes and also in the winter the storms are less severe here than in surrounding areas.

[gullwing300]

15. Yes, large scale geography most certainly does...mountain ranges and oceans to be specific.

Lakes and rivers are far too small to generate weather. (Lake effect snow is one exception but it still requires large bodies of water.) ;-)

[lovuian]

5. are you ok

Kansas has been really hit hard

[SoCalDem]

7. We haven't lived there in ages.. I still have a brother there

Most of the people I knew have all moved away or died..

It's kind of sad to go back there.. It resembles "my" town, but non of the faces are familiar.. I guess that;s what happens when you move away..

[mvd]

10. Glad you are ok

We got bad storms last night and lost electricity. We were lucky - my house got power back by midnight, but others were still without power this afternoon. It seems like tornados are more common here in SE Pennsylvania than they used to be, and is California the same way? The midwest, though, has been hit terribly.

[greenbriar]

11. I am really tired of being in watches and warnings

thankfully we have had no serious weather in our city, but I am jumpy about storms and really tired of this mess

[mvd]

12. I can imagine

Stay safe. :hi: