Thanks, TIS & MC. Our power was out just 2 days last week, and we whined and complained. But seeing what occurred this week to others certainly puts things in perspective. Lots of personal stories emerging. One was of an elderly couple. The wife was bedridden and on oxygen, but the husband would not leave her to save himself, and the twisters moved too fast to move her. Both were found dead, the husband's body over hers as if to shield her. But, thank God, there were some amazing stories of survival, too.
I've seen some really callous comments from people on other sites: cruel jokes about house trailers, stereotyping "stupid Southerners," and the like. The anonymity of the Net brings out both the stupidity and true hearts of some people (if they can be CALLED "people"). I pray none of them would ever learn for themselves the folly of making such remarks. Also, some don't take into account the enormous size, speed, and brutal power of those storms. Siren or not, many just didn't have time. Also, people should bear in mind that there just aren't many homes with basements: since frigid cold is a rarity, there's no need to dig deep for burying water pipes and the subsequent basement. TIS shared about earthquakes; coastlines are vulnerable to hurricanes, and desert places to wildfires. Chaos has no map, and doesn't show partiality, regardless of where one lives about the compass. Having said all that, I must add that the negative comments were far surpassed with positive and encouraging ones. May God help all those affected by these tragedies.

Glorious blue skies and a nice breeze to keep cool.

I haven't been outside yet this morning but will be leaving for my run shortly. It's suppose to be beautiful here today as well (high 70's) and it is sunny. I can't (and especially after what a lot of states/countries are going through,won't) complain at all.

Snake, the are a lot of heartless stupid people out there. Remember, you don't have to be a genius to spout off hiding behind a computer and act like an asshole. These people don't have a brain or a clue.

TIS

TIS, "a run". I remember awhile back when you kicked the smokes. If you are running, I assume you've conquered the habit - fantastic! I did a 2 mile jog this morning; 48 degrees, dry and sunny. Great weather.

According to the weather folks, the global warming is affecting the weather by creating more extremes. People take global warming literally, but not the case. The oceans get little warmer which triggers other factors like hurricanes and high and lows in barometric pressure and greater contrasts between high and low pressure systems - hence a greater chance for tornadoes and severe weather.

MC,

Thanks for asking, and yes I am still clean. Can you believe it will be 4 years on June 15th? I will never go back, but even still the smell of a freshly lit cigaret is appealing. I walk/run about 2 miles everyday. Believe me I never exert myself that much. I'll walk and then I'll run, splitting it up. I feel good though.


TIS

Still nice, we havn't had rain for weeks now, very un-English like i reckon....

After all the snow you had this past winter, you need a break. How's the water supply?

39° - WTF?!?!

Every indication was that local temps should be 50°+ at night, every night -- it's May! -- so I brought most of my plants out yesterday...

Water supply always ok up north with us MC but i cursed myself.....Been chucking it down with rain ever since i put that post up

Rain, rain and more rain. Almost had an accident on the way home.
Rivers exceed flood stage

I heard it's been hot in NYC today. A lot of sweaty nutsacks.

Do you have some sort of learning disability? I've asked you a few times to clean up your act. It appears you don't want to accommodate my request. I won't ask you again. This is a final warning to you to stop making childish crude remarks in your replies here.

One word of advice: don't argue this.

I'm not arguing. You're the boss. But in my defense, I had to repeat 5th grade.

It's beautiful weather today so I just decided to take tomorrow off and open my pool (now that the maple trees have stopped dropping 10,000 little helicopter seeds into it). The water will be cold, but I spend most of my time floating in a chair on top and not in it anyway.

Another very hot day in NY today. Hope my NY friends are doing all right.

What's the weather like where you are, Vinny??

In Iceland? . It's 45 degrees right now. Partly cloudy. A little cold, but hey, they don't call it Iceland for nothing. I read the NY forecast with envy. Yeah, I know you're probably tired of the heat, but I grew up here in Iceland. The longer you live here, the more you crave heat. And I crave a lot of heat.

Wow! I didn't realize you were from Iceland! I don't know much about it. Is English not your first language, because you speak and write English extremely well! My compliments!

And, no after the cold and snow we had all winter, I'm very happy with the hot weather.

Vinny you're in Iceland? What's the average temp?



TIS

Yeah, Icelandic is my first language, but English has been a very big part of my life since I was very young. Then when I grew older I started reading a lot of English. Classic American literature is something that's very dear to my heart. Also, being a pop culture junkie from a very young age and watching a lot of American movies certainly helped me get a better grip on the language. Here on the forums most people assume I'm an American, but the funny thing is that even in America, they assume I'm an American. Using an Icelandic accent in America always leads to the same question: Are you from Russia? After a while, that gets tiring.

Thank you for the compliment . Compliments never get tiring .

I sure am. The average temp during the summer is like 50 to 55, but some days it can go up to about 75. Not much more than that. The winters go from about 30 to 50. The weather here is really bizarre. It's almost like the twilight zone some days. It's windy one second and then the next it's completely calm. Sometimes rain and snow take turns within the same day. Yeah, it's messed up.

Hot in NYC. Really hot.

Don't think I have ever known anyone from Iceland. My knowledge of Iceland is limited to Bobby Fischer playing Spassky there and then granting him citizenship after the US revoked his passport. I think he died there a few years ago.

It's Spike Lee-Danny Aiello-race riot hot here in New York City today.

Supposedly no relief till Saturday. But I'm playing golf on Friday anyway .

Do you ever get confused and look up the Iceland weather forecast by mistake?

No .

According to Weather dot com, it will be 94 today, 97 tomorrow, 82 on Friday (not too bad), and 72 with a chance of rain on Saturday.

It's warmer in NYC than in CA. It's only suppose to get into the mid 60s here today. It's overcast but then June usually is, but the temp is lower than usual.


TIS

Oh, go have an eartquake or a brush fire, why don't you?

Or a mudslide

Usually no mudslides this time of year. We had a small earthquake (3.0) a few days ago. Fortunately no damage/injuries. I didn't even feel it. I always pray there are no more to come.

Now as for fires, we are going to be entering the fire season and I live right by the Cleveland National Forest. So far there was only one fire that came close, but was contained. Keep your fingers crossed.

TIS

My fingers are definitely crossed. I still remember the Freeway Complex Fire back in 2008 that struck Orange County. I hadn't even been living hear for a full year yet, and I'm thinking "Oh geez...is this what I have to look forward to for the next few years..."

The Brea Fire was sparked because of the fire that started in Corona. The fire snaked along the 91 Freeway all the way from Corona (which is in the Inland Empire) all the way up to Orange County, as far as Anaheim Hills. The Brea Fire was literally 2 miles from where I live. There was so much smoke, and so much ash falling from the sky, you could barely breathe. My girlfriend and I happened to be ON THE 91 FREEWAY as they were closing it, and we drove through a patch of smoke and fire that had me convinced we'd taken a wrong turn right into the mouth of Hell. You couldn't see anything because of the smoke, there were almost NO other cars on the road, and the flames were shooting up everywhere. It was quite literally the most terrifying experience of my life. Thankfully I had a 12-pack of Heineken and a fifth of Crown Royal waiting for me when I got home!