bad weather will continue greene county daily world james a

BadWeatherWillContinueGreeneCountyDailyWorld

JamesA.Marusek19May2011

Usingthestorminessmodel,Imadethefollowingforecastinthe19April2010issueoftheGreeneCountyDailyWorld:“Itisverylikely(82percentprobability)thatnextyear,theyear2011,willbeanotherextremeweatheryear.Ifthemulti‐decadalcycleremainsinthestronghurricanephase,theyearwilllikelyproduceaminimumoffivemajorAtlantichurricanes.Butthisstronghurricanephasebeganin1995andthiscyclewillbecomingtoanendsoon.Ifthisoccursin2011,storminessratherthanproducinganextremehurricaneseason;mightmaterializeasastrongtornadoseasonlikelyproducingaminimumof23majorU.S.tornados(EnhancedFujitascaleEF4‐EF5).”Thisyearalreadyproduced17majorU.S.tornados.Ibelievetheseextremetornadoswillcontinue.ItmightbebeneficialasacommunityforthosewhoexperiencedtornadostoforwardtheirstoriesandlessonslearnedtotheGreeneCountyDailyWorld[Linton,Indiana],inpreparationforthispossiblethreat.Iwilllead.On3June2008,IreturnedfromashorttriptoOdontodiscoverthatwewerehitbyatornado.Ouryardlookedlikeawarzone.Approximately50largetreeswereeitheruprootedortwistedandbrokenintwoliketwigs.Iwalkeduptowherethehousewasanditwasstillthereandundamaged.Butaroundthehouseineverydirectionthereweredownedtrees.Thedrivewaywasblockedbyalmosthalfadozen.IfeltthatifIcouldclearmydriveway,Icouldbringsomesemblanceoforderbackintomylife.Itookmychainsawandbeganclearingapaththroughthedriveway.Wehadnoelectricity.Itmighttaketwoweeksbeforepowerwasrestored.Thepowerlineswereonthegroundtwistedinthedebris.Thepowercompanywouldbespreadthinduringthenextfewdays.Ifwecouldclearthedownedtreesfrombeneathwherethepowerlinesusetobe,wecouldmakethisprocesshappensooner.Thatiswhatwedidandtheutilitycrewsrestrungthelineswithintwodays.Whenelectricitywasrestoredtothehouse,itwasveryintermittent,perhapstwohoursperday.Weplannedforthis.Whenthepowercameonat2o’clockinthemorning,wejumpedoutofbed,washedmoundsofclothes,cookedahotmeal,tookhotbathsandanythingelsewecouldpackintothatshorttimewindow.

Photographofmydrivewayafterthetornadostruck.