DFW Area Pelicans - Everybody Ok?

[onewhippedpuppy]

My wife's sister and her husband are in Rowlett, apparently the neighborhood adjacent to theirs took a direct hit from a tornado. Sounds like a lot of damage between the city and the cars on the Interstate that happened to be in the path. Hope everybody is ok!

[stomachmonkey]

Fairly standard by me so far, windy, rainy, flash flooding. No twister alerts yet.

Fortunately when they hit around here they are not the monsters you get in places like Kansas.

5 fatalities in Rowlett so not a good situation.

Gonna be a long night.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

Wow. Hope it passes quietly and quickly.

Me too.

I've been through a couple of these.

Once in my car, damn thing touched down 10 feet in front of my car and passed right over me. Sphincter cramping does not begin to describe it.

This little beauty passed by my hood in May.

So happy the wife insisted we install a safe room when we built the house.

[M.D. Holloway]

Drove from Iowa today - 11 hours - and into this mess. Tough going but all seems fine. I guess others were not so lucky...

[Scuba Steve]

Looks like they're up to 8 fatalities now

[stomachmonkey]

Morning video from Garland / Rowlett looks bad.

11 fatalities.

[manbridge 74]

Hope that Ronnie930 cat is okay.

[enzo1]

http://www.weather.com/news/news/dallas-tornadoes-photos

[gshase]

While our daughter was still at UT Southwestern Hospital in the Duck and Cover position in the hall as the storm passed, the wife and I were driving back to the hospital on 183 and there was such a huge tempature change (Irving 44 degrees and Dallas 74 degrees) that everybody was pulling of the highway as our windows fogged over instantly. Wife and I were both stunned to see this and full AC in the defrost position had no effect in clearing the windows.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by gshase

While our daughter was still at UT Southwestern Hospital in the Duck and Cover position in the hall as the storm passed, the wife and I were driving back to the hospital on 183 and there was such a huge tempature change (Irving 44 degrees and Dallas 74 degrees) that everybody was pulling of the highway as our windows fogged over instantly. Wife and I were both stunned to see this and full AC in the defrost position had no effect in clearing the windows.

It's pretty amazing, powerful stuff. I've experienced that a few times in KS, like somebody flips a switch. Then it goes totally dead still, the sky turns green, and you start getting really worried.....

Glad to hear everybody is ok. Sounds like my family members got really lucky, only a few lifted shingles on their home.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

...the sky turns green...

Seriously.

The first time I saw that was surreal.

It was a deep glowing emerald wall of rolling clouds.

Had never seen anything like it before in my life.

Terrifying but simultaneously beautiful.

[Heel n Toe]

I've seen greenish-yellow sky, but not clouds. Not lately, though.

When I was 5 or 6, a small tornado came down the opposite side of the street in the small neighborhood where we lived. Destroyed about 7 houses as I remember. Took my Radio Flyer wagon, too.

Here's a green sky and clouds pic of Kansas City from a friend's FB page.

[Scuba Steve]

I grew up in TX and yeah... greenish yellow sky = get indoors NOW!

[speeder]

Why does the sky turn green?

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by speeder

Why does the sky turn green?

Curiosities: Why does the sky turn green before a tornado? | News | UW-Madison

Thunderstorms, which can be the home of tornadoes, usually happen later in the day, when the sun is approaching the horizon. That creates a reddish tinge in the sky, as any fan of sunsets knows. But light under a 12-mile high thundercloud is primarily blue, due to scattering by water droplets within the cloud. When blue objects are illuminated with red light, Bachmeier says, they appear green.

Green is significant, but not proof that a tornado is on the way. A green cloud “will only occur if the cloud is very deep, which generally only occurs in thunderstorm clouds,” Bachmeier says. “Those are the kind of storms that may produce hail and tornadoes.” Green does indicate that the cloud is extremely tall, and since thunderclouds are the tallest clouds, green is a warning sign that large hail or a tornado may be present.

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by speeder

Why does the sky turn green?

The color is reflected up into the sky from the lost city of Oz, which of course
is in another dimension and is not visible directly, but its green glow is seen
as reflected light on water droplets and dust particles in the atmosphere,
much like moonglow.























But seriously...

Theory #1. Because air molecules scatter light. To understand this first theory, try picturing mountains in the distance, which often look a deepening blue. That blue color stems from the scattering of light by air molecules. The same reason, scattered light, causes the sky to look blue. Now remember that the strongest storms tend to happen late in the day. Some experts think that, before a thunderstorm, golden-reddish light from a sun low in the sky – and a natural bluing effect of the air – combine to create a green sky. The storm provides a dark backdrop and offsets this greenish or yellowish hue.

Theory #2. Because water is intrinsically blue. A different meteorological theory holds that storm clouds themselves may help make the color of the sky bluish-green. To understand this theory, you first need to know that water is intrinsically blue (sometimes you can see the bluish tint of water in a white bathtub). It could be that the storm clouds — which are filled with water — provide the color blue, which, again, is illuminated by the golden light of a low sun to create the color green.

To sum up, the reason for green skies before a storm isn’t entirely known. But it is known that a greenish-yellow sky before a storm is common in some parts of the world, while totally absent in others. More: Why does the sky change color before a tornado? | Earth | EarthSky


Also: The first question researchers faced: Is a green sky real, or just an optical illusion caused by light reflected off the ground and back up into the sky, as some green sky dissenters suggest? Frank Gallagher, now a meteorologist for the U.S. Army at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, tackled this issue for his thesis at the University of Oklahoma. He joined a tornado-chasing research team called VORTEX and recorded the wavelengths of light coming from storms in Texas and Oklahoma using a spectrophotometer, a tool about the size of an old video camera that can measure the color and intensity of light.

Gallagher found that the dominant wavelength of light was green in several severe thunderstorms and that the color was independent of the terrain underneath the storm. As meteorology professor William Beasley, Gallagher's advisor at Okalahoma, put it, "[He] measured green wavelengths of light over a green wheat field and over freshly plowed fields with red-brown Oklahoma dirt."

Threatening green skies during a thunderstorm also proved entirely independent of the type of severe weather that came with it. Gallagher measured hailstorms where the dominant wavelength of light was green as well as hailstorms where it was the typical gray-blue color of thunderstorms. Tornado-producing storms proved similarly divorced from any particular sky color, other than dark.

Researchers remain undecided about the exact mechanisms that cause the sky to appear green in certain thunderstorms, but most point to the liquid water content in the air. The moisture particles are so small that they can bend the light and alter its appearance to the observer. These water droplets absorb red light, making the scattered light appear blue. If this blue scattered light is set against an environment heavy in red light—during sunset for instance—and a dark gray thunderstorm cloud, the net effect can make the sky appear faintly green. In fact, green thunderstorms are most commonly reported in the late afternoon and evening, according to Beasley.

More: Fact or Fiction?: If the Sky Is Green, Run for Cover—A Tornado Is Coming - Scientific American

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Heel n Toe

Threatening green skies during a thunderstorm also proved entirely independent of the type of severe weather that came with it....

My unscientific observation after living here 8 years.

We have not had green skies every time we've had tornado activity but every time we've had a green sky we've had tornado activity.

I'll keep ducking for cover.

YMMV.

[M.D. Holloway]

Sto-mo, had my dogs in Argyle for 10 days while away, needless to say I wanted to get them today ASAP! We had hail here today. You get some?

Also - looks like you have a bunch of new stores out by you. That new Kroger is nice.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by M.D. Holloway

Sto-mo, had my dogs in Argyle for 10 days while away, needless to say I wanted to get them today ASAP! We had hail here today. You get some?

Also - looks like you have a bunch of new stores out by you. That new Kroger is nice.

You had your pooches in the kennel by Hilltop?

All I hear for two weeks this time of year is barking dogs.

The Kroger is killer. Pricier than Wallyworld but well stocked.

We are getting more retail across the street and Bartonville Town center is doubling in size as well.

Nice to finally have a convenient gas station instead of having to drive 20 minutes to get to one.

Don't know if we got hail, been hiding out inside all day.

Made a 6 hour low and slow turkey chili and hung out in the media room all afternoon.

[M.D. Holloway]

Yup Hilltop. Know Jennifer there - great people. I would hate to be a neighbor though. Very reasonable and they bath them before pick-up. Bartonville is growing crazy. Wonder if their $225/sq ft is a bubble? If not, maybe some of that could find its ways towards us?
You do need a gas staion near by. Supposedly there will be a Mobil station in the lot where LA Fitness faces off 2499. As it stands I really don't need a car. There is nothing that isn't within a 10 minute walk. Although I still think we need a really good music instrument store and an Apple store in the shops. You would think with the HS bands around here being the best in the nation and UNT (excellent music school) right up one would be a given.