Hurri... uh... landcane?

There's no quick-and-easy name for it, but a large, impressive cluster of thunderstorms evolved into this mesoscale cyclone over Texas during the evening of April 23rd. Note the ring of intense convection with a relative lull in the center. A tornado warning was issued for this churning mess, as winds above the surface were rotating quite briskly around the center point. The scale of this feature is quite a bit larger than a typical mesocyclone associated with a rotating supercell thunderstorm.

To liken this to a hurricane would be inaccurate; however, it's possible that a process that causes tropical cyclones to deepen -- latent heat released from condensation -- helped produce this feature.

Southern Storms

The Deep South is abused by Mother Nature every year, two or three weeks before and after the beginning of Calendar Spring (roughly March 10th thru April 15th). The above National Weather Service Doppler radar image shows an impressive, rapidly rotating mesocyclone within a tornadic supercell thunderstorm Southeast of Rome, Georgia.

Spitzers to Twister, "Thank you!"

It was only a matter of time before something took the focus off of the Spitzer sex scandal, if even for half-a-day. Good luck finding much coverage of Eliot on CNN today.

Getting Back on Track

As I've mentioned, after work and family, there's very little time leftover for blog contribution; however, I regret being derailed and wish to make the time instead of finding the time. Thank you for reading.

Yield?

Judging by the sign above, I'm guessing the Schenectady Crosstown Home Depot patrons aren't stopping as they leave the property. If this doesn't work, they'll have to re-make the sign using an italic font. After that, the only thing left is to insert, "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD".

The Dow Plummets! Yes!

I'm sure it's a thrill being invited to close the trading floor on Wall Street, but from now on, when the market falls 200+ points, the people on the balcony should be required to look either sad or angry.

Must Be The Holiday Crew

Clearly all the good writers had New Year's Eve Day off at one local paper. See the front page headline above? Allow me to rip it apart...

1) To say you delivered an unborn child is grossly redundant. You wouldn't deliver a child already born, would you?

2) When you write for print or television -- or on the web for that matter -- you strive to write in an active voice. This is taught in journalism 101. "Delivered" should be "delivers".

3) Finally, you should avoid personification whenever possible; that is, avoid having an inanimate object do something a person would do. Hospitals don't deliver babies... doctors do. In this case, the headline says the surgery delivered the baby, which is really bad.

I don't profess to write perfectly in this blog; however, this is a blog and not a newspaper, and I'm not getting paid. My thanks to my wife for pointing the headline out.

End Of Perfection

Ask any NFL quarterback which bad weather element is most difficult to throw in, and they'll tell you high wind. It can take even the best quarterback out of a game. Nobody seems to be talking about it, but I believe the weather may be the x-factor that leads to the New England Patriots' first loss of the season.

I'm not sure how the winds swirl in M&T Bank Stadium, but I know they'll be fierce in Baltimore on Monday, and won't die down until very late in the day. If all either the Ravens or Patriots can do is run the ball, and the Ravens can avoid the fumble, then the Ravens have a great chance of winning.

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[UPDATE] IF YOU WATCHED THE GAME, YOU KNOW THE RAVENS ESSENTIALLY BLEW IT. THE PATRIOTS' PASSING GAME WAS NOT EFFECTIVE. A LATE-GAME MELTDOWN BY THE RAVENS KEPT THE WIN STREAK ALIVE.