Do you believe the science behind this tornado season?
It’s definitely tornado season and these high-powered storms show no signs of slowing down.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA), about 1,200 tornadoes have touched down and destroyed neighborhoods across the United States this year. Some of these twisters have been rated an EF-5, the strongest possible level. Why so many terrible tornadoes?
Scientists point to several climate factors. Some say it’s because of La Niña’s exit, defined as “trade winds that cool the waters of the equatorial Pacific Ocean.” Others blame last winter’s record snowfalls and the hot conditions in the southwest. Last, it may just be a numbers game. Our population size was much lower ten years ago, so there are fewer people to spot and report tornadoes. Camera phones have come a long way!
So now we ask the community. Do you believe in the science or do you have your own theories? Tell us below.
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My Aunt 92 says it is no worse then ever. Just more news coverage. I believe her. She lived all her life on the great plains. More subdivisions, more trailers, more news.
In the days of the internet, if a moth sneezes in Alaska it makes world wide news in 10 minutes.
Science compared to what? Myth? Fairy tale? A conspiracy theory? Of course the only other answer you’ll get from this silly question is religious nonsense.
Giving information to a Science Group Like NOAA is probably not very advisable. This is a group that lives and breathes Weather. I do believe that there are more reported storms and reported touch downs because of technology. But I am also sure that there are more storms as well. Just Research this and you will find out for yourself. I hardly take anyones word with out doing my own reasearch. There are more storms. For various reasons. But they are happening.
I am telling you it is 2012!!!
What I do not understand is if we have advanced so far in technology, why are we having death rates for single storms comparable to ones that happened 50+ years ago? Have we not really come any farther than those days, or are our storms and weather getting more unpredictable as time goes on? Or are we just getting so used to hearing that warning so often that we do not take it as seriously. Could be all is true, but when a warning is issued I always take it seriously and I like to pay close attention to the weather. We have so many distractions today though, I can understand why some are caught by surprise.
I think it was from that terrible earthquake. I think it caused some kind of shift and that is why we are also having the flooding of the Mississippi. But then again…..who knows.
What science? You did not list any science. You listed a bunch of experts who have opinions. That is not the same thing, That is where the religion of science goes wrong. They do not follow their own rules. Instead of demanding science, they line up behind the most popular expert and just call that science. It is time to take the religion back out of science.
Just look back in History…its been going on for forever…..like the lady above me ..I talked to 101yr old and she said its nothing new…and even said its more people and more media coverage…stop the bull crap trying to scare people and making money for the weather channel….sad…look how many have been killed so much for the weather channel….spent money on under ground weather shelters….its event everything else is not working….
I don’t think it has anything to do with anything other than the earth doing what it always does, which is change. It’s a living breathing organism and it changes, sometimes the changes are big, sometimes subtle, but it is dynamic. Us human’s get all bent because we are change averse, so when we see things that appear out of the ordinary, we get all torqued up and look for some greater explanation. Don’t anyone say its gobal warming / climate change, that’s just twaddle speak I say.
AT LEAST 18 major earthquakes between April 2009 and April 2011,1200 tornadoes so far this year,(mostly in April and in the southeast)and not a single one in kansas for the first 17 days in May the most active month for tornadoes! historic flooding,historic wildfires…..it’s been going on forever? nothing new?
Its called HAARP, Google it. The climate can be altered to cause a very intense reaction to form tornados and other climate changes.
Until we have at least 300 years of proper recording of Weather Patterns, I don’t think we have any reason to go around like Chicken Little saying that it’s worse than it used to be. 100 years ago, we didn’t have what we have now (large spread out populations, weather coverage, speed of news travel) therefore we have no real data.
I think it is because there is more water in the oceans which change the way weather forms. More water is evaporated into the sky and then there are more storms and freaky weather days: one cold day, the next hot, the next cold, the next hot.
Scientists should review their 4th grade science books. They are not even at one in determining the real cause. My theory is that those scientist who came up with the different theories may either fell asleep when their teachers discussed about meteorology or they skip class.
probably HAARP
there are several all over the world. they are not a part of some conspiracy theory, it is open information, just no one wants to know. the technology goes back to N.Tesla. It is amazing and powerful instrument which can be used to manipulate the weather, create earthquakes etc. I can not judge, whether they use it for good or bad. It is a fact that the earth is going trough some changes, so difficult to say for which purpose they use the HAARP.
Uh no, I don’t believe there could be a scientific explanation. It has to be caused by a magic rodent in a white robe.
it’s just the climate. it has nothing to do with 2012 people.
It is called global climate change. The scientists have been telling us for years climate change will cause worsening storms (including worsening tornadoes) with less advance warning. Research the science of how tornadoes form and what climate change does to weather patterns and you will begin to understand. We are going to need to expand the scale, creating categories of EF6, EF7, and EF8.
don´t you know that all the tornados are caused by chuck norris rolling kick human hunter season????
All your petrified aunts with their anecdotal evidence and Great Plainsy wisdom are full of crap.
Total tornado deaths by year, the past fifteen years…
2011: 517 (so far)
2010: 41
2009: 21
2008: 126
2007: 81
2006: 67
2005: 39
2004: 36
2003: 54
2002: 55
2001: 40
2000: 41
1999: 94
1998: 132
1997: 68
Understand that those numbers reflect the fact that Joplin, MO authorities are refusing to label the hundreds more people who are unaccounted for after the killer storm last week “dead,” instead preferring to call them “missing.” And let’s face it, they’re dead.
Given that fact, the total number of fatalities this year is rapidly approaching 1,000…or approximately double the all-time annual record.
Tornadoes have not merely increased…they have flat-out rocketed upward in number and intensity.
Thank your nearest Republican next time you get a chance. We’re past the tipping point.
No I do not think it is science per say Is it not strange that all the space flights going up and down with all there test that they are doing, that it definitely has a effect on the atmosphere.
well i personally believ that we need better education for the tornadoes cuz then if they are educated they wont harm any1 ya know, cuz if your educated you know harming people is wrong thats my opinion
It’s the climate changes.
i dont believe its worse because just like the 1st comment above its just more media more of everything than there was so many yrs ago. and also the media also make things sound worse than what it actually is, i’m not saying tornadoes aren’t nothing but just in general
thank God there are no horrific natural disasters where i live
signs of the end of the times….
End of this system of things
it’s man made for de-population plan.. research (H.A.A.R.P) and (N.W.O) and (De-population plan)
We are growing too fast, and the sick minded government is trying to balance everything, but on the public and not themselves.
This along with many wars have their purpose to De-populize the world
Yup. Between a waning La Nina, increasing Global Warming, and more & More People moving into Harms Way, it was inevitable that Tornados were going to exact a greater Toll on the Country this Spring… The Science is Fine. But the forecast looks Bleak…
It’s global warming..all that pollution is ruining our ozone layer and changing the atmosphere
Silly Yamster – are you new? Science isn’t something to be “believed” like religious faith, it’s based on facts and evidence. And the word theory has 2 meanings, scientific theory is very different from public opinion.
Don’t you guys have an editor? A better question might have been “What’s your interpretation of the science behind this tornado season?”
But then this whole question is technically a violation according to Y/A guidelines (you ought to read them sometime) it’s asking opinion, not a question seeking knowledge.
It’s probably the result of increasing media coverage combined with a slightly more active year for tornados than usual.
ys an no. it partically bible phopecy, partically news coverage and partially a whole crapload of stuff.
It is the weather phenomenon known as la nina
OF course there is climate change going on! What the fairy tale is- is that WE are causing it. Scientists KNOW we had ice ages, come and go! We have now discovered a LOT of ancient cities under what is now the ocean. Scientists know now that the SAHARA desert was once lush and wet- AND that it has gone from wet to dry several times over! WE don’t cause it. It’s called our earth’s 26,000 year precession cycle. We just have to deal with it. Not run around like chicken little and allow ourselves to be TAXED to death by lies. “carbon credits” my eye!
With the kind of tornado season that it has been, one can’t help but wonder what hurricane season is going to be like.
sorry guys but you just have to acknowledge the signs that are in the bible, and we can not run away from that fact, yes it is geographically (nature) caused we can not run away from the fact but the many question is why, so the second best question to ask ourselves is that are we preparing for Jesus’ second coming having seen the few signs. The fact the the bible says no man knows the day nor the hour is consider but the thing is that we must just get read and prepare our hearts by accepting Jesus Christ and renouncing our evil ways
The tornados are no more prevalent than they have been in the past, but we have more news coverage, as well as a greater rural population. Tornados just happened to hit more populated areas this year, thus causing more damage. Big tornados have always been around – population has just increased, and we are covering them better in the digital age.
Pole Shifting
this tornados and storms are on a song.Even in india we are experiencing lots of powerful storms in the month of may which is rare
Nothing like bringing out the end of the world prophesies again! As technology grows, the general public gets blatantly more ignorant. NOTHING has changed. Earthquakes, volcanoes, storms, etc. etc. have been a major part in the creation of our world. Matter of fact, the world has been relatively calm in the last 50 years. Now it gets back to the norm, people panic. Global warming is another naturally occurring event and has been found to have happened no less than 6 times before man even walked the planet upright through the studies of the polar caps. WAKE UP PEOPLE! Nature is just doing its thing. You build your home on the side of a high dirt hill, it WILL at some point slide down that hill. You build your country on a sand bar off the eastern coast of the Eurasian continent 200 miles from a major fault line complete with reactors, you WILL get shaken up. You build your home on ANY coastline, don’t cry when the tides drag it out to sea.
well I think its God.
It’s a combination of La Nina, the PDO (Pacific Decadal Oscillation) returning us to the pattern we had 60 years ago, and bad luck that a few tornadoes didn’t hit farmland.
Its HAARP, look for unusual digital patterns on the news. The radar will have streaky line patterns around an area of non-activity. These are whats refered to as “HAARP rings” and these are what are causing the crazy weather patterns. Look it up….. “haarp rings”.
Its probably because of how badly we treat the earth mother nature is getting us back. There are conciquences for harming the earth like this! Its not like we can trash it and not expect to have it hit us in the face! Maybe if we didnt abuse cars and electronics and planted some trees or . . . SOMETHING to help the eath, we wouldnt be having this issue, but no. The earth is struggling thanks to US. Nothing to do with silly science and their, “I THINK this is why.” Science can’t prove anything, because ANYTHING can happen.
end of story.
cool story bro.
It could be climate change, it’s happened before. However, tornadoes, even BIG ones have happened for years. I think that we’ve had the misfortune of tornadoes hitting extremely populated places rather than the less populated more rural areas. It’s a coin toss.
Same with predicting tornadoes. You can’t really predict them, only predict the conditions that will bring them about. And… I’ve lived in Joplin for years (not now). We’ve seen little tornadoes before, one destroyed a gas station right by my parents house a couple of years ago, but it was just one gas station in the middle of the night while it was closed, it didn’t hit anything else. That is what Joplinites are used too, and perhaps didn’t take the tornado warning as seriously as they should have.
This one was a monster. Since it was as big as it was, perhaps there should have been more time for people to spot it and report it though. Just bad luck I guess.
I think weather is cycle-ish. goes in cycles… like mini ice ages, mini warming periods, times of relatively moderate weather in various areas around the globe. We are in a cycle of warmth and that causes all weather to be more severe. Hopefully it is a short cycle.
I was watching the Weather Channel this am and they ahd something about how millions of years ago,volcanic action released enough methane into mthe atmosphere to raise the temperature 20 degrees.I wonder how this could be the basis of “Humans are destroying the planet” if weather changed years before humans evolved to start using technology.
The weather has changed the environment before humans came along and will most likely change if we are not here.It may not be something we are doing after all.