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#84523 - 04/14/03 02:12 PM
Re: of fogs and storms
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
WhitmanO'Neill
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Rio Grande, Cape May County, N...
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Seems I missed this thread twice, now...back in October, too. Always loved weather, so I've enjoyed all the offerings. fogWhen I worked as a mate on a tour boat here we where out on the ocean with the usual large group when a fog rolled in out-of-nowhere, as they often do on the coast. but this was the thickest pea-soup I ever saw. You literally almost couldn't see your hand extended in front of your face...out on the water the fog is much more opaque then on land, even right at the coast. The Captain couldn't see a thing...literally. And this was a good-sized boat, too, the size of a PT Boat. I knew we were in real trouble when the Captain summoned me to the bridge and told me, and the other hands, we had to go to the bowsrpit and keep lookout for other boats. The fog was so blinding there was really nothing to see...I literally couldn't see past the edge of the boat, it was like staring into a blind whiteness. I had heard of such paralysing maritime fogs in literature and meteorological writings, but I never experienced it first-hand. And, folks, it is truly frightening. I knew there was no way we could detect an approaching vessel in time. And this was back in the late 70's before a lot of today's new sound technologies 9though I doubt anything new would help in a situation like this). The Captain just kept blaring his fog horn. And he couldn't head for the inlet because we couldn't see the mile-long jetties there...and the thought of those rocks was always on your mind. Were we near them? We meandered around out there for almost an hour before the fog thinned enough to navigate towards shore again...a truly scary moment. Wouldn't want to go through it again. It was then I learned the significance of the refrain Eugene O'Neill (who spent much time at sea in his youth) used through the character of Kris Kristofferson, an old seaman, in his play Anna Christie..."Dat ol' devil fog." (and a foghorn is an important sound effect, constantly in the background, in Long Day's Journey Into Night. (BTW, I grew up, here in New Jersey, to the expression "thick as pea soup" or "it's as thick as pea soup out there" whenever there was a particulary heavy fog, and driving was dangerous.) slanted rainHere on the East coast we get swiped by many Tropical Storms and minimal hurricanes. I remember my first experience with a Tropical Storm (sustained winds of up to 70 miles per hour with higher gusts and torrential rains) was in July of 1972 when I was vacationing here in Wildwood, NJ. A group of us had gone to an Elton John concert at the Wildwood Convention Hall on the Boardwalk that night which didn't cancel out despite the heavy weather. After a great concert, and a 20 minute encore of Take Me To The Pilot..."na!na!na!, na!na!na!"...(and a few of the usual party embellishments  ), we walked out of the hall and onto the boardwalk in the driving wind and rain...and just hung there, suspended, at a 45% angle, the stinging pellets of rain driving into our faces in a horizontal fusillade like machine-gun bullets. Cool!  I'll never forget it. Since then, whenever there's a Tropical Storm, or a minimal hurricane brushing the coast, we'd always try to capture that same experience, but, somehow, it's never quite the same as that night... earthquake braggadocioThink you may be reading that "brag" into posting by Easterners about earthquake faults in this region, sjm. While I'm a geology and meteorology buff, and know these faults are extant, and the damage they have done in the past, through studies...and sometimes like to mention their existence as a point of geological accuracy, I have no desire to experience an earthquake and would love it if these East Coast faults weren't extant at all. The main point is, most folks don't know the danger exists, and an East Coast quake, with most cities not built to withstand a tremor (no earthquake codes), could be a disaster and horror, depending on the intensity of the quake, which, I, for one, hope to never witness or experience. Not to mention the prospect of quake generated tsunami tidal waves when I live practically on the beach [shudder]...no thanks. (I'd rather keep playing Russian Roulette with hurricanes...at least you get a running start)
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#84526 - 04/14/03 07:20 PM
Re: of fogs and storms
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
sjm
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
Akina
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The main point is, most folks don't know the danger exists, and an East Coast quake, with most cities not built to withstand a tremor (no earthquake codes), could be a disaster and horror, depending on the intensity of the quake, which, I, for one, hope to never witness or experience.Absolutely. For an example of this phenomenon, see http://www.allshookup.org/images/ncquake/ncquake.htmWhen it happened, it was hard to believe that a 5.6 could do so much damage, but it was exactly as you state above.
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#84527 - 04/15/03 12:10 AM
Re: of fogs and storms
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
of troy
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
rego park
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actually, even tho our earthquakes tend to be 1. and 2. deals, (and are mistaken for heavy trucks speeding by) NYC does have an earth quake standard. its rather new, and it is not manditory, but many building do meet a minimal standard..(and some are build to very high earthquake resistant standards.)
way off topic...in white
after the Towers came down, one fact that came out was, the designer/engineer/ had thought about a plane hitting the building..(after all a fighter plane had hit empire state building in the 40's) He just didn't plan on the fuel-- and fire... the terrorist thought they could hit them and topple them in seconds.
in many ways the best thing that happened to NYC was the attack on the TWC in '93--it took them over 4 hours to evacuate the buildings then..but after that, every one took safety, and evacuation drills seriously, and on that day in September, every one below the plane crash floors was out of the building in 45 minutes! what a change!
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#84529 - 04/15/03 01:13 AM
Re: Talk about the weather
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 725
Coffeebean
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 725
Oregon, USA
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No term for slanted rain, but would a slanted drip be obleak? Having grown up in Los Angeles, California, and lived there until I was 22, I experienced a great many earthquakes. I remember the big one in '71, -- it happened early in the morning and the great rolling effect woke me up. Truly, they are nothing to brag about. But it's funny listening to you all prefer hurricanes, etc. to earthquakes. I've always said the opposite!  We have gobs of fog here in Oregon, in the winter. Pea-soupers, for sure. Rain is rain; drizzle, a little less; less than that is called mist. Sudden downpours are gulley-washers -- at least, that is what I call them. That's a term I heard growing up. There was one major earthquake here in Oregon, about 10 years ago, and it did a lot of damage to old brick buildings. Note: there was one fatality which occurred on the highway, as the result of a rock slide hitting a truck. We have no hurricanes, no tornadoes, very few earthquakes and very few floods. I found it interesting that there were 2 or 3 days last week in which we had sunny skies followed by rain, then hail, then snow, then the wind blew it all away and the sun shone again!
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#84530 - 04/15/03 02:58 AM
Re: of fogs and storms
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Bingley
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Jakarta
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From sjm's link:
The photographs below are of the rescue operation in the proceeding hours just after the earthquake and the resulting demolition of the Newcastle Workers Club.
Do our representatives of the Southern Hemisphere find this use of proceeding at all uncommon? What do others think of it?
Bingley
Bingley
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