Mark Farnik
EF5
Andrew
People around here are absolute fools when it comes to tornadoes. Since we so rarely have damaging tornadoes, people blow off the warnings 90% of the time. Take for example my hometown, Fort Morgan. Established in 1884, the city has never been hit by a tornado or otherwise damaged by a natural cataclysm. There was one that came close on May 30, 1996, a high end F2 that could have caused considerable damage had it moved into the city but it hit some farms about three miles south/southwest of town. Other than that nothing. The 12,000 residents have been lulled into a false sense of complacency, and my worst fear is that someday a strong tornado will hit the city and people will die because they didn't heed the warnings. The worst thing is we have a grand total of 6 mobile home parks across the city; three on the south side of town, one on the southwest and two on the north. One of the parks on the south side of town has over 300 units, it is sprawled over six square blocks and is just a tragedy waiting to happen. And they aren't exactly weatherwise, either.
I have a bad feeling that eventually there will be a strong tornado, whether it be mesocylconic or non-mesocylonic, somewhere along the Front Range, as the subdivisions relentlessly march eastward into the plains, especially along the I-70 corridor, and that there is the potential for a real tragedy to occur in a town like Bennett, Strasburg or Deer Trail.
As far as the Denver Cyclone frequency, it occurs about 5-15 times during the spring and summer months.
In regards to orographic clouds, yes, we do have them frequently, especially in the wintertime, when you get westerly flow blasting over the mountains, sculpting the clouds into exquisite curves and shapes. They are truly awesome to observe and are especially stunning when backlit by the setting sun. The orography of the eastern plains of Colorado is unlike any other place in the world, and I feel truly blessed to dwell here and observe the unique phenomena spawned by the unique geography we have here(well, most of the time anyway)
People around here are absolute fools when it comes to tornadoes. Since we so rarely have damaging tornadoes, people blow off the warnings 90% of the time. Take for example my hometown, Fort Morgan. Established in 1884, the city has never been hit by a tornado or otherwise damaged by a natural cataclysm. There was one that came close on May 30, 1996, a high end F2 that could have caused considerable damage had it moved into the city but it hit some farms about three miles south/southwest of town. Other than that nothing. The 12,000 residents have been lulled into a false sense of complacency, and my worst fear is that someday a strong tornado will hit the city and people will die because they didn't heed the warnings. The worst thing is we have a grand total of 6 mobile home parks across the city; three on the south side of town, one on the southwest and two on the north. One of the parks on the south side of town has over 300 units, it is sprawled over six square blocks and is just a tragedy waiting to happen. And they aren't exactly weatherwise, either.
I have a bad feeling that eventually there will be a strong tornado, whether it be mesocylconic or non-mesocylonic, somewhere along the Front Range, as the subdivisions relentlessly march eastward into the plains, especially along the I-70 corridor, and that there is the potential for a real tragedy to occur in a town like Bennett, Strasburg or Deer Trail.
As far as the Denver Cyclone frequency, it occurs about 5-15 times during the spring and summer months.
In regards to orographic clouds, yes, we do have them frequently, especially in the wintertime, when you get westerly flow blasting over the mountains, sculpting the clouds into exquisite curves and shapes. They are truly awesome to observe and are especially stunning when backlit by the setting sun. The orography of the eastern plains of Colorado is unlike any other place in the world, and I feel truly blessed to dwell here and observe the unique phenomena spawned by the unique geography we have here(well, most of the time anyway)
