Tornado Devastates the City of Joplin, Missouri

May 24th, 2011 -- Posted in Tornado | No Comments »

by Victoria M. Johnson

On Sunday, May 22, 2011 a tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri stripping trees, hurling vehicles, and damaging homes. Rescue workers toiled through the night, sifting through the rubble, hoping to find survivors. According to the Weather Channel, 10 survivors were pulled from the debris. But at least 116 lives have been claimed in the nation’s deadliest single twister in 60 years and the second major tornado disaster in less than a month. The tornado tore a path a mile wide and four miles long. The National Weather Service stated the storm had winds of 190 to 198 miles per hour.

Joplin, Missouri Tornado Wreckage with American Flag

The Huffington Post has a terrifying video of a first-person account of the tornado. People in a convenience store ran into a storage cooler as the tornado ripped the building apart. They recorded the experience while deafening sounds of the destruction paralyzed them and the tornado threatened their lives. Miraculously none of them were seriously hurt.

Mount St. Helens 30 Years Ago

May 18th, 2010 -- Posted in Volcanoes | No Comments »

Mount St. Helens eruption

May 18, 1980 was a day we will all never forget. Who expected the beautiful mountain, where thousands hiked and camped each year, could unleash such deadly force? The Weather Channel commemorates the catastrophic eruption in an anniversary slideshow.

In case you don’t remember the powerful forces released that day, here’s some numbers to think about. A magnitude 5.1 earthquake preceded the collapse of the mountain peak. Pyroclastic  flows wiped out everything in it’s path including 250 miles of forest land and raised Spirit Lake’s water level by 200 feet. 520 million tons of ash swept across the country. 57 people died and over 200 homes were destroyed in the worst volcanic disaster in the United States.

The USGS had been monitoring Mount St. Helens for months. USGS volcanologist David Johnston reported the eruption, but he was one of those who lost their life that day. Still, scientists learned much from the eruption, from data they had never collected before, from a volcano they had been studying prior to the eruption, and a volcano they continue to study today.