Don't Try This at Home

[quasigeostrophy]

Sheesh.

On the way down to Louisville yesterday, I was perusing the National Audubon Society's Field Guide to Weather I had picked up a Half Price Books a while back, thinking it might be a nice little reference to keep in the car. In the How to Use This Book section, though, I was rather amused at an example set of instructions:

You are visiting friends in Kansas who live just a few miles from your house, and you have heard on the radio that a tornado watch has been issued. You scan the sky and notice that a small funnel has formed at the base of a thick thunderstorm cloud overhead.

1. Turn to the Thumb Tab Guide. There you find a vortex-shaped silhouette standing for the group "Tornadoes and Other Whirls". The symbol refers you a particular group of the Color Plates.

2. You look at the color plates and quickly surmise that the funnel shape in the sky overhead may be the beginning stage of a tornado. The captions refer you to a particular text section.

3. Reading the text, you become convinced that there is a tornado forming. You and your friends immediately seek the storm shelter and wait for the threat to pass.

Uh... yeah. Sure, I'm going to do all that reading when I know there's a tornado watch and I see a funnel forming overhead. Riiiight. Here's my version:

You scan the sky and notice that a small funnel has formed at the base of a thick thunderstorm cloud overhead.

1. You gasp and shout, "Gah!!"

2. You immediately seek the storm shelter and wait for the threat to pass.

Much better. :-)

Comments

[javenallese.livejournal.com]

And here I thought it would run more like this.

1. You shout, "Where's my camera?"
2. You pull out the camera and quickly get behind the storm.
3. TAKE PICTURES!!!!

[javenallese.livejournal.com]

I should add that I am happy to see that taking shelter would be an option for you!

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I may be both a photography and a weather geek, but I'd like to think I'm not an idiot. ;-) If I thought there was enough time, I'd grab a camera, but with it overhead, doubtful.