Geology News
Tornadoes Current Events

The Center for Disease Control has a collection of tornado resources. One is the instructions for “how to survive a tornado”. Persons who know what to do when an emergency arises have the greatest chance of survival.

Munich Re has posted a 58-minute webinar that reviews natural catastrophe events for the United States and worldwide.

In 2012, insured losses in the United States were about $58 billion – far above average for the 2000-2011 period.

An article in the Anchorage Daily News explains how about 60% of physical goods shipped to disaster areas are not beneficial to the victims. If you want to help, the best way to do that is through a donation of money to an established relief organization.

FEMA has published the website Ready.gov which provides lots of information about being prepared. Natural disasters make up an entire category on the site with lots of information on mitigation and how to citizens can prepare. Check it out.

CNN iReport has a spectacular photo of a waterspout that developed near Panama City, Florida on July 4th.

Earth Observatory features a “Tornado Tracks” map where the tracks for thousands of tornadoes that occurred in the United States between 1950 and 2006 have been plotted. It is a very interesting map.

“Tornadoes plague the central and eastern sections of the contiguous United States far more than the western portion. That much is obvious from this map showing 56 years of tornado tracks, from 1950 through 2006.”

NASA has published a video of a dust devil on the Amazonis Planitia region of northern Mars. It is very narrow but about 12 miles tall.

“With support from the National Science Foundation, computer scientist Amy McGovern at the University of Oklahoma is working to find answers to key questions about tornado formation. Why do tornadoes occur in some storms, but not in others?” Quoted from the National Science Foundation press release.

“This year we see a quite early start of the tornado season with a high frequency of the events coming close to the record year 2008 for this time of the year.” Quoted from Peter Hoeppe, Munich Re.

“The United Nations reports 2011 was the costliest year in history for catastrophes. It says economic losses from natural disasters, including earthquakes, storms and floods, amounted to $366 billion.” Quoted from the Voice of America article.

NOAA has a website that provides information on all weather and climate-related disasters that have produced damages of over $1 billion in the United States since 1980. Their website has a variety of maps, charts, lists and narratives.