English Thread

[Crimson Tide]

Hi, SanFrancisco!
I think, you are right! The temperature is more than 10 degrees about average in the whole USA, and it lasts already for two weeks now!
I 'm sure, we'll get suddenly cold weather in March or so!
Last year we had such a sudden (cold) temperature change, accompanied with tornadoes, in March!
I'm a little bit a storm chaser, I like that thrilling weather here!
I like the interesting clouds, supercells,like to take pictures of them, but I also have respect because of the danger of the weather!
 The people should avoid going outside half an hour after a thunderstorm, and many people don't know or even don't accept that!
At golf places, for example, many people come to death, or people who clean up the mess in the garden after thunderstorms, get a flash of lightning! There are more dead people from lightning than from tornadoes each year! Did anyone know that?

[americanhero]

Hi everybody,

so I must say I can`t deal with the winter conditions here in Germany. For months it´s so awfully cold and it doesn`t matter what you wear - it´s always cold and chilly. But somehow it´s not the same when I´m in the USA. Maybe it´s my imagination or just something else-but it seems to me that I can deal better with the winter conditions there. I experienced that again last december in Washington DC. It was really cold an chilly, no question, but the most time it was okay for me and I was walking around town quit a lot. The same in 2003. I´ve been in DC and the Eastcoast during and after a Blizzard and temperatures were somewhere in the 20ies, but I could deal with it.
Is there somewhre else who made the same experiences like me?

So after all, the 2003 Blizzard was one of the most exciting events in my live. And the flight to Newark was the longest I ever had.
Have you all experienced something special while in the USA? Or something really embarassing? I´m really curious to hear about it.

Greetz,

Yvonne

[America_Crazy]

Have you all experienced something special while in the USA?

I think that it is quite easy to experience something special in America. There is always lots of excitement while being there. It is hard to tell though what exactly the special thing was. I think there are a lot of little special things that happened or that I experienced in America whether it was just a little talk to someone or just eating food or just to have seen something very beautiful. But I got to say that flying into America is always something special to me. No matter if it is flying into New York or Washington or some other city.

[Crimson Tide]

Hi, Yvonne!
For me the most exciting time was  the first hurricane that hit us, IVAN! The preparation, the chaos in the stores, vou could nearly buy nothing after a few hours! Water, food, batteries, flashlights, everything was gone! Then the rain and the wind came, we all looked out of the window, the rain came, horizontally, for more than 14 hours!
The wind was normal for me, because I'm living in the Wesermarsch at a levi in Germany, so I know Orkane, but we have a very different house with one foot thick brick walls!
I was not afraid of the storm, but the wooden houses!
Fortunately it was not so hard in Tuscaloosa, but it was an adventure I'll never forget!
Katrina was not so hard for us, but Rita's aftermath came with
8 tornadoes in Tuscaloosa county! We had tornadoe warnings for hours, and eight touchdowns around us, while I had to bring a German to the airport in Birmingham! I was really frightened the first time in Alabama, because the car is not the best place when you have tornadoe warning!
My friend called me while I was driving, and told me very excited that she had seen a tornadoe with her own eyes! And I was not with her!    
I would have done a picture with my camera, and I WAS NOT THERE!  

I have to come back  to "Katrina"!
We had visitors from Germany that time, Katrina came, and my father, my uncle, and my aunt spent , together with us, a  10 day vacation in New Orleans, Biloxi, Misissippi, and in Gulf Shores, and Dauphin Island, Alabama.
Two days after we came home to Tuscaloosa, everything we had seen, was destroyed! That was a terrible feeling!
Later I worked for several weeks as a volunteer in a shelter, and that was hard too! All the people, and what different kind of strokes they have experienced!
I'll remember Katrina and the other hurricanes for the rest of my life!

[americanhero]

Hi Crimson Tide,

wow, you have a real exciting life down there in the South. With all the hurricanes that hit you in some way.
 I´m also not very concered about the strong wind that is coming up with it, you know, I´m also living in Northern Germany. But for me it would also be very strange with all that wodden constructions of the houses. When I was younger I spent the summer in Detroit with my relatives and very often there were tornado warnings. And in consideration of all that wooden houses it is clear what will happen when a tornado hit such a house.
it must been very hard for you to see the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. For me here in Germany and very far away it was  also shocking to see. Und absolutely unbelievable. But despite the destruction New Orleans is still on my to do list and I think it`s important for that hidden city to get back to normality as soon as possible. And that means tourists as well as quite normal visitors.

The worst and most exciting event I had in the USA was that Blizzard in december 2003. I was on my way to Washington DC via Newark and during our flight the pilot told us that it was snowing in New York. That´s nothing special, it´s snowing there really often. So I wasn´t concerned. But as soon as we got near New York, the weather conditions worsened more and more. We were flying large circles, hoping to get a permit to land. But the airport wasn´t cleared with snow. it was too much, they couldn´t deal with it. After two hours we were circeling in the air we were out of fuel and had to land. It remembered me always of a scene in Die Hard 2: The view out of the windows and all the planes circeling around DC.
 After all we did an emergency arrival and were welcomed by a bunch of cars of the fire brigade, police, ambulance and so on. The plane slid nearly away the runway, really weird situation.
But nothing happened despite the fact that I missed my plane to Washington due to the closing of the airport and I spent the night in a motel nearby.  
And during that same visit to Washington there was a small earthquake right there in DC and Virginia. That was absolutely weird. After that rattle and shaking I thought to myself: Wow, cool, was that an earthquake? In the evening news I saw the coverage about that event, it was just a 5.1 quake on the Richter scale, but it was a real quake.

But it´s funny, mostly when I´m in the US, I have exciting moments. And theses are the moments I will never forget and when I read my journal I still can´t believe that it happenend to me.


Greetz,

Yvonne

[Crimson Tide]

Wow, Yvonne!
That's just as exciting and thrilling adventure with your flight into the blizzard !
Could y'all tell the pilot how great his job was?
He saved the live of all passengers because he kept cool!
I think it was not so important that you missed your next flight at that moment!
I'm sure that you won't forget that day!

You can have a lot of experiences depending on weather conditions, they are always extremely, "not normal"!  
Flash floods, Thunderstorms, Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Tornadoes....it is really not boring,with regard of the weather in the USA!    

[ratlady]

@Yvonne -
I can only agree with Crimson Tide, that sounds REALLY "exciting"... actually, I'd rather say "frightening"... that was quite a bit of luck there that nothing more serious happened!!

@Crimson Tide -
I still remember Ivan, too, and always will - of course... my first experience with that down here... Back then, we actually "decided" (or got talked into   ) almost in the last minute to pack up and "run"... ended up in Pensacola, of all places... really a "smart move" in hindsight...   However, since then, I've come to realize that our little apartment here in town is just about as safe or unsafe as anywhere else within 100 miles or so... so might as well stay here...  

Well, and I admit - while I could easily do without the hurricanes, I'm kind of "fascinated" with the weather down here in general... even after several years, it still surprises me just how quickly it can change sometimes... and how patchy it often is... There might be lightning flashing and rain pouring down right here, and 10 miles down the road the sky is bright and blue... Or, sometimes when you look at huge black clouds building up in the sky and just wait for them to "explode", nothing ever happens... I believe sometimes it can go from sun to major thunderstorm and back to sun in a matter of an hour or two... I remember one day when my husband and I were driving over to Biloxi and could "watch" a big patch of thunderstorm south of us - we never got a drop of rain as we were driving around it...

And, I for one do know all about thunderstorms and lightning now    - that was one of my "most memorable miserable moments" here, last summer, when I actually "managed" to get myself caught in one of the better T-storms out on the beach... never thought that could happen to me ("always aware & extra-careful"...yeah right...   ) but that day, I just didn't see it come in time to "get off" ...  Incidentally, that happened exactly the week the National Weather Service had their "Lightning Awareness Week" going on - so now I also know you're NOT supposed to lay down flat on the ground but instead kind of crouch down on your heels to minimize "ground contact"... duh - I couldn't even do that inside our home for more than 20 minutes...!!    

By the way, talking about the beaches, lightning strikes are also a lot more "dangerous" than sharks, for example... And yet, a lot more people are so much more afraid of a shark attack than of a thunderstorm...   Sometimes, I really can't believe how careless some people are - walking upright sticking an umbrella up against the rain - like that wouldn't be the perfect "antenna" to catch a lightning bolt...  

[Crimson Tide]

Hi Ratlady!
Oh yeah! I can imagine your fear at the beach!
I can't get enough of the topic Thunderstorm!
Last summer I talked with a friend who was really frightened of a severe Thunderstorm in our neighborhood!
We have an old fashioned telephone, fixed at the wall, and I told her, "just a minute, I call you back with my cellphone, because of the heavy lightning, it is dangerous!"
 Suddenly the housephone rang, and, as a reflex, I reached for the receiver of my phone. At that moment a lightning crashed into our lawn in front of me, it was huge, loud, and my arm got a hit of electricity!
I had pain for three, four days. couldn't move my arm very good!
I really know how powerful thunderstorms, especially lightning can be!

[ratlady]

Hey Crimson Tide  

I see you're up "late" again too...  

Whoa... your story sounds even more scary than mine... (in fact, I still think it was actually my husband who was REAL scared... I myself was "only" plain miserable and just wanted it to be "over" one way or the other Even though I admit for weeks after that I would literally "jump" at every plane-take-off from the nearby Naval Air Station 'cause it sounds a lot like thunder...   ) But, you know you're not supposed to be using cell phones (or two-way radios, for that matter) in a thunderstorm either? (...even though I did, too... saved me...   )

I read a story on the NWS website about a woman picking up the phone in a thunderstorm who nearly died from a lightning strike thru the phone line...

One day (at my "old" job), we were all standing around the parking lot at work ready to head home, with not-too-bad of rain but thunder and all... and lightning hit a tree right behind one of the guys... boy, did he jump in the air...    But, looking back at that, in fact everybody around there was pretty lucky not having suffered anything, as the power (electricity) travels thru the ground, too... that's why they recommend you better stay away from any tall structure if you're outside during a thunderstorm...

And yes, I still LOVE thunderstorms, too - but I do prefer to be watching them from somewhere inside a building or car...  

Have you ever been to Australia? I think Darwin is one of the "best" places on this globe for lightning/thunderstorms...  

[Crimson Tide]

Hey Crimson Tide  

 But, you know you're not supposed to be using cell phones (or two-way radios, for that matter) in a thunderstorm either? (...even though I did, too... saved me...   )

And yes, I still LOVE thunderstorms, too - but I do prefer to be watching them from somewhere inside a building or car...  

Have you ever been to Australia? I think Darwin is one of the "best" places on this globe for lightning/thunderstorms...  

Hi, Ratlady!
     
No, I Didn't know that I shouldn't use cellphones!
And, yes, I love thunderstorms, too!    Especially in my house, and it must be dark outside, then you can watch the lightning very good!

When we drove back from New Orleans through Biloxi, a few days before Katrina came, we had a very severe thunderstorm on our way!
And I had my Camera with me! I could film very strong lightning strikes,one hit the beach very closed to us,  sitting in our save car!
That was great! Our visitors from Germany were pretty impressed!
(And we didn't know that time what would happen with the region around us, just three days later with Katrina!      
By the way, how is Dauphin Island looking? Could they repair again their roads, houses, etc.,or is it completely destroyed now?
I'm asking because we drove there, too, in our vacation at August 05, and we could see them that time, restoring the devastation from IVAN yet, and then the next Hurricane came!

[ratlady]

Hey Crimson Tide  

just for a rather short answer for now    - I'm afraid I really don't know much about what Dauphin island looks like at this time... in fact, I haven't been over there since before Ivan...    Yes, they did get it pretty badly, I think they might be some of the "worst-off" and yet hardly anyone ever mentions anything about them... I saw the pictures after Ivan, and then again after Katrina - not to mention Cindy (was it? I think...) in between... it's just so sad, even over here, to see places that had just been repaired and fixed up after Ivan now being washed out all over again...  Driving down the beach highway around here and into Florida, I can't even tell anymore what of all the "damage" that's still visible was from Ivan, Dennis, or Katrina...  

What I do know is, the ferry service started back up I think about two weeks ago; and, just today, they had a "big story" in the local newspaper about MardiGras celebrations going on down there... so I don't think it's completely destroyed   In fact, in a way it's amazing how "life on the coast" will always "bounce back", time and again... Orange Beach and - even more so - Gulf Shores have been "desperate" for quite a while now to get the word out they're "open for business"... Even in New Orleans, they're already trying to "lure" tourists back in...  

[cleoxx]

Hi everybody,

nice topic: thunderstorms! I also like them, but only if I am in a "safe" house and not outside on a tour!
Like Yvonne, once I also had the experience of a Tornado warning in Detroit, MI.  It must have been 2 or 3 years ago from now...!
But first I didn't understand what was going on... it startet to rain, everybody was runnin, I heard sirens --> and first I didn't know what to do then; nobody told me before about that!
But then 2 friends of mine explained that to me and we went into the car for driving home as fast as possible
So, at first, I didn't like that experience at all! But when we were back in the house, I really liked the thunderstorm - and the Tornado finally took another route trough the county!

Last autumn, when we arrived in Milwaukee (our first night in the U.S.), the weather first was OK. But then there also was a thunderstorm and there was a power blackout caused by the storm! The problem was, that we had to find our motel. This was really hard without the light-signals!!! We searched for the motel about half an hour. And the whole motel didn't have power - we checked in with candle light (how "romantic"   ) and had to find our room in the dark - this was really difficult: we had to "feel" the room numbers at the door! But when we woke up next morning, power was back again!

And that wasn't my first experience with power blackouts - we were on our flight from Chicago to Detroit, when the great blackout in 2003 happened! But that's another story....

Many greetings
cleoxx

[Stephan_]

Last autumn, when we arrived in Milwaukee (our first night in the U.S.), the weather first was OK. But then there also was a thunderstorm and there was a power blackout caused by the storm! The problem was, that we had to find our motel. This was really hard without the light-signals!!! We searched for the motel about half an hour. And the whole motel didn't have power - we checked in with candle light (how "romantic"   ) and had to find our room in the dark - this was really difficult: we had to "feel" the room numbers at the door! But when we woke up next morning, power was back again!

Most motels I've seen in the states had those emergency lights. It thought of them as kind of regulation that is strictly checked?

About the weather: I think people in specific regions of the us are used to natural disasters, like people in Germany are familiar with the annual flooding of the Rhine

For myself, I must say that I feel on the one hand thrilled with things like thunderstorm, forest fires, flooding and tornados. On the other hand I feel very uncomfortable when I only see the signs with tornado evacuation route on it.

In California I drove through a region with forest fires. For several miles you couldn’t see the sky because the smoke was so dense. That was fascinating and threateningly at the same time.

stephan

[ratlady]

Last autumn, when we arrived in Milwaukee (our first night in the U.S.), the weather first was OK. But then there also was a thunderstorm and there was a power blackout caused by the storm! The problem was, that we had to find our motel. This was really hard without the light-signals!!! We searched for the motel about half an hour. And the whole motel didn't have power - we checked in with candle light (how "romantic"   ) and had to find our room in the dark - this was really difficult: we had to "feel" the room numbers at the door! But when we woke up next morning, power was back again!

Most motels I've seen in the states had those emergency lights. It thought of them as kind of regulation that is strictly checked?

About the weather: I think people in specific regions of the us are used to natural disasters, like people in Germany are familiar with the annual flooding of the Rhine

Actually, I think you're quite right about that...    Even I, still moreless a "newbie" to "our" specific area, can now "see" how you kind of "arrange" yourself with it... after all, it is part of everyday life, in a way... and a lot of the times, people will even "joke" about it, too - maybe one of the better ways to "cope" with it...  

Regarding the motels - I don't know about the regulations as far as emergency lights go but you'd think there ought to be "something"... And, what I'm also wondering about is how you actually "operate" the doors without power? I mean, I'm pretty sure there's a way for that, too... but I just remember the motel we stayed in during Ivan, when the power went out and you really had to watch out so the door wouldn't fall shut behind you...  

[cleoxx]

Hi all together,

Most motels I've seen in the states had those emergency lights. It thought of them as kind of regulation that is strictly checked?

Yes, I remember ... the motel (a Super 8 ) had emergency lights (we saw them next morning), but unfortunatelly, they didn't work...
So I don't know, how strict the regulations for that really are.

Regarding the motels - I don't know about the regulations as far as emergency lights go but you'd think there ought to be "something"... And, what I'm also wondering about is how you actually "operate" the doors without power? I mean, I'm pretty sure there's a way for that, too... but I just remember the motel we stayed in during Ivan, when the power went out and you really had to watch out so the door wouldn't fall shut behind you...  

Yes, ratlady, you're right about that; we also wondered how it worked: no emergency lights on, but the room doors opended like every day by using the key card. Maybe they have a different power source for the doors
But in the room itself , nothing worked: no light, no TV, no shower, no lavatory, no radio alarm, nothing! And our only Maglite was in the suitcase which was lost at the airport in Paris (and arrived two days later...)!

And I agree with all of you, that you get more relaxed to some kind of weather depending on where you live...