The weather is definitely changing as we’ve had what appears to be the 6 or 7th tornado warning and perhaps third tornado to touch down in New York City in the past few years. For many living in the Big Apple, tornadoes were a phenomenon limited to Hollywood movies, the Discovery Channel and’ far off’ in the Midwest. The thought of a twister striking a metropolis like NY was unimaginable..Apparantly thats all changing..
In August of 2007 a tornado touched down in Brooklyn and did some damage. That was the first wake up call for many. Then we had a few well publicized tornado warnings. I recall one that interrupted the national news with CNN doing special coverage. A couple of months ago a tornado touched down in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. Earlier today, September 16th 2010 a well publicized tornado warning was followed up with yet another Whirlwind touching down in Brooklyn. This time one person was killed.
I’m not sure what to make of all this. Is it global warming, the earth shifting or something that’s always existed but was under reported. In any case God help us if a category 4 or 5 ever touched down in mid-town Manhattan. All the shards of glass raining down from those massive high rises would do unspeakable damage. In addition, I’m not so sure many New Yorkers would know where to go and how to seek adequate shelter. Do you open your windows to relive pressure which was advice given back in the days? I’m not sure if it works now.. Do we rush down to the nearest subway station and use them as makeshift storm cellars? Would New Yorkers simply scoff at the idea of a tornado and not heed any warnings till it was too late and a funnel cloud is barreling down upon them?
Here’s some footage of the windstorm hitting the Redhook and the South Parkslope sections of Brooklyn..Now for folks living in places like Oklahoma or Kansas, this is just a windstorm. As far as they’re concerned NY has away to go befor it becomes the new tornado alley.For folks in NY its a big deal. Shout out to Adrian Mueller / fabrik studio for capturing this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfkryGkG6H8&feature=player_embedded