Of the American bent. I'm sure anyone who's read this thread is aware of the fairly severe almost-nationwide drought.

[url]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48462414/ns/technology_and_science-science/[/url]

Barbados to be hit with a Tropical Storm tomorrow...
 

So, Barbados will likely be hit with a semi-major Tropical Storm very early tomorrow morning (our time).

The last time this happened most of the island was without power and water (and, perhaps even worse, Internet (!)) for almost a week.

Wish us luck!!! :smile:

[QUOTE=chalsall;306773]So, Barbados will likely be hit with a semi-major Tropical Storm very early tomorrow morning (our time).

The last time this happened most of the island was without power and water (and, perhaps even worse, Internet (!)) for almost a week.

Wish us luck!!! :smile:[/QUOTE]
Looks like it's now mostly passed to the north of Barbados, according to [url]http://barbadosweather.org/MT-Warnings-tbpb.php[/url] (around 7:00UTC), and you're still online according to the forum software - that's a good sign. How do things look? Hope you & yours are okay.

[QUOTE=markr;306803]How do things look? Hope you & yours are okay.[/QUOTE]

Yup, thanks. A bit blowy through the night and some rain, but no infrastructure damage.

You never know with these things -- kinda the definition of a chaotic system.... :smile:

A couple in NYC
 

[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19534104[/url]

Fire tornado
 

[url]http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/fire-tornado-towers-over-queensland-outback-20121025-286p3.html[/url]

Firespout?

[QUOTE=chalsall;306826]Yup, thanks. A bit blowy through the night and some rain, but no infrastructure damage.

You never know with these things -- kinda the definition of a chaotic system.... :smile:[/QUOTE]

I am very glad it missed you.

Potential "perfect storm"?
 

I haven't dug any deeper than this story, yet. I did send it to a friend with much better meteorologic connections to see what he thinks of the idea.

[url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/25/hurricane-sandy-new-york-delaware_n_2013788.html[/url]

[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32601555"]Tornado in north Germany[/URL] causes significant damage.

It's been a bit breezy around here for the last couple of days but nothing on that scale.

[QUOTE=markr;315887][url]http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/fire-tornado-towers-over-queensland-outback-20121025-286p3.html[/url]

Firespout?[/QUOTE]

Yes, these are actually fairly common in large wildland fires - several such made the evening news here during last year's CA fire season.

Anytime you have strong wind shear - whether generated by colliding warm/cold frontal boundaries or (for firestorms) by strong local convective currents, the resulting concentrated vorticity has the potential to lead to a tornado-like funnel with not only strong centrifugal flows but also axial ones. The latter are what suck whatever ground-level 'stuff' is around into the funnel, be it dirt and debris (classic land tornado - debris can include large objects such as cows, cars, homes, girls holding small dogs, &c - even entire Hollywood film crews have been sighted swirling around, with cameras rolling to boot), water (waterspout, a.k.a. tornado over water), fire ... I expect even 'snowspouts' are possible; have not seen such a one personally but have experienced 'thundersnow', which contains all the needed elements.

[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33136737"]UK's 'tornado alley' identified[/URL]

TL;DR: very common but usually rather feeble.