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A MASSIVE 8.8 earthquake hit Chile just a few hours ago. This has triggered a tsunami warning throughout the Pacific region. I was reading the initial warning bulletin and found the verbiage below disturbing. I cannot imagine something like this. Mother nature is amazing, beautiful, destructive, and powerful. My prayers are with all of those in Chile and the areas still yet to be affected by the aftermath of this enormous quake.

Pictures of the Chile quake from the Telegraph (UK)

Full warning text here

I’ve bolded some of the things that boggle my mind…

EVALUATION

A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN GENERATED THAT COULD CAUSE DAMAGE ALONG COASTLINES OF ALL ISLANDS IN THE STATE OF HAWAII. URGENT ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT LIVES AND PROPERTY.

A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF LONG OCEAN WAVES. EACH INDIVIDUAL WAVE CREST CAN LAST 5 TO 15 MINUTES OR MORE AND EXTENSIVELY FLOOD COASTAL AREAS. THE DANGER CAN CONTINUE FOR MANY HOURS AFTER THE INITIAL WAVE AS SUBSEQUENT WAVES ARRIVE. TSUNAMI WAVE HEIGHTS CANNOT BE PREDICTED AND THE FIRST WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST.

TSUNAMI WAVES EFFICIENTLY WRAP AROUND ISLANDS. ALL SHORES ARE AT RISK NO MATTER WHICH DIRECTION THEY FACE. THE TROUGH OF A TSUNAMI WAVE MAY TEMPORARILY EXPOSE THE SEAFLOOR BUT THE AREA WILL QUICKLY FLOOD AGAIN. EXTREMELY STRONG AND UNUSUAL NEARSHORE CURRENTS CAN ACCOMPANY A TSUNAMI. DEBRIS PICKED UP AND CARRIED BY A TSUNAMI AMPLIFIES ITS DESTRUCTIVE POWER. SIMULTANEOUS HIGH TIDES OR HIGH SURF CAN SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE TSUNAMI HAZARD.

THE ESTIMATED ARRIVAL TIME IN HAWAII OF THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS 1105 AM HST SAT 27 FEB 2010

My usual aversion to winter weather involves the fact that I have to drive in it to get to work. Even if it happens on days off, its too much of a hassle/risk to get out in it. This week we had record snowfall here in Dallas. Most snowfall in a 24 hour period since records have been kept in 1898 with 12.7 inches (at the airport). Several unusual factors came together to create what was, for me, a perfect storm.

First, it hadn’t been to cold leading up to the storm. This meant the ground wasn’t too cold, which prevented roads from easily freezing. I left extra early for work Thursday to make sure I made it to the office in time, but because the roads were good, I was early. I used my extra time to take a few pictures around my office neighborhood. Because we don’t see patients on Thursdays, I was able to take a full hour for lunch and grab some more photos. Then, the drive was home was great because the roads still hadn’t iced.

As the storm passed over us, it slowed, and the air circulation continually pulled in gulf moisture. Our expected 1 to 3 inches soon became 8 to 13 inches! Thursday during the snow, reports were that temps would drop overnight causing massive freezing on the roads. This is what normally happens to us. So, most schools and many businesses decided to close Friday. My wife’s school district closed. My work did not. We did get word that the office wouldn’t open until 10:00am, but when I arrived, there was no power. This meant no phones, no internet, no lights, no eye exams. So we got the rest of the day off!

My wife and I took full advantage by going to lunch and taking a LOT of pictures. The temperature never got below 30 degrees, so the roads never froze. Awesome. Saturday was sleeping in, photo editing, blogging, coffee. Awesome. Then we headed out to Valentine’s lunch at Mastergrill. How can you go wrong with all you can eat meat? After lunch we did a little shopping before heading over to see Avatar in 3D IMAX.

Below are some of the pictures from the last couple of days. You can see more at my favorites at my photography site, dchristianphotography.com. To see all 3 pages of pictures in one slideshow, click [view with piclens] above the first thumbnail. You can then go full screen!

[View with PicLens]

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I have no idea when this video is from, but it must have been after a heavy rain. Perhaps they were looking for an excuse to finally get out the boat and oars…

Monday night it got cold here. Then there was the VERY light precipitation that occurred causing bridges and overpasses to freeze for the drive to work. It stayed cold all day Tuesday causing a few snow flurries around town, but certainly not enough to stick. That is unless you were around White Rock Lake.

The snow you see in the pictures below can only be found around the lake. Nowhere else was there any ground cover. Because our temperatures have been quite warm for the last few weeks, the lake temperature was fairly warm as well. When the cold air came in the winds picked up water vapor rising from the lake, carried it into the surrounding areas where it froze and fell to the ground. Snow, just around the lake areas.

The wife’s flight was supposed to land 30 minutes ago. Except it appears Dallas weather doesn’t want to cooperate. Check out the pictures. The first one was about 8:00pm, the second was about 9:10pm. This storm had better move on out now!

UPDATE:Just got a call. Plane is on the runway! But it was 60 seconds from turning to Oklahoma due to low fuel! I imagine the wife’s nerves are a wreck. She hates flying.

All of you amateur meteorologists (and aren’t they all?) will love this site.

I found a video of T. Boone’s new energy plan. Cool thing is, this video was actually shot in the future.

Actually, I hope wind energy takes off. Cost efficient and makes great sense.