Tornadoes


OK, this is more like it! From the August 1st Weekly World News:

Last week, what the Chinese government is secretly describing as "a super-monster tornado the size of a mountain" ripped through the Hunan Province in China.

... "Suddenly, a violent thunderstorm then erupted over the Wuling Mountains. Lightning crashed against the peaks. And then I saw it -- a gigantic swirling vortex, a monster tornado the size of a mountain! The funnel was 10 kilometers wide and it was heading right at me!"

... It was finally stopped when it reached the Convergence of Four Rivers at Lake Dongting, the largest body of water in the province. "It sucked up kilo-liters of lakewater," said Thompson. "Overwhelmed by the weight of the liquid, the tornado collapsed and then dissipated as fast as it had been created."

But the damage had already been done. More than 10,000 people died in 20 minutes. The Chinese government declared a state of emergency and sent a global SOS for relief. The International Red Cross and UN were soon on the scene, though all of the agencies agreed to keep news of the storm quiet.

"The reason is simple," Dr. Thompson said. "Due to global warming, the El Nino effect -- the heating of the world's oceans -- will grow more powerful. As it does, warm air from the seas and frigid air from the poles will produce more and more of these super-twisters. Computer models suggest that similar unstable weather patterns will strike parts of Spain, Mexico -- and the American Midwest, sometime this August.

"I suggest we begin preparing for the unthinkable now," Dr. Thompson concluded. "Underground shelters need to be dug deeper and heavily reinforced, and a satellite-triggered early warning system needs to be put into place.

"Most of all," he added, "we have to cut back on the burning of fossil fuels and stop global warming. Otherwise, our society may well be gone with the wind!"