Coffeebreakwithfriends has received some very insightful information from some of our readers. We’d like to welcome their very informative blogs to our Coffeetalk Table of Discussion!
Suzee Bailey CEO COFFEBREAKWITHFRIENDS
For our Florida Tabletalk friends…
Good afternoon neighbors,
While we are one month away from the official start of Hurricane Season (June 1 – November 30), we already have our first Tropical Disturbance that is expected to bring rain to our area along with hazardous conditions in the Atlantic Ocean. Please review the attached update from the National Weather Service.
In addition, now is a good time to review your house/condo’s emergency procedures, supplies, so we are well-prepared for the upcoming hurricane season.
In the event of an emergency, please remember to call the employee hotline at 954-828-5900 for updates about City operations, and stay in touch with us via the following communication tools:
Coffeebreakwithfriends wants to extend a special “THANK YOU”
to ‘The Brenham Community Center kids and Denise Chapman’
for giving us a heads up on this informative website…
Keep up the great work!
When traveling for any distance, bad weather can cause everything from slight delays to major accidents. When truckers have advanced warning and know what to do in severe weather situations, they can keep themselves, their vehicles, and their shipments safe.
Look Out For Yourself When Traveling In Bad Weather
Truckers do not actively seek bad weather, but sometimes it is completely unavoidable. In severe and hazardous weather conditions, there are a lot of variables. Meteorology has come a long way since the Farmer’s Almanac, but all the technology in the world cannot predict the path of a tornado. No one can predict storm damage. Truck drivers cannot calculate for the behavior of other drivers on the road. However, truck drivers can be aware of their situations and stay in control of their own actions to avoid a state of panic. Remember, your vehicle has insurance, and can be replaced. The shipment you are carrying can also be replaced. Your life cannot.
Watching The Sky When Driving A Truck
Before we get into technology, and how it can keep you safe when driving in bad weather, we need to talk about the benefits of using your own eyes. The sky gives its own warning signals, which are helpful when out of range of radio and mobile coverage. Anvil-shaped clouds usually hint at nearby storms. A wall cloud, which can almost look like an alien spaceship landing, is indicative of tornado weather. Occasionally, you can see “eddies” in the clouds above, which could turn into microbursts. Out west, the sudden appearance of clouds in the summer can mean flash floods are on the horizon. Truck drivers have to pay attention to the road to account for variables like drivers and other obstacles. However, taking the occasional moment to see what the sky is doing can give you a better heads up than waiting for the warning to come through on the radio or your smartphone.
Driving In Hail
Hail is a very heavy and forceful form of precipitation. Not to be confused with sleet, hail forms distinct pellets that can range from a fraction of an inch to six inches in diameter. Hail is created from sudden differences in air temperatures and pressures, usually accompanied by an upward draft. Now, the natural reaction when faced with hail is to drive for cover, usually under an overpass on the highway. Do not do this. First, your truck, while under cover, is still not entirely safe from the hail. Second, you and your truck are even more at risk when parked under an overpass. Hailstorms reduce visibility, can break windshields, and make the road very hazardous. Just because your truck is parked, does not mean the vehicles behind you can see that. One parked vehicle under an overpass can easily get hit from behind, causing a massive pile up. The best thing to do when driving through hail is to get off the road entirely and wait things out. Remember how we mentioned earlier that hail was caused by a difference in pressure systems that cause an updraft? Hail may mean something worse is close by.
Tornadoes are caused by a clash in pressure systems, usually occurring between spring and summer. Apart from the hail mentioned above, what makes tornadoes more dangerous than regular windstorms is that a tornado vortex is completely unpredictable. Meteorologists can guess where tornadoes might strike, but no one can say where a funnel will connect between the ground and the clouds, nor the path it will take. What makes tornadoes even more hazardous is that, while most occur in the middle of the day, some do touch down at night, when no one can see them. Again, as with the hailstorm, parking your truck under and overpass is the exact opposite of a good idea, but for slightly different reasons. Have you ever held your thumb at the end of a water hose or air pump? A similar effect is created in the space beneath an overpass with high-speed winds. Trucks are not the most aerodynamic vehicles, and have a lot of surface area to catch wind. Tornadoes can pick up and carry entire trucks, or blow smaller cars into your truck. So what do you do to stay safe? First, look to see if there are any structures you can access. If you can, get out of your truck and get indoors. Second, if you cannot get to a building or house, get out of your truck, anyway, and get in a ditch or the lowest area you can find. (Note: This does not mean under your vehicle.) Third, be aware of flooding. The wake of a tornado drops a lot of rain. Unfortunately, there is not much more you can do to be safe. A quick Google Image Search will result in images of what the sky looks like right before a tornado hits. The greenish hue of the sky itself, and the large, dark wall clouds are the visual warnings you need to pay attention to in order to know when it is time to seek shelter.
Compared to hail and tornadoes, a blizzard may seem much easier to handle. However, this does not make blizzards. Truck drivers have an advantage in blizzards because there is usually advanced warning by at least half a day, making it much easier to get to shelter before the snow starts to fall. As we have mentioned above for driving in other types of bad weather, reduced visibility and bad road conditions once again make parking under an overpass the wrong solution. At this point, simply rule out underpasses during bad weather. If you find yourself stranded, stay in your truck and try to stay warm until it passes. If you absolutely must drive through a blizzard, accelerate and brake very slowly. Do not try to power your way up hills. As always, if you can find a place to pull over and rest until the snow stops and the plows clear off the highways, do so.
The trucking industry has become very advanced over the past few years alone. Drivers have GPS trackers, some of which give information on current traffic conditions and even weather changes. Smartphones have numerous apps, which give ample warning for most bad weather conditions everywhere in the United States. Smartphones make communications much easier, as well, so truck drivers can call ahead to destinations, touch base with their fleets, and call for roadside assistance, if necessary.
With all of the above tips, sometimes there is nothing a trucker can do in bad weather, other than shut down until things pass. Always keep supplies in the cab to keep yourself healthy and safe for prolonged periods of time. Putting together a survival kit should consist of the following:
First aid supplies
Flares
Rechargeable flashlight
Water
Jumper cables
Thermal blankets
Gloves
Change of clothes
Dried food
Portable phone charger
Fire extinguisher
Recovery straps
Tow chains
Hand crank radio
Knife
Auxiliary power unit
Prepared For The Unexpected
Truck drivers cannot anticipate everything, but with a little planning, they can make it through even the worst weather conditions. Always be aware of our surroundings and check on weather reports frequently. Be safe on the road, mind the sky, and make sure our know how to handle bad weather and extreme road conditions.
IT’S TORNADO SEASON…
ARE YOU PREPARED!
Hi,
I’m Meagan from PreparednessGuide. We are a group of first responders, librarians, and instructors trying to spread information to help folks prepare for emergencies. In doing research for our next project, I came across your site and found it helpful. Thanks.
I thought maybe your site might also benefit from some of these resources (maybe here).
Thanks Meagan for joining our COFFEEBREAKWITHFRIENDS Table of Discussion…we appreciate your information!
National Preparedness
Would you be ready if there were an emergency?
Be prepared: assemble an emergency supply kit,
make your emergency plans, stay informed,
and get involved in helping your family, your business,
and your community be ready for emergencies.
Tornadoes
Tornadoes are nature’s most violent storms. Spawned from powerful thunderstorms, tornadoes can cause fatalities and devastate a neighborhood in seconds. A tornado appears as a rotating, funnel-shaped cloud that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground with whirling winds that can reach 300 miles per hour. Damage paths can be in excess of one mile wide and 50 miles long. Every state is at some risk from this hazard. Some tornadoes are clearly visible, while rain or nearby low-hanging clouds obscure others. Occasionally, tornadoes develop so rapidly that little, if any, advance warning is possible. Before a tornado hits, the wind may die down and the air may become very still. A cloud of debris can mark the location of a tornado even if a funnel is not visible. Tornadoes generally occur near the trailing edge of a thunderstorm. It is not uncommon to see clear, sunlit skies behind a tornado.
Listen to NOAA Weather Radio or to commercial radio or television newscasts for the latest information. In any emergency, always listen to the instructions given by local emergency management officials.
Be alert to changing weather conditions. Look for approaching storms.
Look for the following danger signs:
Dark, often greenish sky
Large hail
A large, dark, low-lying cloud (particularly if rotating)
Loud roar, similar to a freight train.
If you see approaching storms or any of the danger signs, be prepared to take shelter immediately.
Tornado Facts
Quick facts you should know about tornadoes:
They may strike quickly, with little or no warning.
They may appear nearly transparent until dust and debris are picked up or a cloud forms in the funnel.
The average tornado moves Southwest to Northeast, but tornadoes have been known to move in any direction.
The average forward speed of a tornado is 30 mph, but may vary from stationary to 70 mph.
Tornadoes can accompany tropical storms and hurricanes as they move onto land.
Waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water.
Tornadoes are most frequently reported east of the Rocky Mountains during spring and summer months.
Peak tornado season in the southern states is March through May; in the northern states, it is late spring through early summer.
Tornadoes are most likely to occur between 3 pm and 9 pm, but can occur at any time.
Know the Terms
Familiarize yourself with these terms to help identify a tornado hazard:
Tornado Watch – Tornadoes are possible. Remain alert for approaching storms. Watch the sky and stay tuned to NOAA Weather Radio, commercial radio or television for information.
Tornado Warning – A tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar. Take shelter immediately.
If you are under a tornado warning, seek shelter immediately! Most injuries associated with high winds are from flying debris, so remember to protect your head.
Listen to local officials for updates and instructions.
Check-in with family and friends by texting or using social media.
Watch out for debris and downed power lines.
If you are trapped, do not move about or kick up dust. Tap on a pipe or wall or use a whistle, if you have one, so that rescuers can locate you.
Stay out of damaged buildings and homes until local authorities indicate it is safe.
Photograph the damage to your property in order to assist in filing an insurance claim.
Do what you can to prevent further damage to your property, (e.g., putting a tarp on a damaged roof), as insurance may not cover additional damage that occurs after the storm.
If your home is without power, use flashlights or battery-powered lanterns rather than candles to prevent accidental fires.
Extreme windstorms in many parts of the country pose a serious threat to buildings and their occupants. Your residence may be built “to code” but that does not mean it can withstand winds from extreme events such as tornadoes and major hurricanes. The purpose of a safe room or a wind shelter is to provide a space where you and your family can seek refuge that provides a high level of protection. You can build a safe room in one of several places in your home.
Your basement
Atop a concrete slab-on-grade foundation or garage floor.
An interior room on the first floor.
Safe rooms built below ground level provide the greatest protection, but a safe room built in a first-floor interior room also can provide the necessary protection. Below-ground safe rooms must be designed to avoid accumulating water during the heavy rains that often accompany severe windstorms.
To protect its occupants, a safe room must be built to withstand high winds and flying debris, even if the rest of the residence is severely damaged or destroyed. Consider the following when building a safe room:
The safe room must be adequately anchored to resist overturning and uplift.
The walls, ceiling and door of the shelter must withstand wind pressure and resist penetration by windborne objects and falling debris.
The connections between all parts of the safe room must be strong enough to resist the wind.
Sections of either interior or exterior residence walls that are used as walls of the safe room must be separated from the structure of the residence so that damage to the residence will not cause damage to the safe room.
Additional information about Safe Rooms available from FEMA:
Tropical Storm Andrea was spotted by the Suomi NPP satellite as it passed overhead during the night from June 6-7, 2013, as the storm moved towards landfall on the Florida peninsula.
Credit: NASA/NOAA
Tropical Storm Andrea has spawned as many as six tornadoes as of 1 p.m. EDT today (June 6), with many more tornado warnings being issued, according to various news reports. There is currently a tornado watch for most of the state of Florida until 9 p.m. EDT, and those watches could start to extend further north as the storm moves inland.
Hurricanes and tornadoes are typically thought of as separate phenomena, with tornadoes conjuring up images of the flat prairie and hurricanes associated with the warm, coastal tropics. Hurricanes are much, much larger than tornadoes, but tornadoes are capable of producing much faster winds than hurricanes. However, some tropical storms and hurricanes are capable of spinning up tornadoes, as Tropical Storm Andrea is doing.
But how do hurricanes and tropical storms create tornadoes?
Hurricanes and tropical storms, collectively known as tropical cyclones, provide all the necessary ingredients to form tornadoes. First, most hurricanes carry with them individual supercells, which are rotating, well-organized thunderstorms. (These are typically the storms that spin up monster twisters in the Plains. All tornadoes need thunderstorms to form, said Brian McNoldy, a researcher at the University of Miami.
Second, hurricanes bring with them warm, moist air, which acts as their fuel. This creates instability in the atmosphere — namely, a layer of warm air with slightly colder and less-moist air above. This arrangement is unstable because the warm air wants to rise, since it is less dense. [50 Amazing Hurricane Facts]
Finally, hurricanes create wind shear, or an abrupt change in wind speed and direction over a short change in height. These alternating winds can create swirling air, called rolls. These vortices may then be flipped vertically — creating tornadoes — by thunderstorm updrafts, which are basically currents of warm, rising air, McNoldy told LiveScience’s OurAmazingPlanet.
Most hurricanes that make landfall create tornadoes, McNoldy said. “It’s pretty uncommon to not have tornadoes with these,” he said, adding that so far, the number of tornadoes spawned by Tropical Storm Andrea is not unusually high. Tornadoes mostly form over land, instead of over water, because the land slows down surface-level winds, creating even more wind shear, McNoldy said. Tornadoes form wherever these pre-existing supercells happen to be, he added, but meteorologists are still unable to predict exactly where tornados will strike.
These twisters usually form in the swirling bands of rain outside the cyclone, typically in the “front-right quadrant” of the storm, McNoldy said. In other words, if the storm is moving north, you’re most likely to find tornadoes to the northeast of the cyclone’s eye, he said.
Cyclone-spawned tornadoes are not fundamentally different from the tornadoes that form in the Great Plains. One difference is that the former tend to be less powerful, usually not exceeding a rating of EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. Secondly, twisters that form in the Plains, like the tornado that struck Moore, Okla., get all of their ingredients from separate places. In the case of the Oklahoma tornado outbreak, for example, the warm air came north from the Gulf of Mexico, while the cold air came south from Canada. In the case of hurricanes, however, they provide all the required components for twisters themselves.
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Weather can change dramatically and often quite suddenly too, causing severe destruction, injuries, and even fatalities. In the last few years especially, we have been witnessing increasingly violent weather phenomena. Fortunately, today’s improved weather services are often able to warn us of impending natural disasters well before they occur. This advance warning allows people to prepare themselves and their homes so that they can come out alive and safe.
Most people take safety precautions every day without thinking twice: we wear seatbelts, we lock our doors at night, we childproof our homes so that little hands can’t get hurt.
But sometimes, it’s difficult to see a bigger picture when it comes to safety. When the sun is shining in a cloudless sky, for example, it seems silly to think about preparing for a hurricane, but that is actually the best time to get ready. When a storm threatens your area, there will be little time to make plans and figure out an evacuation route.
Some of the most common and destructive disasters include earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods, and all of these can occur in various parts of the United States. While earthquakes aren’t as common, they do affect 45 of our 50 states, particularly on the West Coast. What’s more, earthquakes can trigger shifts in the ocean, leading to flooding in some areas and creating a second disaster. Knowing what to expect in your area is half the battle when it comes to preparing yourself, your family, and your pets for any event.
It’s also helpful to think about preparedness outside of the home; keeping a first-aid kit and a jug of water in the car, for example, is a simple way to give yourself peace of mind. Disaster can strike anywhere, at any time, and as scary as it can be to think about, being prepared is imperative these days.
Whether it comes in the form of bad weather, illness, or an environmental accident, there are many things you can do to ensure you and your family are protected and safe. Here, we’ll go through some of the most common disasters and give you natural disaster safety tips for each. READ MORE>>
Create a Family Game Plan In an emergency, every second counts- that’s why it’s crucial to have a game plan,
and why this year’s National Preparedness Month theme is “Don’t Wait Communicate.”
This September, as part of National Preparedness Month, the Red Cross encourages
all Americans to develop a family game plan. Get started using the steps below!
Check with your local chapter for trainings and events in your community.
GAME PLAN…
1. Know What to Do in Case of Emergency
It is important to make sure that the entire family is prepared and informed in the event of a disaster or emergency. You may not always be together when these events take place and should have plans for making sure you are able to contact and find one another.
The American Red Cross suggests some basic steps to make sure you remain safe:
*Meet with your family or household members. *Discuss how to prepare and respond to emergencies that are most likely to happen where you live, learn, work and play. *Identify responsibilities for each member of your household and plan to work together as a team. *If a family member is in the military, plan how you would respond if they were deployed. *Plan what to do in case you are separated during an emergency *Choose two places to meet: ̶ Right outside your home in case of a sudden emergency, such as a fire
̶ Outside your neighborhood, in case you cannot return home or are asked to evacuate
*Choose an out-of-area emergency contact person. It may be easier to text or call long distance if local phone lines are overloaded or out of service. Everyone should have emergency contact information in writing or saved on their cell phones. *Plan what to do if you have to evacuate *Decide where you would go and what route you would take to get there. You may choose to go to a hotel/motel, stay with friends or relatives in a safe location or go to an evacuation shelter if necessary. *Practice evacuating your home twice a year. Drive your planned evacuation route and plot alternate routes on your map in case roads are impassable. *Plan ahead for your pets. Keep a phone list of pet-friendly hotels/motels and animal shelters that are along your evacuation routes. *Let Your Family Know You’re Safe
*If your community has experienced a disaster, register on the American Red Cross Safe and Well website to let your family and friends know you are safe. You may also call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) and select the prompt for “Disaster” to register yourself and your family.
September 2010 marks the seventh annual National Preparedness Month, sponsored by the US Department of Homeland Security.
One goal of Homeland Security is to educate the public about how to prepare for emergencies, including natural disasters, mass casualties,
biological and chemical threats, radiation emergencies, and terrorist attacks.
During September, emergency preparedness will focus on:
Home and family preparedness, including pets, older Americans, and individuals with disabilities and special needs (Ready America)
Back-to-school (Ready Kids)
Business preparedness (Ready Business)
Preparación en Español (Listo America)
In collaboration with the American Red Cross, CDC’s Web site, Emergency Preparedness and You identifies and answers common questions about preparing for unexpected events, including:
FEMA and Citizen Corps to help you organize your information.
Emergency reference material such as a first aid book or information from www.ready.gov.
Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person. Consider additional bedding if you live in a cold-weather climate.
Complete change of clothing including a long sleeved shirt, long pants and sturdy shoes. Consider additional clothing if you live in a cold-weather climate.
Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper – When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant.
Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water.
Do not use scented, color safe or bleaches with added cleaners.
Fire Extinguisher
Matches in a waterproof container
Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items
Mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils, paper towels
Paper and pencil
Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children