Weekly Oddities

In reading various news throughout the week I started to realize that there is a variety of odd, bizarre and unique stories involving weather in some capacity.  The idea with this is to save those stories for a weekly roundup.  Let's begin.

I had seen this one a little over a week ago and wanted to touch base on it but never did.  It is the perfect opening for this new post.

1.)
Looting has always been commonplace after damaging storms.  Some people do it out of necessity, others see it as an opportunity.  Either way it is not surprising to see greedy individuals out there stealing.  These three guys take the cake.  After the Moore tornado the small amount of dip sticks came out from their campers and began searching the debris.  Three men in particular had a game plan established.  They were going to clean up on copper parts that recently have been a hot item for thieves.  Unfortunately they were caught.  Now I know you are thinking at this point how can this be.  Apparently walking down the middle of a demolished street carrying out copper throws up a red flag.  It's even worse when you are walking to the vehicle your two buddies are standing next to with a van full of stolen goods.  Here is the kicker.  The three men were from Virginia.  They had driven to Oklahoma for the sole intention of stealing copper after the tornado.  That is some brilliance.

2.)
It's fire season and this past week saw very warm temperatures for the west combine with high winds and low humidity.  Red Flag warnings were up for many areas west of Denver through Nevada and Arizona.  Many times it is the isolated thunderstorms that produce more of a light show than a rain event that get fires started.  The warnings still advise people to avoid camp fires in the woods and do not flick a cigarette out the window.  They might need to add another to that list.  Don't burn ants with a magnifying glass.  Three kids in Flagstaff found out the hard way.  My head is spinning on this one.  I can't believe people still do this.  I am slightly pleased to see kids still want to play outside.  But I'm also concerned about this type of activity.  A part of me feels that this might have been the most affordable thing to keep them preoccupied.  It is unclear how many ants if any were victimized but the kids did manage to start a fire.  Luckily a group of neighbors heard the commotion and were able to control the fire before it got out of hand as firefighters arrived to spray the entire area to be sure.  Every year there is some fire started by something that makes you shake your head.  Maybe this is the one that doesn't end with an entire forest burning down.

3.)
This past week saw numerous cases of volatile weather across the east with much of the severe weather rolling through to the south of our area.  Tornadoes were reported as far north as Delaware that saw an EF0 and video caught a small tornado over the harbor in Baltimore.  During this time the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the only bridge over the bay, was briefly closed for safety reasons.  It's not uncommon as high winds across a flat surface hitting a long suspension bridge can lead to rocking.  A minor inconvenience for most is an acceptable cost as opposed to a very intense amusement park type of ride.  One minor detail nobody knew about.  There was still a truck out on the bridge when it closed.  All he could do was pull over and take some video.  It's not as crazy and you might think but still not a place I'd want to be completely alone.


There you have it.  Hopefully this roundup can continue as I find more suitable stories.