[boggy]

It is seriously hard to imagine the devastation that is happening from these tornadoes.  Watching the news has just been absolutely terrifying and horrific.  Seriously tough stuff.  My heart goes out to everyone who is affected.  This photo... and absolute mind-melter.  Unbelievable.

http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/26162/slide_26162_282826_huge.jpg

[GreenMachine]

I was looking at those pics and its is unbelievable and more to come I suspect...Where do these people go? I guess move in with family...It looks like its going to take years when u figure on scraping it clean and getting rid of the debris and what a mess.....I hope we have things in place to get these people back on level footing and a ray of hope..I was saying to my wife, if we lived through it, what would we do?  Move in with our kids ( that will teach them)....

[single]

Some who have good insurance will be put up in motels and then moved into rental homes,usually good for 90 days.After that runs out.......dunno.90 days mite get the site cleared and a new build started.In this area it is a surprise to me that we do not pay extra for tornado insurance.If this keeps up it may happen.You look forward to spring all winter just to get sucked up and atomized in a twister.There are a LOT of folks still unaccounted for in Joplin.
   I was living in the Flint,Michigan,area in 1953 when a large tornado devastated an area we had moved away from.We went to look at the mess when it was opened up,being 7 yr.old at the time,it made quite an impression on me.Wringer type washing machines wrapped around trees.Cars at a drive in movie mangled practically beyond recognition,homes wiped off foundations and gone,folks living in tents,etc.112 deaths,some folks we knew.Just the way things are.The sun is shining here in Missouri,at the moment.Someone may still be alive in the ruble over there in Joplin.

[r80rt]

I was in Rolla today at my dealers, He told me the roof was blown off his shop area a couple of weeks ago. I was hoping all our board brothers in that area were safe.

[singhg5]

These tornadoes have been off the chart causing so much devastation.  In a matter of seconds, people's lives have been changed and destroyed. It was horrifying.

[Ice]

Prayers/thoughts/beams/rays for all those affected.

[Andy]

Ditto. 

My problems seem very few when I see what some of you are dealing with.  Be safe out there!

[Okie Enfield]

All the People down here in Tornado alley appreciate the thoughts guys. Fact is most of us are use to it. I am one of those Okie's that climb up on the roof when the sirens go off.  Not to make light of people loosing their lives and homes, please dont assume i dont feel deeply for my fellow Okie's that got hit or my neighbors up in Joplin, but most of us know that every spring this will happen. When I served in the Navy during the Gulf war, I got stationed in San Diego. First time the ground moved under my feet I almost crapped my pants. Californians who found out where I was from all assumed that we lived in tee-pees out here and flying cows were something that happened all the time. To them, a tornado was extra amazing because it's something they have never seen or experienced, same thing for me and my first earthquake! A disaster is a disaster is a disaster. More needs to be done in tornado prone area's, more public shelters, better warning times and the such, but thats all you can do cept pick up the pieces if you are hit. Anyway, we have had some doozey's this year, and hopefully we're mostly done till next spring. Hopefully.

[boggy]

I hear ya Okie. First earthquake I experienced I was running around the house to watch things shake. Unreal.

Well, not sure if you guys heard but we had a few tornadoes ourselves up here in Massachusetts!  Some positively scary moments of them tearing through Springfield and Worcester. Quite a bit of damage and sadly a few lives lost. Not quite Joplin devastation but pretty intense considering they are almost unheard of up here. I think the last big one was during John Kennedy's term in Massachusetts. Let's just hope those Tornadoes don't get any big ideas and get together with our snow storms.

[olhogrider]

And I was getting depressed by all the rain here. I needed some perspective. Thanks.

[jdrouin]

We spent a couple evenings in our basement in Champaign, IL the other week because the tornado sirens were going off. Then we get to the east coast last week and watch that tornado in Springfield form live on TV and sweep across the CT river and Memorial Bridge. Unreal. Just got to Boston last night and drove by Palmer, MA on the way. A bunch of highway signs (the kind with the framework that spans the whole roadway) were twisted up and thrown way off to the side, with a bare trail cut through the forest and, unfortunately, a few homes.

That kind of weather is almost unheard of in New England. Really makes you wonder what the hell is going on with the climate.

[Okie Enfield]

Call it global warming, climate change, whatever the heck you wanna but it is hard to deny that something is out of whack. 

[prof_stack]

Investigate HAARP and the possibility of groups controlling or modifying weather.  Imagine different groups or nations trying to modify weather against their foes.

Is it real or just some "Coast to Coast" myth?

[olhogrider]

Where's Art Bell when you need him? Actually I blame Al Gore. After all, didn't he invent Global Warming about the time he invented the internet?

[StephenCB]

Call it global warming, climate change, whatever the heck you wanna but it is hard to deny that something is out of whack. 

It's called cyclic weather patterns.  We've had some bad years and we've had some good ones.  I don't deny that the weather may be different that I was used to as a child, but I don't buy into the whole "Man Made" label some want to pin on it.

What kind of SUV was a T-Rex driving that caused his world to turn upside down?

I think it is the ultimate arrogance to think we insignificant ants that scramble on the face of this planet caused this.  We have reduced our "green house gas" output as a whole, but a single spring of wild fires on the West coast puts more carbon dioxide emissions into the air than a year of traffic on the California freeways.

I am not trying to incite anything.  Just my opinion.