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I heard an item on the radio where the twin twisters that clobbered a Nebraska community were said to be described by meteorologists as rare; the question "Is this due to climate change?" was also posed and left dangling. Investigating further at Google News, I found another item where a storm chaser was saying "I've never seen anything like this".
I then found an article by Andrew Freedman which says there's a wide range of tornado types and that storms which split aren't all that rare.
Pioneering tornado scientist Theodore Fujita, who devised the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale that is still used to classify tornado intensity, identified many types of tornadoes, some of which bore similarities to the twin twisters in Nebraska on Monday.
For example, the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965, during which nearly 50 tornadoes touched down and 271 people died, there was a well-documented dual tornado that struck close to Toledo, Ohio. A study Fujita published with his colleagues found that this tornado split for only a short time, coalescing back into a larger funnel soon after a famous picture was taken that bears some resemblance to the Pilger tornado.
"A single funnel split into two and then reorganized into one after about a minute," the study says.
Interesting reading.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday June 19 2014, @04:58PM
It's a bit more complicated than that. The story that Wiccans at least used to tell about their history before the 1930's or so is largely myth, as was described wonderfully in a book on the subject by Ronald Hutton entitled Triumph of the Moon. As far as we can tell, modern Wiccans are not really direct descendants from the folks that were getting burned at the stake or hung or stoned to death in earlier times, and claims to the contrary could be seen as the founding myth of Wicca (just like a guy rising from the dead is the founding myth of Christianity).
That said, modern witch morality is very clear about their practices not being used to harm anybody. Your ex probably did cast spells not infrequently, for things like health, prosperity, protection, and good relationships. If a witch were to cast a spell trying to cause a tornado to hit somebody's house, their understanding of the world would probably be that the tornado would hit that other person's house, and just as assuredly hit the house of the witch who cast the spell.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Vanderhoth on Thursday June 19 2014, @05:20PM
Yep, I got all that. My ex was very pleasant and we're still friends. I was just making a point that to say tornadoes are an act of God/magic is the same as saying tornadoes are an act of climate/weather is what's wrong with people. Equating an unverifiable invisible entity to a verifiable visible phenomenon is the problem.
<sarcasm>Pffffhhhh, imagine weather events being influenced by climate. LOL, that's the same as saying weather is influence by *GOD*!!!</sarcasm>
The original post seemed to be making the point that witches were/are as real as magic, or some invisible force, when they're as real as anyone that follows, or doesn't follow, a religion. Magic isn't quantifiable, people who believe in magic are. This is where the whole "debate" over climate change gets derailed because someone thinks it's ok to compare known physical/visible/measurable facts to unquantifiable beliefs is ok, then they dismiss the *facts* as beliefs or opinions that can be argued. Then they act like the rest of humanity is just like them.
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe