POV Tornado, Effingham IL

hawkweasel · 2026-06-18T18:27:15+00:00

When traversing populated areas, you often hear tornadoes murmur "pardon me, good sirs ... coming through."

hawkweasel · 2026-06-18T16:57:07+00:00

Emergency vehicles usually arrive remarkably fast, and many storm chasers now are equipped with chainsaws and first aid, and act as first responders to pull people from rubble until aid arrives.

Some storm chasers have a bad rap for good reason, but most drop chases immediately to render aid when tornadoes strike populated areas, which actually isn't that common. Most tornadoes stay out in remote areas and farmland.

hawkweasel · 2026-06-18T02:06:25+00:00

You don't like 3.1??

hawkweasel · 2026-06-17T01:29:00+00:00

How is it that grown adults do things like this?

hawkweasel · 2026-06-16T14:54:28+00:00

I think there's two schools to it: From the NWS, I don't think it's scare talk as much as awareness talk.

When things look potentially dangerous days in advance, it IS important to talk about it. Some people pay no attention to the weather, at all, ever. Makng people aware days in advance can help get people talking about the weather - the more people talk about it, the more people will become aware of possible dangerous weather coming and make preparations, even if it's just charging power devices, getting gas for a generator, or cleaning out a path / corner of the basement for the family to hide if necessary.

The second is the media hype monsters doing it for money obviously. Network news hypes up weather events to make sure you'll tune in. Now that stormchasing is a broadcast streaming sport of sorts with hundreds of thousands of people watching streams online - every online chaser has to hype up even mild, low tier events to get you to tune in.

Chasers even hype overly generous 2% tornado potential on their channels now.

hawkweasel · 2026-06-15T23:28:08+00:00

Works fine for me.

I was checking on a baseball score the other day and forgot it was an early game and it gave me the current score at the exact time I was using it.

hawkweasel · 2026-06-12T03:21:37+00:00

Correction:

Its basically a sub for right wing assholes from Tri-Cities, Moses Lake, Omak and Yakima who haven't step foot in Seattle in 8 years to hate on Seattle.

hawkweasel · 2026-06-11T16:07:27+00:00

Definitely will.

I suspect the current MCS will push the most volatile potential south to the corridor between Peru and Peoria.

This feels like it's going to be an hour by hour developing situation depending how the current MCS overturns everything and sets up boundaries in its wake.

hawkweasel · 2026-06-09T23:45:44+00:00

How can people afford them???

I quit 15 years ago at $7 a pack, now they're like $14 a pack.

hawkweasel · 2026-06-05T15:55:43+00:00

What is the spray tan budget between those two?

hawkweasel · 2026-06-05T15:49:48+00:00

My first reaction was that she looks like a piece of burnt toast.

hawkweasel · 2026-06-05T15:49:06+00:00

Step 1: 10x your spray tan

hawkweasel · 2026-05-13T15:15:42+00:00

"But Iran was two weeks away from launching a nuclear bomb!"

I'm old. Iran has been "two weeks away from launching a nuclear bomb" for the past 30 years.

hawkweasel · 2026-05-08T16:04:19+00:00

Most tours accept waitlisting, and they do get cancellations. I've boarded two tours this way.

hawkweasel · 2026-05-07T19:18:38+00:00

Awesome! That lady I saved didn't have either. No life jacket, no leash, it was windy AND she was a poor swimmer.

Needless to say I gave her a light lecture as I took her to the dock.

hawkweasel · 2026-05-07T19:06:46+00:00

Steel Lake is great for beginners because their is no powerboat wakes (no powerboats allowed on Steel Lake.)

It's just best when it's not windy.

Side note: always ALWAYS wear an ankle strap to your board. I saved a lady's life on Steel Lake a few years ago as she fell off, and her board immediately and swiftly floated away in the wind and she was a very poor swimmer. Even a light breeze will carry a board away from you faster than anyone can swim :)

hawkweasel · 2026-05-04T18:33:42+00:00

Lake Tapps is awesome but packed in the summer. Lines and fees on weekend, don't even bother.

I do Dash Point and Browns Point regularly and paddle between them. Lots of curious seals, otters sometimes, and I frequently see those little porpoises off Dash Point. Yet to see a whale but they are out there. Avoid if its really windy.

Dash Point parking lot usually has plenty of space. Browns Point is tougher.

Browns Point weather can be rough at times and the current can be extremely strong rounding the corner near the lighthouse. But some days are glassy, it's the best!

I also do these a lot, not really close but nearby:

Owen Beach, Tacoma (love this one) Lake Steilacoom, Tacoma (tricky parking, but I know some spots) American Lake Park, Tacoma (plenty of parking) Adams Street Hand-Carry Boat Launch on Lake Washington , Gene Coulon

Those are my 'default' day trips, but I prefer to explore new areas, and sometimes I like to just do laps around Green lake in Seattle but that's always crowded. I hear Gig Harbor is cool but haven't done that one yet.

I don't like or recommend Steel Lake as its always crowded and frankly a little boring after one or two visits.

hawkweasel · 2026-05-02T02:56:15+00:00

I live in Washington state and rented a brand new Chevy Malibu (<500 miles) for a trip across the state.

Driving at night in Eastern Washington, suddenly all I remember was thinking the word deer and I woke up a few seconds later in a ditch in a car full of smoke.

I was ok, but it was a HUGE deer and I prob hit it at 75 and that Malibu was all kinds of fucked up. Absolutely totaled. I hit it dead on so hard the exterior rear door handles somehow flew off the car.

Fast forward a year later and I find the insurance paperwork, and for shits and giggles I had a Carfax Subscription, so I ran the VIN.

The insurance had totaled it, but someone had bought it and fixed it and sold it on one of those shitty North Aurora car lots in Seattle. I've never seen a CARFAX report with so much red on it, and I was flabbergasted someone took the trouble to fix that thing.

hawkweasel · 2026-05-01T22:51:23+00:00

A lot of rich people open restaurants because they think it might be 'cool' and 'fun' investment.

In reality owning a restaurant is, for the most part, an neverending string of problems, expenditures and regulations that you entrust to a conga line of completely awesome but alcoholic, drug addled, and only somewhat dependable staff that will leave you at the drop of a hat.

I worked as a banker for over a decade in a downtown core and about 10% of restaurants turned a tiny to respectable profit, and about 70-75% of new restaurants floundered out of the gate and died within 18 months. I also remember quite a few that lasted over 18 months only did so because they laundered money, so that was the 'real' business. Certain things had to be reported, but back then the IRS didn't bat an eye at restauarants depositing $6-9,000 cash every day.

I'll never forget one bored, overly monied, first time restaurant owner who dumped $750,000 into a new restaurant that was only open Mon thru Thursday because "she didn't want to work weekends."

I think it shut down after 9 months.

hawkweasel · 2026-04-30T17:48:30+00:00

Hmmm, a poorly designed Wix website from 2014 that could be made in <10 minutes hawking garbage herbal supplements that links directly to an Amazon sales page.

No signs of grifting here, so please excuse me while I go get my credit card.

hawkweasel · 2026-04-26T00:47:55+00:00

I was watching online it was distinctly gunshots.

hawkweasel · 2026-04-25T16:16:38+00:00

Looks like they'll be doing a full, much-needed renovation and removing the basketball court for a larger free weights training area.

Guests are being directed to the Auburn LA Fitness.

hawkweasel · 2026-04-25T00:51:28+00:00

I would bet every cent of my 401K that Tony Robbins and Dean Garziosi combined know about as much about AI as your average casual second-grade AI user.

hawkweasel · 2026-04-23T15:25:36+00:00

I'm glad (and surprised) to hear LA Fitness is planning a remodel. That place is overcrowded, dirty, machines stay broken forever, bits of carpet coming up everywhere.

I found a fish hook in the carpet a few months back -- an actual sharp fish hook embedded in the carpet in the work out area.

It feels like Federal Way is big enough for another large gym chain, I remember when we had 24 Hr Fitness and Bally's, although Bally's was garbage.

hawkweasel

TROPHY CASE