Tornado Warning

[Steve M.]

Now this is not something we see here everyday, but the National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning in my area of Penobcsot County until later this evening.  Maine generally does not see much in the way of tornadoes, etc., and it seems people are a bit nerved up about this weird weather coming our way.

I wonder if I should put some extra weight on the cover of my hive?  Would it really make a difference?  I'll let you know if my whole hive is whisked away, or if this turns out to be another meteorological farce.  Regardless, I would appreciate some decent weather soon....tired of rain, and thunderstorms, rain, and thunderstorms.
 
--Steve

[Bee-Bop]

Throw a extra cement block on top and forget it.

Tornados are actually very narrow bands, a mile away and you might just get a darkend sky,
most damage is in a band 200-800 ft wide, it can travel on the ground for miles, or hop-scotch across the earth, sometimes seting down once or twice and disappearing.

Best bet is don't get uptite, watch the sky, and head for the basement, if high winds develope, not really much else you can do.

Bee-Bop
Living on the I-44 tornado alley

[Cindi]

Steve, I wish you well.  Let's hope that the tornado passes a long ways away, keep us posted on how things went.  AND...have a wonderful and great day, Cindi

[wtiger]

Yep.  Toss another cinder block on and hope you aren't unlucky enough that the tornado hits them or you.  The chances are so slim it's not much use worrying too much about though.  If a tornado does hit the hive 1 cinderblock or 20 won't help.  Again we have tornado's here every year I have only personally seen one and it was no danger to me.

[charmd2]

I'll join in with the crazy Missouri people and say, Tornadoes here,  Not worth getting worked up about,  *now you always can do what us crazy rednecks do,  go outside and watch for it*  Ok seriously I don't recommend that, but we all do it. 

[Michael Bush]

If you've got them, cement blocks are a good idea.  More bricks or (probably more likely in Maine) rocks will do.  Check after the storm to see if the lids blew off or the hives blew down.

[johnnybigfish]

Hey Bee-bop!!
I live right off I-44 too!
 I got a friend who lives right near Joplin, next to 44....A scrap metal guy!
 He owns "Bradley Salvage."
your friend,
john

[randydrivesabus]

they showed some video of some violent storms in New Hampshire on the news.
we had a pretty good t-storm yesterday late afternoon while I was at the farmers market. My tent was ready to head for oz with me holding on.

[Steve M.]

Thank you all for your concern and good advice, but I am pleased to say that the weather was much tamer last night than what was predicted.  We had some strong wind, and lots of rain, but that was about it around here.

I checked on the bees this morning, and everything was in order.

--Steve

[Ross]

If you have a tornado, a cement block won't matter a bit.  Tonadoes take whole neighborhoods away, sometimes whole towns.  Google Wichita Falls tornado and look at the pictures.  I don't weight my hives at all and we get regular thunder storms with 75-80 MPH winds.  Propolis is all that's required most of the time. 

[tlynn]

I read somewhere that bees actually can sense bad weather and will glue everything together even more to prepare for it.  I think it made reference to approaching hurricanes.

I was watching a Nova on PBS about animals sensing natural disasters and this retired geologist in Central California has been predicting earthquakes with near 100% accuracy for years.  Would you believe how he does it?  He actually tracks missing pets in the newspapers and watches for trends.  That big Earthquake in San Francisco in 89 he predicted because the area was averaging a handful of missing dogs and cats and all of a sudden it went up to 75 in one day.  He said within 3 days they would have a major earthquake, and voila.  His prediction was right there in the paper.  "So and so predicts World Series Earthquake."  Fascinating! 

[qa33010]

I'll join in with the crazy Missouri people and say, Tornadoes here,  Not worth getting worked up about,  *now you always can do what us crazy rednecks do,  go outside and watch for it*  Ok seriously I don't recommend that, but we all do it. 

It's not just Missouri...

http://www.wctrib.com/multimedia/slideshow.cfm?id=44

click the pics to see the next pic.

[dpence]

Well being from Missouri myself, just my idea.  Hang a string on a nail for the weather forecast.  If it's wet it's raining, if it's dry it's sunny, if its white its snowing, if it's sticking straight out....run like hell its a tornado.   :-D