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Home My WebLink AboutVarious News Articles 1974-75 • / . QUESTION — When does the hurricane season begin? ANSWER — Since 1871, no hurricane has hit the Texas pn .00t • coast before June or after October. Although this period between June and October is considered the hurricane season for the Texas coast, this doesn't mean that the ine mighty storms cannot occur during other months of the 0 year. QUESTION — Does anyone in the Bryan- College Station . 0 - . area raise chinchillas. Action Line is a service of The Eagle to answer questions on im- ANSWER — Local agricultural agents say they don't portant issues and provide general information throughout the know of any folks raising the expensive little rodents. Brazos Valley. You can reach Action Line by calling 822 -0557 or by `writing Action Line Editor, The Eagle, P.O. Box 1073, Bryan. There were a few people breeding their own fur coats a (-1Y /2/-4 #C) . R) ,, . _ _, _ . . -, A ction line a. DIAL 621 -7242 WRITE Action Line The Houston Post ACTION LINE answers questions and solves proble of general and unusual interest. Replies appear ONLY in these columns. Complaints about products or business practice MUST be submitted in writing. Do not send valuable pope I've heard it's possible to detect the presence of a ,,,„tornado by using your television set. Do you know A + how ? —J.P. Warm up your television set and turn it to Channel 13. Re- .,$ duce the brightness of the set until it is almost black. Turn the channel selector to Channel two and make no further adjust- 1 • ments. As you monitor the screen, lightning will appear as '- Q, . flashes on your set and any tornado within 15 to 20 miles will ,;:;" cause a steady glow. This is because lightning and tornadoes ti„ generate a signal which overrides the brightness control at Channel two's frequency. This method will work anywhere in 1 ' the country. r., • Mobile home tie -down p asses Post Pasadena Bureau of the damage that hurricane - 500 mobile homes in the city About 750 Pasadena mobile force winds could cause if and Phelps said his dis- home owners must spend as they slammed into the unse- cussions with members of the much as $100 each to make cured homes. Mobile Home Property Own- certain their homes are tied "We don't want to be sit- e r s Association indicates down and secure against high ting here during hurricane about half are already tied winds. season when some of these down. mobile homes end up in Mobile home owners will be An ordinance adopted by someone else's backyard," notified of the new ordinance the Pasadena City Council on added Mayor John Ray Harri- by the city which will u f in a 1 reading Tuesday re- son. "We felt that this ordi- equip- nance is our responsibility." have specifications fi of minimum a equip - quires that the tie -downs be p y'" mert specifications avv m ailable. in place at each of the mobile "We hate to see the ex- The new ordinance includes homes by July 1. pense that goes with this, but Councilman John Phelps it's a matter of safety," a $200 non compliance penal - Phelps said. ty, but Phelps stressed, "We said the ordinance was p intend to work with people as prompted by the realization There are an estimated 1,- much as possible." V` ' q — 3 - ---- , Fif--9-ir Indicator Checks Tie -Down Tension r- BALLINGER, Tex. (AP) — Anytime "I kept thinking of the people who the bands. In some northern climates; a major windstorm comes up, the first paid for the tie -down job that House Bill freezes swell the ground until the band damaged are mobile homes, although 1193 required for safety —and yet become too tight and damage th state law now requires that they be without the correct tension they still mobile home. securely tied down. were not safe. Russell came up with his Mobile` "Even though they tie it (the home) "And they didn't really know whether Home Strand Tension Indicator am,' down, it's still not 100 per cent safe if they had the correct tension or at what was issued a patent. that banding gets loose," says Levi point they ceased to have the correct The indicator attaches to the tie-do Russell Jr. of Ballinger who now has tension." band and activates a buzzer warning invented a device to warn homeowners. Russell at one time arranged for light when tension changes beyond safe "I stayed awake at night trying to dealers to install tie downs. limits. A half inch of settling will set devise an indicator that would warn the Thus he was aware that a mobile the buzzer. mobile home occupant if his banding home can weigh about 10 tons, causing - Th buzzing continues until someo became unsafe," said Russell. some settling and resultant loosening of shuts it off, X�� 71 CTK(+1StC�JScC�RCTK01St�c(9StCR C j p�� ( � jC i u U U' ? o ( eKC/ ScPJStC jJSt(itCfit�c�"og�oq o�q,•,—. ,` i r 3 -3i' U U U U r.,. A &M Storm Seminar Planned for Galveston COLLEGE STATION — The Wayne M. Ahr and C.C. Center for Applied Geosciences Mathewson, Department of and the Sea Grant College Geology. Program at Texas A &M Additional speakers include University will present a Davis Benton, meteorologist in seminar on the technical charge, National Weather aspects of tropical storms May Service, Galveston; George 2 at the Hotel Galvez, Marinos, Corps of Engineers, Galveston. Galveston; and a represen- Speakers from Texas A&M tative of the National will include John F. Griffiths, Hurricane Center. State Climatologist; Aylmer H. The information presented Thompson, Department of will be useful in anticipating Meteorology; Robert 0. Reid, the strength and path of im- Department of Oceanography; pending storms and in Earl F. Cook, Dean of the protecting lives and property College of Geosciences; and from wind, waves and flooding. • THE HOUSTON POST Page 17/A WEDNESDAY, APR l 23, 1975 News stem y `seen Tornado • distant tornadoes detector By JIM MALONEY color radar system in an in- deve!oped terview at the 16th Confer - Post Reporter ence on Radar Meteorology of The detection of tornadoes the American Meteorological from at least 60 miles is Society in the Shamrock Hil- possible now, the president of ton Hotel. ( From page 1 ) the American Meteorological This new weather pre - Society said Tuesday diction system was discussed v developed by scientists The same system that can for the first time in papers engineers ineers at the National do this should also be able to presented at the conference. g There are only about a doz- Center for Atmospheric Re- , predict the amount of rain a search, Boulder, Colo. hurricane will dump on an en places in the country using the Doppler radars, and only "This Doppler color radar area it is going to strike, Dr. two of these use the color sys- display promises to be useful David Atlas said. tem, Atlas said. in detecting the birth and And properly equipped tele These specialized radars tracking the movement of tor- vision stations should he able are named for Christian Dop- nadoes," Atlas, who is direc- to show the approach of these ler. He first described what tor of the National Hail Re- weather phenomena in living is called the Doppler effect, search Experiment, said. color. which is the apparent change T h e Doppler radar can "It is indeed unfortunate In the frequency of sound, measure wind velocities by that the economics of the na- light or radio waves with mo- observing the speed at which tion are such that the Nation- tion. particles of water or ice in a al Weather Service is pre- This new technique of dis- storm are moving toward or eluded from purchasing Dop- playing radar observations in away from the radar antenna, pier radars now, particularly color on a television screen he Said. along the coasts," Atlas said. system new stem assi has Atlas discussed the Doppler Please see Tornados page 17A "false color y color that has no relation to the actual color of anything in a real weather system — to dis- tinguish between different ra- dar observations. The color display was made possible by advances of the past decade in integrated cir- cuitry, which enabled the re- search center engineers and scientists to build compact and economic digital proces- sors. Besides the Boulder center, only the Air Force is using the Doppler color radar sys- tem, Atlas said. Another advantage of this new system, Atlas said, is that it supplies far more - in- formation than conventional weather radars and is much • easier to use, he said. The computer driven sys- tem does not require as much interpretation by a radar op- erator. T h e new system needs much field testing to prove it- self, but Atlas said he would put only "two disclaimers on it." One would be if tornadoes form above an area before there is time to do anything about it. The other disclaimer is if , ..... ,i-BEFORE CANNON. BALL T'1e Tornado Best ,,,, because ,.,. , a it '• „,-. ,v , . . ,,,, , - , , , , , , z ,., „... _ ,..„ I' ' Tornado'funnel as it struck Enid, Oklahoma in 1967. NOAA photo ' 111 ,1I , I a limo Because it's round, by Herb Kinnear turns to broadcasting continuous up- Cannon Ball to -date weather reports. . 1 has no e Door T r a c k Storm clouds appear and then a The first rule of precaution when ters where e r e r a i e wind funnel emerges on the horizon. a tornado is impending is to stay ,, dirt and ice A tornado is about to hit. away from windows or other glass 11 - can col I e c t What's the best thing to do? At objects. Seeking refuge in a "safe” to block trot - this stage, ADVANCE PREPARA- may ley wheels. Doors roll freely even if g corner of the basement ma not be walls get out of plumb. Because they're , TION may prove the key to survival. as important as the structure over round, Cannon Ball trolley wheels roll Preparation means getting the you. smooth as balls in the unique, round family together, including the small For ecample, if you wait out a tor- track. Because of these exclusive ad children, and determining in advance nado under a stairway or under a vantages, Cannon Ball is your best -- you would do or where you bet for year round, easy - rolling, weath what Y strong table in the basement, it may er - tight doors . . would seek shelter if you see a fun- provide the added protection you and it's guaranteed for the life of the nel or hear a tornado warning. need from falling objects. building on which it's first installed! Under a new system, tornado The Longest tornado ever to strike warnings, as well as those of nuclear in this country traveled 293 miles CANN *BALL _ more t h e _ attack, hurricanes and other disas- across Illinois and Indiana on May K�nd ters, are now sent out on an FM 26, 1917, and lasted 7 hours and 20 nugge a tghter the snug. radio frequency. minutes. The warnings are issued through The greatest number of tornadoes Stops wind from the National Weather Service, broad- p 10,000 square miles, occurs i rattling and dam casting 24 hours a day over VHF- Oklahoma. Oklahoma City has been aging s I i d i n g FM audio channels 162.40 and 162.55 doors. ake . o s Snug struck by tornadoes 26 times since shakes door, Snug - - megahertz. 1892. ger pulls leaves Most home radios are not now Texas has had more tornado- together and capable of receiving these channels, caused deaths than any other state. draws them tight so the new system requires installa- Because of population density, the Stops thieves, eves, oo. tion of a special adapter. Or, an AC- tornado threat is greatest in Massa- , powered narrow -band FM radio re- chusetts. ' ceiver, such as Weatheralert, can be All communities in the Midwest, Starline installed. It picks up the local Great Plains and the southeastern STAR LINE N E P.O. Box 271, Dept. 4645 - 4111., Madison, Wis. 53101 Weather Service radio tower signal states, regardless of size, and many Please rush information on: sent out when severe weather condi- populous areas in the northeastern tions threaten. Weatheralert then states, should have active communi- ❑Cannon Ball Door Track triggers a siren signalling the pres- ty protection plans for coping with Cannon Ball Door Snugger ence of hazardous weather. tornado situations. ❑ A spoken description of the dan- Name ger, the area affected, and survival instructions may be heard immedi- Editor's note: windstorm protection Addres ately after the siren. The warning se- available through local Farm Bureau Post Office State Zip quence is repeated as often as neces- insurance agents in most states is sary to alert the public. When the another wise investment in preparing Phone danger is past, the radio station re- for bad weather. FARM SYSTEMS CHROMALLOY DIVISION APRIL/ MAY 1975 The AMERICAN FARMER 9 ilk