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Joe Sozanski

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I saw something unusual today while riding. It was a strange day windy and the wind direction
constantly changed. Out by the airport in the parking lot of a mini store I saw a dust cloud but
nothing to cause
it. In a matter of seconds it began to spin and looked like a mini tornado about 10-12 feet high
the dust and debris inside was really spinning. It moved acrossed the road toward some trees
and a hedge then broke up. I've seen them in the distance before but never up close. It
looked like some kind of science demonstration. I sure wish I'd had a camera along! Joe
Wishbone #56 Elmira NY
 
So like when you were younger and everyone warned you that using those cheap drugs will someday
comeback and bite you on the ass....you ignored them didn't you? Other explanations: Tasmanian Devil
escaped from the Cartoons on TV and is running amok near the airport. Sometimes aircraft taking off
disrupt the regular airflow creating a horizontal spiral effect and I suppose one such trail could
wander away and go vertical...but cheap drugs still sound more likely. Water Spouts appear and
travel over water and will sometimes come ashore & they look like small tornadoes....but wet. Tidy
Bowl toilet cleaner demo gone horribly astray. Elmira N.Y.??? Joseph Smith country and I wonder if
Joseph got into the mushrooms before he found the Angel Moroni in the woods....hmmm guess I should
avoid any blasphemy here lest I ******** any Mormons in the crowd. The fact I even know who the
Angel Moroni was bothers me somewhat. Considering all the weird weather upstate N.Y. has been
having....anything is possible. Prelude to an alien invasion. Methane gas leak in the parking lot
and a car drives passed which results in a spiral of dust mixed with carbon and oxygen, which
becomes a new life form and that is embarrassed at you staring at it and decides to head for cover
and privacy in the nearby woods, gets to the woods and forgets why it is there...loses the will to
survive in such a confusing world and disperses it's own atoms in a suicidal gesture. So Joe how
much was that Nepalese Opium laced Hashish? (not that I would know anything about such illegal
substances you understand).
-----------------------------
"Joe Sozanski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I saw something unusual today while riding. It was a strange day windy and the wind direction
> constantly changed. Out by the airport in the parking lot of a mini store I saw a dust cloud but
> nothing to cause
> it. In a matter of seconds it began to spin and looked like a mini tornado about 10-12 feet high
> the dust and debris inside was really spinning. It moved acrossed the road toward some trees
> and a hedge then broke up. I've seen them in the distance before but never up close. It looked
> like some kind of science demonstration. I sure wish I'd had a camera along! Joe Wishbone #56
> Elmira NY
 
"Joe Sozanski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I saw something unusual today while riding. It was a strange day windy and the wind direction
> constantly changed. Out by the airport in the parking lot of a mini store I saw a dust cloud but
> nothing to cause
> it. In a matter of seconds it began to spin and looked like a mini tornado about 10-12 feet high
> the dust and debris inside was really spinning. It moved acrossed the road toward some trees
> and a hedge then broke up. I've seen them in the distance before but never up close. It looked
> like some kind of science demonstration. I sure wish I'd had a camera along! Joe Wishbone #56
> Elmira NY

Here on the prairie, dust devils are are ubiquitous. Some of them can get pretty large, kind of like
mini-tornados. A few years ago we had visitors from out east and as we were all sitting in our
living room, we could see a big one coming through the newly-sown field across the street from our
house. Our visitor almost had a heart attack- he'd never seen a tornado and he thought that this
must be one. It was big enough to toss empty garbage cans around but when it passed by, we were
still alive. Mostly.

rich
 
"Joe Sozanski" <[email protected]> skrev i en meddelelse
news:[email protected]...
> I saw something unusual today while riding. It was a strange day windy and the wind direction
> constantly changed. Out by the airport in the parking lot of a mini store I saw a dust cloud but
> nothing to cause
> it. In a matter of seconds it began to spin and looked like a mini tornado about 10-12 feet high
> the dust and debris inside was really spinning. It moved acrossed the road toward some trees
> and a hedge then broke up. I've seen them in the distance before but never up close. It looked
> like some kind of science demonstration. I sure wish I'd had a camera along!

Most likely a thermal detaching. That is to say a big bubble of air thats hotter than the
surrounding lifting off. They can get pretty hefty. I recall flying my glider in some where the
variometer just went to the top and stayed there (on the 5 m/s setting). Kinda like riding an
elevator and since I was already close to the cloudbase I could go like a bat out of a certain
hot place.

M.
 
"Wile E. Coyote" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>... <snip>
> Elmira N.Y.??? Joseph Smith country and I wonder if Joseph got into the mushrooms before he found
> the Angel Moroni in the woods....hmmm guess I should avoid any blasphemy here lest I ******** any
> Mormons in the crowd. The fact I even know who the Angel Moroni was bothers me somewhat.

The fact that I know he/she/it turned into a salamander bothers me even more!
 
I thought dust devils were quite common. I think they show up in wind areas with large open fields.
I remember seeing quite a few of them in the hay fields as I was growing up, especially on hot days.
I guess they would be less likely in cities or hillier areas. Craig

"rich westerman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> "Joe Sozanski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > I saw something unusual today while riding. It was a strange day windy and the wind direction
> > constantly changed. Out by the airport in the parking lot of a mini store I saw a dust cloud but
> > nothing to cause
> > it. In a matter of seconds it began to spin and looked like a mini tornado about 10-12 feet high
> > the dust and debris inside was really spinning. It moved acrossed the road toward some trees
> > and a hedge then broke up. I've seen them in the distance before but never up close. It
> > looked like some kind of science demonstration. I sure wish I'd had a camera along! Joe
> > Wishbone #56 Elmira NY
>
> Here on the prairie, dust devils are are ubiquitous. Some of them can get pretty large, kind of
> like mini-tornados. A few years ago we had visitors from out east and as we were all sitting in
> our living room, we could see a big one coming through the newly-sown field across the street from
> our house. Our visitor almost had a heart attack- he'd never seen a tornado and he thought that
> this must be one. It was big enough to toss empty garbage cans around but when it passed by, we
> were still alive. Mostly.
>
> rich
 
I've seen those a lot here in Indiana. They're called dust devils. I once saw a Will-O-The-Wisp.
That was pretty rare and cool too. This past winter we had something here that I'd never even heard
of before and that was snow rollers. The wind has to be just the right speed and the snow has to be
just right where it starts getting a crust on the top. Then the snow just rolls up into a pipe about
a foot long and about 8 or 10 inches in diameter. They were just all over the place. It happened at
night so when I went out to go to work the next day it looked like someone had been in our yard
rolling up the snow. Then I noticed they were everywhere so I knew it wasn't kids. I guess they're
pretty common out on the prairie but I'm 49 and have never seen of heard of them here.

"Joe Sozanski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I saw something unusual today while riding. It was a strange day windy and the wind direction
> constantly changed. Out by the airport in the parking lot of a mini store I saw a dust cloud but
> nothing to cause
> it. In a matter of seconds it began to spin and looked like a mini tornado about 10-12 feet high
> the dust and debris inside was really spinning. It moved acrossed the road toward some trees
> and a hedge then broke up. I've seen them in the distance before but never up close. It looked
> like some kind of science demonstration. I sure wish I'd had a camera along! Joe Wishbone #56
> Elmira NY
 
Brief bytes of W. Coyote's comments: I should avoid blasphemy-----offending Mormons in the
crowd-----J. Smith----funny mushrooms-----etc.
____________________________________

There may indeed be some of them in the crowd. Have you noticed that they now send out many of
their young automatons on bicycles, to pester people who weren't alert enough to see them
coming and duck for cover? I wonder if they use a special issue of bicycle that is made for
them in a large production run and if so, what would be its unique features? Might they have
their own bicycle discussion group? Something like alt.bicycling.moroni ? Should we try to
invite them into this group and bring enlightenment to their lives? I recently learned that a
friend is a member of the "Reformed Mormons", a splinter organization. What is different about
the unreformed ones? Wouldn't "Recumbent Mormons" be a great title?

Steve McDonald
 
[email protected] (Steve McDonald) wrote in
news:[email protected]:

>
> Brief bytes of W. Coyote's comments: I should avoid blasphemy-----offending Mormons in the
> crowd-----J. Smith----funny mushrooms-----etc.
> ____________________________________
>
> There may indeed be some of them in the crowd. Have you noticed that they now send out many
> of their young automatons on bicycles, to pester people who weren't alert enough to see them
> coming and duck for cover? I wonder if they use a special issue of bicycle that is made for
> them in a large production run and if so, what would be its unique features? Might they have
> their own bicycle discussion group? Something like alt.bicycling.moroni ? Should we try to
> invite them into this group and bring enlightenment to their lives? I recently learned that a
> friend is a member of the "Reformed Mormons", a splinter organization. What is different
> about the unreformed ones? Wouldn't "Recumbent Mormons" be a great title?

Ahh, yes, the Mormon Bicycle Assault Squadrons. A friend of mine is a Mormon. Like most groups out
there, most of them are fine but there are a few that take things too far.

My Mormon friend was snickering for hours after I told her that the MBAS caught me while I
wasn't looking.

-Bill Hamilton
 
"Joe Sozanski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I saw something unusual today while riding. It was a strange day windy and the wind direction
> constantly changed. Out by the airport in the parking lot of a mini store I saw a dust cloud but
> nothing to cause
> it. In a matter of seconds it began to spin and looked like a mini tornado about 10-12 feet high
> the dust and debris inside was really spinning. It moved acrossed the road toward some trees
> and a hedge then broke up. I've seen them in the distance before but never up close. It looked
> like some kind of science demonstration. I sure wish I'd had a camera along!

These "dust devils" are commonplace in Kansas, where I grew up. Really neat, actually. I've seen
dozens of 'em gliding up the gravel road out in front of my childhood home.

FWIW: That same neighborhood was flattened in the early '90's by a category 5 tornado. It missed my
childhood home; but there was a perfectly intact wooden canoe sticking out of the garage! It bounced
off of my old 1957 Chevy before it stuck through the garage. :-(

Barry "Auntie Em! It's a twister!" Sanders
 
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