An America-Wide Solar Eclipse

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Tornado Safety

Although May can bring us some of our most pleasant days, it is also prime time in many parts of the Midwest for the most violent of all atmospheric phenomena—the tornado.

Tornado funnels range from tens of yards to about a mile across. They may pass in a matter of seconds at forward speeds of seldom more than 40 or 50 mph. But it is the tremendous upward suction and especially the rotational speeds of up to 300 mph that can be deadly.

There is much to say about these awesome storms, but I want to focus here on safety. Many homes in tornado-prone parts of the country have special storm shelters underground—and that is the place to be when a tornado is heading your way. Mobile homes are crumpled by even small tornadoes. There's an important tornado safety precaution given in older books that needs to be corrected: The southwest corner is not the safest place in the house to be when a tornado, moving southwest to northeast—as they most often do—hits the house. The best advice is to put as many sturdy interior walls as possible between you and the tornado and get down, preferably underneath something that will protect you from falling debris.

Good news is that the NEXRAD system of Doppler radar is in the process of being installed around the United States. These radar systems have already made it possible to give people many more minutes' worth of warning that a tornado is about to descend from the clouds.

Observe the Big Solar Eclipse—Safely!

April and May are particularly interesting months in astronomy this year, with April's conjunctions of moon and planet (see Almanac timetable and Sky Calendar diagrams) and May's two eclipses.

The lunar eclipse on the night of May 24 is a small partial one; the moon goes only one-quarter of the way into the umbra, or central shadow of the Earth. The slight staining you'll see on the lower edge of the moon before it enters the umbra is caused by the penumbra, or outer shadow, of Earth. Even such a small eclipse is fascinating to watch. If you have a telescope, see if there is, at any stage, color to part of the umbra or its edge.

The really exciting eclipse of May is an America-wide solar eclipse, the deepest visible for the 48 states as a whole until several decades from now. You MUST NOT look at the sun during this eclipse without proper eye protection, but I'll discuss in a moment what kind of protection and observing techniques are safe.

First, let's consider what kind of eclipse this will be. For most of the country, the eclipse will be a large partial one; most of the sun will be hidden. If you live in Alaska, you'll see a small partial solar eclipse, but in Hawaii none at all. A wide diagonal strip of land from the Southwest to southern Maine will be treated to more than just an ordinary partial eclipse; it will be treated to an annular solar eclipse.

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