The Mercy of the Sky

A book by Holly Bailey published in May 2015 by Viking Books (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-57917615-1', 'auto'); ga('send', 'pageview');

[hollybailey]

I have a medal! “The Mercy of the Sky” won the Oklahoma Book Award! (Oklahoma City OK)

[themercyofthesky]

Oklahoma Book Award 2001 Finalists: Oklahoma Center for the Book

“The Mercy of the Sky” is nominated for the Oklahoma Book Award.

[themercyofthesky]

Tina Kong, 39, and her husband, Andy Kong, 40, of Garland, were watching the movie “Creed” and eating dinner with their three children and four other adult relatives when the storm hit. They had received the notification about the tornado watch on their cell phones, but they weren’t too worried.

“Normally, when you get something like that you think it’s not going to be here,” Andy Kong said. “It’ll go somewhere else.”

But within 30 minutes, a bright blue flash illuminated the room through the windows – which Andy believes was a transformer that exploded. Tina rushed to the door and opened it, and saw debris flying upward. She quickly slammed the door and grabbed her baby.

The family huddled under their couch, which they turned sideways, as their roof was swept away. Tree branches fell into the living room.

“Whoah, is that for real?” Andy Kong recalled thinking.

11 confirmed dead as severe storms and at least one tornado strike the Dallas area (via Dallas Morning News)

[themercyofthesky]

Climate Change Causes Extreme Weather—But Not All of It

A new NOAA report released November 5 looked at how (or how not) climate change affected 28 different global events from 2014.

[hollybailey]

A Qantas Boeing 737-800 plane flies through heavy rain as a storm moves towards Sydney, Australia, Nov 6. (Photo by David Gray/Reuters via Yahoo News) 

[themercyofthesky]

A tornado touched down in central Texas on Friday, hitting parts of the city of San Marcos, but there were no reports of injury or major damage, weather forecasters and county officials said. The tornado, which broke up after about 20 minutes on the ground, first touched down near Zorn, about 40 miles southwest of Austin, and headed north toward San Marcos and Interstate 35, a major corridor for north-south transport, they said. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning and tornado watch for large parts of central Texas due the storm system that spawned the tornado.

Important reminder that tornadoes aren’t just a springtime phenomenon.

[themercyofthesky]

Hurricane Patricia, from space (captured by astronaut Scott Kelly via Twitter)

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Storm warning, Dennis Oswald

[themercyofthesky]

First came the flash floods,  terrifying mudslides, and exotic venomous snakes, then came the tornado. Is this a sign of the end times in Southern California? (via LAist)

[hollybailey]

Sarah Dillow helps move ostriches from their flooded pen on Oct. 7  in Givhans, S.C. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images via The Big Picture) 

[themercyofthesky]

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - WIS meteorologist Tim Miller has lived in the Midlands for 20 years. Never has seeing the sun evoked such emotion for him.On Tuesday morning, after several days of cover

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© Sarah Christianson 

[themercyofthesky]

Last Night's Destructive Tornado in S.C. Is the Best Argument for Getting a Weather Radio

Last night, a destructive tornado tore through a community near Charleston, S.C., destroying homes and lofting debris tens of thousands of feet into the air. Tornadoes were not in the forecast last night—this happened largely by surprise. Owning a weather radio is your best defense against unexpected natural disasters like this.

[hollybailey]

Pablo Dona, of Miami pauses while paddleboarding as sheets of rain fall in front of him off the shores of Bal Harbour, Florida, on September 22 (Photo by Wilfredo Lee/AP)

[themercyofthesky]

The Haunting Weather Statement That Saved Lives During Hurricane Katrina (via Gizmodo)

[themercyofthesky]

I’m currently in Iowa on assignment, and this afternoon, I glanced at Twitter and saw word of a tornado warning for the Denver suburbs. I quickly texted my friend and colleague Liz Goodwin, who is there working on a story, and she looked out the window and caught this funnel cloud just to the north of her hotel. There was no major damage, thankfully.

[themercyofthesky]

My grandfather built Oklahoma's first 'tornado detection' system

Sixty years ago, after a particularly devastating storm season across the southern Great Plains, my hometown wanted to be the first community in Oklahoma — in fact, the first anywhere in the country — to install a tornado-detection system. Only, there wasn’t any such thing as a tornado-detection system back then.