Tech Talk

In this 21st century world, anyone could track weather patterns and anticipate their next move — with many of the same tools as our favorite meteorologists.

Monitoring Hurricane Earl is no different.

Among the most effective tools is Hearst Connecticut Newspapers’ Hurricane Earl blog, which offers up-to-the-minute data, analysis and perspective on the approaching storm. It also allows readers to submit memories of previous storms, multimedia and observations to share with the community. Of course the information submitted is carefully vetted, unlike some other news organizations in the region, before going live our sites.

There is a dynamic live map available to develop a better perspective of where Earl is and where it is headed. You can check out Earl’s latest wind speeds and path here. The latest satellite imagery and water temperatures are available here. There is also a nice live national radar loop here.

And speaking of where Earl is headed, astronauts are tweeting photos of what Earl looks like from space. It really puts Earl’s size into perspective.

There is also information on preparing for the storm — to ensure you’re ready to weather whatever Earl throws our way.

Be safe, and happy tracking.

We are pleased to welcome contributor Timothy Bleasdale to the Tech Talk community.

Bleasdale, a Hearst Connecticut copy editor and A1 designer, has written the following piece exclusively for Tech Talk.

By Timothy Bleasdale
Special to Tech Talk

Officials from the National Weather Service have confirmed Friday that four tornadoes touched down in Connecticut towns –- Litchfield, Thomaston, Bristol and the Terryville section of Plymouth –- during the severe thunderstorms that blew through on Wednesday knocking out power around the state.

With the twister that struck downtown Bridgeport in June, that brings Connecticut’s 2010 count to five. For a place that’s nowhere near Tornado Alley, that seems high. But how unusual is it really?

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Climate Data Center, five tornadoes in one year is pretty unusual for the Nutmeg state -– especially since summer, the peak season for tornadoes, isn’t over yet.

The NCDC has tornado data stretching back to 1950 that can be accessed by entering different variables on this website. Since 1950, Connecticut has been visited by 92 twisters, which makes for an average of 1.5 tornadoes per year with the highest number in any one year being seven.

Another website offering a neat tornado tool is Tornado-HistoryProject.com, which uses data from the Storm Prediction Center and the NCDC to plot tornadoes on Google Maps. The two screenshots with this post were taken on the Tornado-HistoryProject.com.

The first one shows all the tornadoes that hit Connecticut since 1950, excluding data from 2010. The second shot shows a zoomed-in view of the path of the F4 that hit New Haven in 1989. It’s cool enough that someone plotted all that data on a map, but kudos to the TornadoHistoryProject.com for actually showing the path of the twister when you zoom in.

Here are Connecticut’s twister highlights:

• At seven tornadoes, 1974 holds the record for the most twisters in any one year since 1950. Currently tying for second is 2002 and 2010, with five tornadoes each. But with August yet to come, 2010 could be making a run for first place. There’s a three-way tie for third place with 1989, 1999 and 2001 all clocking in with 4 twisters each.
• The two strongest tornadoes recorded since 1950 were both F4s. One F4 hit Hartford in 1979, killing 3 and injuring 500. That was the only twister to hit the state that year. The other F4 struck New Haven in 1989, with no fatalities and only 40 people injured. Both twisters caused approximately $250M worth of property damage.
• Excluding data from 2010 (which isn’t completely available yet), tornadoes in Connecticut have killed 4 people, injured about 700 people and caused about $592,453,000 of property damage since 1950.