Severe Weather Alert: Tornadoes In The United States
Severe weather alert: U.S. study finds tornadoes coming in swarms
Thursday, October 16, 2014 WILL DUNHAM FOR REUTERS
A severe thunderstorm wall cloud is seen over the area of Canton, Mississippi in this April 29, 2014 file photo. REUTERS/Gene Blevins/Files
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tornadoes in the United States are increasingly coming in swarms rather than as isolated twisters, according to a study by U.S. government meteorologists published on Thursday that illustrates another trend toward extreme weather emerging in recent years.
Looking at tornado activity over the past six decades, the study in the journal Science found the total number of tornadoes annually remaining rather steady, averaging 495. Since the 1970s, …show more content…
Initial work demonstrated the feasibility of building a 100-megawatt reactor measuring seven feet by 10 feet, which could fit on the back of a large truck, and is about 10 times smaller than current reactors, McGuire told reporters.
In a statement, the company, the Pentagon’s largest supplier, said it would build and test a compact fusion reactor in less than a year, and build a prototype in five years.
In recent years, Lockheed has gotten increasingly involved in a variety of alternate energy projects, including several ocean energy projects, as it looks to offset a decline in U.S. and European military spending.
Lockheed’s work on fusion energy could help in developing new power sources amid increasing global conflicts over energy, and as projections show there will be a 40 percent to 50 percent increase in energy use over the next generation, McGuire …show more content…
They also had a relatively inflexible spine not conducive for hopping.
“Today’s kangaroos mostly use hopping as their fast gait – although tree kangaroos rarely hop. But for slow speeds they use a type of ‘pentapedal’ walk, using all four legs and the tail,” said Brown University paleontologist Christine Janis, who led the study published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
With their stiff backs and specialized hands, this “pentapedal” gait would have been difficult for sthenurines. They also lacked certain specialized anatomical features of modern large hopping kangaroos, the researchers said.
Janis said she suspected smaller sthenurines used bipedal walking at slow speeds and may have switched to hopping at faster speeds. “But the largest ones may have walked rather than hopped most if not all of the time,” Janis said.
Virtually all kangaroos today hop, although a species called the Musky Rat-kangaroo does not.
Australia is famous for its marsupials, mammals that carry newborns in a pouch on the mother’s abdomen, including kangaroos, koalas, wombats and
Thursday, October 16, 2014 WILL DUNHAM FOR REUTERS
A severe thunderstorm wall cloud is seen over the area of Canton, Mississippi in this April 29, 2014 file photo. REUTERS/Gene Blevins/Files
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tornadoes in the United States are increasingly coming in swarms rather than as isolated twisters, according to a study by U.S. government meteorologists published on Thursday that illustrates another trend toward extreme weather emerging in recent years.
Looking at tornado activity over the past six decades, the study in the journal Science found the total number of tornadoes annually remaining rather steady, averaging 495. Since the 1970s, …show more content…
Initial work demonstrated the feasibility of building a 100-megawatt reactor measuring seven feet by 10 feet, which could fit on the back of a large truck, and is about 10 times smaller than current reactors, McGuire told reporters.
In a statement, the company, the Pentagon’s largest supplier, said it would build and test a compact fusion reactor in less than a year, and build a prototype in five years.
In recent years, Lockheed has gotten increasingly involved in a variety of alternate energy projects, including several ocean energy projects, as it looks to offset a decline in U.S. and European military spending.
Lockheed’s work on fusion energy could help in developing new power sources amid increasing global conflicts over energy, and as projections show there will be a 40 percent to 50 percent increase in energy use over the next generation, McGuire …show more content…
They also had a relatively inflexible spine not conducive for hopping.
“Today’s kangaroos mostly use hopping as their fast gait – although tree kangaroos rarely hop. But for slow speeds they use a type of ‘pentapedal’ walk, using all four legs and the tail,” said Brown University paleontologist Christine Janis, who led the study published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
With their stiff backs and specialized hands, this “pentapedal” gait would have been difficult for sthenurines. They also lacked certain specialized anatomical features of modern large hopping kangaroos, the researchers said.
Janis said she suspected smaller sthenurines used bipedal walking at slow speeds and may have switched to hopping at faster speeds. “But the largest ones may have walked rather than hopped most if not all of the time,” Janis said.
Virtually all kangaroos today hop, although a species called the Musky Rat-kangaroo does not.
Australia is famous for its marsupials, mammals that carry newborns in a pouch on the mother’s abdomen, including kangaroos, koalas, wombats and