What direction do tornadoes come from? Does the region of the US play a role in path direction? Tornadoes can appear from any
direction. Most move from southwest to northeast, or west to east. Some tornadoes have changed direction amid path, or even backtracked. [A tornado can double back suddenly, for example, when its bottom is hit by outflow winds from a thunderstorm's core.]
Some areas of the US tend to have more paths from a specific direction, such as northwest in Minnesota or southeast in coastal
south Texas. This is because of an increased frequency of certain tornado-producing
weather patterns (say, hurricanes in south Texas, or northwest-flow weather systems in the upper Midwest).
Does hail always come before the tornado? Rain? Lightning? Utter silence? Not necessarily, for any of those. Rain, wind, lightning, and hail characteristics vary from
storm to storm, from one hour to the next, and even with the direction the storm is
moving with respect to the observer. While large hail can indicate the presence of an
unusually dangerous thunderstorm, and can happen before a tornado, don't depend
on it. Hail, or any particular pattern of rain, lightning or calmness, is not a reliable
predictor of tornado threat.
How do tornadoes dissipate? The details are still debated by tornado scientists. We
do know tornadoes need a source of instability (heat, moisture, etc.) and a largerscale property of rotation (vorticity) to keep going. There are a lot of processes
around a thunderstorm which can possibly rob the area around a tornado of either
instability or vorticity. One is relatively cold outflow--the flow of wind out of the precipitation area of a shower or thunderstorm.
Many tornadoes have been observed to go away soon after being hit by outflow. For decades, storm observers have documented the
death of numerous tornadoes when their parent circulations (mesocyclones) weaken after they become wrapped in outflow air-either from the same thunderstorm or a different one. The irony is that some kinds of thunderstorm outflow may help to cause tornadoes, while other forms of outflow may kill tornadoes.
Do tornadoes really skip? Not in a literal sense, despite what you may have read in many older references, news stories, or even
damage survey reports. By definition (above), a tornado must be in contact with the ground. There is disagreement in meteorology
over whether or not multiple touchdowns of the same vortex or funnel cloud mean different tornadoes (a strict interpretation). In
either event, stories of skipping tornadoes usually mean
•
•
•
There was continuous contact between vortex and ground in the path, but it was too weak to do damage;
Multiple tornadoes happened; but there was no survey done to precisely separate their paths (very common before the 1970s); or
There were multiple tornadoes with only short separation, but the survey erroneously classified them as one tornado.
VASA-S
PRING
VSGMI Mutual
News
In this issue:
Annual Meeting 1
Manure Pit Safety 2
Mutual Adjustor 3
Storm Season
4
Vasa Spring Garden
Mutual Insurance
Company
Volume 2, Issue 1
Spring 2012
Were you there??
Vasa Spring Garden held its 152nd Annual meeting on Tuesday,
Feb 21st at the Vasa Lutheran Center. 102 policyholders attended
the event, which always takes place the third Tuesday in February.
Attendees were treated to a great meal of mashed potatoes and roast
beef provided by the Trophy House. The business meeting financial report showed VSGMI to have a good year in 2011. Ken
Grothe, our claims adjuster, made a presentation regarding what to
do and expect if you have a claim. Jeff Erickson was newly elected
board member, replacing Richard Callstrom who is stepping down
after 33 years. Mark Sauter was also re-elected. Mark serves as the
board secretary.
If you have never attended the annual meeting, please make a point
to attend next year. It’s a great way to get to know your mutual and
to visit with other policyholders. Hope to see you next year!!
GARDEN
Vasa—Spring Garden Mutual
Company
M U T UInsurance
AL INSU
RANCE
137
North
4th
Street
507-263-3812 • www.vsgmi.com • [email protected]
Cannon
55009
137 Falls,
N. 4thMN
Street
• Cannon Falls, MN 55009
www.vsgmi.com
ADDRESS
SERVICE
REQUESTED
507-263-3812
email:
[email protected]
Address Correction Requested
Minnesota’s Oldest Farm Mutual—Established 1860
Use caution while pumping barn manure pits
Page 2
By U of M Extension | Posted: Monday, January 2, 2012 10:41 am
Pork producers, commercial pumpers and others need to watch for a layer of foam on the surface when pumping
barn manure pits.
This foam contains numerous gases hazardous to people and animals, but methane in particular can cause barn explosions and/or flash fires.
“If a 6-inch thick or greater layer of foam is present and it is disturbed during normal pit agitation and pumping, a
sudden release of dissolved gases will occur,” said Larry Jacobson, an agricultural engineer with University of Minnesota Extension.
Without adequate barn ventilation, this can result in methane concentrations reaching the lower explosive level of 5
percent or 50,000 part per million (ppm).
“An explosion is then likely if an ignition source is present from a pilot light, electric spark from a motor, or cigarette,” said Jacobson.
Unfortunately, an incident recently occurred like this in
central Iowa, severely injuring one person.
Agricultural engineers, animal scientists and pork industry consultants have developed the following recommendations to help producers address this serious safety concern:
– Provide continuous ventilation to prevent a gas buildup. Increase ventilation during agitation to quickly dissipate released gases. Sufficient ventilation or exchange of
air in the barn is always essential to keep the concentration of methane below its explosive threshold.
– Sufficient air exchange in a barn while agitating and
pumping a manure pit is at least two to three times the
minimum ventilation rate (or around 10 air changes per
hour) for the barn.
– If the pit is full or nearly full, do not rely only on pit
fans to supply this airflow rate, since these fans may be
severely restricted. It may be better to use only wall fans to supply this air exchange while agitating/pumping the
barn’s manure pit since methane gas is lighter than air.
– Make sure your normal ventilation inlets are open and operating properly to ensure good air distribution in the
barn. This is also important in preventing animal deaths (if animals must be present in barns) during agitation and
pumping of the manure pit.
– Turn off heater pilot lights and other non-ventilation electrical systems (such as the feeding system) that might produce an ignition spark. Not providing supplemental heat in the barn may be problematic for cases when there are no
animals in the barn or there are only small animals that require warmer inside temperatures. This may restrict when
you pump manure from such a barn to warmer days or a warmer part of the day.
– When pumping pits that are close to being full, pump without agitation until manure is about 2 feet below the slats.
This will allow pit fans (if available and used) to perform properly during agitation and provide more dilution space
for methane and other gases that are released.
According to Jacobson, there is currently no consistent solution to controlling this foaming in pig manure pits. Researchers do not yet understand all the factors (diet, manure pH, others) that cause this problem. Several research
projects are ongoing to better understand the causes and eventually provide solutions to this serious problem, he said.
Additional information on this issue can be found at the following websites:
University of Minnesota Extension’s swine website: http://www.extension.umn.edu/swine/porkcast/
barnventilation.html .
Minnesota Pork Board website: http://www.mnpork.com/producers/index.php .
Manure Pit Foaming. Iowa Manure Certification Workshop. January 2011. http://www.vimeo.com/22358091 .
Meet the Adjustor! Kenneth Grothe,
Page 3
AIC
Property Inspector, Claims Adjuster
Ken is an adjuster in the FarMutual adjusting program. His office is
located in Rochester, Minnesota. Ken has a Bachelors of Science in
Business Management and has completed his associate in claims designation. He is currently working on completing his
conferment as a Certified Property Casualty Underwriter. Ken began his insurance career as an
adjuster trainee working for Summit Consulting in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was promoted to
field investigator within a year and a half of his
start date with Summit and has been working in
field for 8 years. While working for Summit Consulting Ken handled claims in 4 states: Louisiana,
Mississippi, Arkansas, and Alabama. His current
territory is Southeast Minnesota and he works in conjunction with 7
different Mutual insurance companies.
Speaking about claims, when is the last time you went over your policy with your agent?
The time to find out what coverage you have
is BEFORE the claim, not after. A regular
reviewal of your policy is important to keep
your policy current. A great way to document your personal property is with a video
camera. Go from room to room carefully
and videotape all of your personal property.
Make sure to store the video someplace other
than your home. A safe deposit box is a
great place to store important items like this.
Ken often says “Claims are no problem if the
policy is written correctly” Call your agent
if you have more questions or would like to
schedule an appointment.