May 3, 2002

7:02 PM

New NASA Satellite Zooms in on Tornado Swath
...the twister's swath is the bright stripe passing through the town and running eastward 6 miles (10 km) toward the Patuxent River beyond the righthand side of the image. This stripe is the result of the vegetation flattened by the storm. The flattened vegetation reflects more light than untouched vegetation.
posted by quonsar (9 comments total)

very high res image here. (thanks julie!)
posted by quonsar at 7:04 PM on May 3, 2002

Wow! (Note to self) Do not mess with Mother Nature.
posted by jeremias at 8:08 PM on May 3, 2002

Wow! Mother Nature kicks some serious ass.
posted by riffola at 8:13 PM on May 3, 2002

Auntie Em, Uncle Henry..Help! Help!
posted by jonmc at 8:45 PM on May 3, 2002

thanks for the great link. Damn, that town was directly hit.
posted by crunchburger at 9:34 PM on May 3, 2002

Toto, I don't think we're not in Kansas anymore.
posted by y2karl at 9:57 PM on May 3, 2002

Well, it gives new meaning to the title of the John Fahey tune, Revelation On The Banks Of The Pawtuxent, too.

REVELATION ON THE BANKS OF THE PAWTUXENT was had by John as he, like so many of his generation were wont to do, wandered along the banks of the green Pawtuxent marvelling as it caressed the open brown flanks of the earth. No one who is familiar with the English "Water Poets" could fail to notice the influence that rivers have had in John's work.
posted by y2karl at 10:15 PM on May 3, 2002

What are all those misshapen brown plots above the tornado swath? What terrestrial scourge could be the cause of all that arbitrary lack of vegetation? And the veins leading in and out of as if they were feeding a tumor?

I'm only being partially snarque.

Cool pic. All kinds of ways in which the Earth changes/we change the Earth can be put into perspective with a good satellite image.
posted by crasspastor at 10:24 PM on May 3, 2002

My friends uncles barn is in that swath of destruction somewhere. LaPlata was, untill this one, the site of Marylands most destructive tornado. Now it holds the number one and number two spots. Strange considering its a very small town off in a corner of the state no one ever goes too, thanks to the Mother for not landing in Baltimore or DC 30 miles to the north.
posted by stbalbach at 11:34 AM on May 4, 2002