Meteorologist tears Mitch Daniels a new one for calling Indiana storm "fluke"

[bullwinkle428]

"In a recent AP article, Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana was quoted as saying that the blast of wind that toppled the stage rigging at the Indiana State Fair killing 5 people was a "fluke event".

A "fluke" by definition is an unlikely chance occurrence. The destructive and deadly wind gust on Saturday evening in Indianapolis was no chance occurrence.

Let's stop bucketing meteorology and weather in general into some magical mystery science that can't be explained. When a tragic accident due to existing extreme weather conditions occurs, there is a notion to just throw your hands up in the air and say, "well, nothing could have been done to avoid this" or "nobody could have seen this coming" or "it was just a damn fluke". In many instances, that just simply is not the case and it wasn't the case in the tragedy at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Powerful, damaging winds were a known threat several days before and during the minutes leading up to the stage collapse."

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/indianapolis-tragedy-not-a-fluke_2011-08-15

[hedgehog]

1. Wow! Thanks for this! I suspected as much, but didn't have time

to search for the info!

[dtexdem]

4. If Indiana thinks it has money woes now -- wait for the lawsuits.

And the Guv's statement shows that the negligence went all the way to the top.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. I'd hate to be the engineer who signed off on that stage project

(S)he won't have the luxury of chalking-up that collapse to a 'fluke event.' Daniels, however, will manage to weasel his way out of all culpability. Remember the day when elected officials were always held accountable for the actions of those working under their aegis? Me either.

[bullwinkle428]

3. There was supposedly an on-site meteorologist that should have

made the call to get people away from there once it was clear the frontal system was about to pass through. Perhaps they did, and someone further up the chain of command went "Alfred E. Newman" and said something along the lines of "What, me worry?"

[PVnRT]

6. The stages are designed to handle certain wind loads

They aren't meant to necessarily stand up to everything. Someone should have been monitoring conditions there and made the call to cancel the concert. It didn't help that there was what amounted to a giant sail on the back of the stage, either. If anyone's to blame here, it's fair officials for not acting in the public interest, not the engineer who did the design correctly in the first place.

[CreekDog]

10. Wow, how do you know the engineer did it correctly?

and how do you know that the tarp wasn't part of the design?

[benld74]

5. Can we say Mitch Daniels is a fluke? Just wondering,,,

[SusanaMontana41]

7. Just the latest attack on science by the GOP. n/t

[hootinholler]

8. Tide goes in...

Tide goes out...
Nobody can explain that.

:rofl:

Kudos to the scientist for calling out ignorance!

-Hoot

[DCKit]

9. That sky was BLACK. The people in the mid-west shouldn't need the sky to be green and purple...

before running for cover.

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

11. In the Governor's defense

Being that the Republican culture is that of anti-learning and anti-science, it is easy for him (and republicans in general)
to think of these things as flukes. As far as they are concerned it is all magick to them.

Next thing we'll hear is that he wants to have this meteorologist burned at the stake for witchcraft.

Someone get the large scales and a duck before the rain wizard turns Daniels into a Newt.