Plus, tornado spotting and reporting methods have changed a lot over the last several decades, which means that we are observing more tornadoes that actually happen. Since official tornado records only date back to 1950, we do not know the actual average number of tornadoes that occur each year. each year? About 1,200 tornadoes hit the U.S. Two of the highest concentrations of tornadoes outside the U.S. Even New Zealand reports about 20 tornadoes each year. Where do tornadoes occur? Tornadoes occur in many parts of the world, including Australia, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. What we do: Read more about NSSL's tornado research here. Tornadoes can be among the most violent phenomena of all atmospheric storms we experience. Because wind is invisible, it is hard to see a tornado unless it forms a condensation funnel made up of water droplets, dust and debris. Watch on the NOAA Weather Partners YouTube Channel» What is a tornado? A tornado is a narrow, violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground. When America tried, as a national experiment, prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol what we got wasn’t an alcohol-free society but one in which Americans developed a less healthy relationship with alcohol.Weather Briefly: Tornadoes. Maybe that’s an object lesson for the futility of the age 21 drinking laws, and drinking policies based on prohibition in general. Sandstrom has devoted much of her young career to the issue of underage drinking, but even as she did so she was drinking underage herself (or seems to have done so on at least one occasion, anyway). Much of our nation’s drinking problems, particularly on campus where there there really are problems, stem from our ridiculous drinking laws that postpone lawful introduction to alcohol until well into adulthood. You have to ask, is that really a healthy situation? Is that what we want for our young people? To raise them in a society where drinking is seen as largely harmless, only to treat them as criminals if they drink before the age of 21 even if they’re considered adults in every other way? Moreso than ever in this digital age when things like criminal records are readily available on the internet. You can be arrested for having even one beer or one glass of wine, and if you’re over the age of 18, that arrest becomes a part of your permanent record. Despite the fact that most Americans start drinking well before the legal age, and despite the fact that most of us accept that as a reality, consuming alcohol under the age of 21 is a crime. Yet when it comes to the laws surrounding alcohol, we take a puritanical bent. And, truth be told, most Americans use alcohol responsibly. The Super Bowl, like many other holidays both formal and informal, is an excuse to tip a few back with friends and family (hey, here’s a drinking game for use with tomorrow’s State of the Union address!). Our media is littered with alcohol advertising. Second, America’s utter hypocrisy when it comes to alcohol.Īmericans generally, and North Dakotan’s especially, are a people who like to drink. I think Sandstrom is the victim of two things.įirst, and foremost, her own decisions and actions for which she will have to face the consequences. Now this arrest has happened, and will be on her record forever. Sandstrom, by all accounts, is a fine student with an impressive resume built up already at nineteen. She swore at officers and refused to cooperate. She’s the editor of the school newspaper, the Dakota Student, was Students Against Destructive Decision’s “student of the year for 2012-2013 and serves as one of two UND student members on the Grand Forks Community and Campus Committee on High-Risk Alcohol Use, something she touted recently in an op/ed for the Grand Forks Herald.Īnd this weekend she was arrested, accused of obstructing a police officer, refusing to halt for police and being a minor consuming alcohol.Īccording to reports, when police officers approached her she appeared to be drunk. Carrie Sandstrom is a student at the University of North Dakota.
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