{"id":17109,"date":"2016-08-25T16:55:43","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T21:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=17109"},"modified":"2022-01-05T07:51:48","modified_gmt":"2022-01-05T12:51:48","slug":"weather-or-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/weather-or-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Weather or Not"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Several places named Hurricane — all found far from a coastline — interested me a few weeks ago. From there I wrote a simple article I called Inland Hurricane<\/a>. I also wondered if the same peculiarity extended to other weather phenomena so I began to search some more. I found mixed results. Even so I still uncovered a few interesting stories so I considered the effort a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tornado<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Coal<\/a>
Small rapids along the Coal River<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Hurricane article mentioned a town in West Virginia. Thus, it didn’t surprise me to see a Tornado included there too (map<\/a>). I love West Virginia for its awesome names. Kentucky too. Those two seem to compete with each other for the most outlandishly creative place names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tornado ceased to be Tornado for several years. According to the Charleston Gazette Mail<\/a>, an unnamed local resident complained about the name and the U.S. Board of Geographic Names changed it to Upper Falls in 2010. This referenced a series of small rapids along the Coal River just outside of town. However nobody bothered to check with the rest of the community. They preferred the original Tornado by a wide margin, a name used since 1881. That began a big kerfuffle involving lots of local politicians and the name reverted back to Tornado in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I never did discover why Tornado became Tornado back in 1881. It could have come from the whirling water of the nearby rapids. Maybe an actual tornado blew through there ages ago. Who knows?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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