ᐅ The frequency of tornadoes in Germany is increasing significantly

BackSteinGotik schrieb:

Unfortunately, it’s a bit simplistic and not productive. Surface sealing has absolutely nothing to do with the formation of tornadoes. And “new housing concepts” sounds great—just do it. The world will follow you. Just like with all those “New Human” systems.
Otherwise, the last three months have shown what remains of all these pipe dreams when prices keep rising and the “we are all so rich, the government will support it” scenario doesn’t happen. And it’s news to me that old buildings would no longer be used. It’s just that, strangely, they rarely reach the level of new builds, and often aren’t even worth upgrading to that standard. But no one is stopping you from buying a pollutant-heavy 1970s bungalow and housing two families in 80cm (31 inches)².

Oh dear... are you so frustrated that you have to get personal right away??
Surface sealing (and everything related to it) very much affects the climate—and ultimately, extreme weather events as well.
And regarding new housing concepts: that’s exactly what we’re doing! We’re not building new houses but renovating existing buildings.
I’m not judging anyone who wants to build a new single-family home. But it certainly isn’t a future-oriented concept anymore. It’s time to be honest about that.

Oh man, here we go again with the next outrage: climate change… Flood disasters and storms have always occurred in Germany as well. In North Rhine-Westphalia back then, all our cars and windows were completely smashed by hail… A few years ago, they said the oil was running out, so people were only allowed to drive every other day… I don’t want to deny that we, as humans, need to take care of nature and the environment, but in 2009, weather maps on the evening news showed 36°C (97°F) with green colors and a bright sun symbol… Today, the map is marked red just because it reaches 30°C (86°F).

Personally, I would rather see the great things stated in building plans — for example, here that means two native trees for every 400m² (4,300 ft²) and fencing with a hedge — actually implemented and monitored… No one here has planted a tree except me… Just a fence around and stones in the front yard… nice.

Paderborn is actually not that far from us. Fortunately, we only had rain and not even significant wind. I hope those affected can find enough roof tiles to repair the damage quickly!

Afterwards, I was just wondering: in case of a tornado warning, should roller shutters be up or down?

The aluminum shutters probably won’t stop much of what was seen in yesterday’s phone videos. If my windows are shattered, at least I can still create some relative protection afterward; the guides would likely survive.

In a normal storm or hurricane, I would keep them down—but a tornado is not normal at all…

Fuchsbau35 schrieb:

Oh dear... are you so frustrated that you have to get personal right away???
Surface sealing (and everything related to it) definitely has something to do with climate. And ultimately also with extreme weather events.
And regarding new housing concepts: that’s exactly what we’re doing! We are not building new but renovating existing buildings.
I don’t want to judge anyone who wants to build a new single-family house. But it’s certainly no longer a sustainable concept. People should be honest about that.

How do you come to the conclusion that I’m frustrated? I just find it interesting when totally inappropriate, overly simplistic slogans like “surface sealing!!!” are shouted out without even beginning to understand the topic. That doesn’t help solve anything—quite the opposite.

How many social housing units do you have in your project? The minimum 33%, or more? How many traditional residential functions were eliminated? Shared laundry room with communal washing machines (sharonomics), shared kitchen? Was the project carried out completely without parking spaces, i.e., car-free? Shared communal spaces instead of private living rooms? What about inclusion? How many children per housing unit?

Or is it just owner-occupied condominiums or something like townhouses within a typical multi-family building complex with financially strong owner-occupiers? I’m curious—I do like to take a closer look at cooperative building projects.

OWLer schrieb:

I was just wondering afterward, during a tornado warning: shutters up or down?

In a tornado, you probably wouldn’t worry about the shutters…
My approach would be to secure the building as best as possible, go to the basement (if you have one), and once the danger has passed, hope that the ground floor and upper floors are still standing.

Snowy36 schrieb:

Oh man, now the next hot topic is being dragged around: climate change… there have always been flooding disasters and storms here in Germany… back then in North Rhine-Westphalia, hail completely destroyed all our cars and windows… A few years ago, supposedly the oil was running out, so you were only allowed to drive every other day… I’m not denying that we humans need to take care of nature and the environment, but in 2009, weather maps on the evening news showed 36 degrees Celsius (97°F) marked in green with a bright sun… today the map is red just because it hits 30 degrees Celsius (86°F) once in a while…

I would rather see the great things that are in the land use plans (for us, 2 native trees per 400 square meters (4,300 square feet) and fencing with a hedge) actually implemented and controlled… no one here has planted a tree except me… fence around the garden and stones in the front yard… lovely.

Two native trees per 400 square meters (4,300 square feet)? Cute :-) For us, it’s one tree per 100 square meters (1,100 square feet).

Climate change can be easily and almost cost-neutrally addressed by reducing or cutting out meat consumption. I personally eat a lot of meat, but I will reduce it to a maximum of once or twice a week.