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Cliff Mass, a meteorology professor at the University of Washington in Seattle blogged about this last Friday[1]. There's a comment[2] from someone in the area

Cliff Mass, a meteorology professor at the University of Washington in Seattle blogged about this last Friday[1]. There's a comment[2] from someone in the area who notes that some of those tumbleweeds were likely radioactive, since this is downwind of the Hanford Site[3], a relic from the Manhattan Project and later Cold War which has been leaking radioactive waste for decades. [1] https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-meteorology-of-tumbleweed-storm.html https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-meteorology-of-tu... [2] https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-meteorology-of-tumbleweed-storm.html?showComment=1578110638732#c3173872887216332904 https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-meteorology-of-tu... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site

stonogo 7y ago
Every time this happens, people start telling these stories. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-apr-15-me-51273-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-apr-15-me-51273... Out of approximately 10k tumblweeds tested per year, approximately 20 per year are found to be radioactive, for values of radioactive approximating one CT scan. So even if you drag a geiger counter out there to find a hot one, then cuddle it for a while, it isn't as interesting as the campfire stories make it out to be.
- justinclift 7y ago
  Guessing the mutation rate in the seeds from the radioactive ones will be higher than normal?
  - JulianMorrison 7y ago
    Yes but most mutations just break stuff.
pts_ 7y ago
Radioactive tumbleweeds sound like a Hannah Barbara cartoon.
- jefurii 7y ago
  Thundarr the Barbarian!
reaperducer 7y ago
some of those tumbleweeds were likely radioactive, since this is downwind of the Hanford Site[3], a relic from the Manhattan Project and later Cold War which has been leaking radioactive waste for decades. I can't count the number of giant piles of tumbleweeds I've seen along US-95, US-6, and NV-375 (The Extraterrestrial Highway†) — the roads which encircle the Nevada National Security Site and Area 51. God only knows what they're contaminated with. (The name has changed several times, but the NNSS is where the U.S. carried out over 900 nuclear bomb tests from 1951 to 1994. Today the tests are simulated, so some of the most advanced and secret supercomputers in the world are there. It's the only place in North America where civilian police and firefighters can train for radioactive emergencies in actual radioactive environments.) † https://travelnevada.com/road-trip/extraterrestrial-highway https://travelnevada.com/road-trip/extraterrestrial-highway
willismichael 7y ago
As somebody who grew up around there with a dad that spent his whole career as a chemical engineer working with nuclear waste, I'm here to tell you that most tales about the radioactive material around Hanford are highly overblown. I'm probably exposed to more radiation on a single plane flight than I ever got from tumbleweeds near my house.

stonogo 7y ago

Every time this happens, people start telling these stories. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-apr-15-me-51273-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-apr-15-me-51273... Out of approximately 10k tumblweeds tested per year, approximately 20 per year are found to be radioactive, for values of radioactive approximating one CT scan. So even if you drag a geiger counter out there to find a hot one, then cuddle it for a while, it isn't as interesting as the campfire stories make it out to be.

justinclift 7y ago
Guessing the mutation rate in the seeds from the radioactive ones will be higher than normal?
- JulianMorrison 7y ago
  Yes but most mutations just break stuff.

pts_ 7y ago

Radioactive tumbleweeds sound like a Hannah Barbara cartoon.

jefurii 7y ago
Thundarr the Barbarian!

reaperducer 7y ago

some of those tumbleweeds were likely radioactive, since this is downwind of the Hanford Site[3], a relic from the Manhattan Project and later Cold War which has been leaking radioactive waste for decades. I can't count the number of giant piles of tumbleweeds I've seen along US-95, US-6, and NV-375 (The Extraterrestrial Highway†) — the roads which encircle the Nevada National Security Site and Area 51. God only knows what they're contaminated with. (The name has changed several times, but the NNSS is where the U.S. carried out over 900 nuclear bomb tests from 1951 to 1994. Today the tests are simulated, so some of the most advanced and secret supercomputers in the world are there. It's the only place in North America where civilian police and firefighters can train for radioactive emergencies in actual radioactive environments.) † https://travelnevada.com/road-trip/extraterrestrial-highway https://travelnevada.com/road-trip/extraterrestrial-highway

willismichael 7y ago

As somebody who grew up around there with a dad that spent his whole career as a chemical engineer working with nuclear waste, I'm here to tell you that most tales about the radioactive material around Hanford are highly overblown. I'm probably exposed to more radiation on a single plane flight than I ever got from tumbleweeds near my house.