Storm Chaser Video Captures Tornado Tossing House into Air

Footage posted by The Weather Channel, via TVNweather, shows one of two monster tornados that tore through Nebraska June 16, which lifted a house into midair and then sent it back to earth. The tornado killed two individuals, imjured at least 19 people, destroyed nearly 50 homes and damaged roughly 75 percent of buildings in the town of Pilger. According to climatologist Al Ducher, the tornadoes were particularly powerful because of the strength of the pair in tandem, as "usually one tornado weakens and shrinks in such a situation."

Builder Confidence and Home Sales on the Rise

Housing news turned positive as spring gave way to summer. Future data will confirm whether the recent turn in momentum reflects a return to the improving trend that was in place before the end of 2013, but early signs are encouraging. New single-family home sales reached their highest pace in six years in May. According to estimates from the Census Bureau and HUD, new home sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000 in May, a gain of 18.6 percent over a slightly downwardly revised April (425,000). This rate is the highest since May 2008 and is a significant increase from the winter low point for sales in March (410,000). The most recent gains are likely due to a payback for weather-related declines during the winter, so future months will indicate whether a better trend has taken hold. But encouraging signs like better jobs numbers are consistent with this outcome.

New Rules Don't Require CO Alarms in Hotels

New international building and fire codes that will be published this summer may provide hotel guests less protection from deadly carbon monoxide. The 2015 codes eliminate a 2012 requirement that required a CO alarm in each guest room or a detection system in all common areas, according to Michael O'Brian, a member of an International Code Council committee that recommended the new codes. The codes are not binding on states and municipalities, but most adopt them or modified versions within six years after they are published, he says. The 2015 codes require hotels to install CO alarms near a furnace, water heater or other fuel-burning devices that could malfunction and emit CO gas.

Eleven states have laws requiring CO alarms in hotels, but no state requires them in each hotel room or common area, says Doug Farquhar of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Hotel officials say CO incidents in hotels are rare and other CO code requirements are sufficient, so requiring alarms for each guest room or detectors throughout a hotel is unnecessary and costly.