Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Spring Storms and the Fujita Scale

Before I get into todays post , I have to say thank you to Renee for awarding me this cute award!

I have to pass this on to 10 other bloggy friends, which I will think hard on and do tomorrow.

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Okies, for todays post.  ANYONE that has read my blog for a while knows that I am scared to death of thunderstorms.  Specifically  ones that produce supercells, which can and do lead to tornadoes.  

I am fine with light rain, and can sleep peacefully.  Even a mild thunderstorm that has no possibility of producing tornadoes.

The reason I am bringing this up today is it is raining.  It is also starting tornado season here in the midst of tornado alley.  For those of you not familiar with the term, Tornado Alley refers to a particular area of the states that is more likely than most to get tornadoes.  This is the area highlighted in yellow.

Knowing this scares the crap out of me.  Now I am NOT neurotic enough to think I'm going to get struck during a nomal storm.  What we look for when we have bad storms,are wall clouds OR see the sky turning green. The air is also very sticky and there is NO wind.  If you have ever seen the movie Twister when the character Bill is looking at the sky and says " going green' hes not kidding.  The sky takes on this eerie gray greenish color before going almost black when a tornado is a comin'.

I currently live in an area that has been hit by tornadoes.  Its been a while , but memories still abound.  Two F3 tornadoes touched down during one particularly bad storm in 1992. ( you can Google Lancaster Texas Tornadoes - 1992).   There was only one death in our actual small part of town - an old man that walked outside afterwards , saw the damage to the town he had lived in all his life and had a heartattack.

Not too long after we moved here there were some bad storms around and I had to go to the store.  Chris told me to hurry.  While I was at the store he called and said to hurry home, tornadoes were popping and it was moving our way.  I paid for the few groceries, and as I got to my car in the parking lot the sirens went off.  I freaked.

I threw the groceries in the car and ran my butt back into the store.  That poor manager on duty was trying to keep everyone calm and I was the loon following him around like a scared puppy.  
Nothing actually came down in our area, so I took off for home as quick as I could and called Chris to tell him to have the door open, I was on my way home.  We were still under a tornado warning, but the sirens had died down.  As I was turning onto our street the sirens went off again.  OH. MY . GOD.  I was scared to death.  He met me outside , got the bags out of the car and they went into the bath tub with us until they sounded the all clear.

There have been bathroom shuffles in the middle of the night.  The middle bathroom in our house that has no walls on the outside of the house is not that big.  But we sit in the tub or on the closed toilet lid .. my bird in her cage is on the floor and the dogs are in there with us and our radio.

I just pray that nothing bad happens this tornado season, in our town or anyone elses.

I am unable to post the actual Fujita Scale - none of them would copy correctly.  Please click HERE to see exactly what it is, if you are unfamiliar with it.

Have a great day!





6 comments:

Nikki said...

I don't like Tornado Season either, but, thank goodness, out here it's not as bad. There are times though we'll see those big thunderheads starting to build up east of us and we know that it's going to be heading towards North/Central Texas and you. So, take care!

Mary Ellen said...

I think one of my favorite things about living in Maine is the lack of life-threatening storms! We just don't get tornadoes at all, and by the time a hurricane gets here, it's usually not much to worry about. I'll take a good old-fashioned blizzard any day.

Stay safe!!

Lena said...

As much as I love love love thunderstorms, I am with you on the tornado willies. I'm not as bad as Peter is though. I know that most people come out safe and that if we follow precautions we will be okay. Remember Sarah and I were hit by the tornado in Arlington in 2000 while we were in the car? It was totaled but we came out with only a scratch between the two of us. Peter can't sleep at all until all chances of a tornado are gone. I REALLY wish we had a siren system here.

Chris H said...

OI! Stop that! I am reading your blog.. and up pops a comment from you! That is spooky..
Now where was I?
Oh yes... I love a good thunder storm, but don't think I'd like a tornado.
If I were you I'd be digging me an underground shelter! Stuff tornadoes !

Christina - Rant Rave Roll said...

I know sweetie! You just hate those storms. Take care and talk to you soon!

Michelle said...

Wow. We live where there are tornado warnings all the time, but I've never seen one. That's probably why I'm not petrified. Fingers crossed it's an easy season for you!

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