The kids had an early-release day scheduled for today already, but now they're coming home even earlier. This time we're not expecting snow. We're expecting this:
Scattered thunderstorms in the morning, strong thunderstorms in the afternoon with damaging winds, large hail, and possibly a tornado.
To me, this is much scarier than a snowstorm. I mean, a snowstorm might make you lose power or put a layer of ice on your front walkway. It may even put a tree through your roof. But a snowstorm is rarely scary if you're tucked away inside.
This, though, means alarms going off on my phone—which I'm thankful for because I'd much rather know about a tornado warning than not know—and that means crying, panicked children. It means hiding in the closet with a flashlight and a good book hoping that things, quite literally, blow over, and that our house isn't the house the tornado choses to pick off the face of the planet.
My house was skipped over once before. A tornado whirled through town, destroying some grain elevators by the train tracks (it obviously wasn't a very large town), lifting up and going right over our house (and a bunch of other stuff—but right over our house, no word of exaggeration), and touching down again on the freeway, mangling a semi-truck (which my mom's cousin happened to be driving by at just the wrong moment) like a pop can.
It was terrifying (and admittedly a little exciting). And that was just a little one.
So, it looks like I'll be clearing out the closet and making a little haven for our imminent tornado watch, in case it turns into a tornado warning—with plenty of pillows and blankets to cuddle up in, and a few good books to read, and snacks and a flashlight or two—this afternoon.
I do wonder, though, if a thunderstorm today will mean a snowstorm next week. It's still technically winter (though winter's usually about over by now in these parts) and there's a saying down here that thunder in winter will bring snow within a week (or ten days). I sure hope not!
To me, this is much scarier than a snowstorm. I mean, a snowstorm might make you lose power or put a layer of ice on your front walkway. It may even put a tree through your roof. But a snowstorm is rarely scary if you're tucked away inside.
This, though, means alarms going off on my phone—which I'm thankful for because I'd much rather know about a tornado warning than not know—and that means crying, panicked children. It means hiding in the closet with a flashlight and a good book hoping that things, quite literally, blow over, and that our house isn't the house the tornado choses to pick off the face of the planet.
My house was skipped over once before. A tornado whirled through town, destroying some grain elevators by the train tracks (it obviously wasn't a very large town), lifting up and going right over our house (and a bunch of other stuff—but right over our house, no word of exaggeration), and touching down again on the freeway, mangling a semi-truck (which my mom's cousin happened to be driving by at just the wrong moment) like a pop can.
It was terrifying (and admittedly a little exciting). And that was just a little one.
So, it looks like I'll be clearing out the closet and making a little haven for our imminent tornado watch, in case it turns into a tornado warning—with plenty of pillows and blankets to cuddle up in, and a few good books to read, and snacks and a flashlight or two—this afternoon.
I do wonder, though, if a thunderstorm today will mean a snowstorm next week. It's still technically winter (though winter's usually about over by now in these parts) and there's a saying down here that thunder in winter will bring snow within a week (or ten days). I sure hope not!
Your grandma would tell us of times that her and her brothers had to run out of their house and lay on the ground and wrap their arms around small trees when they had tornado warnings when she lived in Florida.
ReplyDeleteYour grandma would tell us of times that her and her brothers had to run out of their house and lay on the ground and wrap their arms around small trees when they had tornado warnings when she lived in Florida.
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