Tornado alley

explorer · Jun 1, 2004

I think your form of expression about severe weather is fascinating. When you stand before a force so much larger than you and there you are right in front of it.

:rotfl:

Watching a tornado is absolutely amazing. You have a front row seat witnessing an awesome display of power. I find them beautiful when you see one on the prairie. Witnessing one hitting downtown Tulsa is a different story. I love severe weather, I live for the season between March and June. A slow t-storm with rolling thunder is comforting.
As far as the tornado danger, at least with tornadoes, you have at least a half an hour's warning if you stay tuned to media sources. You don't get that with earthquakes.

BabyRN2Be · Jun 1, 2004

This past weekend was pretty bad. The storms all happened at night and we didn't get a chance to watch them. My bf's new home is proving to be a tornado magnet: He called me at 1:15A.M. Sunday from the inside of a closet because a tornado was a mile away. He has a tornado siren in his neighborhood and it was going off and he was asking me what about the current weather story. Right before he got into the closet (wearing his bike helmet for protection, bless his heart), he had heard that there were two tornadoes, one 10 blocks away from his current location, and the other another 10 blocks to the south of the original tornado. I talked him through it, let him know what was happening until the tornado warning expired for his area. Poor guy. Fortunately, he only lost a few shingles while those 10 blocks away had more significant damage. I think he is one of those people who are going to be glad that tornado season is probably coming to an end fairly soon.

BabyRN2Be · Jun 22, 2005

I was doing some reminiscing about last year's weather and I found this thread. It's totally different this year. We haven't had anywhere near the serious weather outbreaks that seemed to be a daily occurence last year.

The bf I was referring to last year has since become my husband as of January, and we are living at the same house he had last year - the one that appeared to be a tornado magnet for three days in a row.

We've had a night or two that was a little dicey, but no tornadoes. We have had some bad storms in the last 2 weeks, and there was one night that the power went off during a severe storm. It was very warm and humid, and we couldn't get our bedroom window open. We had to camp out on the couch where we could open the back door in order to get some relief from the heat. The power eventually came on at 4AM, 6 hours after it went off, but that's the worse of what we've had this year. In fact, we are quite behind in rainfall this year.

Goes to show that you'll never know what will happen weather wise in tornado alley and we've learned to take it as it comes.

It was fun reliving the fun of last year... forgive my rambling.

Blackcat99 · Jun 25, 2005

Hi BabyRN2be.

Wow! Has it really been a whole year? Time is flying. I am so glad that you haven't had any tornadoes this year. And your BF is now your husband!!! Congratulations Hope your weather will stay good the rest of the year. :)

BabyRN2Be · Jun 28, 2005

Hi Blackcat!

Yeah, I agree with you! Where has the time gone? Yes, it was a year ago already that we had all those tornadoes. Wish we had at least some interesting weather this year. Like I said, we haven't had that much rain and we are WAY behind. I've noticed that the trees at the entrance to our neighborhood are looking a little stressed, and a lot of our trees in back are looking very stressed as well. We really could use the rain. The bad thing is, we are well into summer, and it's going to be a hot one.

Wish we could have one like we had last year. Goodness, it was almost unheard of in Oklahoma! Temps mostly in the upper 80's and low 90's and DRY (as in, not humid) for the most part. Not one day above 100... we are supposed to top the century mark sometime this week. So much for a summer like last years.

Thanks for the congrats! Hubby and I are enjoying our new lives together. However, our first fight is brewing... it's gonna be with Super Soakers and water balloons this weekend! Great way to cool off!

Take care, Blackcat!

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Jun 28, 2005

I was reminded of one more incident that was worse than my dad and brother watching a video instead of storm coverage. When the weather is bad, local stations will preempt national TV programs. They encourage everyone in the path of a tornado to seek cover and tune to a local TV or radio station for the latest. What really got me was that they were preempting national programming for coverage of a large tornado in Muskogee (I was missing Survivor! *sniff sniff* ). However, EVERYONE in this town was gathered at a park to WATCH this massive tornado! Law enforcement was trying to get everyone to get home and take cover, but these guys are insisting on staying outside to watch this tornado! This was a very large group, not just a dozen people. LE was having a fit, and I agree, this was a rather stupid thing for people to do. There wasn't a covered area in the park, and if it actually hit the park, this could have turned quite tragic. Some people... :uhoh21:

I was stationed in Oklahoma in the USAF for four years; I was there when that F5 roared across the state. That year (1999) it seemed that every weekend the sirens in town went off. I remember my next door neighbors were on the ROOF once when the sirens went off (they were born-and-bred Oklahomans) watching a tiny tornado about three miles off.

NUTS!! Tornadoes are interesting (and I always laugh a bit to myself when my friends here start getting nervous when we're placed under the odd tornado watch - they haven't seen ANYTHING IMO), but being from the coast, I say give me a good old hurricane any day - at least I have a fighting chance of getting completely out of its way!

(I've lived in CA, too, as a Navy brat - and ya'll can have your earthquakes, fault lines, tremors - the whole kit and kaboodle!) :uhoh21: