We were rousted from deep slumber around Midnight last to the sounds of Spring and Summer here on the plain Plains...sirens.
Spending a little over an hour in our basement, we were fortunate not to lose electricity...and other essentials, such as possessions...and our lives, I should add.
It was ahowlin' outside, as the worst of the storm passed directly through our part of town, traveling about 55 mph (well under the speed limit)...headed East on Interstate 80. Never heard any freight train sounds, though.
Tornadoes are difficult to spot at night I'm told, which makes it a more fearsome event in my opinion...not that they aren't scary at any time of the day, mind you.
Eastern Nebraska is several hundred miles north of Oklahoma City, so the storms were quite wide spread over the Plains. And then this morning I read that a small town north of Oklahoma City never got a warning last night, as lighting knocked out their siren system.
Four people died in that small town where the sirens did not sound, so many miles from here.
Believe me...I do not complain when the sirens go off and interrupt my sleep in the middle of the night.
32 comments:
Why does God hate the Mid-West?
Stephen---Because I'm here?
That pic looks a lot like those fallopian tube thingies.
Maybe god is trying to take it, or is that bring it (?), to the GOP
Duck and Cover!!!
One night two years ago a tornado went through Bubba county, just a couple miles from my house. It was a rare enough event here, but still pretty scary. I didn't know if our 100+ year old house was going to outlast the wind! Glad y'all are safe - and sane enough to take shelter.
Folks, do something - start doing
www.weather.com and pay attention to your local tv weather person.
We had hail being reported west if here and I got the guys across the hall to move back int their covered parking slot next to mine -
We had quarter sized hail minutes later and I knew that was coming by watching tv.
Being aware is key to everytyhing.
Now, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,
and Tennessee are in for storms tonight,
Sarge
that's scary when the only form of defense..is off..
Punch---Everything looks like fallopian tubes to you. It comes with the old fart territory.
Hey, wait a minute...I live in a Red State...WTF?
Lesie---Say...isn't that for the atom bomb thingamajig? I remember doing that in school. I've been ducking and covering ever since.
BTW, thanks for the follow :-)
intell---Oh shit, I just remembered something I forgot to follow up on. I'm a bad boy. I'll correct that manana. Sorry ;-<
Not to scare you, but my wife's supervisor had her house whacked 3 or 4 years ago...it was built in the 1880's and had been in her family all that time. 200 mph wind respects nada.
Sarge---Believe me, Nebraskans definitely take the weather seers seriously.
Hope you do okay tonight, dude.
YD G---Oops, seems we passed in the wind. No, wait...that doesn't sound right.
I've been off for quite some time now. Getting used to it.
A fearful sight. Tornadoes and fallopian tubes. Glad all is cool with you and yours JJ. Can't wait for hurricane season.
I hope you weren't the one outside taking that pic...
I'm glad that you and yours are ok, dude.
Gotta go with Sarge. Watch TV.
And live on a bluff like my hometown. Bad weather breaks up and goes either 30 miles south or north. Weird how it works.
Or God loves me more than JJ.
glad you emerged unscathed; the image is eerie with that terrible beauty that forces of nature sometimes present....
I'm beginning to think you have a closet full of red sweater vest.
Back in 1976 my family lived in Wichita Falls, Texas and we had a scary encounter with tornado sirens.
My mom and dad were in the early stages of their divorce and after a big fight my mom took my siblings and me to a motel for the night. One siren was right outside our room and it went off in the middle of the night. The weather was so bad we actually heard the wind and thunder over the very loud siren.
I prayed more that night than most any other time in my life.
Mr. C---Thanks, bro.
Having now lived in both Hurricane and Tornado zones, I can say...I don't like either. Of course I also lived in Southern California for a number of years. Scary shit seems to be my middle name.
Doug---Thanks for the concern man.
The photo is from NOAA I believe. I probably should have noted that in the post. Oh well.
Truth---You do know that Sarge is a television salesman, right?
But seriously, we also have a NOAA radio, which I have not plugged in as yet. Well as of Saturday night, that is.
Harlequin---It is a fine image at that. Thank you for the concern :)
Punch---Lilac.
Beach---Now that is scary...especially for a kid. I can think of several places I would not want to be with a tornado close by...a motel is one of them.
Yep glad you were smart and took shelter. hell in '94 or '96 we had a tornado rip through here an no one knew what the sirens were going off for.
It's not that god hates GOP folks but that they apparently hate God.
But...always a butt... from The Dakotas across to Idaho all the way South through Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle, the lands are flat and there is always a breeze which given temperature and moisture can escalate into bad shit. So it's not so much God that hated you all but rather plate tectonics which pushed mountains up east and West of you. Thus it is and thus it has ever been.
Now with all that, protect the corn crop pops we need the ethanol.
w m---I believe it was Mr Chas that invoked the God factor...no wait, it was Stephen. Nevertheless, personally, I go with your assessment and would add the element that how one scrunches one's nose and mouth at the full of the moon on Friday the 13th affects those tectonic plates as well.
I'm scared of Clowns...and there is no warning.
the Ol'Buzzard
Glad you and your family made it alright, JJ.
Heard about the four feet of hail in the Texas panhandle.
I'm surprised our government hasn't passed a law mandating that tornadoes turn on their lights at night.
I'm glad you and yours survived. The West Coast has earthquakes and tsunamis; you guys have tornadoes.
As Gilda Radner used to say, "It just goes to show you it's always something."
Don't worry, you can get a good night's sleep once conservatives cut the funding for tornado warnings!
Ol'B---Best that you not plan any trips to D.C. A whole gaggle of clowns therein.
Chimp---Thank you for the good thoughts.
They do everything in a big way down yonder on the Pecos. Well OK, the Pecos is not in the Panhandle, I just like to say it...Pecos...Pecos...
Just as long as it's not those infernal blue thingama lights that blind the shit out of you.
Tom---Thanks.
And Gilda was right.
Professor---Damn, I thought it was tomato warnings.
Well I'm definitely glad you're ok. That photo is probably the scariest thing I've ever seen.
Mo---It is fearsome, but not, methinks as fearsome as those things which made their way onto this blog a couple of posts ago...the crocheted uteri.
Wow if you remember "duck and cover" then you're an old fart like me. Back then it was sit cross legged in the school hall, place your head between your legs then kiss your sweet ass goodbye.
You mean that wooden school desk I was hiding under and my hands over my head didn't really protect me from the Atom Bomb? They just said, "Don't look at the bright light!". I'm going to complain o those teachers. Wait, they're dead.
Demeur---Yep, and I remember seeing a Civil Defense film clip in the classroom...people, ducking and covering and a very large mushroom. I never have figured out what the fuck was going through their minds with such ridiculous instructions. Wha...an Atomic Skip Bomb that skips over children's school desks?
Chimp---Oh yeeeeah, don't look at the light...you'll be blinded...just before you're blown to smithereens. Even back then I knew the score on that one.
@Stephen: i dunno, but it's funny we're considered "the bible belt" hahaha. even though we get tornadoes, i'm so used to our weather folks exaggerating over nothing that i often take the situation lightly.
lexi---I know where you're coming from, it does get ridiculous...but...then there's that one time...
Last week we had our neighborhood siren go off with nary a cloud in the sky...and not even the people who set the things off know why. An act of...nah.
just a note..next month Jackie's Kitchen at west rest haven is doing a salute to canada, and all my canaderian friends are sending post cards and little things to the oldies..then I thought it would be cool if all my readers would send post cards too...
Jackie's Kitchen
c/o West Rest Haven
300 Haven Street
West, Texas 76691
if your interested..jackie
YD G---A plain Plains card coming your way!
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