One of the perks of living in the South is that the weather warms up quickly. This week it was in the 80s and while cooler weather is here such things don’t last this time of year. But there is a downside as you may have guessed by the picture to the left. The weather around here can get a bit crazy in the Spring. That means thunderstorms, hail, and even the occasional tornado.
You can probably guess where this is going. Last night I had my very first tornado warning. At around 2 AM an alert on my phone woke me up. The storm which has been making its way across the Midwest was about to arrive. 15 minutes later the Accuweather app served up the notification. Having read up on what to do I quickly gathered up my keys, cell phone, and wallet and headed into the bathroom (the only room with no windows) with a flashlight and a couch cushion to hide in the tub. There I stayed for about 45 minutes, curled up with the faucet dripping water on my head. Meanwhile the storm raged outside, rain pounding on the windows as the power flickered (but did not fail). By 3 AM it was all over. After reading on Facebook that the damage seemed to be minimal I went back to bed.
Tornadoes are one of the things that are feared by people who aren’t used to them. It’s really the randomness which is scary. Last night wasn’t that bad. There wasn’t any hail and the power never went out. The Holiday Inn Express had its sign blown down (onto some poor soul’s car no less) and an 18 wheeler went off the road around Alligator, Mississippi, but not much else happened. By comparison, these pictures show that other areas were not as lucky. It could have been a lot worse and for all I know next time it will be.
So you really have to treat every incident like an emergency. Tornadoes often can’t be seen, especially at night, so it won’t be obvious until after the fact how bad the situation is. Having had one experience I know what to do next time which makes me feel better. That my apartment is on the first floor of a brick building certainly helps. However there is no escaping the weather. One can only prepare for it.
