"No severe weather today. None predicted this week. If I never see another tornado, it will be fine with me. I love a good thunderstorm at night, but the severe stuff, or a tornado - no thanks. Well, enough about storms - back to worrying about the pandemic."
As if we did not have enough on our plates right now, it is also severe weather season. For many who live in the central part of the country, that means tornado season. First a moment of confession. I am highly addicted to watching storm chasing videos. And right now, there are a ton of them on YouTube. So every night as I am falling asleep, I watch one of those videos. Last night, I saw a whopper.
The state was Texas. The time was about 20 years ago. That May morning in central Texas, started with sky high humidity - the highest humidity most locals could ever remember for that time of day. The state was ripe for a severe weather event. About noon, a cold front from the north, slammed into that very moist and warm air over central Texas. Then all hell started. Tornado after tornado started breaking out on the front line. Soon, an EF5 monster developed. And it was a whopper. Over a mile wide, with winds over 250 in the middle of the twister.
Now for a personal aside. I have never fully understood why houses down south don't have basements. I know, I know - it is because up north, we need furnaces. So we have basements up here. But here is the rub. And I have heard this statistic many times before. If you are in a house, and are above ground when a strong EF4 or EF5 twister hits, your chances of surviving are about zero. There is no safe room in the house which will protect you.
Last night, the video I was watching showed what the small Texas town looked like once the EF5 passed over it. There was literally nothing left. It was like every house, every tree, every person who was hiding in their house - was erased. The ground was scoured. One of the meteorologists explained it this way - when a tornado that strong hits a house, everything in the house is turned into shrapnel. In other words, everything in the house is chewed into bits - including the people seeking shelter inside. Many times, there is not enough left of a person to perform an ID. They are simply gone.
Spring tornadoes in Tornado Alley are as common as mosquitoes in Minnesota. Every year, the news seems to be the same. A break out of twisters in the spring time, resulting in the deaths of people who live in mobile homes or stationary houses with no basements. Like I said, having a safe room, or hiding in a bathtub with a mattress over you, will not save you if the twister is strong enough.
The first year we vacationed in Pensacola, there was an outbreak of tornadoes around the Mobile area. They were headed east, across Mobile Bay, towards Pensacola. We were staying in a condo with no basement. As the sky grew dark and angry, I asked my wife what Plan "A" was for severe weather in the place we were renting. The answer - nada. You can only hope and pray nothing bad comes your way. Luckily, we only had lots of wind, rain and lightening with the storm - and no tornado.
No severe weather today. None predicted this week. If I never see another tornado, it will be fine with me. I love a good thunderstorm at night, but the severe stuff, or a tornado - no thanks. Well, enough about storms - back to worrying about the pandemic.
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