Hi Everyone,
Yesterday in Kansas we had 97 tornadoes touch down in Kansas. The one that caused destruction in Wichita was a EF-3 and the one in Ellsworth a EF-4. This was probably the most bizarre storm system I have ever witness. I am not used to such advance warning days ahead. In The Wichita Eagle newspaper it said this is only the second time that the Storm Prediction Center had issued a high risk more than 24 hours in advance. Even more bizarre was that yesterday the TV stations around noon (maybe earlier) preempted all programming and it was non-stop weather with no storms happening that early. Watching the TV was like watching for a train wreck to happen and the next thing you know a tornado is headed in your direction around 11 pm .
Not having a basement or a safe room is a disadvantage. I have a fairly high crawl space, but the idea of identifying different kinds of spiders didn't seem too appealing. So when the sirens went off to take cover and the neighbor called to see whether I wanted to go down in their cellar or flee with them in their truck---I chose adventure and hopped in the truck with Holly and left the cats in a safe place. What seemed so unreal is that the latest thing now is to have weather apps on smart phones that allow you tp view live weather radar tracking the path of the tornado. It crossed my mind that it would be just my luck to have another cell form and we all get sucked up like in The Wizard of Oz and Holly becomes Toto.
Before all the action I caught Pat Wendt’s comment on Facebook:
Ok, now they've got my attention. The Weather Channel just raised us to 9/10 on their chance for tornadoes (Torcon) index. ...better known as the be afraid, be very afraid index
We compared numbers and found out KS was a 9/10. I always feel a kinship with Pat and the numbers aced it for us. While Pat was racheting up the fear factor our own Jan Neil was sending words of comfort that I wouldn’t have to pay for air fare for the next copy run---actually her husband said that. Then there is Athol that I had emailed only to tell him I was running for cover. Later he sent me this email:
Gee Margie,
I could ask what you do in your spare time but them again, I know.
I am joking about it now, but do not want to trivalize the destruction and also the loss of five lives in Woodward, OK. To give you an idea of some of the destruction that was around where I live:
http://www.kwch.com/ and the Weather Channel:
http://www.weather.com/weather/videos/news-41/top-stories-169/chaser-captures-multi-vortex-tornado-26957#loc=41/169/26957As the storms move to the northeast I hope there is not more destruction. Besides the tornadoes there is also flooding from the storms and I had heard some possible around Joplin. It’s been almost a year since the tornado hit there and having seen the destruction first hand; I hope it doesn’t happen again.
Margie
