Friday, April 23, 2010

Tornado Day




That's right, it is the time of year when Mother Nature has some fun with us humans. The months of snow and cold and wind weren't enough, and with summer on the way she needs a little action to get her through the humdrum mosquito days of heat and humidity.

A person can feel it in their bones when a storm like this is approaching.

It rained all day yesterday and thunderstorms have brought in the morning. When they cease the heat will build, with the sun shining in some futile attempt to trick the earth's inhabitants that all meteorological action has ended. Wrong. The heat being shot down by the sun is actually building under the stratosphere and will later mix with cold air causing a very unstable environment. The cold and hot will twist and suck and grab at anything it can find—mostly open farmland.

The sound of a tornado siren is embedded in every prairie person's brain, so that even with a TV blasting, or water running in the sink, you hear it. And the chill goes all the way up your legs to your neck. You grab children, documents, pets and head for the basement—if you have one. If you don't, you run to the neighbor's house, or drive down the road to the local shelter.
And you wait.

When it clears, it is as if it was never here. The sun shines again, the grass is a brilliant shade of green and all you are left with is a strange feeling inside that each person holds in their eyes, but can't speak with their tongue.

And the wind at your window, while you lay in sheets sticking with humidity, will whistle a haunting sound, so that you cannot forget.

16 comments:

  1. Tornadoes are amazing, terrifying, and exciting. The world's disasters are something to experience.

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  2. They are! What an intense world we live in.

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  3. What a wonderful post, brought back so many memories of living in Illinois!!

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  4. Tornadoes sound so eerie. It’s wild you can feel them coming.

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  5. Wow, that's an amazing picture!! We don't get tornadoes here in Scotland - just depression through it raining constantly!

    A forthcoming tornado, all that stuff about feeling it coming etc, would make interesting reading I reckon if one of your characters just happened to be living in the vicinity.

    Milt x

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  6. p.s. We may not have tornados (we do have 'tournados') but we have some stinking furious froggy storms. We've had cows killed, trees uprooted, and electrical junk blown apart. Hey-Ho silver lining...

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  7. That's insane! Never heard of that.

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  8. What a crazy picture!

    And I agree, that tornado siren is definitely ingrained in my head. We don't get a lot of tornadoes, not like some regions, but when those sirens go off, it's absolutely chilling. Although, I kind of liked them as a kid. I think I wasn't afraid of them really. It always felt like an adventure to run down to the basement with a gallon of water, pillows, a flashlight, and a game or two.

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  9. Karen- I'm glad you liked it!

    Southpaw- I guess it has to do with the barometric pressure dropping. But I really do feel it when a big storm is coming.

    Cro- I don't have Toto, but I do have Henry the Dachshund : )

    Carolina- The picture is most likely a photoshop product, but I love it anyway. The truth is, a tornado could pass by that close and not damage a person. But I wouldn't risk it!

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  10. Tornados. Is it crazy that I'm completely fascinated by them?? They are beautiful, amazing and terrifying! Of course, I live in Tonado Alley... YAY!! Had a few close calls myself. Scary stuff!

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  11. I was going to do a 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road' comment, but Cro beat me to it. Actually Amy - your photos remind me of a young Judy Garland, or maybe Liza M?

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  12. I guess I'll start singing showtunes from now on. Actually, I was a can can girl in a production a few years back. Goodbye blog, hello sequins.

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  13. I have never seen or been in a tornado, and I don't want to! Be careful!

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  14. When I worked in Florida a few years ago, I sat in my motel room, and watched a twister come right up, but it fizzled out before it took away my hire car - shame.

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  15. What a great photo you've posted. Not too long ago I experienced the tail-end of a tornado in New Baltimore, Virginia. Tail-end was enough! It uprooted three trees in the yard where we were renting; fortunately they didn't fall on the house. It took off one neighbor's roof and uprooted the grapevines of another neighbor's. I like the 1996 movie Twister with Helen Hunt that captures the incredible power of tornadoes.

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