Monday, April 24, 2006

It's tornado season

What an amazing age we live in! I was just able to watch a tornado form at El Reno and then follow it as it wiped out a couple of hangars at the municipal airport. There seemed to be a couple of other tornadoes form and die out in the same area. Now they are reporting the formation of another in that area and another forming up near Stillwater, a university town in the north central area of the state.

Lots of softball-size hail, which I suspect will cause more damage than the tornadoes. So far, (crossing fingers) these are smallish tornadoes. You'll forgive us if we remain a little gunshy since 1999. Lots of lightning showing now underneath those heavy clouds.

The current line of tornadoes that started over by El Reno are expected to be in my neighborhood in about 40 minutes, but the system is moving very slowly. Lots of ragged clouds. If these hold together long enough to get here, there could be more dollar damage. The area currently affected has always been open land, but there are a lot of new housing developments going in that vicinity (homes in the $250,000 to $350,000 and up range.)

The hair on my arms is already standing up. I don't expect to be hit, but I'm taking my precautions -- shutting down the electronics and keeping a watchful eye on the TV as I watch it come down the major interstate nearest me. The camera is at the ready. Thunder just started rolling over me. Sinuses closing up from pressure changes.

Ah, Oklahoma! Y'all stay safe, y'hear?

P.S., I am SO happy I did not make a business trip today. I would be driving blind back through this stuff right about now had I gone.

6 comments:

Trixie said...

The worst was over in about an hour. There will be thunderboomers through the night probably, but I think the storms have passed through my area. Thanks FF!

Genevieve Netz said...

I am glad the storms have passed over you and I hope they haven't been too hard on your state.

My brother lives southwest of Wichita, Kansas. He took us to the Harper County Fair one time when we were out there, and we wandered through the exhibits. In the photography section, every photo in the weather category was of a tornado!!!

SBB said...

I remember watching the OKC tornado on TV. The power of it was truly awesome. I hope we never face that again.

The storm only dumped water on us down here. No hail or high winds. The Big Guy was looking out for us!

Anonymous said...
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Erudite Redneck said...

Trixie, I'm pretty sure the comment above that you deleted was a spoof. TugboatCapn got an identical one at his place claiming to be from a prominent liberal site. Mike's America is a (not that prominent) right-wing site. Somebody is trying to stir stuff up for the sake of stirring up stuff, I think.

Trixie said...

Interesting. Thanks for the info.