Spring showers

We're under the trailing edge of a pretty large thunderstorm, and before I lost the satellite signal to rain fade, the weather person on the local CBS affiliate was excitedly telling the viewing audience all about the potential for tornadoes with this storm.

Fortunately, there's an emergency siren within a couple of blocks of my house, so as long as I don't have the television or stereo on, I can hear it right away. Unfortunately, not having grown up in the Midwest, I'm not entirely clear what the various sirens are supposed to mean. Other than danger, of course. I also haven't completely worked out the logistics of getting myself and two wiggly cats into the basement in the 30 seconds or so I'd have in the event of an actual emergency.

So I decided to take a cue from my neighbors: I went out on the front porch and took in the storm, up close and personal. I didn't see green skies or hear the sound of a freight train, which would be very bad seeing as how I was standing out on the porch, but I can understand why storm chasers feel compelled to race around the countryside in search of the next storm. Okay, I mostly understand why they do it. You really appreciate a warm and dry shelter when the thunder is rattling the neighborhood and the lightening is so bright that my neighbor's solar lights blink off with almost every flash.

Here's hoping we all get away with just a noisy light show tonight.

Comments

[Carl V.]

I certainly don't find that behavior odd at all. It reminds me of a time when we lived in Tulsa and Mary was at work or something and we had tornado warnings, etc. and the sky got that eerie color to it and everyone in the apartment complex that was home was out standing in the parking lot looking straight up as this giant swirl of clouds was turning overhead. It looked like a whirlpool in the sky. Certainly not the smartest thing to do and yet I figured if a tornado that big dropped down out of the sky on top of us we were pretty much all gonna be gone anyway. It is odd how fascinated we are with dangerous things.