Violent Weather

  I really enjoy a good rainy day in the summer. I love the sound of rain on the roof and how green everything becomes when the rain finally drifts away. What I do not love is rain so heavy that you cannot see the end of your vehicle or even where the road is (or is not) and the sound of tornado sirens. Two weeks ago while traveling to my oldest stepdaughter J's wedding we had this dubious experience. Fortunately we were not on the highway, only on a two lane road and had just gone through a mid sized town so were traveling slowly anyway. We got lucky and a burst of wind allowed us to see the side of the road and we safely pulled over and stopped and hunkered down. Winds didn't seem that bad so we stayed in the car. Turned out we were on the northern edge of a smallish tornado. After about 5 minutes of waiting and it cleared up enough that we were able to safely go on our way. And now we have a story that will not allow us to ever forget our trip to central Illinois. Safety tip: If you are ever caught in the car in violent weather and cannot make shelter make sure you keep your seatbelt fastened and crouch down below the level of the windshield and cover your head with your arms or a pillow if you have one. If winds are bad and a tornado can be seen, leave the car and get into a ditch or other low ground, face down on the ground and cover your head.
What else do I not enjoy? Well I do not enjoy being violently awakened at 2:00 a.m. to the brightest lightening and loudest boom of thunder I have ever heard in my life. You could hear the lightening sizzle. Sizzle. I swear it was right outside my window. We'd been warned repeatedly that violent weather was coming with the possibility of winds high enough to take down trees and power lines. Having learned my lesson from Superstorm Sandy last fall I have bags of ice in the deep freezer that stay there in case of loss of power, I had our flashlights ready, our phones and laptops and kindle fire all charged up, and our tornado safety plan all reviewed with the kids. My adult son J who lives at home gets severe weather alerts on his smartphone so even though my community does not have sirens I knew we'd be warned if something bad was headed our way in the middle of the night. J and I also went around last evening and took down the patio umbrella and our flagpole and secured our outdoor furniture. As is the way with these things our preparations were for naught.
We got very lucky and winds here were not severe enough to cause any power outtage in my community although I did get to 'enjoy' that middle of the night bonding experience with my teen daughter L thanks to that burst of thunder and got a good reminder to put battery operated lanterns (and extra batteries) on my 'to buy' list.
Update: Turns out that lightening took out a transformer box behind the houses across the street from us (so not literally in my yard but pretty darned close). We are on a different transformers but all the homes across from me were without power for most of the morning.