It's just past 3 a.m. here, and tornado sirens in the middle of the night are especially unnerving because you can't see the sky to monitor what's going on.

... like an understatement. I'd probably be holed up in the basement.

crawl space. We have had multiple local tornados with fatalities in recent years, so I do take it very seriously. In December 2023, three people were killed and others injured just a mile away when a tornado picked up a mobile home and dropped it on another house. That one was during the day in a Saturday, and I happened to be at my church with a group of 8 people, filling up holiday cheer baskets to distribute. We sheltered in the church's very solid stone cellar as it was passing over and listened to a weather station on someone's cell phone. We had a couple of no-nonsense retired school teachers in the group who made sure everyone did the smart and safe thing.

Ick

Right there with you this morning

and its twitter account, but thanks for the Ryan Hall link.

Ryan Hall is exceptional. Constant live radar, with focus on areas where people are endangered. He has live "weather chasers," too, who try to stay ahead of the major storms.

Not a job I'd want, but it's nice to have live footage.

There were several semi trucks tipped over on I-40 coming from Arkansas. (Gotta wonder wtf would be out driving in that mess as it was forecast to be a level 5 storm.)

I hope your forecast is better than mine. 3 more days of violent storms & up to 15" of rain total.

And you're safe.

for 12 years. We were in the basement a lot. It wasn't until we moved to North Carolina that I experienced a tornado going right over head. They really do sound like a freight train. We were in a large auditorium in downtown Raleigh for an afternoon performance of the ballet. Performance stopped. Announcement made from the stage. We were all kept inside until the all clear. Trees down everywhere when we went outside. Fortunately, nothing on my car parked in an open lot.
Hope you are safe!

As the National Weather Service reminds the important thing is to protect yourself from flying debris so even going in your bathtub under heavy blankets will minimize the prospect of physical injury. Hopefully though it will spare you and yours such danger


Oh and Fuck Agent Orange to hell for trying to destroy the National Weather Service as times like these show why they are so vital to protecting our lives. 🤬

They are the Party of Lies and Grift

We are still getting warning calls and texts from the weather service. We have been getting them all night.

I hope you and yours are okay. Still waiting to hear from my friends in 'east nasty'.

I hope they will have enough staff to get the EAS warnings out in time.

I saw some articles where TN is getting hit hard.

Please stay safe!

I lived in Oklahoma for years after having spent my childhood and early adult life on both coasts. Tornados are so unnerving.

mega-drought in the southwest, according to some.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/severe-weather/is-tornado-alley-shifting-east/1162839

"Where is 'tornado alley?' It may be time to update the original definition of the area that gets frequent tornadoes, which was created before the turn of the century.
....
With powerful tornadoes decimating areas in the Midwest and the southeastern U.S. over the past 20 years, there now may be a reason to believe that Tornado Alley has shifted east.

"When you look at the trends in where tornadoes have occurred in recent years, it's very clear that there have been more tornadoes farther south and farther east away from what people have typically known as the Tornado Alley across the Plains," AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter explained.
....
AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok attributed tornadoes becoming more frequent to the east of Tornado Alley due to the lack of moisture in the original Tornado Alley, which can be traced back to the 20-year mega-drought gripping much of the Southwest.

"You're going to see higher pressure aloft over the Southwest, and that will bring drier air into the Plains and force the storm track and the worst of the tornadoes to develop farther east into the Mississippi and Tennessee Valley," Pastelok explained. "You're going to need to break that drought to get more consistent action going on in Tornado Alley."...(more)

I'm fine and so is my house. The tornados have passed but we are still having heavy rain and now the concern is flash flooding. The schools are closed and the latest cell phone alert describes it as a "dangerous and life threatening situation" and says "do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order." My house is on a slight hill and not at flood risk, and although I am delaying going to work I'm hoping to do so as soon as it clears up a bit. And I do know enough about flooding that I won't drive through standing water or downed power lines!
🌷🌧🌧🌪🌧🌧🌈🌞🌻