Close Call- (Storms)

[Lassr]

Tornado went 4 miles north of me, and one went 1/2 mile south of me. Just got power back on an hour ago.
Tornado to the south was very small or never fully touched down, a lot of roof damage and trees down. Tornado to the north was larger, wiped out a school and several houses including a co-workers.

Mostly limbs down at my house and my garage door was buckled in, but I was able straighten that out.

Round two coming this afternoon.

[PLW]

Keep your head down and stay safe.

[TheMix]

Wow. Yikes.

Hope you continue to be safe!

[Pyperkub]

wear a helmet - seriously.

Many injuries and deaths come from head injuries caused by winds hurling around heavy objects and people. So some doctors have started recommending that people put on helmets if a twister is approaching. A bicycle helmet will do, or a football helmet.

That advice is a bit controversial — as we reported back in 2012, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the helmet can't hurt, but want to make sure people know that getting to shelter is the first priority.

So store a helmet along with the rest of your tornado safety kit and practice your safety plan, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration advises. Keep in mind that the best strategy is to put as many walls as possible between you and wind.

[Enough]

I've been worried about our Ooers residing around these parts, thanks for checking in and glad you came through this round okay.

[Smoove_B]

Man...stay safe down there -- to you and all other potentially impacted OOers.

[Blackhawk]

I've been worried about our Ooers residing around these parts, thanks for checking in and glad you came through this round okay.

I worry about various OOers from time to time. Especially since, if something did happen, we'd likely never know. It would just be a 'whatever happened to X' thread down the road.

FWIW, I've left instructions with two people to post on OO in the event of my untimely demise.

[KKBlue]

Blackhawk! Really, someone will post if you are unable to type? That is very thoughtful of you, honestly.
There is truth in your comments and Enough's quote. Thanks Lassr for keeping us up to date.

[Lassr]

Not enough energy left in the atmosphere for this second round. A few thunderstorms, a brief power outage and hopefully that is it for the night except for the rain.

[Pyperkub]

Not enough energy left in the atmosphere for this second round. A few thunderstorms, a brief power outage and hopefully that is it for the night except for the rain.

Good to hear!

[Holman]

Stay safe, Southern people!

[dbt1949]

We've had 3-4 within a couple of miles and a couple less than a quarter mile away.
Our doublewide calls to them.
Fortunately we live on a mountain and they usually avoid mountains.

[stessier]

Radar says a tornado passed within 7 or so miles of our place. Was within 3 miles of work (I'm told they kept people in the basement for about 30 minutes) and went right down the path I normally drive home. Was a good thing I went home a few hours early today.

[Giles Habibula]

Tornadoes scare me. I've only actually seen two in my entire life (one close, one far away), and while they are a truly awesome display of Nature's power, and a wonder to behold in person from a distance, I can somewhat understand why I've sometimes seen people careening down residential streets at full throttle in total panic mode. I think it's a primal reaction. In one case, it was a woman with a small child, and the child was standing up on the passenger seat. I heard the engine racing, saw her coming down my street, and being a pedestrian, I got well clear before she zoomed past. I distinctly remember the look of pure terror on her face, and I remember hoping for the sake of her child that she didn't have to slam on her brakes suddenly, or encounter another panicked driver at an intersection. In that case, the tornado was a half-mile south of us, and yet I saw several drivers that were driving around in freak-out mode. They scared me more than the tornado did.

Of course, I can say I remained calm because I had my own basement nearby. I was headed for that basement when I met my father coming out of the house with his Super 8 movie camera. "I've gotta get film of this!" he shouted at me. "That's stupid!" I yelled at him. "Look! It's not far away! The wind is getting stronger!" The raindrops were starting to go horizontal. I'll never forget my dad's response. "If the wind gets too strong, I'll need you to hold me down!"

Mom came out then and said something to him that changed his mind, and we all got into the basement. A minute later, we heard the doorbell ring above us. I went upstairs and opened the door, and there stood my buddy Richard, leaning casually against the doorjamb. I told him to get into the basement with us, and he did, but he was very nonchalant about the whole thing, saying that he saw the tornado, but it was not heading our way.

People display all different kinds of reactions in situations like this.

[Lassr]

Radar says a tornado passed within 7 or so miles of our place. Was within 3 miles of work (I'm told they kept people in the basement for about 30 minutes) and went right down the path I normally drive home. Was a good thing I went home a few hours early today.

Had few tornadoes around here last night. Closest one was about 15 miles from me. Unfortunately another tornado killed 3 people in the county next door. They were in a mobile home, but the storms had died down at one point and I almost went to bed, but they cycled back up and spun up more tornadoes. I wonder if they went to bed thinking it was over.

[Default]

Yikes! Glad you are OK!

[Kraken]

Tornadoes scare me. I've only actually seen two in my entire life (one close, one far away),

Same here -- one when I was a small child, and one as a teenager. I've had recurring nightmares about tornadoes all my life. Seeing the Wizard of Oz when I was little didn't help, and whenever the tornado sirens went off I ran for the basement in full panic mode.

Glad I live where they're rare now.

[Lassr]

had another tornado last night that took the same past as the one 4 years ago. 1/2 mile south of my house. Luckily it had weakened to F0 and did roof damage, took out trees, destroyed the lumber shed of our ACE HW store. Power was restored 4 hours later.

The wife and I were outside the shelter and I snapped this picture as it passed to our south. Trees are in the way but you could tell the tornado was in this dark mass of clouds. Right before I snapped this picture the Inflow of winds to the tornado really picked up; about 30 MPH. Few clouds and the sun peeking through if you looked north.

[Lassr]

Ace Hardware

[LawBeefaroni]

Yeesh. Glad you're remaining out of the direct path of these things.

[Lassr]

Yeesh. Glad you're remaining out of the direct path of these things.

They had been predicting bad weather all weekend, my wife joked that since we are currently doing a little remodeling and almost finished, a tornado will take out the house. As the storm approached, the weather man kept drawing the path line on the TV and I looked at my wife, had a small laugh, and said that line is going right through our house. I took some quick pictures of every room of the house, for insurance purposes, and then we ran up the street to the neighbor who has a shelter.

[Isgrimnur]

Ace Hardware

If anyone should be able to rebuild, it's them.

[Blackhawk]

I'm worried about tornado season this year. We don't have a basement, and the people we used to shelter with moved. The county has no public shelter, either. If we get a warning this year, we'll just have to cross our fingers.

[Pyperkub]

Dang. Every other year now is a close call it seems. Was it this way growing up (if you grew up in Alabama)?

[Lassr]

Dang. Every other year now is a close call it seems. Was it this way growing up (if you grew up in Alabama)?

the big tornado in 1974 took the same path. Had a small tornado go over our house about 10 years ago, took out 13 trees in our yard. So that is 4 tornadoes in my neighborhood in the 50 years I lived here. Most being in the last 10 years though.

Of course I live near Huntsville which draws them in...

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/04/hun ... ong_t.html

[Punisher]

I'm worried about tornado season this year. We don't have a basement, and the people we used to shelter with moved. The county has no public shelter, either. If we get a warning this year, we'll just have to cross our fingers.

Did they take the shelter with them?

[Pyperkub]

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/04/hun ... ong_t.html

Interesting. Didn't know that at all.

[Blackhawk]

I'm worried about tornado season this year. We don't have a basement, and the people we used to shelter with moved. The county has no public shelter, either. If we get a warning this year, we'll just have to cross our fingers.

Did they take the shelter with them?

I doubt the random people who moved into their old house would appreciate me crashing their basement at 1:00 AM.

[Punisher]

I'm worried about tornado season this year. We don't have a basement, and the people we used to shelter with moved. The county has no public shelter, either. If we get a warning this year, we'll just have to cross our fingers.

Did they take the shelter with them?

I doubt the random people who moved into their old house would appreciate me crashing their basement at 1:00 AM.

Well obviously, show up at 9PM. o need to be a savage and show up while they are sleeping... and bring pie.. nobody can resist pie...

[Blackhawk]

Gotcha. My new to-do list:

~Stop by store for pie
~Drop off laundry
~Do dishes that mysteriously got dirty
~Contact National Weather Service to request that overnight warnings be issued before 9 PM EST the night before
~Stop by store for another pie (see dishes, above)

[Lassr]

It was classified as an EF-1, a little stronger than I thought.
https://nwschat.weather.gov/p.php?pid= ... S44-PNSHUN

and here is a video of it as a storm spotter got a little too close. It's rain wrapped though and all you can see is the transformers blowing and debris flying.

http://www.waff.com/clip/14209990/watch ... start=true

I also thought the storm would pass to our North and that was the way I was watching, an EF-2 tornado had hit a town on the stateline and was tracking east toward us. I live 1 mile south of the TN stateline. But that tornado had lifted and another formed a couple of miles south, so that is why it took me and the spotter by surprise when it was further south than expected.