Three Weeks: Weather

[branchandroot]

People moving to the Great Lakes basin from elsewhere often fret about tornadoes. I figure this is pretty much the same way I'd fret over earthquakes if I moved to the west coast. And whereas a long-time resident would blithely play guess-the-Richter, long-timers here just kind of shrug about tornadoes. They happen. Eh.

But you do get to recognize the signs.

When the sky is low and fast. When it's strangely warm and then abruptly cold. When the clouds have a greenish tinge and the light gets dusty looking and amber. When there are little dervishes kicking up persistently. These are the times one eyes up the sky and maybe wanders over to turn on the radio to listen for any warnings. One casually checks the location of the pets or the kids, just to know. One tries to recall, in the back of one's mind, where the battery powered radio is (or, these days, how much charge the iPod has).

Sharp response won't hit unless the siren actually goes off. That's when all the little, thoughtless preparations snap into gear, the adrenaline pumps, and it's Pets/Kids, Radio, Basement, Now. Breathe. Wait.

Waiting, predictably, is the hardest part.

Comments

[chronolith]

Earthquakes rarely give you any warning, but on the upside they tend to be over within 5-10minutes. Though the big ones have after shocks.

Perhaps a better analogy would be to southeastern folks and hurricanes?

[branchandroot]

In preparation terms, yeah, I expect so. Though I was mostly thinking of the "eh, whatever" response.

[dragonwolf]

Tornadoes don't last very long, either (a tornado is generally only in any given location for a few seconds, for the small ones, you might not even know it was a tornado until you go outside and see the bent or fallen trees and other twisted masses it left in its wake). Even the storms that spawn them tend to be through within a couple hours, with the/each tornado-spawning section passing through generally within an hour.

[annotated_em]

*snorts* Yeah, and if you're me and you grew up in an area when the sirens go off every damn time it gets a little windy, you might not even have that last reaction. *rueful* Which probably isn't a good reaction to have dulled, all things considered.

[branchandroot]

*moderately disdainful* Wimps.

Also, not good safety procedure, seriously.

[dragonwolf]

My city tests the sirens every Wednesday at noon. Evidently, they changed that one week because a storm was coming in at that time and they didn't want people mistaking the real thing for the test. I didn't hear that bit of news, so suffice to say, it freaked me out a little when the siren went off at a weird time and the clouds hadn't come in yet. :D

[branchandroot]

Yikes! Yeah, a change in routine for the sirens makes everyone jumpy, I think.

[willidan]

Second the windy complaint. I moved from someplace they never played the sirens unless there was an actual tornado watch or warning to someplace they're afraid of strong winds. It took me a couple of years to get over the adrenalin rush and the search for shelter instinct. Unfortunately, now I sleep through the sirens. That's probably not good either.

[branchandroot]

*rueful* Oh man, that would have had me jumping like a grasshopper. Urgh.

[willidan]

Yep. I certainly panicked every time they set the sirens off. My landlord made fun of me and offered to let me sleep in his basement.

[tessercat]

People moving to the Great Lakes basin from elsewhere often fret about tornadoes.

Really? Huh. *ponders* How do you define this basin, geographically?

Just curious, not meaning to be contradictory. ^_^ I've always lived on the north side of the Great Lakes.

[branchandroot]

I tend to count it as the surrounding states and bit of Ontario. *considers* I'm pretty sure Michigan, being smack in the middle, gets the worst of the tornado weather, but I've heard people fretting in Ohio, Illinois, and Windsor too. To be sure, by the time you get up to Superior and northwards, newcomers are fretting /more/ about the snow. *sniffs* Wimps. ^_-

[dragonwolf]

Technically, the states just west of the Mississippi are officially considered Tornado Alley, but it actually stretches up through Illinois, Indiana, and into Ohio (and while most of Ohio isn't technically in Tornado Alley, we certainly get our fair share, as of Friday, our count is 12 so far).

According to the National Weather Service, the region averages 163 tornadoes in April. To compare, there have been 453 so far (preliminary count).

And, speak of the devil...another storm system has now hit where I'm at, that's supposed to be high risk of twisters.

And me without a basement...

[branchandroot]

O_O I freak out just a little when I don't have a basement. Childhood conditioning, I suppose.

[dragonwolf]

I do, too, a little. Then I remember that I'm in the middle of a building with a sound wall on one side of me. If all else fails, we hide in our bathroom. The chances of a tornado actually getting to us are relatively slim, thankfully. (Unfortunately, fires are quite a bit more likely in my apartment complex.)