And the fun tornado season continues!
If I hadn't been late for work today, I would have driven into one, and my sister nearly wound up driving into it anyway.
I was late this morning, so I stayed a few minutes late after work to make up for it. About 10 minutes after five - a few minutes after I usually leave - I hear the tornado sirens go off. I call my sister, who's out on the road but heard about a tornado touching down somewhere on the west side of town, and that the storm's heading east... which could mean anywhere in the greater Oklahoma City area, including downtown where I work. Since we're TVless in our office I go down the hall to where one of the IT ladies is streaming an online broadcast of one of the local weathermen, and discover there's a tornado - AGAIN - headed right for my apartment's neighborhood. So I camp out in this lady's office, where she and I both sit on pins and needles because the storm is potentially headed right for either of our homes - and both of us figure we're much safer where we are than driving into the storm. If a storm's going to head right for me, I'd much rather it be while I'm in a big 12-story concrete office building (in an area with no windows) than my little second-floor apartment - or in my little car.
The radar shows it heading straight for the turnpike my sister was out on, about a mile north of our neighborhood. I call her and she's freaking out: she says she's looking right at the tornado - it's barely visible wrapped in the clouds and rain ahead of them on the road. A few minutes later, the storm passes right over an intersection I go through every time I go to/from work. If I'd left work when I usually do, I'd have been there exactly when the storm passed through. Meeble!
About a quarter to six, it looks like the worst has passed, so I head home. There was roof damage to a Wal-Mart less than a mile north of me, but it looks like the worst my neighborhood got was power knocked out for about half an hour.
This tornado was just an EF0 (lowest possible category on the scale) that kind of skipped around, and fortunately didn't seem to do worse than rip up some trees. When I called my sister again later she told me she wasn't terrified when she saw the tornado, she was giddy. As if I needed any further proof how fucking nuts she is. *g* She got bounced around pretty good too by the hurricane-force straight-line wind gusts.
And it's another exciting springtime day in Oklahoma.
I was late this morning, so I stayed a few minutes late after work to make up for it. About 10 minutes after five - a few minutes after I usually leave - I hear the tornado sirens go off. I call my sister, who's out on the road but heard about a tornado touching down somewhere on the west side of town, and that the storm's heading east... which could mean anywhere in the greater Oklahoma City area, including downtown where I work. Since we're TVless in our office I go down the hall to where one of the IT ladies is streaming an online broadcast of one of the local weathermen, and discover there's a tornado - AGAIN - headed right for my apartment's neighborhood. So I camp out in this lady's office, where she and I both sit on pins and needles because the storm is potentially headed right for either of our homes - and both of us figure we're much safer where we are than driving into the storm. If a storm's going to head right for me, I'd much rather it be while I'm in a big 12-story concrete office building (in an area with no windows) than my little second-floor apartment - or in my little car.
The radar shows it heading straight for the turnpike my sister was out on, about a mile north of our neighborhood. I call her and she's freaking out: she says she's looking right at the tornado - it's barely visible wrapped in the clouds and rain ahead of them on the road. A few minutes later, the storm passes right over an intersection I go through every time I go to/from work. If I'd left work when I usually do, I'd have been there exactly when the storm passed through. Meeble!
About a quarter to six, it looks like the worst has passed, so I head home. There was roof damage to a Wal-Mart less than a mile north of me, but it looks like the worst my neighborhood got was power knocked out for about half an hour.
This tornado was just an EF0 (lowest possible category on the scale) that kind of skipped around, and fortunately didn't seem to do worse than rip up some trees. When I called my sister again later she told me she wasn't terrified when she saw the tornado, she was giddy. As if I needed any further proof how fucking nuts she is. *g* She got bounced around pretty good too by the hurricane-force straight-line wind gusts.
And it's another exciting springtime day in Oklahoma.