I'm getting tired of that *&^^!* tornado siren!

All day. On for 5 minutes. then off for 30..then another burst storm...

It's not like it's not OBVIOUS we've got nasty storms today. Sky goes from dark gray, to solid rain, to clouds that are swirling..and then it gets HOTHOTHOT..and then it starts all over again.

The farm got 1.11 inches in 2 hours last night. Thank GOD we're on a hill 'cuz the lower sections of the are are flooded.

Looks like it's going to go on overnight, too. Ah well. The house in town is safe, too. On the side of a looooong hill...so no flooding (unless it's the great flood, part II ) and tornado is unlikely because of the river further down, and the hill further up.

Joy....the weather guys are now telling my town to "head for shelter" and a "large funnel cloud to the West of town".

sigh. I love spring. I love fall. Summer...you can keep.

I hate tornadoes! Hope the weather settles down for you soon, Ann.

I don't get this tornado siren thing. You mean the town actually has a siren in place just for that? You must get a lot of them! (Did I mention that I hate tornadoes?)

eta: Maggie: yes. We get a LOT of severe storms in this area. Most of them can cause tornadoes. We have a weather alert system around this part of the world. A long continuous siren is "be alert, strong storm ". Multiple LOUDER sirens blaring is "take cover, tornado spotted"

OOOoooOO!! i just watched a tornado form from UNDERNEATH! I was outside watching the clouds (very fast moving dark clouds under lighter clouds up above) and saw a swirl of dark move counterclockwise..just starting to move....I watched it as it went overhead and it turned more and more round as it moved eastward..more of the clouds around it swirling into place...like watching someone make cotton candy at the fair. Then it was out of site beyond the trees...and then the sirens went off all OVER the place not 3 minutes later.

Weather station went nuts with "tornado funnel cloud on the East side of <my town>" (we live on the east side). "Heavy winds/rain <etc." Just now I hear the guy saying it touched down briefly.

Now..how cool is THAT!?

and no. I didn't take my camera out. I was outside during a lull in the rain putting an A-frame over the cottontail nest when I happened to look up.<br /><br />__________ Thu Jul 22, 2010 5:57 pm __________<br /><br />I should explain the "early warning system" During the 30s there were horrible tornadoes all over the midwest with no warning system. (and earlier, of course) Eventually, the weather people, and the government put in "early warning sirens"..both for weather and for possible attacks. The things are tested every month..first Wednesday of the month..1pm. They go off for 30 seconds.

Here in the midwest, they're used A LOT for storms. Because of the way we get hot moist air from the gulf going north, and cooler dry air from the north, going south, and hot/cold air from the west going east...we get some major storms created.

During the summer, we'll get at least 2 tornadic storms a month. Doesn't always mean there IS a tornado..just that we have a storm system that could POSSIBLY create one.

Thanks for explaining. We do get tornadoes in Ontario from time to time - and the potential is there fairly frequently - but Eastern Ontario generally gets missed. I went through a tornado in the mid-nineties when I was visiting my father near Peterborough. I aged ten years that night.

Bless you for thinking of those cottontail babies in their nest. So like you to risk life and limb to make sure they had some protection.

We saw a tornado forming from beneath, too, a couple of years ago! We were driving... nearly had a wreck for watching the thing. It touched down shortly after we passed under it.

Ann, y'all have way more tornadoes there than we have here, that's for sure! I'll take a hurricane over a tornado any day (and it looks like I may be doing that this weekend...)!

That was so sweet to think of those little cottontail popples! I hope they do alright in the storms!

(... was thinking of asking Maggie if her aging ten years that night means that what just passed was really her 50th birthday... but then I thought better of it...)

LOL, Miss M... It aged me ten years, so I suppose my birthday was my 70th.

Seriously, it was terrifying. Sound asleep, one horrendous crash as the monster basswood tree was twisted out of the ground, another as a piece of someone's roof hit the dining room window and pitch black. Lights out for miles. My dad was an invalid with severe respiratory disease, on oxygen and a ventilator, and it was just the two of there. Ever try putting in contact lenses (I'm quite short-sighted) with shaking hands by the light of a flashlight, just so you could go and see what had happened?

After that, I always travelled with a flashlight and my eyeglasses as well as contacts. Who'd have thought I'd need them for a weekend visit?

Anntann":3o71q476 said:

On the side of a looooong hill...so no flooding (unless it's the great flood, part II ) and tornado is unlikely because of the river further down, and the hill further up.

Click to expand...

Ann abandons antediluvian abode, adroitly avoiding amok aerial antics with agility and adrenaline. :rotfl:

Good for Ann! :rotfl:

avdpas77":3769tdkf said:

Anntann":3769tdkf said:

On the side of a looooong hill...so no flooding (unless it's the great flood, part II ) and tornado is unlikely because of the river further down, and the hill further up.

Click to expand...

Ann abandons antediluvian abode, adroitly avoiding amok aerial antics with agility and adrenaline. :rotfl:

Click to expand...

good lord! That's downright worthy of