The Difference between Tornado Watch and Tornado Warning..a humorous story
So..once again no pictures..but then again, there wasn't really anything to take pictures of..besides rain...lots and lots of rain!
This happened Thursday the last day of September. The remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole was heading up the coast causing all sorts of crazy weather. The rain started coming down Wednesday night..just lightly..but by morning it was pounding down! not to mention a little thunder and lightning. So we got up and started watching the news to see what we could expect..you know random school closings etc.
So far so good, but we did learn our whole area was under a Tornado Watch until that afternoon. Now a Tornado watch means..watch out, you might get some rotation out of this storm, but then again you might not.
No biggie...
we send the kids off to school..mind you, they could have floated in a raft to do so.. we practically had a river running down our street..not too deep, but swift enough to carry somebody away in.
So the morning begins..H and I are home just hanging out. I keep the t.v. on just in case school gets dismissed early because of the storm.
I put H in the bath then I take a shower..since its literally a monsoon..no need to get all gussied up. Then we get set to head out to run to the store.
As I am coming down the stairs I notice a lovely message on the t.v. telling me we are now under a Tornado Warning..which means usually..warning a tornado has been spotted take cover now! But in this case the weather man is saying, 'now no funel clouds have been spotted yet, but there is some pretty significant rotation in this storm system so the National Weather Service has issued the warning as a precaution. So use caution and if you are in the area of the worst of the storm you might want to go to your basement.' Well, that caught my attention just a wee bit...
Never been in a situtation like this...hmmm what to do.
Well at this point my power is flickering..and I even lost it for a minute or two..that kinda scared me. Then when the t.v. comes back on the anchor informs me that if I live in 'such an such an area' to take cover NOW!!!
Guess where that area was.....yep...ours.
Little thing called panic starts to creep in...I'm thinking, 'what? its not that bad out there, not too windy..really? what about the kids? they better NOT release them now!' etc. etc. etc.
I mean I stood by the window and watched for a minute or two because I couldn't believe it. Then they say..because of all the rain, you won't SEE the Tornado before it hits. so take cover NOW!!
Ok..that did it. I grabbed H..grabbed a flashlight...some snacks and water and went down to my basement and sat on our guest bed.
and waited....
and waited...
watching the clock and listening for the sucking..poping sound of a Tornado hitting my house and sucking all the insides of the house outside!
Nothing happened...and before I knew it the warning time had expired.
Whewww..we braved our first bad storm! But what was all that 'take cover now!' stuff you ask?
Well, the funel cloud never developed but as a precaution...they told everyone to take cover because the worst of the storm was passing at that time.
How did the kids do? Well we got a call an hour later from the school that told us the kids were all safe and proper precautions were taken..they sheltered in place at the school (600 kids down in a basement in 4 minutes!) and school was going to resume for the day.. good to know!
Later, when I asked my kids 'did anything interesting happen today?'
I was told...'No'
Apparently..being told to sit quietly..with your knees up and head between them for a 'code yellow' wasn't classified as 'interesting' enough.
Good grief!
This happened Thursday the last day of September. The remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole was heading up the coast causing all sorts of crazy weather. The rain started coming down Wednesday night..just lightly..but by morning it was pounding down! not to mention a little thunder and lightning. So we got up and started watching the news to see what we could expect..you know random school closings etc.
So far so good, but we did learn our whole area was under a Tornado Watch until that afternoon. Now a Tornado watch means..watch out, you might get some rotation out of this storm, but then again you might not.
No biggie...
we send the kids off to school..mind you, they could have floated in a raft to do so.. we practically had a river running down our street..not too deep, but swift enough to carry somebody away in.
So the morning begins..H and I are home just hanging out. I keep the t.v. on just in case school gets dismissed early because of the storm.
I put H in the bath then I take a shower..since its literally a monsoon..no need to get all gussied up. Then we get set to head out to run to the store.
As I am coming down the stairs I notice a lovely message on the t.v. telling me we are now under a Tornado Warning..which means usually..warning a tornado has been spotted take cover now! But in this case the weather man is saying, 'now no funel clouds have been spotted yet, but there is some pretty significant rotation in this storm system so the National Weather Service has issued the warning as a precaution. So use caution and if you are in the area of the worst of the storm you might want to go to your basement.' Well, that caught my attention just a wee bit...
Never been in a situtation like this...hmmm what to do.
Well at this point my power is flickering..and I even lost it for a minute or two..that kinda scared me. Then when the t.v. comes back on the anchor informs me that if I live in 'such an such an area' to take cover NOW!!!
Guess where that area was.....yep...ours.
Little thing called panic starts to creep in...I'm thinking, 'what? its not that bad out there, not too windy..really? what about the kids? they better NOT release them now!' etc. etc. etc.
I mean I stood by the window and watched for a minute or two because I couldn't believe it. Then they say..because of all the rain, you won't SEE the Tornado before it hits. so take cover NOW!!
Ok..that did it. I grabbed H..grabbed a flashlight...some snacks and water and went down to my basement and sat on our guest bed.
and waited....
and waited...
watching the clock and listening for the sucking..poping sound of a Tornado hitting my house and sucking all the insides of the house outside!
Nothing happened...and before I knew it the warning time had expired.
Whewww..we braved our first bad storm! But what was all that 'take cover now!' stuff you ask?
Well, the funel cloud never developed but as a precaution...they told everyone to take cover because the worst of the storm was passing at that time.
How did the kids do? Well we got a call an hour later from the school that told us the kids were all safe and proper precautions were taken..they sheltered in place at the school (600 kids down in a basement in 4 minutes!) and school was going to resume for the day.. good to know!
Later, when I asked my kids 'did anything interesting happen today?'
I was told...'No'
Apparently..being told to sit quietly..with your knees up and head between them for a 'code yellow' wasn't classified as 'interesting' enough.
Good grief!
posted by The Davies Family at
12:53 PM
5 Comments:
Sheesh! just reading this made me nervous for you. if it were new york, you know they would have had the kids spend the night at the school for the work they missed during the tornado warning :).
Okay. Scary! I am glad everyone is okay and find it very humorous that your kids didn't think that was anything worth sharing! Geesh!
I love how kids just generally go with the flow! I asked Matt how his area was, and he just said it was raining a lot, but then he said, 'on the other side of the bay ... that's a different story!'. Glad you guys made it okay.
That's awesome that your kids said no! I think kids are programmed to always say no to their parents as their first answer! I am glad you all came out ok!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I tried calling you? So call me - I will email you! Love you
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