Wednesday, June 1, 2022

The Warning

 Last night there were unending warnings of the severe storms headed our way. Warnings. Discussions of hail and tornadoes. 

Today, the sky was filled with dark threatening clouds and distant thunder rumbled for most of the afternoon. The warnings continued unabated, a tracking of the storms, and when they were supposed to hit right down to the minute. 

We had things to do, so I did my polyurethaning while Tim did his things. 

It started to sprinkle, and we had to stop work. Tim had seen a hot water heater on sale at (you guessed it) Lowes, and had bought it for another house. It was still on the truck, so we hauled it to where it needed to go. By the time we were done, it had stopped raining. 

"Huh," said Tim.

We worked until nearly 6 and came home to eat our salads in front of the news, just to catch the weather. The storms were coming. Tornado warnings for 4 or 5 counties, but not ours. But the storms were supposed to be baddies. Everyone was on high alert, and it was all anyone could talk about. 

Tim put his cell phone on the charger just in case the power went out. I was vacuuming. When I shut the vacuum down, I heard the tornado siren. I was a little surprised, since the tornado warning was not for our county. 

I stayed in the kitchen washing dishes with the door open. I figured that I would hear a tornado coming, early enough to get us both down to the basement, but I heard nothing, and the siren stopped. It wasn't even raining. 

I got on the Emergency facebook page to see what was going on. There were a bunch of very nervous people trying to figure out what was going on. Should they seek cover? Had a tornado been sighted? 

The response came. The warning was for Forest County, not us. Forest County is an hour's drive from here. Why in the world would you sound a tornado siren for people not even within earshot, scaring the socks off the people who were within earshot?

It's ridiculous. 





23 comments:

  1. I can just imagine the words that would be used to justify using the siren and they won't be, Sorry. We made an overzealous mistake.

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    1. I really think we need to question what happened there. As Ed said, further down, these sort of things are why people disregard the sirens.

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  2. Sounds like you got some projects done around waiting for the tornado to be heard. In Kansas and Oklahoma, when a tornado is SEEN by those spotters is usually when the watch turns into a warning. As an old Okie, I can't say I'd wait to hear it directly before heading to a basement. Hope your weatherman gets a bit more accurate. (Weathermen can be wrong and still keep their jobs...) Linda in Kansas

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    1. We keep busy. You pretty much just register the information and wait for things to get dicey. They rarely do. I'd sure hate to live in your part of the country where these things are a fairly regular weather event.

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  3. I hope that tornadoes are not too much of a common occurrence for you,? Severe storms scare the wotsits out of me.

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    1. No. They are not. I like thunderstorms and the cracking ones are the best. But I do not like the wind.

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  4. Does everyone have a basement to escape to if tornados are coming? Sounds scary. How would you get out if the house fell on top of the door/hatch whatever?

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    1. No. Everyone does not have a basement. We've never used ours for that, to be honest. We simply keep a close eye on the weather alerts. Nothing has ever struck down that closely. You have to understand that tornadoes generally suck things up and scatter the debris over miles. An acquaintance's house took a direct hit from a tornado. Her daughter had run outside and she dashed out to grab her. As she was running back to the house with her over her shoulder, her daughter said, "Look!" She turned around and saw the tornado. She managed to get her her two children into the basement before the house was sucked right off the foundation. All these years later, she thinks of what could have happened if her daughter had not run out the door.

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  5. Our county decided to sound the tornado sirens every time a severe thunderstorm passes by which if fairly frequently. My prediction is that decision will cause some deaths sometime in the future as people will begin to assume it is just a severe thunderstorm and not a tornado until it is too late. I have compensated by getting a tornado warning app for my phone so I ignore the sirens now and just count on the app.

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  6. It was just the oddest explanation. How is sounding an alarm in my county going to alert anyone in the next? And people were alarmed. We had a tornado go through two years ago with some pretty extensive damage. We had a devastating tornado go through 37 years ago to the very day (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_United_States%E2%80%93Canada_tornado_outbreak#:~:text=The%201985%20United%20States%E2%80%93Canada,including%2014%20in%20Ontario%2C%20Canada) and people were getting quite agitated about these warnings.

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  7. Glad you didn't have a tornado. You two are working harder in retirement than I ever worked in my working days! Hope you enjoy your break soon!

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    1. Tim announced yesterday that we're taking the rest of the summer off. Sounds good to me. I've got a garden and a grandbaby due in early August.

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  8. I'm thankful we rarely get tornadoes here. Enjoy your summer off Debby.

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    1. They are pretty uncommon here as well, Pixie. We will. I hope you enjoy your time in the mountains.

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  9. The sirens in my small town test every Wednesday at noon.... unless we're under the threat of severe weather at that time (so no one thinks it's a real alarm) Of course I live far enough out of town that the atmospheric conditions have to be juuuuust right to hear a siren. So much of our severe weather comes during the night hours that I usually just don't worry about it. If it's my time, it's my time. -Kelly

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    1. I can't say I really 'worry' about it. I think it is more of a practical response. I just pay closer attention. I've never stayed up to follow the weather. There's very little going to keep me up after bedtime.

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  10. That's weird. Sounds like someone hit the wrong switch!

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    1. It would be interesting to know what in the world happened. Some folks were quite freaked out.

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  11. We lived in a town in Mississippi with a siren and speaker that told you where the tornadoes were, I told my husband I never wanted to live in a town with a siren again. Our threat now is possible hurricane but probably lots of wind and rain on Sat,

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  12. Replies
    1. I guess no matter where you're living, you've got Mother Nature to contend with. I'm glad to hear from you again, Ellie.

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  13. I've lived through two tornadoes here in NE Ohio. Last night we had 80 mph winds. Road crews were up all night getting trees off roads. Today a lot of people are without power and the trees are entangled in the lines.

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  14. We had no real wind at all. Down south my cousin said they got quarter sized hail.

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