Tornado Warning

The last two Mondays at the running store have included some type of severe weather. Mainly heavy rain and wind, but nothing too bad, even though the tornado sirens went active on Monday of this week. All we do is watch the rain and watch the radar, since very few customers come to a specialty store in that type of weather.

Friday was another severe weather day in Alabama. A little background: I was scheduled to cover my last Mountain Brook High School baseball game. I was out and about at noon, following class, and learned that schools in Tuscaloosa had already dismissed, and that all MBHS afternoon events were canceled, including my game.

So I had a rare afternoon off. Knowing something was coming, I watched the radar and saw the storms race across Mississippi and trigger storms in Tuscaloosa around 2:30 or so. I turned on the weather guy, one on TV and one online. I heard the warning sirens twice, and the weather wonks were talking about a twister heading my way, so I decided precautions were in order. I've seen damage in Cordell, Oklahoma and heard about it here as well as in Chapman, Kansas. So, respecting the storm, I fetched two couch pillows, my jacket, a blanket and UTEP football helmet all went to spend time in a second-floor bathtub. Yes, I put on a football helmet.

Thankfully nothing really came near our apartment, although apparently a tornado touched down for a bit in the south part of town. Some damage and no injuries. The TV types spoke of the storm heading to the east, so I went on with my day.

But storms raged eastward, and there was a lot more severe weather where that came from. The way I understand it, the meteorologist-types at the TV stations were on the air nonstop, from about 2:30 to 8 or so. This makes a lot of people upset, since they're missing ER or the ball game or whatever, and the weather doesn't affect them. Me? I used to work at a TV station, and I was (and still am) astonished at how people complained. I'm glad we have the technology that lets those guys spend all afternoon on the air.

And to be sure, we rag on those guys a lot. Even the guys on The Weather Channel seem to get pretty excited whenever there's nasty weather. I was even one of those guys for a few years, covering severe weather on the radio in North Central Kansas, and know how the adrenaline starts to flow. For me, it's all good fun. I like knowing, and I'm glad there are people with resources who want to tell me.