Tornado Warnings
The TV stammers pixels in the adjoining room. Lights flicker in the corner of my left eye. No matter. My ears are tuned to the National Weather Service alerts. They’ve been beep-beep-beeping all evening long. It appears that a band o’ gypsy tornadoes has been tearing up corn fields in the counties situated immediately to the west of me.
It’s just that kind of ominous night.
Here’s a weird little factoid: I’ve seen two tornadoes. I witnessed a funnel descend from a vortex of green clouds almost directly above me. I watched another traverse the prairie just to the north o’ me. I never gave it all that much thought, me being a “child of the prairie” and all...but...come to think of it, it IS weird to have witnessed two tornadoes.
Weirder still (or not), is that I just stood there mesmerized. I didn’t move as a funnel descended towards me. I didn’t turn and run as a funnel chewed my landscape. I simply stood and stared. Too awed by the power and fury to move. Too humbled. Too insignificant to defy forces waaaaay beyond my comprehension.
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posted by Jonas | 6/21/2010 09:39:00 PM
12 Comments:
I've seen the green of the clouds but not the funnel. I've been whipped by a very tall dust devil tearing through a parking lot, sand papering my bare legs with the grit and blinding me. Both awe inspiring scenarios but not ones I want to repeat any time soon.
Your danger would have been a bit much for me. Hope you remain safe in your tornado infested area.
Scary but wonderful, nature at its wildest. And you have survived two of them. Wow.
I can almost see the look on your face as a child.
Isn't that the way? I smell an awfully big metaphor here.
I've never witnessed a tornado but was in one when I was about four or five. I remember a door, me tucked to a bed (bad springs - old camp bed) and my brother and sister put to watch as my mother somewhat cowered and tried to save her youngest by sacrificing her oldest. And I remember my father's legs as I looked down while he carryied me the night after through the debris.
xo
erin
We've had unstable weather here as well. I'm sure they are lovely to look at but next time you see a tornado Jonas, run! Seriously man.
hmmmm....."a band of gypsy tornados" - i do admit to being a force to reckon with but......oh, sorry, you probably weren't speaking of me, were you? :)
~ gypsy ~
I just can't imagine what I would do if I witnessed a tornado. I know I would be absolutely terrified. I hope you manage to stay safe until the warnings pass.
Too insignificant to deny.... Oh yes. I do believe I would have done the same. Root myself to the eye and look straight up.
I've never been up close and personal with a tornado. I imagine I would behave as you have. I imagine I would be too mesmerized and awestruck to turn away.
I grew up on the prairie. Tornado sirens abound. My family never went into the basement when I lived on the farm. But now I have to be a role model for a ten year old..so I diligently troop us all down to the cellar when the sirens scream.
Jez, guy -- I've heard of people who don't have sense enough to come in out of the rain, but tornadoes? It's a little like standing on the railroad tracks fascinated by the light of the approaching train.
BTW, there's a whole group of storm chasers in the Midwest, they have a website called The Big Storm with incredible pictures of tornadoes and other weather wonders.
Thank you for the comments, y'all! I enjoyed them immensely.
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