So, in January of 2011, we had the most snow we have seen in ages. Enough to pretty much shut down our whole area for an entire week. Now, it was only about a foot of snow, so whoever is reading this right now from up north is probably laughing at me, but we are NOT used to that much snow, and we don't have the equipment to forge it, nor the experience of driving in it. Anyway, that was one of the coldest winters on record.
Then, comes April of 2011, where we are evacuated from our neighborhood because of all the tornado warnings around us. We get to a safe place, only to find out that just about everything around us, including my hometown (which we now live in again), have been demolished by an actual F4 tornado. My high school, all the places I walked around, friend's houses. Everything.
We have a few more weather scares throughout the year, but nothing serious. Winter of 2011 was pretty normal. Barely any snow, none that stuck to the ground.
Spring of 2012, we have a lot more severe weather in our area. Even another tornado about 20 miles north of us where most of my mom's side of the family lives.
Then comes Summer of 2012, which we are (obviously) in right now. We have reached temperatures of 107 several times this summer. This is another thing we are not used to. Our summers usually hover in the high 90's, MAYBE reaching 101 or 102. The last time it was 107 in our area was over FIFTY years ago. And the crazy thing, Florida has consistently had lower temperatures than us on these incredibly hot days. That never happens here.
Now, here I sit listening to the thunder roar and the lightening flash outside our window. My dad invited us to eat with him at Pizza Hut tonight. The same Pizza Hut that was destroyed last year in the tornado, and has since been rebuilt. We had just gone outside, and it felt amazing outside, which I immediately thought was strange because it was 95 earlier today. At night it's only been dropping to the low 80's, but it was in the low 70's at this point. Lightening was flashing all around us, and the winds were blowing hard, then all the lights around us flickered, and bam, everything went dark. Cue panic ensuing. Everything that went dark was in the exact path of last year's tornado, so everyone was scrambling to their cars to get out of there. As I was getting the kids strapped in, the lights tried to come back on, only to fail again. We got home just before the rain started. There were tornado watches all around the area. It's AUGUST for crying out loud! It is not tornado season, and we are not in tornado alley.
I want the weather back that we had when I was a kid! The kind of weather that (sadly) made all the people fearless to the tornado warnings in April of 2011 because no one believed an actual tornado would touch down in our tiny town. We'll never have that sense of safety and security again. It can happen. It has happened. Now, whenever the weather gets severe like this, I just lie awake watching the radar because I'm too terrified to sleep. I hate this :/
Then, comes April of 2011, where we are evacuated from our neighborhood because of all the tornado warnings around us. We get to a safe place, only to find out that just about everything around us, including my hometown (which we now live in again), have been demolished by an actual F4 tornado. My high school, all the places I walked around, friend's houses. Everything.
We have a few more weather scares throughout the year, but nothing serious. Winter of 2011 was pretty normal. Barely any snow, none that stuck to the ground.
Spring of 2012, we have a lot more severe weather in our area. Even another tornado about 20 miles north of us where most of my mom's side of the family lives.
Then comes Summer of 2012, which we are (obviously) in right now. We have reached temperatures of 107 several times this summer. This is another thing we are not used to. Our summers usually hover in the high 90's, MAYBE reaching 101 or 102. The last time it was 107 in our area was over FIFTY years ago. And the crazy thing, Florida has consistently had lower temperatures than us on these incredibly hot days. That never happens here.
Now, here I sit listening to the thunder roar and the lightening flash outside our window. My dad invited us to eat with him at Pizza Hut tonight. The same Pizza Hut that was destroyed last year in the tornado, and has since been rebuilt. We had just gone outside, and it felt amazing outside, which I immediately thought was strange because it was 95 earlier today. At night it's only been dropping to the low 80's, but it was in the low 70's at this point. Lightening was flashing all around us, and the winds were blowing hard, then all the lights around us flickered, and bam, everything went dark. Cue panic ensuing. Everything that went dark was in the exact path of last year's tornado, so everyone was scrambling to their cars to get out of there. As I was getting the kids strapped in, the lights tried to come back on, only to fail again. We got home just before the rain started. There were tornado watches all around the area. It's AUGUST for crying out loud! It is not tornado season, and we are not in tornado alley.
I want the weather back that we had when I was a kid! The kind of weather that (sadly) made all the people fearless to the tornado warnings in April of 2011 because no one believed an actual tornado would touch down in our tiny town. We'll never have that sense of safety and security again. It can happen. It has happened. Now, whenever the weather gets severe like this, I just lie awake watching the radar because I'm too terrified to sleep. I hate this :/
I know what you mean!! We live in South West Ohio. This past winter (December 2011 to February 2012) Were crazy. It didn't snow at all! Maybe once or twice which is odd! We don't get 12 feet of snow by any means - But normally we get a decent amount of snow. Enough to ensure 7 or 8 snow days a year.
ReplyDeleteI heard on the weather channel that the US is under a "Tornado drought." They said the average is 110 tornadoes in July. As of July 30th we had only had 24 which is the lowest since 1950/51 which was 23 tornadoes.
I remember always being scared of tornadoes when I was little though. I actually saw one when I was 6! So, I have always been terrified.
On March 2nd we were supposed to get super bad storms so I drove an hour away to my mom's house so we could hang out there since she has a basement. The TOR:CON was a 9 - Which is a 90% chance of a tornado touching down... And one touched down 10 minutes away. There were pictures and debris landing in her yard - It was so scary!
Anyway I wrote a book, Lol. We haven't really been recording weather for that long - only since 1878.. So it's only been about 130 years. Who knows what "Normal" really is.
Lol you are totally right about the not really knowing what normal is, but I still don't like it :p I want my safe, not too cold, not too hot weather back lol.
ReplyDeleteMe too! I just hope that this winter isn't horrible to make up for the super hot summer!
ReplyDeleteYah, girl. I agree! I hate that one of the reasons we bought this house was the basement, in case of a tornado. That is how scared we are now.
ReplyDeleteAnd it is so crazy that we had totally different weather a mile apart. I would have been freaking if it was like that over here though. Glad nothing happened.