WHEEEEEEEEEEE-OOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo

[kungfuwaynewho]

My sister and I were driving to work when the tornado sirens went off.  Like all good Kansans, instead of saying, "We must be under a tornado warning!  We should seek shelter!" we said, "Whee the sirens this'll be a really good storm!"  Then we went to Big Lots as planned.  She started work at noon, I didn't start till 12:30, so I sat upstairs in the break room and ate my lunch.  Unbeknownst to me, everyone else was huddled against the back wall, staff and patrons alike.  My sister was finally like, should we get Shannon?  She's just, like, eating cereal upstairs next to a whole bunch of windows?  But by then we got the all-clear.

This also reminds me of the time the sirens went off a few years ago and my family all turned to look at each other and said, no, we will finish watching Rio Bravo and then if they're still going off, then we'll go down to the basement.

(Lest you think I'm too flippant, because of our local geography most storm systems tend to split to the west of us and head either north or south.  We do always make sure we unplug our computers, though, because we've been hit by lightning three times, and replacing all our electronics is a pain.)

Now, of course, we have bright sunny blue skies outside.  Oh, midwest, you're the best.

Comments

[jerusha]

We're in something of a valley here, too, so tornadoes and really terrible weather goes to the north and/or south of us. I remember standing outside when I was a teenager, watching the funnel clouds form a few miles away and not even being worried. Good times.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Yeah, last night we went outside to watch the storm, but it started raining. :( We usually don't get too worried.

[hollywobbles.livejournal.com]

Wheeeeeeeeee! I grew up out in the country where there aren't any tornado sirens, so the few times they've gone off since I moved into town, I've been way excite. Plus, we don't get legit tornados nearly as often as all y'all do down there, so there's not quite as much to worry about. I tend to spend more time pretending they're air-raid sirens and I'm wearing a pretty '40s dress than I do worrying about getting blown away.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

I tend to spend more time pretending they're air-raid sirens and I'm wearing a pretty '40s dress than I do worrying about getting blown away.

LOL ILU.

[singer-shaper.livejournal.com]

Glad you're safe. We've got some ugly rain in Chicago today, but we don't get sirens nearly as much.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is just the beginning. We'll have at least twenty or so days of warnings throughout the season. It's just the way it is, I guess. (Normally we're not in the car, though!)

[(Anonymous)]

Every day they've been talking about these devastating tornadoes, I always have a moment where I worry about you! But then I remember that you told me years ago that you're geography-protected. Still, glad the storms have been missing you guys!

--Alyssa

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Aw! Yeah, we're usually okay. Of course, we did have an F-4 touch down a quarter-mile from my house in 2004, so we're not totally without worry. It's just that no matter where you are, the odds are against you actually being hit...until you are, of course.

[nhpw.livejournal.com]

My first rule of "should we go to the basement": Look outside. People up here have become pretty indifferent about "tornado warnings" because they blow the frickin' sirens for EVERY. STUPID. LITTLE. THING. There is no requirement for anyone to actually have SEEN a tornado, just that "doppler radar indicates a storm capable of producing tornadoes." It's such a joke.

Which means someday we're going to get a big one and it will be deadly because honestly NO ONE FEARS THE FRICKIN' SIRENS ANYMORE.

I miss the days when I was a kid and there was a more clear line between a "watch" (conditions are right) and a "warning" (someone's actually seen a tornado on the ground.)

/rant

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what we usually do, too. We did actually have some tornadoes touch down to the east and south of us, though.

When we had an F-4 go through my area in 2004, I was away at school. My family apparently was all standing outside watching the storm come in, as one does, when a neighbor pointed up to the sky and exclaimed, "Is that a tornado?!" I think everyone who lives in an area prone to whatever type of severe weather ends up getting jaded about it.

My rant is about our local news, which treats every single individual storm cell as a possible source of doom. They really don't help anything - the sirens actually tend to be a good indicator of when it's at least a good idea to know where shelter is.

[nhpw.livejournal.com]

My rant is about our local news, which treats every single individual storm cell as a possible source of doom.

I love when the weather people get a new toy. Remember a couple of years ago when the whole red-and-green thing was new? Oh, how cute were they with that! Like a bunch of little kids!

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

I don't know what the red-and-green thing is! Or maybe I do and I've repressed it to save my sanity.

[nhpw.livejournal.com]

It's this thing where they turn the cold air mass green and the warm air mass red and the closer those are together the more likely there is to be a tornado. Or something.

[la-loony.livejournal.com]

We don't have tornado sirens. I hope we never need themxD Though it sounds pretty exciting I have to admitXD

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Normally they've always been very exciting, just because they don't go off all that often. There's been some seriously horrible tornadoes this year, though, so I think everyone's taking the sirens a bit more seriously.

[la-loony.livejournal.com]

I'd just find the alarm exciting and probably panic when the tornado is coming.

[h-s-doodles.livejournal.com]

The sirens started and mom was like "I'LL GO GET WENDYSSSS" so I was home alone during it. D:

Oh then I left my junior bacon cheeseburger on a chair to get a drink and little dog ate it. D:<

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

I am still laughing about this, BTW.

[h-s-doodles.livejournal.com]

[sonneta.livejournal.com]

LOL, sounds like my family. My mom's all like, "Elizabeth, you can get in the closet if you want", and I'm all, "...eh." And then it goes around us, despite the weatherman freaking out. We have occasionally gone to my grandma's to get in her basement.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm trying to remember the last time we actually all trooped down to the basement like we're supposed to. It's been awhile. Normally we just go outside and watch. :/