Wow! Glad you're safe. Not that it matters now, but was the tree that came down in your front yard rotten in the center?
I don't think so. I didn't look at it up close, but from about 20 feet away, or so, it looks solid.
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Wow! Glad you're safe. Not that it matters now, but was the tree that came down in your front yard rotten in the center?
Here in Dallas, ever since that destructive tornado about 3 years ago (amazingly no one was even injured but there was an awful lot of destruction), they've got a hair trigger on the sirens. A couple weeks ago there were thunderstorms coming through "and there might be hail" and they ran the sirens. This is a very dangerous practice; if they run sirens every single time there is a thunderstorm in North Texas, after a while people will be ignoring them and then there's the risk they'll ignore them when they shouldn't.
Back in the 80s, there was a famous meteorologist in Chicago who always gave the most pessimistic weather forecasts.
If he thought it might rain, he'd predict thunderstorms. If it looked like it might snow an inch or two, then he'd predict a blizzard.
He was usually wrong, but because he was something of a celebrity in the world of weather, other meteorologists in Chicago began to be equally pessimistic with their own forecasts.
After awhile, we Chicagoans got used to every weather forecaster in the city always predicting the worst possible weather and usually being wrong. Most people simply ignored their severe weather warnings, knowing they were always exaggerated.
Which ultimately led to occasional instances where they'd predict a blizzard but nobody believing them.
Then, we'd get a foot of snow accumulation and huge snowdrifts making travel impossible and paralyzing the city for a few days and everybody would be surprised when we were expecting only a few inches and a slight inconvenience.
YIKES! Must have been scary?Friday night in Illinois was interesting. They were predicting severe thunderstorms with tornado watches. I was monitoring the radar as a line of powerful storms moved into the area with hail and damaging winds.
Just as the storm front arrived, the neighborhood tornado sirens started going of so I grabbed my adult daughter and her two girls (9 and 3) and we headed into the basement where we keep emergency supplies and maintain a safe storm shelter.
As soon as we got hunkered down, the wind picked up speed and it was quite noisy. The windows were rattling and the entire house was vibrating.
Suddenly, we heard an extremely loud cracking sound that was clearly a big tree coming down. A second later, the whole house shook and we could feel the impact in the ground right through the concrete floor.
Then the power went out. Fortunately, we had several emergency lanterns and we had them lit up so the girls didn't get too scared. I was doing my best to keep the girls, especially the 3 year old, from panicking, by staying calm and reassuring.
It was about 5 minutes before the wind stared dying down. I watched the radar on my weather app and saw that the storm had actually passed rather quickly and there was calm skies expected for the remains of the night.
The power came back on and we went upstairs.
This is what we saw in the morning.
View attachment 5019339
My house is the red one. The top of the tree is less than 10 feet from the house.
We're lucky one of the 2 giant oaks in my front yard didn't come down. There's also an absolutely gigantic cottonwood in our backyard (you can see it towering over my house in the picture) and it's so heavy that it would crush our house like nothing if it fell.
I took the girls to the park a block from our house and there were at least 6 big trees downed there.
View attachment 5019351 View attachment 5019353
A touchdown in his yard probably would have Wizard of Oz'ed the whole house, several neighbor's houses and his little dog too.Dang man, glad your family and house are ok! Did a tornado actually touch down in your yard?
Actually when I lived in the Midwest, we had a tornado touch down and travel down a street, and the cars on the sides of the street were untouched. Tornadoes are special people.A touchdown in his yard probably would have Wizard of Oz'ed the whole house, several neighbor's houses and his little dog too.![]()
A touchdown in his yard probably would have Wizard of Oz'ed the whole house, several neighbor's houses and his little dog too.![]()
QFT. A real tornado touchdown will put the fear of God into you.
About 14 or so year’s ago I was living in Vancouver wa. We had a small one touch down a block away from our house. My kids were at kinder care and my wife and I were home. I remember sitting and looking out our big picture window and saying “baby, look, the sky is turning green”. My wife is from Ohio, she said “thats a tornado coming”.
In Texas we get hellish rains (and lotsa tornadoes). When the Mrs and I were prospecting homes online, I noticed the drainage systems in most neighborhood house pics & made a mental note; "hmmm, lotsa rain?"I'm also from Ohio, and while we didn't get much in the way of tornados around Columbus where I grew up, if the sky turned green it was definitely going to be a gully washer. I actually miss those giant thunderstorms. The weather is almost too polite in Seattle.
In Texas we get hellish rains (and lotsa tornadoes). When the Mrs and I were prospecting homes online, I noticed the drainage systems in most neighborhood house pics & made a mental note; "hmmm, lotsa rain?"
Hellish rain storms are amazing to see, humbling and of course somewhat concerning 'cause nature doesn't give much of a damn about upsetting any kind of stuff.
True. I've seen many occasions where one house or building is flattened to the foundation. And houses or buildings 10 feet on either side have very little or no damage at all.Actually when I lived in the Midwest, we had a tornado touch down and travel down a street, and the cars on the sides of the street were untouched. Tornadoes are special people.
True. I've seen many occasions where one house or building is flattened to the foundation. And houses or buildings 10 feet on either side have very little or no damage at all.