“Spring in the South is seersucker and tornadoes.” – EW Erickson (via my BFF’s Twitter)
April and May are always crazy weather months in Tennessee. I’ve spent too much of the past couple of weeks in my safe bathroom with my cats and weather radio, but thankfully nothing major has happened in my area. Last night was the worst so far this year. I was excited to get some dime-sized hail – the first time I’ve ever watched hail falling at my house – but the rain melted it all before I could take pictures. Here are the best storm photos I saw on the Channel 5 website. They are NOT my pictures, and I’d gladly credit the takers if I knew their names.
Taken at Rhodes College. How creepy awesome is this?!? A friend of mine commented on another friend’s Facebook, “It looks like the Dark Mark should be coming out of it.”
This funnel cloud was spotted a couple of miles from my house, but it didn’t touch down.
I don’t remember where this was taken, but I believe it was also close to my house.
I keep thinking of this time last year – almost the exact weekend – when massive storms flooded the Memphis metro area and went on to cause that devastating thousand-year flood in Nashville. I know the odds of that happening again are very low, but I’m sure Nashvillians are extra jumpy about any flash flooding at this point. I would be too. According to my home rain gauge, we’ve had almost 5 inches of rain here since last night. I drove over the Wolf River on the way to work and it had completely overflowed its banks.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned here that I always wanted to be a meteorologist. So I apologize if this stuff is boring to others. :)
Awesome!
And I don’t think anyone finds tornadoes boring, even if they don’t want to be a meteorologist. :D
PS What makes your bathroom safe? Is it because it’s in the middle of the house? I always figured I’d want basement access if I lived in a tornadoey place, but obviously that’s not standard, so I’m wondering what people look for in a shelter. :) Not that we have tornadoes very often, but I always think our bathroom at work would be the safest as well.
Yes, this bathroom is right in the middle of the house. There are no exterior walls at all. That makes it really safe. :) A lot of people have to go to a closet. I’ve never understood why hardly anyone has a basement here in this tornadoey area!
Plus, bathrooms have pipes that you could strap yourself to a la Helen Hunt in Twister. :D
Oh Brenda, now I’m laughing thinking about you strapped to a bathroom fixture (in your recently remodeled and very pretty bathroom) as the winds whip around you – a la Helen Hunt. The imagery is fun!
I think our closet under the stairs would probably be our safest location … it’s possible to get a tornado here, but I don’t think they’re really common. We do see occasional little dust twisters this time of year though. Fun!
My thoughts and prayers to the families who have lost loved ones in bad tornadoes/storms recently. I keep reading all about that in the news and it’s scary to think about how fast that stuff happens and worlds are turned upside-down. :(