Thursday, July 18, 2019

Mother Nature Is Not A Force To Be Reckoned With. I Like To Be Prepared.


Well over 8 years ago, I lived out of state. Ohio. For about 6 years. Ohio is prone to severe weather. As in tornados, large hail, back to back severe thunderstorms, and microbursts. Being a New Hampshire Native, I was under my own impression of what "severe" weather entailed. It didn't come close to what "severe" weather actually meant.

While living in Ohio, I was exposed to quite a bit of severe weather and the warnings and such prior to incoming severe weather...

Such as...

Watching live doppler and the rotating circles amid the doppler radar. Those rotating circles meant that rotating funnel clouds were spotted. Yep, possible tornadic activity.

I remember seeing dozens of these rotating circles amid live doppler radar footage heading to our immediate area.

Total. Panic. 

I heard tornado sirens for the first time.

I experienced back to back severe thunderstorms for the first time.

A tornado hit where I worked. I will never forget that moment. And, the damage it caused.

I remember when the skies got dark and I heard the loudest clunk on the roof. When I looked outside from the window, I saw ice chunks (aka...hail) the size of baseballs falling. A minute later the sky opened fire with lots of baseball-sized hail.

That is a sound I will never forget.

The hail took chunks our of our siding and put holes in the roof.

I stood outside on several occasions taking photos of rotating funnel clouds above me.

My huge vegetable garden and flower gardens were destroyed with quarter-sized hail and a microburst.

During severe weather, we often lost power for several hours or sometimes for a full day.

Etc.

Most of these storms came with warnings. Some turned into severe at the last minute. The storm that dropped baseball-sized hail was a tiny cell that formed and hit our immediate area. No warning.

Here in Connecticut, we've had some severe weather over the years.

A year ago this May marked the one year anniversary of western Connecticut being hit with 5 tornadoes and a microburst in a single day.

I'm sharing this with you because, over the years, a few people have told me I need to relax when it comes to the weather. They've cracked jokes at the preparations I take when we have weather warnings and storms whether it's a bombogenesis or blizzard or severe thunderstorms.

Just recently I published a blog column about the upcoming heatwave this weekend. A friend of mine reached out in response.

"It is Summer. It does get hot. We have heatwaves. July is usually the hottest month. I don't know why everyone is acting like this is something new."

I sent a brief reply...

"It's nothing new, but it's very rare that we have a heat index of over 110 with oppressive humidity. We are under an excessive heat warning through Monday. Those are dangerous temperatures. If these temps hold, it will be the hottest July on record since they began keeping weather records.

Plus, you need to consider the possibility of power outages. They're already having blackouts in New York."

I like to be prepared.

Our kids get homemade meals and snacks that we make. Our freezer is stocked with their homemade treats.

In addition, I need to think about meals for Lisa and me.

I'm going to spend a portion of Friday prepping extra meals for everyone and making sure that our meals don't require cooking over the weekend.

That goes for grilling. It will be too hot.

I will make sure we have a large bowl of ice in the freezer.

Our refrigerator will be stocked with bottled water. A few of those bottles will be in the freezer.

And, I will fill one of our trash bins with water just in case we lose power and have to pail flush.

We have plenty of batteries and flashlights and our battery operated Coleman lantern.

There is nothing wrong with taking precautions.

I'm fully aware that I'm sensitive in the area of taking precautions because of the extreme weather that I've experienced in my lifetime.

Mother Nature is not a force to be reckoned with.

Taking the time to be prepared is something I take pride in.

It's all part of taking care of our family.





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