Midwest Weather

I had to do some travel for work this week & just got back in from a "whirlwind" (no pun intended) tour of GA, IL, MO.

I got to see some of the tornado damage up close and personal & even got the "pleasure" of dodging a few of the "events". I'm no stranger to bad weather/storms, but I've got to say that the speed that the weather changes in some of those tornado situations is absolutely frightning. I also couldn't belive how much water was "in the wrong places", as we flew over the area.

Standing outside in perfectly calm/sunny weather & then scrambling 30 seconds later when the wind kicks up out of nowhere, sky goes black and temp drops 10+ degrees, is some dang scary stuff. We ended up having to fly our plane out early from MO yesterday due to inbound weather & taking off was like somthing out of a SI-FI movie.

Definately some scary stuff & my heart goes out to the folks in Joplin, MO & other regions affected by the weather over the last few weeks.

Awesome perspective!

I can tell you that you just get used to it. Earthquakes and hurricanes freak us out. Hurricanes, I can't imagine because that wind just lasts for hours and hours. Once the power goes out, sheeesh.

At least with Hurricanes and their storms you have some warning, even though no one really knows where they are going to hit until an hour or two before they actually do. And thank goodness tecnology has been improving prediction and warning time for weather like we have been having, but you are right, sudden storms and temps dropping in literally minutes are spooky. BBG is right you just kind of get used to it, in fact some people become "in tune" with the weather, and can "feel" when a change is coming.

Valerie, arthritis is great at predicting changes!

We frequently use the phrase "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes." This year the phrase seems to be "we need to save some of this for August!" Seems like Iowa can't get into a regular mode at all! Rain is the best we can do! Rain in the 80's, rain in the 40's. Yup guess we like rain best.

You know what, though? My SFG is still growing. The plants just roll with the changes. It's the people that complain. Well, some people.....like my family members....lol.

Yup, and the watering is sooo easy to do lol...
My lettuce is still going! Usually by now it is long gone! But on the flip side, tomatoes growing slow!

Yep, my babies are holding on, too. They have shown amazing strength this year. If carrots and lettuce can survive all that, then darnit, I can too. Most of the storms this month have seemed to lose a bit of their bite by the time they make it to us. We've still had some severe weather, but my heart has been in Alabama, Missouri, and Louisana a lot this spring. I'm willing to risk flooding and tornadoes, but not earthquakes. You just get familiar with the risks of your geography. In this instance, the grass on my side of the fence is the greener. Please be safe everyone!

I am getting to where I hate watching the news. It seems like this year the tornadoes are vicious! Every time I hear I think of the people getting shafted by their insurance companies.

My sister's little town was hit by a F2 a couple of years ago. Not a high one but still a tornado! Her second story was moved and the walls bowed. Her insurance would only cover the repair of the cracks in the drywall! Hello... the whole top floor was moved! And they would only give her money for one part at a time, for example, the windows and roof-then the doors and siding-then the garage-ect...when that was done they would give her the money for another part! Her repairs took a year! She could have gotten it all done in the summer and got on with her life a lot faster! Instead she was still getting her garage rebuilt the next spring when tornado season started again!

When I was watching the weather that day my heart stopped beating! I was terrified I had lost my baby sister! She called as soon as they got out of the bathtub, she knew I would know as soon as the tornado hit because I only live 25 miles away, but I think I lost 10 yrs off my life. So my heart goes out to anyone with loved ones in any disaster area!

I've been through a dozen or more "tornados"v in the lower South ... but I'm comfortable saying, our tornado's aren't quite the same as what's going on in the midwest & upper Southern regions this season.

The speed/rate stuff changed yesterday was absolutely incredible.

As someone mentioned above .... our natural disasters down here may typically last a bit longer, but we usually have some advance warning. Having something like what dropped outta the sky in Joplin, MO last week, with that little notice, is absolutely terrifying.