Monday, June 6, 2011

Phew! What a scorcher!

No, I'm not referring to the new guy at the gym. The only steamy thing here is our weather forecast for the next week. I hope its not building up for another tornado!!


Sunday, June 5, 2011

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas



Massachusetts is not known for tornadoes. Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma; states in what is known as "Tornado Alley" get tornadoes. California gets earthquakes. In Massachusetts we get snow. We always thought that the worse that could happen to us was to get snowed in or slip on ice. This past week has proven us wrong as a total of 7 twisters struck Massachusetts on Wednesday evening. I was first alerted to the tornado warning while in a meeting in work. I immediately called home to my kids to switch the TV to the local weather channel and to listen for warnings and headed home as quickly as possible. The traffic was terrible - obviously everyone had the same idea as me. The twister had already touched down in Springfield, a city about 30 miles west from where I live and was heading east at an alarmingly fast rate. The weather was terrible on the drive home; forked lightening and torrential rain. The radio said to get off the roads and go to the basement - kind of difficult when you are stuck in a traffic jam. Luckily for us the tornado passed just south of us and we suffered nothing more than a very bad thunder and lightening storm. It was exciting and scary at the same time to sit in the basement waiting for the all-clear from the TV.

The people in Springfield were not so lucky. There were 4 fatalities and many people lost their homes or businesses. Here is a  local news report showing the tornado and it's aftermath. Scary stuff.