Tornado

Well, it's finally happened - I've had my first tornado experience. As I was coming out of the supermarket earlier this afternoon, I noticed that the sky seemed very black, and as I was loading the groceries into the car, the sirens started wailing. I drove home and turned on the TV, just as the weather forecaster said that a funnel cloud was passing right across the nearest intersection to my house. I briefly thought about getting the dog and hiding in our coat closet (it's right in the centre of the house, furthest away from the windows and outside walls, which is where they tell you to go). But in a short while the danger had passed.

More bad weather systems have been forming to the south-west of OKC all afternoon, but they are generally not becoming tornados, and merely remaining as severe thunderstorms with high winds and 'baseball-sized hailstones'. So that's all right then.

I happened to phone our insurance agent a short while ago, and he said that the first funnel cloud had passed right by their office - they all watched it go by, sweeping up various bits of street furniture. It continued north-east to Edmond, a town just to the north of OKC, where it touched down and became a real tornado for about 10 minutes. The TV showed live pictures of it, a massive black twister, with huge bits of debris being thrown around. It went through residential areas and across a motorway. Funnily enough I was supposed to be driving to Edmond this afternoon to teach a piano lesson, but unsurprisingly that's been postponed.

It's only February. Tornado season starts around now and continues to November. I certainly hope we don't get too many more of these!