Posted on 03/13/2006 8:11:56 PM PST by tiggy_the_tigger_girl
Joy to Central Illinois! Yall can read about the big tornado that hit us last night on this forum somewheres, but now I feel that yall should know that the weather people are telling us that we're due for another supercell or big storm or the like in the next 3 to 5 days. You know how people say you can plot a tornado season for your area by the first tornado you get? Well I hope they are wrong. Really wrong. Wrong beyond reason. Because I don't think that central IL can take beatings like this all season. Well, with that said, I think I'll just move into my basement, because just by looking outside, the clouds have been stacked for 3 days now, and even with the siren going off twice last night, they're still stacked a bit. It seems the first storms were pushed in by a warm front, and this one is coming in on a cold front. And even the 2nd graders at S.J. Catholic Elementary can tell you what happens when cold and warm air collide.
Be Safe Everyone. Know where to go if a watch or a warning goes out. Have a plan! Don't just decide spur of the moment what to do. When a watch gets put out, pack a knapsack with snacks, water bottles, food and toys for little ones, candles and/or flashlights, etc. In the words of my little sister,
"Don't get caught with your pants down!"
Be safe everyone in tornado alley, and be kind to clean up crews if you get hit, cuz they really don't have to help. Oh, and flame FEMA because they aren't helping much in the midwest.
Tiggy
That is news I did NOT want to hear, Tiggy. I'm here in Springfield too, managed to escape the worst of it (although have a flooded basement).
Have to give credit to the local talk radio WMAY - they were on all night when no one else was and was our only lifeline to news and warnings.
Gonna stock up tomorrow again, hope they're wrong about the supercells.
Stay safe! Did any of the area just to the east of Springfield get hit very hard?
Wabash, Dirkson and I think Parkway Pointe in springfield got hit, I heard Pittsfield, Mechanicsburg (sp?) and Woodson all got hit, there may be more, but those were the towns my Grandfather in St. Louis MO called us about last night before we ran into our basement with the cats and our emergency bags.
Yes.....Alas I am enough of a dork to have recognized the clouds and packed emergency bags at 11 AM yesterday. Everyone on Tornado Alley should have their emergency bags packed up and ready to be grabbed and taken to their basements where they should gather around the central support pole or in the safest corner. We get around the central support pole because we figure that if the house comes down we're next to......well the central support pole! Self explanatory, that.
Yeah stocking up on supplies sounds like a good idea everyone. Just don't go ape and buy the entire sporting goods section. Be like the people in J'ville and surrounding small towns. When I lived there, springfield never seemed to get hit, but we did! Just have the emergency bag(s) ready to go and go online and dig up some info on storms and clouds and such. That way, you can tell for yourself when a storm is brewin'.
All I know, is that I knew a supercell was over us before the weatherman could even figure it out. If you see a big dark red blob over your town and it is supercell-ish in appearance, chances are, you've got a supercell!
Like I said, go online and educate yourself. It's really thrilling to be self-sufficient at least a little when it comes to bad storms. If you see a storm headed your way, don't go out to the stores! For Pete's Sake people! You should have all this stuff ready! If its like this in Central Illinois, I feel for the people in Kansas and the like.
*giggles* Twister (the movie) is coming alive in Central IL! EEP!
Stay Safe
Tiggy
PS sorry....have a tendency to ramble about stuff like this!
East of Springfield didn't get hit hard by the tornado, but towns like Riverton and Rochester are having a devil of a time with Ameren/Cilco getting their power restored - its a cold night here, and that company plain stinks for service (snowstorm in Nov. knocked folks with that company out for 48 hours without power).
But mostly it was the dense southwest shopping district in Springfield that got torn up.
Thanks for the info. I'm down here in Orlando, Florida, and after what he've been through the past several years, we can "relate". :) Stay safe!
I was fixin to leave in the night for central illinois from Bloomington and got as far as Downs when it started raining cats and dogs...about 9pm...I decided to turn back.
Good thing as about twenty miles ahead of me the twister with golf ball hail had touched down and remain on the ground for 2 hours!!!
I would have been directly in its pathway.
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