Our wild tornado weekend!

Back in July we had a weekend full of tornadoes. It was very intense! We were under Tornado Watches and Tornado Warnings for days on end. A tornado watch is the alert that is sent out when the conditions are perfect for tornadoes to occur. A tornado warning is sent out after a tornado has touched down.  Bret was out on location so it was just us girls home trying to survive. We had talked about what to do if a tornado was to come in our area; I knew what to do I just didn't want to have to do it. The safest place for us to be is in a ditch. Literally. Since we don't have a basement our only options are get in our car and try to drive as far, and as fast, as possible to get away from the storm OR go to the ditch at the side of the property and hang on for dear life. Luckily we didn't have any tornadoes touch down near us so we didn't have to use our escape plan.

That being said, during that weekend I saw the sky do things I didn't know it was capable of doing. The way the clouds would fall apart and almost like having a vacuum, the sky would start turning and suck up all the bits and pieces of clouds. There were layers like thick quilts stacked on top of each other moving across the sky. In an instant the sky above us went from blue to completely black. All of the neighbors came outside so they could keep an eye on the sky and know when to run. While we were all outside watching the sky, the wind was SO bad we were being pelted with sand and rocks. I had welts and cuts on my legs from being sandblasted!

Hopefully we're done with tornadoes until next year. I think one weekend a year is enough for me!

Here are some pictures and videos that I took. They really don't do these storms justice. Its something you need to see with your own eyes.

 

This is what the sky looked like as I was driving home from the store. You can kind of see buildings along the horizon on the right, that's where we live. The really dark layer of clouds on the bottom is what the next few pictures are of. Even though it looks like just one layer, its not. Just look at the next pictures.

 

Doesn't that picture remind you of an alien invasion?? Yeah, me too.

 

The picture above and the one below show that part hanging down low, it was spinning and I was sure it was turning into a tornado right in front of us. Pieces of the cloud would break off then be sucked back up. This was probably the scariest part of it all; having the sky twirling right on top of us.