Almost American: Tornado alert

Friday, August 21, 2009

Tornado alert

Brit Gal Sarah is used to severe weather in her part of the US as she lives in 'tornado alley', but (even after 24 years here!) it still surprises me that here in New England we also have occasional tornado watches! They can even, though fortunately very rarely, turn into tornado warnings - meaning that rather than the weather conditions simply being propitious for a tornado, one has actually been sighted. The forecast for this afternoon included a thunderstorm watch but has just been upgraded to a tornado watch through until 9 p.m. tonight. Ah well, no trip to the park this afternoon!

8 comments:

Iota said...: I went to Greensburg, Kansas, for a week-end with a group of volunteers to help rebuild. They had a horrendous tornado through in May 2007. That has made me take the whole threat a whole lot more seriously, I'll tell you.; 11:49 pm
ADDY said...: I cannot begin to imagine what it must be like living with that threat all the time.; 5:32 am
Almost American said...: Rosiero - fortunately we don't have to live with it all the time. Around here we only get tornado watches once or twice a year, though we get lots of severe thunderstorms, especially this time of year. I would hate to live in tornado alley!; 9:20 am
nappy valley girl said...: The weather in America is nothing if not dramatic. I was in NYC the other night during a massive storm that uprooted hundreds of trees in Central Park. Then yesterday the sky went completely black at 4pm and there was a thunderstorm like nothing I've ever seen. But it definitely livens things up a bit.; 10:30 am
Michelloui said...: I lived in Oklahoma for a long while and I have rellies there still so I understand the tornado alley lifestyle. I used to think it was so cavalier and strange to not have basements in the UK. I think it was about 10 years into my life in the UK when I finally stopped getting anxious when the barometric pressure changed and a storm rolled in. I suppose it helps that few of the storms in Essex are on the same scale as Oklahoma!; 8:47 am
If I Could Escape . . . said...: We get some amazing weather here in Florida too!; 2:33 pm
Anonymous said...: Watch the cloud colors--when you see dark clouds having green, purple and yellow tinges (not caused by sunsets, of course), those are generally the bad clouds. I'm formerly from Colorado, and I even see such clouds occassionally in the Middle East with these colors.

Expat 21, at Expat Abroad
expat21.wordpress.com; 9:04 pm
Paradise Lost In Translation said...: wow, sounds dramatic. I've dsicovered living here, it's a very volatile area for earthquakes, but you just don't think about it all the time!; 4:39 pm