Not emulating Dorothy Gale today nor Almira Gulch

I had to look up Miss Gulch’s first name while the tornado sirens were going off outside. As I’m typing they’re 20-30 miles out west and heading our way at 40-50 MPH, but they’re also dissipating almost as quick as they form. So at this point I don’t know if we are going to have to hide in the master bath until the house blows away or just wait for the front/dry line to pass. The local weather radar shows the tornadoes spinning up for a minute or so and maybe touching down and then they’re gone and no rotation. We already went into the bathroom twice so far only to hear the storms were still out west of Casa De El Poeta and they were rain-wrapped. So when it starts raining I’m moving Mrs. the Poet to the master bath again even if I have to throw her over my shoulder. And my old phone just started blowing up with weather alerts. That’s the phone that has the Weather Channel app that I don’t have on the new phone. Still waiting on the rain that was wrapping the rotations on the radar, but no precip so far.

The weather people are also warning of possible hail damage that frequently comes with tornado activity, as there is a lot of vertical development that comes with the weather systems that generate tornadoes, and vertical development is what makes hail. And Mrs. the Poet is complaining about the tornadoes interrupting her dinner prep, like tornadoes have volition and they’re specifically messing with her. But we still are waiting for that rain from what has turned out to be a significant cold front 71° Dallas and 59° in Ft Worth behind the front.

And they have canceled the watches and warnings before the front got to Casa De El Poeta, so we’re probably safe. Unless we get hailed on again. There’s a bit of a breeze but nothing close to the severe weather from before sundown. The rain that was on the radar seems to have taken a hike someplace else. It was supposed to be here 15 minutes ago but so far it’s a no-show.

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Oz is wonderful this time of year

And I almost got to see it. I got caught in a thunderstorm trying to get to RPG group this afternoon, that turned into a tiny tornado that went right over me. I couldn’t see it, or much of anything really, but I know I was standing still while I got hit with wind from 3 different directions in about as many seconds. Plus I got hit with nickel sized hail, that felt larger when it was hitting me but what I could see was only a bit larger than nickle sized.

The fun part was watching the trees floating down the street while the flood waters swirled around my ankles and calves. I was standing in a pedestrian refuge back a bit from the street, but not far enough back. This was a few seconds after I stepped off the bus into light rain, it literally went from light sprinkles to rain of Biblical proportions in seconds and then a F0 tornado (or maybe more, I made that judgement based on the fact that I managed to stay on my feet and I was right in the middle of it) and rivers in the street (and sidewalk). I’m catching reports from other areas that didn’t get tornadoes but did get 70+ MPH straight line winds, which I could also believe as I have walked around in tropical storms before and this felt similar to that.

So as I was standing out in the hail and the flood and the wind watching half-trees floating down the street the host for the game managed to get a car up to me so I can get off the corner. We eventually get to the house after weaving through the various bits of tree in the street. I’m soaked to the skin of course, even my phone was affected, underwear wringing wet, and puddles in my new shoes. 😛 So, dry clothes were rounded up, not an easy thing as I’m Rather Large with a deep pelvis and broad shoulders. And everyone except the GM at the house are a bunch of beanpoles with no hips or shoulders. So I’m running around in pink sweatpants and the largest T-shirt they can find, and of course everything looks like I was spray-painted into the clothes from the knees up. So, now I have to make myself something to eat, check my e-mail, and maybe get some sleep.