I was shocked to wake up this morning and see all the destruction and deaths.

Weatherman said a 159 fatalities from the storms the past couple of weeks!

Here in OK. we've had several towns wiped off the map in recent years.

Maybe a southerner can answer this. I thought your all's tornado season was in Feb. and March?

My youngest DS saw a tornado close by last week here in OK.

I despise them. We installed a storm cellar about 10 years ago and boy have we used it quite a bit!

oakley these storms are part of our overall climate change. My son does climate change study for the National Parks and he's been telling me for years that monster storms will be the norm. We've seen it with the snowstorms, the increased rain (in some areas), tornadoes that are bigger, more frequent and in more areas than "tornado alley". People scoff at the idea of global warming thinking it only means our days will be warmer and when we have cold winters they think it's all a hoax. This, my friend, IS global warming. We are living it.

I have been wondering the same. Trailrunner lives in area of where our DS lives and don't think it hit their area.
Wonder about Allison and Newdawn, believe they live in the Birmingham area. We plan to leave Saturday for Alabama and will go through Birmingham to our destination. Hope they were all spared.

Uffda.

This is so sad...all these bad storms and loss of life. I know spring can be a "B*tch" for storms down there, but even this seems excessive.

This part is kinda O/T...

While I personally don't believe in "Global Warming", I'm well aware of the large, natural swings in ocean temps, drought cycles, storminess levels, etc. Even well b4 heavy industrialization, the sunspot-driven "Monder Minimum" produced very cool summers for many years, with snow being recorded in some of Europe in EVERY calendar month one year I believe.

For ~30 years now, the Eastern half of ND has been getting wetter. The "no natural outlet" Devils Lake has been getting fuller since then. It's like an inland-sea now!

Faron

Tornado season runs from April through June (cold air meeting warm air and then mixed with humidity) .... maybe earlier in some regions too ....

Horrible news about the deaths and destruction with some shocking photos and videos ....

Sending along best hopes and thoughts to the regions ...

AND we STILL have to get through May and June! :(

Hoping for the best for our southern GWers and their loved ones.
We had a tornado warning last night in MD that was a bit close to us so we went down into the basement until it was past.
We are having tornado watches and warnings here today.
take care

I truly hope that everyone is okay. The weather has been so scary lately. Thanksfully we have been spared in my area of South Eastern VA, but areas close to us were badly affected by tornados about 2 weeks ago. The weather is so scary these days with all kinds of odd happenings in unlikely places. Hoping that we have no more crazy weather - Be safe all.

Oh Jeez Coop...!!
Stay safe out there!!!

How are my 2 fave Goldens' taking all that weather?!
Our Golden was pretty skittish during T-storms...felt so bad for her! Usually she cuddled-up w/ DW on the bed, panting @ a good clip...

Faron

movinginva.... you are under tornado warning now too.

Cooper--I'm in Maryland, too (Bethesda). We moved here 17 years ago, and we never used to have tornadoes. In fact, I remember reassuring my son (when he had a terrified preoccupation with them) that tornadoes just didn't happen here. Boy I've had to eat my words.

Under a tornado watch for the next 2 hours. Each time they cancel one watch (or warning), it's replaced with another, it seems.

Most of my teen life through now (37 yrs) I've lived in areas prone to tornado warnings and watches in spring. It's just par for the course. I remember one devastating tornado back in the 80s I think, a good 40 miles west. Only twice since in all those years did I ever recall heading to the basement. In the past 10 years or so, at least 6 times DH and I have hauled nieces, pets, and us in various combinations to our lower level shower. (It's a big stall with tile over concrete block walls, so safest spot we have.) When my nieces were preschool age we had one particularly terrifying storm, I hustled those girls plus one big dog and a cat into the shower, grabbed some sofa cushions and covered us. I was freaking, but didn't show the girls, just made it a 'camping out game' as best I could (thankfully, they bought it). The sky was that ominous pea soup green, then dark as night, and the clouds were just boiling, moving at rapid speed. It finally reached the point I started keeping some bottled water & battery operated radio a few feet away in the laundry room. Our town has had some extensive damage from touch downs in the past 4 years or so, one hop-scotched our block, but slammed the next block over. Huge old maples and oaks were on top roofs, cars, it was like a war zone. No one hurt, thankfully. The worst one was on the north side of town, that one made national news. It's crazy!

Thanks for posting this Moonshadow. I too, was concerned about Allison, Jakabedy, Newdawn & Trailrunner as soon as I saw the tragic reports on the news.

I'm in Southeastern VA and as others have noted, we're under advisory. When the tornado hit NC a week and a half ago, it certainly felt close to home! Wow, I always knew hurricanes were an issue in this neck of the woods, but now tornado? Toto, are we really in VA?

Dlm, thanks for shedding light on the subject. Yes, these recently hard-hit states were definitely not in "tornado alley!" Guess the old patterns and rules of thumb no longer offer much guidance.

Yes we are again. I am really praying that it turns out to be nothing. It is pretty windy out there.
@stinky-gardener - that's what I thouhgt too. I guess we now have to worry about tornadoes in addition to hurricanes - strange weather.

Your welcome, stinky.
Actually, that reminds me I need to get hold of family that lives in NE Va wine country, about an hour from D.C. We stay in touch, but mostly holiday or family event type situations. (I'm not usually one to bury my head, but am ashamed to admit, between being busy but mostly going through another 'mourning' phase at the 6 month point after my mother's passing, I don't watch the news much. It feels like negative overload right now, if that makes sense.) Still, I need to see what's going on in their neck of the woods.

Pal posted on Discussions that Allison has no damage but is without power except for a generator. So that's one that's OK. Tina's area got hit, too. That thread is here.

I'm reporting in. We are safe and sound. We are about 25 miles south of B'ham, so were spared the worst. I can't remember what area NewDawn lived in. Anyone? And Trailrunner?

If anyone else in bama needs anything, we'll be glad to assist. We've got power and internet.

Thanks for the link! I posted there regarding Tina's news.

Moonshadow, you're not burying your head in the sand, but "fasting" from the news, which is just good self care. We'd all be wise to take a break from it once in a while, imo. ( Btw, that's one reason why I'm watching the wedding...a little frivolity and decadence once in a while is good for the soul. I really can't wait to see that dress....!)

Looks pretty calm in the NE.

Here is a link that might be useful: cloudy but quiet

I posted on the other thread and on iPhone so hard to type. New modem on way but no complaints from me. My heart goes out to everyone who has lost a loved one, furry friend, or home. Our weathermen kept saying it was going to be bigger than an F5 in our area a few years ago. I've never seen a wedge tornado before and I hope we don't see another one.

Glad to see others checking in. Trailrunner is south of me. I'll be darn if I can remember where Newdawn lives. Hope she will check in soon.

Oh I heard them say May is usually our worst month. I've lived here all my life. You get use to hearing the sirens go off but after the live shots yesterday I don't think many of us will look at storms the same again.

I can't imagine the horror of having your house blown away...I feel the most for all the terrified animals caught in the destruction. Thankfully, we didn't have anything here.
Faron, I agree with what you posted.

Jane is in a small town - can't remember the name!! We don't have sirens here in our little town.

tina

Allison, you sound shell shocked. Rightfully so, that must have been absolutely terrifying. Someone has a home video on youtube, that tornado was so massive & wide it didn't even look like a 'typical' tornado.

For some reason I want to say Jane is south of B'ham, but I'm not sure? She said in a thread last summer, where Tina asked about Rhoda's sale: "I live thirty to forty minutes depending on traffic from any place in B'ham."
I don't know if that's a good thing or not?

(stinky, thank you & bless you. ;) I'll be watching the wedding too, just like Diana's. It will be a happy diversion.)

So glad to hear from Jakabedy and Allison!! Thanks for checking in ladies...I know you must have a lot to do and have a lot on your minds. Thank God you're both fine!

Bumblebeez, yes those poor animals. I believe they are resilient and are survivors, but at the same time, (as I wonder out loud on my eagle thread) do they feel confused, abandoned, fearful, and lonely at first when tragedy strikes? I would think so. Unlike with children, you can't explain "what" or "why" things have happened to them.

Good to hear everyone is safe. Have a friend on another GW forum who hasn't posted or answered emails. Hoping she's just without power ... nothing more.

Ditto what dlm said.

I too am glad to hear you all are safe! I live in a tornado prone area and know how scary it can be. The Wizard of Oz lyrics have been going through my head all week....

The wind began to switch -
the house to pitch
and suddenly the hinges
started to unhitch.

Hold tight everyone!

Glad you all are okay. Yes, May is the worst month for tornadoes.

Even though we have a cellar, they still haunt me, not because of the massive damage they did in OK. about 10 years ago, but because when I was a kid the siren was behind our house, and I remember my dad always carrying me to the cellar while all the neighbors came too!

We have a generator also, but I highly recommend the radio that runs on either power, batteries, or you can crank it up.

They broadcast not only music, but the weather stations, and what we like most, is they broadcast our local TV stations which keeps us constantly informed.

It's the first thing I put in my bag when we go to the cellar, and we sit in there listening to the LOCAL weather which is far more important to listen to instead of the Weather Channel...who never gets it right here. :)

I bought one of these weather radios after that storm that tore our neighborhood up. (We had one before, but it didn't have an alarm.) Liked it so much I bought 2 more, one for a relative, one for the farm. It comes on automatically (if you set it to) when there's a weather alert. It has 3 alarm types: 7 min beep (like the sound on TV), or audio/forecast comes on, or silent, it blinks colored lights & screen display. The beep is enough to wake you up, and it carries a good distance. The radio is upstairs and I fell asleep downstairs watching TV and it woke me up. It made me realize how many storms I must've slept through before.

Oh, and you can set Counties manually. Either just your own, or include adjacent, etc. up to 5 I believe. Or just leave it on auto for regional signal. Walgreen's carries them cheaper than Amazon.

I am just now hearing about the tornados cuz I avoid the news, had me worried there when I heard about it in AL. Glad to see you're OK, Allison! And everyone else on the forum who lives in that vicinity.

Thanks. I wouldn't say shellshocked. Only saddened by the loss of life and destruction.

Thanks for all the concern my GW friends, especially Moonshadow for posting. Thank God I had no damage to my house or to myself.

A town twelve miles away was not so lucky, if luck had anything to do with it. That little town lost eleven people, seven in the same family.

I live 30 miles NE of Birmingham, in Springville.

Allison glad to hear all is well with you and your family. It was scary, no?

I went to my sister's house in Talladega where she has a big basement.
As you know many lost their lifes with basements, I'm thinking storm celler wouldn't be a bad idea.

Again, thanks to Moonshadow, Oak, DLM2000, Dorothy9, teacats, faron, Cooperbailey, movinginva, Stinky Gardener, Jakabeky, Allison, Bumblebeez, Tina, dee dee91, natal flyingflower. I was very touched when I checked in tonight.

.....Jane

Tina, did you not have any damage? Cleveland, Tennessee had a direct hit on them as did Chattanooga. I know you live in Tennessee as well.

I was thinking Springville. We talked about my HS BF grandparents living there. Glad you are safe.

Mom called about an hour ago. The tree service we used at our last home was a family gig. He recommended his brother when we needed a plumber my parents used him too and still do. Actually often. She called to check on him this evening only to find out his sweet wife was killed. They were all home. He grabbed his children after it passed and took them outside. Went back in to get his wife but she had passed. His house is a total loss as is his work truck and tools.

A friend of my dad and DH owned the FOP range. It's totaled but his home which is at the range was not lost. Family fine. Many neighboring cities practice at the range. The owner is a Deputy.

The sister of a friend of mine lost her home too. They are ok but had glass due to windows blowing out.

I'm sure we will hear more stories of others we know in the days to come. Both of my parents were raised here also. So sad.

Jane, glad you checked in & so relieved you & yours are OK.
Allison, I am so sorry.
Watching all the latest footage that keeps coming on the news, the stories & interviews get more heartbreaking. Cannot imagine living in it and knowing personal loss.

Is there anything we can do? Aside from national charities, and Serve Alabama . gov that CNN is listing, is there anything or anyone more centrally located you can suggest that will get donations or assistance more quickly or directly to those that need it? It's probably still chaotic and difficult to get organized, but if there's anything someone local is asking for, or you can think of something that's needed, please let us know?

Thanks Moonshadow. Personally I usually give to the Red Cross but since I want to see my donation stay locally I'm looking in to a relief fund with our local Fox 6 affiliate. The April Fury Relief Fund.

DH went in search of water to take to a drop off but four stores were sold out. He ended up taking cases of Gatoraide. People here have always stepped up to help after storms, including donations of time and labor. This one is just going to take longer and require more.

Yay, Newdawn! You're safe and sound! So glad to hear from you, and to learn that all is well with you and your house.

Tina's area did sustain damage, but she made out fine. Her dad lost power. I hope by now power has been restored for him.

Thank you Allison, I found the AFRF page, will be honored to make a donation. Since it's very local to the area, hopefully others can spread the word a little on that one too and it will ripple outward. I was looking around, too. Would like to point out that using AFRF one can choose their own $ amount and designate County. (Red Cross has that option too, but it's really buried in their web site.) So AFRF saves a few steps in getting donations directly to County one designates. (Had to search, but Western Alabama section includes the hard hit Tuscaloosa county, among others.) And a link below for those that have items like clothing, linens, etc to send. Multiple addresses and resources listed. (Tho they prefer monetary donations for now since it can go straight toward most immediate needs.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Best things to send to Alabama

Newdawn, Can you elaborate on the basement thing? So staying in a basement is bad? We have a basement and that's where we would go.

I was wondering, too, bumblebeez.
But after thinking about it, I can see some sense to it.
We go to our basement also. But if something happened like in AL, the entire house (or someone else's, or cars, etc) could land on top, at the least causing a trapped situation.

On the flip side, where I grew up it's very hilly. Tornadoes are rare, straight line winds are common. It's common to have storm/root cellars out in the country. We have one a relative built years ago. It's about the size of a lawn storage shed. Main level is kept pretty sparse, below ground level is about same depth as a basement, extraordinarily reinforced (not due to frequent bad storms, it's just how the relative built it). It's pretty wide open country, sparsely populated. Located about 50' from any other structure (barns, outbuildings). So odds are slimmer that any nearby building debris could land on top, trapping the occupants. If the 'shed' part itself collapsed, it would be less of a trap than a house. Only downside I can see is if one had to get there fast, especially an older person, those extra couple minutes to walk to it from the house could prove critical in a sudden storm. It was put where it was because it's built into a hillside that was convenient. Were it me, I'd have built it into a different hillside, much closer to the house but still a safe distance from all large buildings.

Bumblebeez, this tornado was a F-4 or F-5 and I think it is rare for a storm to reach that magnitude. And the big tornado which was 5 miles long and a mile wide stayed on the ground for 360 miles at over 200 miles an hour, very rare.

So, I think basements are the safest place to be unless these storms are going to be the norm from now on.

I was just saying to Allison that many people died with basements, but this storm was a monster. So, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Just hit the basement when a tornado is predicted.

Most people in Alabama don't have basements and I certainly don't since my house was built in 1895.

.....Jane

Up here in the "Arctic", basements have been standard-issue as long as I can remember. Even old homes have basements.
I can't recall being in a home without one....

Apartment buildings here have lower-levels,
Country farms have a "storm-cellar" and/or basement.
Condo's do,
Office-buildings do,
Hospitals & Churches do.....etc.

And Fargo is literally at the bottom of a large "Glacial-Lake-bed". Yet we know how critical basements can be....

I'm just literally SHOCKED how rare a basement seems in the "South".
If I were to build down there, the 1st thing on my lot would be a backhoe, digging deep....

Faron

Basements are not rare in my area of the south (TN). Many, I would even venture to say most, homes here have a garage, but many houses have basements. This is our third home and we have had a basement in each house. On this and the last house we had a basement with a garage on the main (living) level. First house was combo garage/basement.

Jane - there was some damage in Knoxville, but I'm about 30 minutes from there. That's where I work and where my dad and my sister and her husband live. We had about 40 windows out of the building where I work (college campus) and lots of downed trees, limbs, etc. My sister had a couple of storm windows broken as well as hail damage to one vehicle. My dad did FINALLY get power back on Friday evening (was without for 5 days), only after a neighbor called and complained that she had felt sick after breathing fumes from the ruptured transformer on their property. Within 30 minutes there were 6 trucks and just a bit later from another area, a special truck and crew that removed the transformer and dug up soil around it. Scary. My dad and others on his end of the road have wells - so water has been tested. This is a small county road - only 8 houses - all with acreage. Those further back from the main road have wells.

Thanks for asking. My brother is in Ft. Oglethorpe, GA which is close to Cleveland and Chattanooga and he and his wife were quite upset at the amount of damage. She did her graduate work at Lee University in Cleveland and they lived there before moving to Ft. Oglethorpe.

tina

Faron, here in south Louisiana basements are rare because the water table is so high.

Basements are not rare here either. But many homes are built on slab since it costs less. Not that basement homes aren't built on concrete slabs. Just our vocab

Still no new modem. Should be here tomorrow.

Thank you moonshadow. I heard tv 33/40 had a fundraiser Friday night and raised over 600 thousand dollars.

Just thought I'd add this info. A blog I read (Restore Interiors) has a link for a group of churches working in the Birmingham area helping those who received storm damage. I didn't realize this gal was in AL until her post earlier this week.

There is a link in the last paragraph of today's post, but more info earlier in the week.

tina

Here is a link that might be useful: Raising funds for AL storm victims

Natal...

Yeah, I s'pose your "Ocean-side" water-table IS high there!
Up here, at the bottom of Lake Agassiz, it can be high too.

Thankfully for US anyway, it's been too cool up here for anything other than rain. It's late May into June b4 weather usually "cranks-up" for the big "Boomer's" up here!

With our 2-decade+ "wet-cycle" up here, water-table have been high. Still, basements & sump-pumps are considered mandatory. If someone built a home without one, they'd be looked at like they were nuts...

Down South-
Please stay safe everyone!
I'm praying for nice weather for you from here-on-out!

Faron

Tinas, I looked at the blog you linked. The store Consigning Interiors shop in Pelham she lists as a place she has things has not been Consigning Interiors for several months. I used to live in a city close to her shop that was damaged in the tornado last week. Not sure exactly what street she was on, but I was at the dentist on Tuesday in this neighborhood - it is a disaster area.

Finally got our modem this morning. It's good to be back online. The tornado footage and pictures I've seen from friends online (mostly Facebook posts) are more heartbreaking than seeing them on television. After seeing the damage in Cahaba Heights this week, I can't image how it would feel to drive through Pleasant Grove or Tuscaloosa.

I think she closed her booth there some time ago. Must have not taken it off her blog.

tina