A while back, we got ourselves one of those weather alert radios -- the ones that will give you ample warning when severe weather may be approaching so that you can take immediate precautions, find a safe place in the interior-most portion of your home with no windows, sit in your bathtub with blankets over your head, watching the wicked witch fly by on her bicycle (dum-dadum-dadum-dum, dum-dadum-dadum-dum). You know the drill.
I appreciate the idea of the weather alert radio.
But does it have to alert me an hour before my alarm clock is supposed to wake me up?
4 a.m., we hear the tone, "The National Weather Service in the Quad Cities has issued severe thunderstorm watch number 2149 (or whatever) for..."
I'm thinking, could that not have waited? A watch means it might storm. Sometime. At a later hour. Was that really necessary, I wondered.
Not ten minutes later, the stinking thing goes off again. This time, "The National Weather Service in the Quad Cities has issued a severe thunderstorm warning...blahblahblah...dangerous storm, hail, destructive 70mph winds, lightning, wrath of God, all that."
Not to disappoint, that's when the storm began in earnest. I'm happy to say the trees and fence are still standing. We weren't sure there for a moment. We got up and looked at the radar, finding ourselves in the middle of a big red blob.
Then, the tornado sirens in our neighborhood went off.
So at 4:30 a.m., I dragged my angelic little perfectly sound asleep child into the basement, along with my nervous dog and befuddled husband, and tried to find out the latest news. Except, it seems, no one bothered to tell the national weather service or the local tv stations that a spiraling wind tunnel of mayhem was barreling towards us.
We've since decided the sirens may have been a malfunction. Better to go off and be wrong than not go off for the real thing, I guess. I keep telling myself we're lucky that the storms passed without causing major damage. We're lucky to have such technology that tries to keep us safe.
But wow, I sure could've used that extra hour of sleep. And the damn storm caused me to miss spin class. Mondays. In the Midwest. Ugh.
I appreciate the idea of the weather alert radio.
But does it have to alert me an hour before my alarm clock is supposed to wake me up?
4 a.m., we hear the tone, "The National Weather Service in the Quad Cities has issued severe thunderstorm watch number 2149 (or whatever) for..."
I'm thinking, could that not have waited? A watch means it might storm. Sometime. At a later hour. Was that really necessary, I wondered.
Not ten minutes later, the stinking thing goes off again. This time, "The National Weather Service in the Quad Cities has issued a severe thunderstorm warning...blahblahblah...dangerous storm, hail, destructive 70mph winds, lightning, wrath of God, all that."
Not to disappoint, that's when the storm began in earnest. I'm happy to say the trees and fence are still standing. We weren't sure there for a moment. We got up and looked at the radar, finding ourselves in the middle of a big red blob.
Then, the tornado sirens in our neighborhood went off.
So at 4:30 a.m., I dragged my angelic little perfectly sound asleep child into the basement, along with my nervous dog and befuddled husband, and tried to find out the latest news. Except, it seems, no one bothered to tell the national weather service or the local tv stations that a spiraling wind tunnel of mayhem was barreling towards us.
We've since decided the sirens may have been a malfunction. Better to go off and be wrong than not go off for the real thing, I guess. I keep telling myself we're lucky that the storms passed without causing major damage. We're lucky to have such technology that tries to keep us safe.
But wow, I sure could've used that extra hour of sleep. And the damn storm caused me to miss spin class. Mondays. In the Midwest. Ugh.
Comments
Whew...