The Blizzard that Wasn't

Earlier this month I signed up to get weather alerts text messaged to me on my cell phone. Since it was the beginning of Tornado season, I thought it was a good idea. So, Thursday afternoon at about 4:00 I 'm driving to a small town east of Wichita when the alert notification sounds on my cell phone. It said: "A Blizzard Warning has been issued for Wichita, KS". What? Well, I must admit, the weather reports had been talking about a significant amount of snow coming to our area on Friday and Saturday, but I didn't really believe it. I mean, after all, it was 75 on Sunday and the signs of spring are apparent everywhere! A blizzard! Let's get real! But the weather forcasters were insistant! I even recieved 6 more text message alerts over the next 36 hours. The weather was supposed to begin Friday morning with some wintry mix, changing over to blowing, heavy snow (otherwise known as a blizzard) by Friday evening and continuing well into the day on Saturday. I had an appointment on Friday morning and by the time I got home it was indeed beginning to sleet, and by late morning we were convinced we were experiencing the beginnings of a big, bad spring blizzard. There was even some talk of "thunder snow" (that would be a new experience!) The weather forecasters were predicting anywhere from 9-16 inches of the white stuff and the early quick accumulation of sleet had us pretty well convinced that the meteorologists may even be underestimating this thing! But then it slowed to almost a stop, and then it began to rain. By the time we went to bed last night, the total accumulation was little more than it had been at 1:00 in the afternoon! The rain was freezing so there was a fairly thick coating of ice accumulating on the branches and surfaces, but we had been anticipating the white stuff! And although we were concerned about what a blizzard could mean, anticipating a larger accumulation of snow then this family had witnessed in over 10 years was kind of exciting. An ice storm was definitely a dissappointment! When we woke up this morning, there was just more ice. It had obviously rained a good bit overnight - our pool cover was quite full. We were all shaking our heads at how wrong the weather forcast had been for us (there were parts of Kansas west of Wichita that did get almost 2 feet of snow). Then at about 8:00 this morning, it finally began to snow! And it snowed pretty hard until a little after noon (not a blizzard, but a decent amount of snow). There was enough wind to cause some drifting, but still not even close to blizzard conditions. So, Steve's mom is getting to spend a couple of extra days here - she was supposed to go home this morning, but the ice and snow was enough to cancel flights out of town. And we are having some fun playing in the snow today. It won't last long, spring will be back in a day or two. And we'll be back into Tornado season again. Hey, I wonder if there is such a thing as a snownado?

Tornado Season

Tornado season has arrived in Kansas. Yesterday we prepared our "safe" room (the room in our basement that is 3 sides concrete) with the necessities of spending time there when necessary: water, granola bars and mandarin oranges (in easy open plastic packages), a mattress and some sleeping bags, shoes (thanks Cindy!), flashlights, batteries, radio. The first potential for severe weather was forcast to arrive yesterday evening, and sure enough, the tornado sirens did go off at about 8:15 last evening. One thing we have noticed about severe weather forcasts here in Kansas - they know exactly what they are looking for and they keep the public well informed. So, while the tornado sirens were alarming and we could hear them well, we went to our basement but not the safe room. Why would we not go in the safe room if the tornado sirens were sounding? We were informed by the television weather broadcasters that the sirens are activated on a county wide basis, and the storm trackers (both in the weather station and out in the weather) keep you well informed of exactly where the trouble spot is. And, thanks to our wonderful flat terrain and straight road grid system, not only can a funnel cloud be easily spotted, you can tell exactly how far you are away from it just by counting the grid blocks that the roads create! So, it was quite easy for the weather forecasters to pinpoint exactly where the trouble spot was and using the storm direction and speed, tell you exactly how long you had to seek shelter. They were able to tell us and show us that although the western edge of our county was in the path of the storm, we were about 20 miles away and the storm was tracking to the north and west of our little grid point. So, we hung out in the basement for about an hour, switching channels on the TV back and forth between a silly movie and the storm trackers, until it was apparent that the storm was loosing intensity and the warning was lifted - thankful that we have a safe room, but even more thankful that we didn't need it - this time. We do wish they made a weather radio available that would alert you only of tornado warnings ( not all severe thunderstorm warnings and flash flood warnings, etc.) and only in our area of the county instead of county wide - the alarm on those things can lift you right off the bed when you are in the midst of a sound sleep! (We learned that a little later last night, but gratefully went right back to sleep when we learned it was "only" a severe thunderstorm warning in a different area of the county.) So, hopefully the rest of the season will be as uneventful as last night was. Oh, by the way - the shoes are in case when you open the door of the safe room you are greeted by broken glass or other hazards. Like I said, hopefully the rest of the season will be as uneventful as last night!