Watch, Warning, and Touchdown

Last night we experienced what is actually quite common here in the Midwest - a tornado. About 8:30 I noticed lightening and thunder getting pretty intense. It actually looked like a strobe light was going off in the sky. Too bad it was so dark, I bet the clouds looked really cool. I didn't really think much about it - we have thunderstorms a lot. Then I heard the sound, the sound that scares children much more than it is meant to - the tornado siren. Josh actually thought he was hearing a tornado. So, we headed down to the basement. I tried to calm the kids because they are just positive that a giant funnel cloud is going to come down and rip the roof off of our house. I turned on the TV to see what the news people were saying. The storm was right over us. Some funnel clouds were spotted. The kids were still really scared and I was assuring them that nothing was going to happen. Then the weatherman said that it was confirmed that a tornado touched down at 180th & Harrison. We live at about 180th and West Center.
The star is the tornado and the red circle is our house. That's when I started to get worried. The tornado was moving in a north easterly direction so we weren't really in it's path, but it was so close. It actually didn't do very much damage. Things calmed down and we sent the kids to bed. Then another little thunderstorm settled over us. Just as I was going upstairs, it blew the back door open and a bucket full of water rushed into our house. That's about the worst of it. We're all okay.

The only injuries that were "caused" by the tornado were also slightly related to football. Football is very big here and Nebraska was playing #4 ranked USC on national television. Someone was having a football party and they heard that funnel clouds were forming. They all went out on the deck to see what they could see and the deck collapsed. I believe there were only minor injuries. I guess the moral of the story is - don't mix touchdowns with touch downs (sorry for the awful pun, I couldn't resist!)

So, that was that, and today the weather was beautiful. That's another thing I've learned about Nebraska - they have a beautiful fall. The days are crisp and clear, with low humidity, sunny and temperatures in the 70s or 80s. You just have to be prepared to weather a few thunderstorms, or maybe a tornado.