Tornado Warnings

So this time of year in Iowa brings with it some pretty, um... "exciting" weather. And by "exciting," I mean "terrifying." First it should be known that my greatest physical fear is, hands-down, tornadoes. Don't ask me why. I have no rational reason - I've never experienced a tornado, my best friend wasn't killed in a tornado, and a tornado has never ripped my house to shreds. So where or why or how this fear developed... I pretty much can't tell you.

The fear itself isn't irrational. Tornadoes ARE scary. They're powerful and dangerous, so I'm right to be afraid of them.

Back home in Colorado they're not much of a problem. All the tornadic activity usually happens way east of us on the plains. In the ten years we've lived there, I think maybe two have touched down within five miles of us.

Iowa, on the other hand, is a bit different. There's not a huge mountain range interfering with storm cells and breaking them up. Nope, these storms just gather steam out here.

The other night the weather was getting really wild and we had been in a tornado watch for quite a few hours. In case you don't know, tornado watches simply mean that the conditions are right for a tornado to form, whereas tornado warnings mean that something has been seen - a wall cloud, a funnel, some sort of rotation... something - and you should take shelter. So, that day we were in a watch pretty much all day and the night seemed fairly calm. The weather guys kept breaking into programming to give us updates because the weather was getting pretty severe to the west of Des Moines.

I was getting really nervous because, as a newbie to Iowa, I didn't know where the counties in the tornado warning were in relation to me. I didn't know if they were 100 miles away, or just down the road. I was talking to a friend online and he reassured me that the warnings didn't really include Polk County. Ten minutes later, the city tornado sirens went off.

My heart was in my throat - I live on the very top floor of my building.

But, as an RA, I had to keep my head because it was our responsibility as a staff to alert the residents on our floor and give them clear directions to get into the bathrooms on the 1st floor. Surprisingly, I found it kind of easy to not panic on the outside... inside is a different story.

So I had to stand outside in the pouring down rain getting residents into the rooms on the first floor, and eventually took shelter with the other RAs for a few minutes before the threat passed.

Later I found out that there was some threatening rotation in a couple of the Des Moines suburbs - Urbandale and Johnston, both of which are pretty close to the city.

After I went back upstairs, the television was following yet another tornadic cell to the south of the city that threatened to enter Polk County (where Des Moines is). It very narrowly missed us, however, and another warning wasn't issued. But, needless to say, I was panicking. Although, I probably wasn't panicking nearly as much as I would have been had I not been online with a friend at the time who is an Iowa native and has seen these storms dozens of times before. Probably hundreds of times, actually. I don't know, either way, he pretty much kept me from curling up in my tub and shaking myself to death.

The point is - tornadoes are a serious threat in Iowa. Here are some tornado tips and resources:

Get low when there's a tornado - basements are good. No basement? go to the lowest possible floor.
Get in the innermost part of your house/apartment/building - preferably where there are no windows.
Cover yourself with something like a blanket
The "Southwest corner" thing is a myth - the southwest corner of your house isn't necessarily the safest
If the news advises you to take shelter, TAKE SHELTER - a lot of tornadoes are rain-wrapped which means you won't be able to see them. The meteorologists know what they're talking about.

Here are some resources:
For example, a county map of Iowa that I find particularly useful when trying to figure out where the heck the warnings are:
http://geology.com/county-map/iowa-county-map.gif
Weather. gov does a good job of tracking warnings and things
http://www.weather.gov
And weather.com
http://www.weather.com
Here's KCCI channel 8 (they break in the most during programming with weather reports)

http://www.kcci.com/index.html