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Well, that was... interesting...
Jan. 7th, 2008 04:46 pmWe just had a close pass by a real tornado here. We've been on a watch since 2:00 pm (still on until 9:00 pm) and at 3:30 the sirens went off and the weather service issued a take cover warning for Harvard.
It is really, really hard to get people to cooperate. The library was not very crowded fortunately, but getting them into the shelter zone was like herding cats. I stayed by the phone, and when the police called to tell us to get people in, I could say they were all in there. However, more kept coming in the door. It was an argument with each one. "Can't I just renew my books first?" "Oh, I'll just go back home, it's only a little ways..." "I just want to use the computer, that should be OK..."
The tornado was in fact on the ground, and passed north of us. I saw the wall cloud, but not the funnel. One teen who came in during the heavy rain said he had seen the funnel go by. We got a brief burst of hail and then the lights went out for a few seconds. The all clear came five minutes later.
The amazing thing is how stubborn people are about denying that there is anything happening. "Oh, looks fine to me." An ex mayor of the town lives just on the other side of our parking lot. I watched him putting his trash can out by the curb in the wind and rain and all. Incredible.
Temperatures here today are in the 60s F. A week ago we were descending into the subzero range. Wednesday we have snow predicted again. The weather is definitely out of whack.
(First unofficial reports say the tornado did indeed pass through the north side of town on the ground. No idea right now how much damage there was or if anyone was hurt.)
[Edit: Forgot to mention the idiotic phone call. I had just reassured the police sergeant that we were getting everyone into the shelter when the phone rang again. The caller claimed to be with CNN and said they had severe weather reported near us and wanted to know if we could see a funnel cloud. I told him we had people in the shelter and hung up on him. Damned sensationalists looking for a news story by distracting us from serious emergency issues...
Earliest damage reports indicate buildings damaged in Poplar Grove, which is about ten or twelve miles west of the library. A truck was blown off the US highway and overturned about two miles north of us, and a freight train derailed by the wind and at least one car tipped over just outside of town. At home there seemed to have been some rain but nothing else, not even tree branches down that I could see. The tornado went on into Wisconsin and did damage in Kenosha County, but no details yet.]
It is really, really hard to get people to cooperate. The library was not very crowded fortunately, but getting them into the shelter zone was like herding cats. I stayed by the phone, and when the police called to tell us to get people in, I could say they were all in there. However, more kept coming in the door. It was an argument with each one. "Can't I just renew my books first?" "Oh, I'll just go back home, it's only a little ways..." "I just want to use the computer, that should be OK..."
The tornado was in fact on the ground, and passed north of us. I saw the wall cloud, but not the funnel. One teen who came in during the heavy rain said he had seen the funnel go by. We got a brief burst of hail and then the lights went out for a few seconds. The all clear came five minutes later.
The amazing thing is how stubborn people are about denying that there is anything happening. "Oh, looks fine to me." An ex mayor of the town lives just on the other side of our parking lot. I watched him putting his trash can out by the curb in the wind and rain and all. Incredible.
Temperatures here today are in the 60s F. A week ago we were descending into the subzero range. Wednesday we have snow predicted again. The weather is definitely out of whack.
(First unofficial reports say the tornado did indeed pass through the north side of town on the ground. No idea right now how much damage there was or if anyone was hurt.)
[Edit: Forgot to mention the idiotic phone call. I had just reassured the police sergeant that we were getting everyone into the shelter when the phone rang again. The caller claimed to be with CNN and said they had severe weather reported near us and wanted to know if we could see a funnel cloud. I told him we had people in the shelter and hung up on him. Damned sensationalists looking for a news story by distracting us from serious emergency issues...
Earliest damage reports indicate buildings damaged in Poplar Grove, which is about ten or twelve miles west of the library. A truck was blown off the US highway and overturned about two miles north of us, and a freight train derailed by the wind and at least one car tipped over just outside of town. At home there seemed to have been some rain but nothing else, not even tree branches down that I could see. The tornado went on into Wisconsin and did damage in Kenosha County, but no details yet.]
