Word Trix: After the Tornado -- 2

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

After the Tornado -- 2

(A vertical shot)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: WOW! Amazing clouds in those pictures!; Tuesday, February 28, 2006 2:11:00 PM
Heather said...: Thanks, Lynn! It was a truly amazing site, seeing that wall cloud parked on the eastern horizon, and you could visibly see it change form as you watched it. I've never seen anything like it, just wish I'd been able to get a clearer view - too many darn houses and trees in the way!; Tuesday, February 28, 2006 11:06:00 PM
Jana said...: Again, some truly gorgeous pics.:); Wednesday, March 01, 2006 8:20:00 AM
Anonymous said...: Those darned houses and trees. Always there to ruin a great shot! *g*

I've never been anywhere near a tornado (been lucky), so this is a view I've never been able to witness. Thanks so much for posting these!; Wednesday, March 01, 2006 11:42:00 AM
Heather said...: Lucky you! The sirens go off a few times here every year, and usually it's more a precaution than actual threat, but the past two summers they've been too darn close.

In July 2004 a tornado skipped through the west side of Madison, touching down every few blocks and one neighborhood was hit worse than others, with mostly trees and power lines going down - there was one block where an entire row of stately old trees was just flattened. That was kind of freaky to see.

Thankfully, only a few houses were damamged in that one and the only injury was a girl who was electrocuted when her bare foot touched a basement floor drain just as lightning struck. She was extremely lucky, and after a summer of PT was okay. This same funnel also touched down about a mile north of where I live before it disappeared.

Then last summer 18 tornados swept through southern Wisconsin in a two-hour time frame. VERY freaky listening to the news and the towns where funnels were seen getting closer to Madison. There was one sighted about a mile south of us, and unlike the skipper of the year before, this one stayed on the ground for several miles. Lots of destruction (we're talking millions of dollars!), but due to vigilant weathermen and people obeying the warnings, there were few injuries and one death.

After the storms passed, they were showing footage on the local news stations from people dumb enough to stand outside and photograph approaching funnels. Amazing footage, but not too bright. When they showed the wall cloud as viewed from one of their surveillance cameras, I grabbed my own camera and headed out to see what I could see. As I said, I'm glad I did. I will hopefully NEVER see anything like it again! I'm glad they turned out fairly well, considering dusk was setting in.

Thanks for all your comments. I'm considering one or two for an amatuer photo contest. The guidelines were supposed to go up today, will have to check it out when from home as I have the site bookmarked there, but not at the office.; Wednesday, March 01, 2006 12:50:00 PM
Heather said...: *amateur*

Sheesh...I really can spell! And I don't even have my wonky space key to blame for this one. %-\; Wednesday, March 01, 2006 12:53:00 PM