Be Safe

A round of thunderstorms flew through St. Louis last night. Hardly unexpected in the middle of March, but what I didn’t expect was to see major reports of tornado damage in Michigan right around the same time.

(The view from my back porch as storms rolled in last night, thanks to Instagram and our beautiful early bloomer)

As most of you know, I’m from the Detroit area. Michigan has a fairly active spring season, thanks to the surrounding Great Lakes, and I’ve been well-versed in tornado safety my entire life. I have clear memories of sitting in my third grade hallway with a science book over my head as the power went out and the boy behind me started crying. And it was during a major thunderstorm that my mother introduced me to Grease, to calm my nerves and drown out the howling wind outside.

(More clouds, from my street last night)

Despite plenty of practice running into the basement (and in my adult years, dragging my dog down there with me), I’m still pretty terrified of tornadoes. While I’m extremely lucky to have never experienced one dead on, I’ve been too close for too many years.

A tornado hit very close to Ann Arbor last night (specifically, Dexter), and we here in St. Louis know what an active year it’s been for tornados already (Branson, Harrisburg, IL). Most of us squeak out without a scratch. Some of us do not.

I’ve written a short post about this before but as the spring season begins and Mother Nature wakes up, ready to party after a long nap, I urge you to do the following:

be safe.

listen to the experts, even if they end up wrong.

spend the night in the basement, just in case.

take your pets with you.

know where to go when you hear the siren.

make an emergency kit

be safe.

Question: Have you ever experienced a tornado?