Right now, I'm sitting in my basement with my family. The two kids are passed out and my wife is spending quality time with her iPhone. I am tired. I used to get a lot more excited about storms but now I am simply annoyed because each time a bad night storm rolls through, I have to wake up the kids and wife and get them into the basement.
Tonight, at 7 pm, a tornado watch was issued until 3 am. I'm amazed that they can actually call it eight hours in advance. That's some science. But knowing that far in advance just added to my aggravation. Steven Covey would be upset that I'm letting forces outside my circle of influence get to me. But then I'd remind him that I am outside his circle of influence so he shouldn't let my actions affect his mood.
We probably have another hour of this storm and, though I'm still annoyed, I am incredibly grateful that I have a place to comfortably go. I'm sitting in a comfortable chair in an area of my basement where there are no windows. I have solid earth in two directions, a storage room and playroom in the other two directions, and two floors above my head. I feel farily safe. Not everyone has this luxury and this makes me wonder what sort of safety precautions others take.
I am probably a bit over the top when it comes to weather safety. I have a weather alert radio on my night stand, Radar Scope on my iPhone, GRLevel3 on my laptop, the tv on with those absurd drama queens we call weather reporters, and, of course, good old intuition. I've seen multiple times the damage a tornado can do, though, with the closest only a couple miles from my last house. I found mail in my yard from homes in other counties. That's serious stuff.
They say when a tornado hits, chances are you won't know it until it's on top of you. I might take that chance with just myself but not my family. As cranky as we all are walking down to the basement at 2am, I feel a whole lot safer just in case our home becomes the unlucky home in a tornado's path.
This might be a good time to discuss your own family's weather safety practices and see if you know enough to keep them safe. Check out the National Weather Service safety guidelines for more information.
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