We had a beautiful warm day, in the 70's, and then the storms came in late this afternoon. We have been watching the television weather reports as the storms are going through. They are showing picture of a few houses that have been trashed, but not sure if it was an actual tornado, or just the strong winds blowing trees down on the house. We have one warning that looks like it is coming right over top of our area next, but so far we have not had anything except rain and thunder. They are watching and said they think that a tornado is developing, so if it does we should know within the next half hour as it moves closer to us. They said there is no tornado yet, but the conditions are right for one to form. It must be getting here, the satellite has frozen up, so no more reception. Bobby is switching over to that small roof antenna that we got and he installed on the roof. Every time we get a storm, we have been glad to have that antenna ! I will let you all know once the storm gets past us.
I loved Alabama, NW is where I lived, Muscle Shoals area (Killen, the moved into Florence). Man it was gorgeous there. I remember all the warnings of tornados, saw 2 from my apartment window, but never closer than a mile from where I was. I think being in one, hit by one, would give me a whole new outlook on Tornados. Something a person has to experience, I'm sure you know Yvonne One second your house is there, and the next, it's gone.
Florence IS beautiful, and we lived out there for several years. It is the perfect size of town, large enough to find everything you need, and small enough to not be bad to drive in. The worst of the storm has passed our area of Huntsville and is mainly northeast of us now. They still have not had any serious tornadoes reported, although they said that they had some rotation that they thought was trying to form into a tornado. Except for the heavy rain, we didn't have anything serious, even the wind didn't seem to do any damage. It looked like we might have to stay up until midnight when all the warnings expired, but it seems like we are in the clear now. This is the back yard where we lived near Florence and were caretakers of the property. The property was part of about 100 acres that the owner also lived on, and we had a small trailer on the property.
Yep, seems everywhere I went down there, it smelled like a garden. I so loved the Magnolia trees. I remember the first time I heard the term "tornado alley". Seems I lived in 3 different States, and everytime, I landed right in the middle of tornado alley I was lucky never to be on one, only close. Compared to here, that's a whole, other world to me I'd like to travel the States again, but at a much, slower pace next time
I would love to be able to travel again, too, @Denise Happyfeet . When we moved out here from Idaho, we sold/gave away everything that could be replaced, including our cars, and bought an older motor home. We loaded ourselves and the dogs up in that and drove out here, stopping to let the dogs out every so often, and staying at camp grounds along the way overnight. It was a great trip and we both enjoyed seeing the changing scenery as we traveled across the country to get here. If I had money for a trip, I would get one of those train tickets where you can travel anywhere for the amount of time you choose, and go across the country on the train, stopping overnight at places I wanted to see more of. I love seeing the pictures from our friends here who live in different countries, or who are able to travel, like @Ina I. Wonder shared when she went on vacation last year. I guess that being an "armchair traveler" is going to be it for me, and with the internet, we can visit anyplace we want to go.
I watched that bad weather on the local news this morning @Yvonne Smith and I'm so glad to hear that it did not hit you and Bobby. So much weather related destruction lately it seems. Thankful you two made it safely through the storm.
Idaho is very nice. But, then again, we both love mountains/mountain wildlife and rodeo action. I use to know a rodeo cowboy from Pocatello. Only thing we know about Alabama is the country music group with it's name......Alabama. Great group!
We were keeping an eye out here, but thankfully nothing materialized. Glad y'all weren't hit, either. I think I saw that 3 different states were hit by tornadoes. We've got a cold front coming through. The temperatures have dropped, and it's breezy. I caught a couple of leaves falling in a picture earlier. We're under some sort of flood alert until tomorrow, but hopefully it will dissipate and there'll be no flooding. Thumbs up to us all being safe .
It is 28 here this morning (54 in the bedroom...brrr!) but we have a warm front coming through and followed by another cold front that arrives by Sunday. So, this means we have tornado watches here again by tomorrow. Most of the time, we don't even have anything besides wind and a few thunder-boomers; but you never know what will develop. The only place that is in the center of the house and has no windows is the little closet between the kitchen and front room. This is where I keep the vacuum cleaner, so when we start actually getting serious warnings that there might be a tornado, I move the vacuum cleaner and put an extra flashlight. In there. I always joke with Robin that they have an invisible dome over the Redstone Arsenal, and it covers our house, too, since we are so close to the arsenal. It seems like any storms that come this way either go north or go south of this part of Huntsville, for whatever the reason. While I don't like living in a tornado zone, we seem not to have any worse problem than some other areas have, and over-all, this is a good place to live.
Okay, so no tornadoes, it is 72 right now, at almost 11 PM. However, the weather forecast says we have a winter weather advisory. We have such harsh winters here in Alabama, I better run and get my parka and snow boots before it gets down below 70.....
It was 70s here, but has dropped to the 30s. I finally wrapped the hose/pipe in the driveway, just in case. I think it's supposed to be cold through mid week, with a possible freeze even here on the coast. We're also under a gale warning and a low water warning. I've never heard of a low water warning before. It relates to the bay waters being below their usual limits, so is for those who will be out on the water. The wind is quite strong. I've got a shelter set up on the back porch for the strays, and they've crushed it twice so far by lying on it and cleaning themselves . I've reinforced the walls, but they keep caving in the center. I'm sure they can figure it out if they need to get back in, though. I'll probably prop it back up later, and add some more warm stuff inside so they can snuggle tonight. I had the AC on yesterday, today the heat keeps kicking on. I know it probably sounds ridiculous to those up North, because it did to me when I was living up there, but many of the homes here aren't built for cold weather, with exposed pipes, little to no insulation, etc. The clothing here also isn't made for cold weather. Even the winter coats aren't warm enough for freezing temperatures. I've got what I need here, and the strays seem o.k. I just added another blanket to the bed, the space heater's up here, and I'm going to switch to that later, so I don't blow the heating bill in a few days. There's no point in heating the downstairs when I'll be hanging up here for the most part, and the space heater's fine for that. From what I heard, what we're getting is sticking around for a few days, but also blowing East, so y'all over that way be prepared. My fingers are crossed for a white Christmas .
I agree with you that the South is just not prepared for when they have these really cold snaps, not like people and homes in the colder northern areas are. When I lived in north Idaho, each fall I changed the tires on the little Mazda pickup and put on four studded snow tires. Then, I also added several bales of hay or other heavy weight in the back of the pickup and especially across the back axle. Pretty much I could drive anywhere I wanted to go, unless the snow just plain got too deep for such a little truck. The people with full-sized 4x4 vehicles with a higher wheel base were usually able to go almost any time. When we had a heavy snowfall, I would drive up and down my driveway every half hour or so before I went to bed, just to keep the tracks open enough that I could drive out the next morning to get to work. If it was snowing really hard, then I knew it would be too deep, so I ended up parking out at the road end of the driveway and walking back to the house. Besides the houses being better insulated, I always went out and shoveled snow up against the base of the house or my trailer. This made a tall snow berm that helped to insulate the home and keep the pipes underneath from freezing when it was sub-zero out there. Of course, we always had to let the water run at night or it would freeze up anyway. I am really thankful to be living down here where we seldom get this kind of cold weather and snow. Phooey on a white Christmas....... I want sunshine and a warm day !