Twister Twister

Twister (1) by Mike

Tuesday turned into a rather interesting and long night. I started out with Gib at his weekly scout meeting at 6pm and returned home a little after 8. When I got home, Chrissie told me that Indy had indoor soccer at 8:30 and she had already left, so I headed back out the door. Chrissie was concerned about the weather that was shortly to be here and I was told to make sure Indy and I returned safely. Meanwhile, Gib and Chrissie prepared our storm shelter under the stairs, making sure we had water, flashlights, and blankets to cover our heads, and enough floor space for us all to fit in. The cats were rounded up and put in the master bedroom closet and bathroom.

I got to the soccer arena just after the first game started, (they always play two games). About halfway through the first game, Chrissie calls and says the weather is ugly just west of us. Shortly after Chrissie's call the arena announces a tornado warning has just been issued for the Fairview area about 20 minutes west of us. Finally they decide to call the game with one minute left and everyone leaves. Indy and I race, not too speedy, home ahead of the storm line.

The TV channels are broadcasting their radar pictures of the storm lines and generally calling the play by play. The first track goes by us about 10pm, tornado sirens blaring, and the nasty super cell passing approx 15 miles north of us. The next line of storms isn't due until 1am. So, we all head to bed, with Gib and Mariah staying downstairs because they are hard to wake up.

Our weather alert radio starts going off about 1:20a and we turn on the TV. The next line is due to pass over us at 1:50a. It looked like another nasty cell and the tracking shows potential for tornados. This cell has the possibility of passing directly over us. As it gets closer, the tornado sirens blare again, Chrissie has Indy & Taryn come downstairs. I watch the radar track as it approaches and Chrissie is posted at the front window watching the wall cloud go by. The cell again ends up passing us about 10 miles north and we hardly even had any wind or rain (weird!).

There is another line approximately 15 minutes behind this one but it shows a break between cells that is tracking directly for us. So we send the kids back to bed and watch the last storm line track safely by us and get back to sleep at about 2:30a. School and work, unfortunately, will be on schedule in the morning. Chrissie felt that last week when school was delayed and then cancelled due to a patch of ice somewhere, it was even more important, after a night of no sleep for anyone in the county, to close school. Sleep-deprived drivers are just as dangerous! But no such luck, or sensibility!

The reports now indicate that the first line of storms had one super cell that caused the majority of damage in Tennessee and is the one associated with the soccer arena mentioned above.

This link has a video overview of the path this super cell took through Tennessee:

Storm Track Video

Google map of path with info links:

Google Map Track


Twister (2) by Chrissie

On Saturday, Indy & Taryn are going to TWISTER (Tennessee Women in Science, Technology, Engineering & Research). It's a conference to help 100 high school gals learn about careers in those fields, so they can begin thinking about, or confirm, a college major. The conference has 4 sessions, and the girls got to each choose their top 6 interests. They won't find out until they get there which 4 they get to go to.

Here's their top 6 - Indy: pyschology, neurosciences, digital media, forensics, aeronautics, emergency mangement. Taryn: digital media, forensics, animal sciences, architecture, environmental sciences, genetics. Neither knew what the other chose - there was no conferring and trying to go to sessions together, which probably wouldn't have happened anyway because if there's one thing my girls are, it's INDEPENDENT. But there were only 15 openings left when I found out about it so it was a rush to get it faxed in before they closed that day. Yay - they made it!

Now they are grumbling about having to get up early on a Saturday, but this is such a good opportunity for them, it'll be worth it. Let's hope they see that right away, but if not, I know someday, they'll thank me. It's what gets me past all the eyes rolling and deep sighs. :)