We were grateful the POD was empty because on Wednesday, we had the chance for some “wicked weather.” We haven’t even been here a year and we have already learned to take the forecasters descriptive words about rain, thunder storms or snow with a grain of salt. The North Carolina weather, in those departments, is nothing compared to Wisconsin. Now if we are talking about heat or humidity, North Carolina takes the prize and the descriptive words are not nearly harsh enough, but I digress. They were forecasting a warm front to move through and shortly afterwards a cold front to follow. With that, it could spark off severe weather. A severe thunderstorm watch and a tornado watch were issued for our county and all around us. No big deal, right?
After all we survived the Eagle tornado.
I had a hair appointment and errands to run. So off I went. First a visit to Dora. She is my Redken Certified Design Stylist @ Teff Hair Design Studio, that I found shortly after moving here. I couldn’t be happier. She is obviously living her passion. She is genuine, so gentle and sweet, yet confident and capable. The combination puts you at immediate ease and allows you to settle in and let her work her magic. Today’s appointment would be a long one because not only did I need color, I needed high-lights & low-lights and a trim. We were the only one’s there that morning, so I settled in and let Dora do her thing.
Occasionally we could hear pounding downpours, then the rain stopped and it looked as if it would clear up. Not so, the winds kicked up and then the rain started again. Dora called them “sheets of rain.” It was amazing to watch out the big front windows. Towards the end of my appointment, just finished my trim, the winds got loud and we could see garbage cans and debris blowing down the street. No warnings were issued over the radio, our phones did not alert us and we still had electricity, so she continued with my hair. When she was done blow drying my hair, the radio was playing a weather alert for a tornado warning, for that county and the surrounding counties, that would end in 45 minutes. I got my phone out, to check a radar picture, to see if we were in immediate danger. I saw a weather alert had been issued, that I missed, because I had my phone on silent for the appointment. My phone was taking forever to load the radar pictures. Dora and I figured that the worst was probably past us and since there was no basement and we were already in the interior most room, she might as well finish my hair. By the time she was done, it looked much calmer outside and radar pics confirmed the worst was past us, great! The flip side of that was the storm was moving east and our town was directly in that path. Zach texted me saying the school was on lock down for a tornado warning, so he was safe in an interior room without windows crouched on the floor. (Thank you God for cell phones!)
The tornado warning would last another 30 minutes so I did not want to head home yet or I would drive right into it. The sky to the south and west was clear and bright blue. The sky towards the north and east, which is the way I had to go, was quite stormy looking. I opted to run my errands and then head home.
The blue sky followed me all the way home and aside from the small to medium branches strewn around the yard and a lot of standing water, there was no sign of any damage. The puppies were frantic when I came in. They don’t like storms, let alone loud noise of any kind, and it was really gusty the rest of the day. They were as close to me as they could get, following me everywhere. If I stopped walking, they each would sit on one of my feet, until I would move elsewhere they followed me and repeated the process. It was so cute, but I really felt bad!
There were 5 tornadoes confirmed that day. Three in central NC and two in eastern NC, nothing near where I was or where our house is. Over the past 64 years, North Carolina averages approximately 20 tornadoes a year. The Appalachian Mountains definitely disrupt the storm systems as they move west to east, but I cannot count on them stopping all tornadoes. The storms hit the mountain terrain, weaken or break down and then redevelop on the eastern side of the mountain range. Well, that is where we are. The tornadoes really tend to get it back together and increase in intensity in the eastern third of the state. Really, that is not much different from Wisconsin statistics. I hope over time I will get a feel for the weather like I had in Wisconsin. You know how it is, when you look at the sky and you know what’s coming? You just know weather patterns because you have lived in one area for years and years.
It was definitely a stormy Wednesday! I do have something to look forward to though, POD #2 comes Friday! I’m doing the happy dance, good thing Zach’s at school.
