Twister Turns

Posted on February 22, 2005 in North Carolina Weather

There was a rainbow to the right of Crown Valley Parkway as I headed down it towards an appointment. Half a rainbow, I should say, against a mixed gray sky like mania having congress with depression. I picked up a friend at a bus stop and he told me that the storm which would hit in two hours would be the worst of this sequence of days.

While I was at my appointment, the National Weather Service issued a dire warning:

Bulletin – Immediate Broadcast Requested Tornado Watch Outline Update For Wt 30 Nws Storm Prediction Center Norman Ok 1110 AM PST Tue Feb 22 2005

Tornado Watch 30 Is In Effect Until 600 PM PST For The Following Locations

Cac037-059-065-073-083-111-230200- /O.New.Kwns.To.A.0030.050222t1910z-050223t0200z/

Ca . California Counties Included Are

Los Angeles Orange Riverside Santa Barbara San Diego Ventura

You should understand that while we have high winds running across the scalp of this hill all the time, they don’t generally go in circles. Santa Anas pour off the mountains, following the straight lines of corsetting canyons, then whipping out of the mouths like a blast in the ear by a trombone. They gust up to 90 miles an hour, carrying off lawn chairs and flags. They tear down tree limbs and sometimes push over the enormous eucalyptuses that are the remnants of old windbreaks from the days when this was ranchland and orchards. But they do not level buildings — at least not solid ones like we have here.

During the early eighties, I lived in tornado country, specifically North Carolina. Over the course of two or three days in the spring of 1984, several twisters touched down all over the state. I was home alone with my roommate, Trent, my two cats, a mother cat, and a litter of kittens sired by the male of my two cats, Wendell the Bear. The radio announced that there was a tornado watch in effect for the county, so we gathered a few precious objects such as our notebooks and, of course, the cats for a trip down to the basement. Just as we had all the animals corralled, the NWS called off the alert. So we decided to go out to dinner at a local hofbrau, conveniently located in the basement of a nearby A&P.

Just as we reached the place, the radio announced that a tornado had been sighted west of the city. We jumped out of the car. As we reached the edge of the parking lot, there was a loud crash and a sudden downpour of rain. We ran downstairs, praying that the car didn’t fly off like Dorothy’s house. Once in the restaurant, we just ordered ourselves a meal and hoped for the best.

Four blocks away, the twister had touched down and taken out the auto repair garage of a Sears Roebuck. The whole sheet metal building had collapsed into a pile of tin playing cards. Over the next few days, a comic story developed: the insurance company tried to claim that a freak wind had destroyed the structure. This was because Sears had covered themselves for tornados but not for wind damage. I am not sure how this turned out.

We don’t have tornado insurance. If a storm rips the curved clay shingles off our roof, blasts out our windows, and throws the walls into the street, we’re in trouble, I think.