When Weather Attacks!

Jan 22nd 2010
Suzanne EnochMy Life As A Plebe & Suzanne Enoch

41 Responses to “When Weather Attacks!”

1. KellyP on 22 Jan 2010 at 1:12 am #

   Here in south east Queensland we are used to all sorts of weather. Although there has been cyclones up north and droughts here the main thing that freaked me out was the bush fires that came up the range 8 years ago and threatened houses less than a kilometer from where I was living at the time. I was more worried about my cats and my parents’ dogs than the belongings.

2. nancyg on 22 Jan 2010 at 1:19 am #

   In Texas, we get it all!! There’s a saying, “If you don’t like the weather in Texas, just wait 5 minutes, it’ll change.”

   We went from snow on Christmas – 60 degrees the next week . I grew up in NJ, so when we moved to TX in 7th grade, had my 1st tornado drill. You just move into a room in the house, smaller is better – bathroom or closet, no windows/mirrors – they tend to shatter.

   I’ve weathered typhoons (hurricanes) in Taipei, tornado warnings here in Dallas – have a portable radio with batteries in our “storm shelter” closet so we can dial into the weather channel. Snow is ok – but it melts & turns into black ice – Mr. G was “rear-ended” last month by someone who not only couldn’t stop at a red light, but also on her cell phone.

   Mr. G is from Buffalo, NY, so I’ve spent holidays in lake effects snow/blizzard – 14″ in one day. I’ve beaten snowplows to get onto the NY Thruway before they shut it down to traffic. I’ve sat on the passenger side window snapping the windshield wipers to get the ice build-up off so we could take 6 hours for a 50 mile drive.

   Gets up to 110+ here summertime. Sunscreen, water/gatorade & poolside – it’s all good!!

3. Janae on 22 Jan 2010 at 1:24 am #

   Fellow SoCal resident here. I’m over the rain. Part of the reason why I moved to SoCal was because of the weather. I’m really over the rain. I’ve been out in the worst of it on Tuesday & Wednesday. Of course, it was hailing at pick up time, yesterday. I learned today that when it hails this close to the ocean(a couple of miles), that there are waterspouts forming over the ocean. IDK if it’s true, but it freaks me out.

   So as to scary weather, I’d say tornados and hurricanes. It’s freaky what just the winds can do. I remember going camping in the Big Horn Mts in WY, and seeing a spot on the mountains, where a tornado hit in the 30s. The trees still hadn’t grown back 50-60 years later, and the area was littered with dead, grey trees.

   After this week I’ve realized that I can handle snow much better than I can rain. I even enjoy a thunderstorm because there’s a beauty and wildness to it that appeals to me. However, the ones that I’m thinking of occur on super hot days in mountain. It’s a warm rain and doesn’t last longer than 40 minutes.

   Have you seen the forecast? I seriously hope it changes because as of now, it looks like Sunday is the only sunny day for awhile

4. evlqn on 22 Jan 2010 at 1:37 am #

   I was born and raised in the Colorado/Nebraska area so we had all the different weather changes heat that melted the rubber off your shoes and snow that you had to tunnel out of your house to go to the store. Then I lived in LA for 18 years and we mostly worried about earthquakes and fires, the rest of it not so much. But the first earthquake my kids felt when we lived in Carson City, Nevada freaked them out so much they were ready to sleep in our car for a quick get-a-way.

   Here in Oregon we have the seasons again rain, snow, heat. A couple of nights ago we had such high winds it tore the awning we had bolted to our deck out and across the yard. The metal plates are still in the deck but the rest, no. The next morning road crews were out cutting down all the trees along the freeway because some of them sheared off and hit houses. Our 13 year old slept through it but the 12 year old needed to sleep in our room with my sister.

5. moon_princess111 on 22 Jan 2010 at 1:51 am #

   I live in the very southern part of Indiana and what someone else said about not liking the weather at the time, to just wait 15 minutes and it would change, fits here. I’ve been through everything but a hurricane and bush fires. Storms have never bothered me and they still don’t. Usually I just think of them as a great excuse for a nap.

   I love lightening and watching how it lights up the sky in all it’s many shapes and forms, thunder doesn’t bother me either. That’s not to say I haven’t been know to scream when the thunder sounds, usually it’s just because it startled me.

6. Jamie-Lynn on 22 Jan 2010 at 3:10 am #

   First, staying inside is not understood around here either. We get several warnings a year and pretty much everyone goes outside to look. Personally, despite living my entire life in Illinois I’m terrified of Tornado Warnings. We get pretty much all varieties of weather here.

7. Judy F on 22 Jan 2010 at 4:45 am #

   Same here in southern ohio, if you wait a few minutes something else will come along.

   Your basic storm doesn’t bother me, I love napping when its raining. I hate tornado warnings and tornados themselves.

   I love watching it snow unless I have to go out in it. We don’t get the big old storms like the do on the east coast but we do get some big ones.

   The worst thing I have been through was when we had the wind storm. Didn’t have electric for a week.

8. Aly on 22 Jan 2010 at 5:56 am #

   I am petrified of lightning…there I have said it But really I am! I don’t care how loud the thunder is but please hide my eyes from the lightning! My cousin, while in college, was struck when I was 8 years old. He somehow lived but his best friend next to him died and I will never forget that. I don’t think I like lightning before but since then, I just can’t deal with it!

   I am very comfortable with blizzards! Unfortunately, we don’t get many of those down here in Atlanta but I was in plenty of them in Vermont and Nebraska. Yes, they can stop the city from moving but most of the time they just don’t seem as deadly or traumatic as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc.

   I have never had to deal with an earthquake, hurricane or mud slide so I am not sure I would know what to do with those. My mother rode out a Cat 3 hurricane in her 9th floor condo in Florida and said she would never, ever do it again

   And here is Georgia, there is no such thing as 4 seasons. Sometimes there seems to be summer in winter and winter in summer!

9. cail on 22 Jan 2010 at 6:59 am #

   One of the reasons I love the Northeast so much is because of the weather. Yes, we get the occasional hurricane, but it’s usually just high winds and rain by the time it hits us. I’ve seen a few tornados and water spouts, but the worst they generally do is break a few branches, or uproot some trees. There was one this summer that managed to hit every tree in a neighborhood by the water and miss all the houses. We have all sorts of temperatures, but especially where I live on the coast, it doesn’t get too hot or too cold, usually no colder than 10 degrees F, or so and no hotter than 90 or so. I don’t even have AC since my house never really gets over 75. We have wind, rain and snow, but its usually fun- whenever it snows i get to go skiing, and the rain, especially in the summer, means I don’t have to pay attention to my garden. I’ll avoid the northern parts of the northeast thought- i don’t think i’d be fond of 3 feet of snow all winter. i’m perfectly content with the occasional foot or so down here.

10. kay on 22 Jan 2010 at 7:04 am #

    I agree with Jamie-Lynn, I’ve lived all of my life in the Midwest and am still terrified of the tornado warnings, spend most of the spring in the basement. My husband on the other hand goes outside to watch, along with the neighbors. I’ve often thought that maybe if I became a “spotter” I would alleviate some of my fears. We have had really small earthquakes here and when we do my first thought is something is going wrong with the furnace. We’ve lost our electricity due to wind storms and ice storms, but the ice storms are the worst because it’s cold and very very quiet, spooky quiet.

11. Pesky on 22 Jan 2010 at 7:17 am #

    I live in the Mid Hudson region. We have four seasons and lots of weather. Lately our weather has been gray. Which is to say, it’s cloudy and a bunch of crap can be falling from the sky at any given time.

    We are heading quickly toward “The Month of Slush” soon to be followed by the “Indecisive” month. Then comes the promise of warmth. God I love warmth. If I could find a place that was warm and had no snakes I’d move there.

    Weather doesn’t bother me as long as it isn’t the extremes of anything.

12. Amy on 22 Jan 2010 at 7:48 am #

    I live around Toronto, Canada. The most severe thing we get is snow in the winter, and extreme cold. The outlying areas get a few tornado warnings in the summer, and the odd time we have heavy rainstorms, but they usually aren’t that severe.

    When my husband and I were in Chicago a few years ago, we sat through some pretty wicked weather. Rain, hail, strong winds, lightening, tornado warnings. I remember saying to my husband that I had never seen lightening like that, it was unbelievable. The only thing that really scared me was the tornado warning.

13. LoriHandeland on 22 Jan 2010 at 8:12 am #

    I’m pretty much comfortable with everything here in WI, which is what we get. I don’t necessarily “like” it.

    We don’t get many earthquakes here. We supposedly had one last year but I didn’t notice. They said they felt “it” as far away as Madision–which would be 90 miles. IMO, if you don’t notice it, it ain’t an earthquake.

    It’s lucky we don’t get them–much–because they do freak me out.

    I don’t mind the huge snowstorms unless I have to drive in them. I CAN drive in them–been doing it all my life–and I have the hugest truck ever, but I hate it.

    We get so many tornado warnings most of the time no one really pays attention, which isn’t good. We don’t usually go in the basement until the siren goes off.

14. SuzyQ on 22 Jan 2010 at 8:32 am #

    We get a little bit of everything in Jersey. We have had some hurricanes, although lately, like Cail said it’s mostly died down by the time it hits us. Occasionally we will get a small tornado touch down but they usually just uproot trees. Strangely enough, in the past year we have had a few earthquakes too. Not anything like California, the largest only reaching 3.0, but enough to feel the shake. I’d have to say I am most scared of lightening. I love to go outside and watch it and have even tried to catch it on camera, but when it gets too close (like hitting my neighbors tree and catching on fire) it can get scary.

15. Claudia Dain on 22 Jan 2010 at 8:37 am #

    Fellow So Cal native and I had to leave because I couldn’t take the heat (and the traffic) anymore. So where did I move? The Old South. Believe it or not, NC is cooler than LA. It gets hot here, and humid, but it doesn’t last long. The really bad heat lasts maybe 3 weeks. I can endure anything for 3 weeks. Except being snowed in. I lived in CT for 10 years and those winters…brrr. I don’t like snow much at all.

    So. Here I am. In NC we get tornadoes, hurricanes, snow storms, lighting storms, heat waves, and cold snaps. But all in moderation. The one thing that surprised me about lightning storms—rain with lightning—is that you can’t bathe or shower or be near water or watch TV because the lightning will GET YOU. Seriously. Every year many homes are burned down and people killed by lightning striking their house and zipping through plumbing lines or electrical lines. When there’s lightning, all the lights go off and you sit in the middle of your house, hoping to escape Lightning’s notice.

16. ladydawgfan on 22 Jan 2010 at 8:37 am #

    I grew up in Illinois and went to college in Mississippi. Now I live in VT, so I’m used to all sorts of weather. I have been through a couple of tornadoes (scary!), an earthquake (11/93 – southern PQ), 1 hurricane (Ivan the Terrible in 2004), and multiple blizzards. I love thunderstorms – the louder, the better IMHO. Growing up in Illinois, I used to see lightning so bright that it would trick the electric eye in the street lights and make them shut off. Now I have to settle for wimpy little VT thunderstorms and I have to explain to my co-workers and friends that they are really nothing to be worried about.

    The weirdest weather phenomenon that I experienced was when I was in college in Mississippi. We got SNOW!! In fact, we got dumped on by Vermont standards! We got 8″ in about 4 hours, shutting everything down completely. I still have the photos. MSU is in the hill country of MS, so there are actually some pretty good sledding hills on campus, and the students made good use of them. Anything they could find that would slide and hold a butt – laundry baskets, pizza pans, dumpster lids, ironing boards – all were used as makeshift sleds!! It was hilarious to watch!!

17. kay on 22 Jan 2010 at 8:47 am #

    I just thought of something, although I’m not sure if it is weather related. But, hey it’s in the sky. The Northern Lights, I’ve only seen them twice in my life, I’m sure people in the north have seen them more but they are truly awe inspiring.

18. Sabrina Jeffries on 22 Jan 2010 at 9:07 am #

    I live a few miles from Claudia, so what goes for her goes for me. But we don’t have earthquakes. I’ve never lived anywhere that had earthquakes, and I think it would freak me out a little. You can keep the earthquakes, Suzie, and I’ll keep the tornadoes and rain! Actually, it’s supposed to rain more today, but generally we don’t get as much rain here as I used to get in New Orleans. And growing up in Thailand. Can you say “monsoon”? Every summer in Thailand was monsoon season. Flooding was a way of life–that’s why the houses are built on stilts.

    I did spend one five week period in the middle of winter in Ohio in the Appalachian Plateau. We had snow. And more snow. Lots and lots of snow. That was a new experience for a girl who’d grown up in the tropics and went to college in Louisiana. I thought I was NEVER going to get warm!

19. Madeline Hunter on 22 Jan 2010 at 9:14 am #

    Being in western PA we get all the seasons. We are blessed with never having had a tornado although the city was hit with one some years ago. Sometimes, every ten years or so, the tail end of a hurricane from FL makes it up to us. The last time I got a lot of water in my basement and had to replace the carpeting to avoid mold. But on the whole we have temperate climate— a couple of weeks in winter that get frigid and a couple in summer that are stinking hot, but nothing that is long term horrible. I find that I am getting less happy about snow these days. With our hills, driving is a problem with even a little snow. DH grew up in Rochester NY so snow does not faze him (“This is nothing. Why, back home we would drive in ten inches before the plows came, yadda yadda. …). But the real pain is an ice storm. That will shut this town down fast.

20. Julia London on 22 Jan 2010 at 9:19 am #

    I love the winters in Texas. They are very mild and perfect for outdoor activities. I abhor the weather in Texas in the summer, especially the late summer. Every year I think we have reached the mouth of hell and that Armageddon is about a week away. Thank God for the family retreat in Taos.

    I love the weather in Taos in the summer. Gorgeous, gorgeous. Mild days, cool nights. Winter, not so much. Bitter cold, lots of snow. I feel like a fish out of water.

21. Lori on 22 Jan 2010 at 9:41 am #

    OMGosh! What is with the weather out here in SoCal? How on earth are we supposed to know what to do in a Tornado? I don’t even know what a tornado warning is! And try telling people to stay inside? You’re so right. “What? I can’t get in my car and drive somewhere? But I need it NOW!”

    Yeah, we don’t do weather so well here in SoCal, do we? Heh.

22. Karen Rose on 22 Jan 2010 at 10:02 am #

    Hurricanes and tornadoes I’ve lived through. Tornadoes are scary, but in OH we had basements to run to. One touched down a mile from my house once. Winds peeled the siding off houses like the lid of a sardine can. But once they’re gone, they’re gone, so that’s a good thing.

    Hurricanes can linger and that howling wind can get to you after a while. Luckily we’re far enough from the coast and on (relatively for FL) high ground. But hurricanes spawn tornadoes, which doesn’t seem very fair, especially since no one here has a basement either.

    Earthquakes would freak me out. Never been through one of those. Also, blizzards. Hate the sensation of driving on ice and losing control of my car.

    So I’ll stick with FL!

23. SheridanLA on 22 Jan 2010 at 10:19 am #

    I am in LA also… but I am not from here, so I have been marveling at the “OMG! The sky is falling” reaction here. Lori is right – no one has a clue what to do in real weather here. Some woman at my bank said there was a tornado warning and that someone told them all to get in their cars and go home to be safe. *face palm*

    This is the first really good set of rainstorms I have seen since I moved here.. and I heard my first real clap of thunder here last night. I LOVE it. I love weather, which makes living in SoCal (Sunny and 72!) kind of a downer.

    It has been setting in more and more that I need to go back to seasons. I want cold, rain, snow, sun, cloudy, warm. I was even getting nostalgic watching a movie last night set in Minnesota.

    I agree with Karen R.. tornadoes are probably the scariest of all the weather I have been through because they are a total crap shoot as to what happens. I have been through many warnings, watches and close calls.. the hail is the worst part during those.. I am talking that lovely golf and baseball sized stuff…but that doesn’t happen too often.

24. Suzanne Enoch on 22 Jan 2010 at 10:38 am #

    Pesky, I love your “Month of Slush” season. LOL. Generally in SoCal we say we have two seasons — fire and mudslide.

25. Suzanne Enoch on 22 Jan 2010 at 10:40 am #

    Thunderstorms are really rare here, so I tend to go outside and watch them, do that “one Mississippi” thing to count how far away they are. On Tuesday I got to “one M–” and bam!! I stayed inside. *g*

26. Janae on 22 Jan 2010 at 11:10 am #

    With all this rain, I am reminded of the 1951 Tex Avery cartoon, The Car of Tomorrow, especially the car for the fine California weather. It’s essentially a boat, driving in the rain. Here’s a link to it: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8484330088658367590#

27. Candis on 22 Jan 2010 at 11:48 am #

    I was born and raised in So. Cal. and was always bummed with the lack of “weather.” The earthquakes I can live without. I got to “enjoy” each one from 1956 to 1994 including the Whittier quake in 1986 where I worked right on top of the epicenter. Not fun. I’ve now lived in Idaho for 15 years and I love the weather — thunderstorms, high winds, hail, snow, an occasional small tornado . . . you name it. I live out where there’s not much behind me and I love to sit on the floor and watch the lightning move across the desert. The bigger the better. The fluctuations of the weather make me feel alive and I’m not afraid of anything except when my husband wants to go out and move the 40 foot long steel irrigation lines in the middle of a thunderstorm. I love the weather but am not willing to die for it.

28. Suzanne Enoch on 22 Jan 2010 at 12:15 pm #

    I didn’t even see snow up close until I was twelve, and I’ve still never seen fresh snow or been in a snow storm. Am I missing something?

29. PJ on 22 Jan 2010 at 12:23 pm #

    I grew up in the land of blizzards, ice storms and tornadoes. Then after college I followed my parents and siblings south to the land of hurricanes. Now I’m in a part of South Carolina where tornadoes are prevalent. I’ve never lived in earthquake country though there is a fault line that runs through the Carolinas so it’s not impossible that one day we’ll feel the earth shake. (There have been small quakes) I think that would scare me the most. Hurricanes and tornadoes (usually) give you advance warning. Earthquakes just happen and shake the foundation of our world. Scary stuff.

30. cail on 22 Jan 2010 at 12:28 pm #

    Suzanne, lightening up close is definitely scary. My old roommate and I were watching TV one night in NYC and saw lightening hit the tree right outside my bedroom window. It was LOUD and very close.

    Now that we have a sailboat, with a metal mast, I freak out whenever I see big clouds on the horizon. Water+ Metal+Boat= Bad Idea.

31. LoriHandeland on 22 Jan 2010 at 12:37 pm #

    <>

    NO!

32. LoriHandeland on 22 Jan 2010 at 12:38 pm #

    that was supposed to be a response to if you were missing something without snow, but the quote didn’t come through. I am a computer moron.

33. colinfirthfan on 22 Jan 2010 at 12:58 pm #

    SUzeE – NorCal resident here. We too had a tornado warning on Wednesday. It is still raining today. Tomorrow it might stay dry for awhile. I miss the sun!!
    I don’t mind the rain at all but a downpour all week is a bit much for me. Especially when we are only used to a drizzle.

34. Suzanne Enoch on 22 Jan 2010 at 1:12 pm #

    Lori, I figured from the caps and exclamation mark that you were answering my snow comment. *g*

    It’s drizzling again today, but not nearly as bad. Then clear skies for the next 4 days. I’ll be back in my shorts by Sunday. Heh heh.

35. SheridanLA on 22 Jan 2010 at 2:35 pm #

    ok, so it started hailing here.. pea sized or so. I was near the open door to the studio and watched as most of the people who work in the building streamed out of their businesses to stand in the covered common area to watch the hail.. It was too funny. Many had never seen hail before.

36. Suzanne Enoch on 22 Jan 2010 at 2:39 pm #

    LOL Sheridan. I know what you mean.

    On Tuesday I told my nephew that they call this kind of storm a “pineapple express”, because it picks up rain and moisture from the South Pacific. He wanted to know if you could taste the pineapple.

37. Louisa Cornell on 22 Jan 2010 at 3:22 pm #

    I live in the South so, tornadoes are not a big deal to me. Well, they are, but we get used to them. I can’t imagine sitting through one in California! Stay safe, Suzanne.

    I prefer nice Spring or early Summer weather here. Winter in Alabama is too unpredictable. Freezing temps one week and 60 degrees and sunny the next. Lately it has been nothing but rain and I am SICK OF IT !! Big dogs in outdoor runs in the rain is NOT a good combo. I spend half my life bathing muddy dogs!

    I’ve lived all over the world so temp extremes, lots of snow or really incredible heat don’t bother me. I don’t LIKE them, but they don’t bother me.

    Here, I think the heavy rains bother me the most. There is always the chance of flooding and I don’t swim!

    Now California sounds like way too much adventure for me. Raging fires, earthquakes, mud slides, freak lighting strikes and the possibility of hurricanes and tsunamis. No thank you!

38. Gibb on 22 Jan 2010 at 3:57 pm #

    I live in the lightning capital of the world. Tampa is nicknamed the lightning capital thus the Tampa Bay Lightning but I live next to Mickey Mouse and we sure get a lot of lightning. They are beautiful to watch from safe inside. HATE, HATE, HATE to drive through them. I’m always petrified of getting zapped.

    We get lots of rain. Yuck. It’s not uncommon for it to be scorching humid hot and around 3 pm when you finally can inhale, the storms roll in accompanied by possible lightning.

    I grew up in Louisiana and we had loads of tornadoes. I’ve slept in many a bathtubs. Don’t much care for those. At least in Florida we can see when a hurricane is coming and prep for it, tornadoes are so random it may destroy a neighbors house and leave yours standing. They’re vicious.

    I am terrified of earthquakes so when various family urged me to live in CA, I said thanks but no thanks.
    Blizzards don’t seem very fun either. If I were to move anywhere else, I’d move up to NC. I little of this, a little of that, sounds great!

39. Jamie on 22 Jan 2010 at 7:04 pm #

    I live by the river. I am JUST out of flood zone area. We also have blizzards and hurricanes. After hearing what my friend, who lives in Santa Barbara, goes through with fires and earthquakes, I would rather have my floods and blizzards.

40. SexxySelly69 on 30 Jan 2010 at 11:51 am #

    The kind of weather that I am comfortable with is 80F without the humidity!!!! I am from PR. I love the summertime weather, just not the humidity!!! I hate the winter with a passion!!! So living up in the northeast has its moments!!!!

41. Elle on 30 Jan 2010 at 5:36 pm #

    It’s raining tears here because Suzanne we haven’t had another Rick & Samantha book in soooo long. When might the sun shine again?