A Tense Night

 One thing that we have to think about, all the time, is weather. It can be as simple as parks in the north, or at higher elevations, not being open for parts of the year. This time of year, snow and/or thunderstorms can be an issue. 

We are in southern Alabama. Yesterday this area was hit by severe thunderstorms, with F2 tornadoes being possible. We had the option of going to stay with friends, but weighed that against worrying about the Behemoth when we couldn’t be on it, and decided to stay. 


I like to use the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) website, and started following it in the afternoon. The storms did not materialize before midnight, although strong winds started around 9pm. Soon, the dreaded Watches and Warnings started appearing. 

Look at that temperature. We all expect temps to go down as night comes on, but these were going up. Warm and cold fronts were colliding. And, about midnight, the sirens went off. 

I had planned ahead to head to shelter, and packed a pack for me, and even for Molly  But, when those sirens went off, we went out the door without them.  We hurried to the storm shelter (aka bathhouse/laundry) past other campers still in their RVs, light on.  We felt a lot sheepish, but we were not the first to arrive, or the last.  

Before long, 20-30 people had gathered, along with about 15 dogs  Much chattering and barking ensued.  We swapped stories about how nervous we were, and some of us told about other storms and even tornadoes we had been through.  We stood around in the breezeway center of the building.

The winds still were not too bad, and rain had not started, beyond some sprinkle, when, suddenly, the sirens went off again  The winds became very strong and we thought we heard hail on the ground.  Nope.  Just the ginormous cones from the pines here.  Then the heavens opened, and we all went inside.  The rain fell for about a half hour, then the winds went down, stars came out, and we went back to camp.

In all, we were in the shelter for about 2 hours.  Neither of us could sleep, so I had some tea, and we refined our plan for the next storm.  John, who walked back to get our coats because the temperatures dropped again, before the winds, agreed that we would take everything next time  And I will add food for us, just in case ,and water bottles.  

Watching storms is a thirsty business, after all.





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