So my sister, who lives just outside Lancaster, PA, phones me up to talk about upcoming vacation-related matters. I can hear occasional blasts of thunder in the background. She mentions that a nasty storm appears to be moving in. Then, in the middle of a sentence, she suddenly says “Oh, gotta go, tornado!” then hangs up.
Wait, what, who, where…(splutters)
I just checked the Weather Channel on-line and there’s not one but three tornado warnings for her immediate area; track for the nearest is within a couple miles of her location.
She’s in a sturdy stone house with a deep basement. Guess I’ll hear back shortly…I hope.
I think that’s about as scary as a tornado can get, short of being there in person. Hope it works out!
OK, she’s all right. Turns out my brother, who lives near Harrisburg, had called them (sister and boyfriend) on their land line to tell them about the tornado warning. She hung up because the BF was motioning for her to come inside. They headed for the basement but it all quieted down a few minutes later. Will have to see if there was a touchdown in the area; their satellite TV is out and they don’t have a weather radio.
She did say there was an odd rumbling sound when she poked her nose outside for a moment before heading for the basement, but no telling what that might have been.
Some years back I was working at a school when there was a tornado warning AND a fire in the building at the same time. The funnel cloud was spotted just a couple of miles away, and the drill was to move to the core of the building. But the hallways were slowly filling with smoke from the fire, and THAT drill would have us evacuate the building. And it was pouring rain out too.
Most people, myself included, hung out near an exit waiting for … something that would push us one way or another. Fortunately the fire was a small one in an electrical room, and the smoke began to clear soon. And the tornado went in another direction and didn’t touch down in any case.
There have been a series of storms rolling though the area all day today, El_Kabong - It’s not done yet, though the last few have been milder.
I wouldn’t worry much - It’s very rare for us to get more than an EF1 up this way. A good solid stone farmhouse should stand up to one of those fairly well.