The year 2009 was mostly unexceptional, weather wise. Temperatures stayed in the seasonal ranges for a change. We had a spring season that lasted longer than what always seems like two weeks; summer was warm but not broiling hot, with few 100+ degree days; we got plenty of rain, and no hurricanes hit this year. All that considered, there was one notable weather event I’d rather not repeat: a tornadic storm on May 5th.
I’d never been anywhere near a tornado before. I remember as a kid growing up outside Atlanta our parents would rouse us from our sleep and carry us to the hallway where we’d be plopped down in the middle of mattresses while a tornado passed somewhere outside. Then there was that time in 2005 when I heard the frightening sound of wind that seemed alive. That incident prompted me to get a weather radio so that our family would never be surprised again.
The morning of this latest tornado incident I read the weather warnings at work and was on my guard. A few nasty storms had passed near my office in RTP but nothing too worrisome. There was one cell moving in that seemed to take up most of the western sky. From my weather spotter classes I knew this cloud looked threatening. Not wasting any time, I left work and made it home while it was still dry.
Then the sky got dark and the spotter reports flooded in fast and furious. The family and I left the dinner table and took cover in the laundry room. Well, they did and I went out on the porch to watch this cell pass over. As I stood on the porch the wind began to roar and this cloud passed right over my street.
It was rotating, counter-clockwise. It wasn’t actually a tornado because it didn’t touch down but it was rotating. Keying up the two meter ham radio in my hand, I reported the rotation to net control and within minutes the alert went out through the news media. In minutes it was over. The storm spared our neighborhood and we finished our dinner.
Often weather officials don’t know if a storm spawned a tornado until they’ve had a chance to examine the damage on the ground. We were lucky that day. Still, it was closest I’d been to actually seeing a tornado and something I’d rather not repeat. At least not anywhere near our home!
(Here are a few pictures [1 2 3 4 5] of the cell I saw, taken by Kay Evans of Hillsborough, NC and posted on the NWS photo page.)
