Fast Hello From Denver....... Thoughts on Deadly, Violent Tornado and Moving into Severe Weather/Tornado Season in Dixie Alley. 67 Days Til Hurricane Season

 

Just taking a moment to say how sorry I was to hear of the horrific, deadly tornado that hit the Mississsippi Alabama area this weekend taking the lives of at least 26 people. 

This is a part of the country that is often victimized by a multitude of natural disasters and yet we think of it as a rural, quiet area inland far from the coasts of Florida where it's perceived hurricanes are always making landfall or Oklahoma and Kansas where Tornadoes terrorize small towns on the Plains. In truth this is the heart of Dixie Alley, a region that often gets tornadoes and often gets tornadoes that hit in the dark of the night. It's an area filled with woods that obscure the horizon making it even more difficult to "see" a tornado is coming at you if you are even awake. Something about the South that our deadliest tornadoes in North Carolina are usually nighttime tornadoes that don't run out of steam just because the sun sets. In Florida they usually happen at the warmest part of the humid day when a cold front slices down throughthe state and the turbulent mixing of cold, dry air slamming into warm, moist air spins up small tornado or two. In Raleigh people are most afraid of nocturnal tornadoes that have been the worst ones for our area historically. 

So it's worth remembering, if you are ever thinking of moving down there, this region can get strong inland impacts from Gulf Coast Hurricanes and terrific, tragic damage from tornadoes in the middle of the night. 

A screenshot of the signature of the Tornado.

Easy to see where it is on this image above.

While this is an old article, it shows clearly where the Dixie Alley is and other places where Tornadoes are prone to happen should things come together in the environment to cause an outbreak of tornadoes. The link is down below, old but very informative on the various places tornadoes are prone to happen in the USA. I knew this would be bad, I have a lot of friends who went to chase as the odds for a dangerous tornado were high. Where a tornado forms and travels makes all the difference, sometimes it's out in the country where few people live, other times it takes aim a small rural towns that had little warning it was on it's way. They are often called the Finger of God as they just drop down and destroy a town, erasing it from the maps, but personally I think it's better to call them the Finger of the Devil stirring up trouble if we are going to get all spiritual about a very scientific event.  

I'm in Colorado this weekend, outside of Denver for a family event as I have a son who lives here now and is no longer in Seattle. His kids love it here, the sky is an incredible shade of blue and reflects incredibly beautiful scenes when the snow is on the ground and I'm totally spacey, happy and enjoying my only real taste of snow this winter. I saw flakes falling on Thursday Night while out at a cute spot called Forget Me Not in Denver. Yesterday morning I woke up to everything covered in snow as if God simply spilled some marshamallow fluff all over the landscape in the middle of the night. Stunningly beautiful and know I know what all my weather friends who studied meteorology out here were always raving about.

I have a daughter-in-law in Miami who can't do Denver because the elevation bothers her breathing, Breckingridge totally did her in so my son goes skiiing with friends and she stays in Florida. The elevation doesn't bother my breathing, but I do think I'm a bit spacier than normal or let's say sillier and enjoying just "being" and not checking up on social media much. My son, who creates algorithms for huge companies isn't on social media as he knows much about how they work. I'm actually not 100% sure what he does as it's often top secret or things he can't talk about. So not posting much from his family event, though I will be posting something later weatherwise or otherwise. 

One thing I will say about this son, he's helped me see parts of the country I probably never would have ever travelled to...  

I've seen Postville, Iowa and many beautiful places nearby the small little town. Decorah, near Postville, has a traffic light and some fast food restaurants whereas Postville has meat processing plants and corn that grows everywhere. I've been to Chicago as he has his wedding there and got to see all there is to see in Chicago! I've seen Seattle that I love sooo much . . . No words to say how much I love Seattle. And, now I'm seeing Denver and got to see the Rocky Mountains up close and personal covered in snow. I got to see snow in 2023 piled high, something I didn't see much of in North Carolina this year. 

I had an interesting talk with a lady in a Sinclair Gas Station after screaming out like I was a five year old child "Oh my gosh there's a Sinclair Gas Station" at which point I realized I wasn't five and no one around  me knew what I was talking about as they didn't live in LA like I did. So yes, that happened. An odd highpoint of my trip to the Rocky Mountains!  Anyway the lady in the gas station said I was "lucky" as it's usually their snowiest time of year up here and I told her "I do weather and I love snow" she immediately apologized, laughed and said I should see where she grew up "in Oklahoma, it snows like crazy there" as she rang up my snacks I was buying for the trip up the mountain. I told her about how I do hurricanes and storm chasing growing up in Florida and she told me how she used to chase tornadoes in Oklahoma growing up. It was a total meeting of the meteorological minds in the middle of nowhere. Weather souls bonding with each other!

So marking this event in my blog during the off season 67 days until Hurricane Season begins.

It's been a nice vacation in an awesome destination with some of the family and catching up with my daughter-in-law's family that I've celebrated other happy events with in the past. Like seeing old friends. We are in a very large Air BNB that is serving as a meeting spot so it's been loud, fun, noisy and well a real vacation in all ways. This morning my brother and I sat downstairs in the basement comparing travel experiences here giggling like little kids laughing over things we wouldn't share with others. Been fun!

I'll be back in Raleigh soon and I'm pretty sure I'll catch up on all my tropical reading awaiting me in various groups I'm in and trying to figure how how this tornado pattern connects to other years hurricane wise if it does or doesn't .... and watching our budding El Nino growing in the Pacific. 

https://www.wlky.com/article/belskis-blog-top-state-for-tornadoes-this-year/32294618

We have only just begun the Severe Weather Season and more tornadoes will happen and I hope and pray that many who live in these parts will take the watches and warnings seriously. One man interviewed insisted had he not hidden in that closet he'd be dead like some of his neighbors. What's problematic about this region in Dixie Alley is due to the high water level and the density of the stone beneath the soil (from what I've been told) very few people there have tornado shelters as they do in say Oklahoma and honestly there are many small, rural towns where people do not have much money to try and build one even if they could. In the same way many have problems preparing for a hurricane in these parts where trees fall and take down power and small tornadoes spinning up in the hurricane remnants can do much destruction far inland. Takes money to buy a generator "just in case" or build a safe room just in case strong tornado comes to visit your home town. 

Sweet Tropical Dreams,

Nightclubs on Miami Beach are way more tropically beautiful than the aftermath of a Cat 4 Hurricane making landfall, as one did in 1926. Hurricane Season is not that far away so try and put together the basics for first aid and whatever you need the most come hurricane season. Stock up on any OTC medications you use regularly, especially allergy medication as everything is dirty, moldy and disgusting after the hurricane without power and as trees rot in the hot humid sunshine, trust me if you have allergies make sure you have your medications on hand before hurricane season.

Sorry for any typos, everyone wants to go somewhere and I had little time to type let alone proof read.

Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on Twitter and Instagram

Twitter mostly weather and Instagram whatever.

Ps I had a friend who passed away this past year. Sharon loved John Denver and weather so this one is for her...