Snownado

I wish we could just skip winter altogether.  This week, we went from tornadoes on Thursday to 3 hours of snow on Saturday.  Thankfully, it was too warm for the snow to stick.

Scott giving Blossom laser therapy for Dermatitis on her nose.  

Thursday, February 6th, was a day I'll never forget.  The day started out with a wonderful surprise!  I received an email from one of my favorite people, my cousin, Annette.  Annette is a Missionary overseas and I haven't been able to see her in several years.  Next, I took Dad to the urologist.  I could tell you (funny) story after story of how that went.  I'll just say it included one couple filling out forms in the waiting area while they argued loudly over whether or not the man had been circumcised.  The man was adamant that he had not.  The female insisted that he had.  

We were in the midst of a terrible winter storm which brought 3 inches of rain to our area.  When I arrived back at work, our area was in the middle of a tornado warning.  Our area isn't known for having tornadoes but we do get several watches/warnings per year.  Normally, we don't pay them any attention, however I had told Liz that morning, "something feels different this time".  The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department called twice with an automated warning to "take shelter now".  Tenants were calling asking for instructions on where to seek shelter (the stairwell).    I turned the television on and saw a report that the airport had shut down and the air traffic controllers were hiding in a bathroom.  Still, the storm line looked to be at least an hour away.  I told my boss I was going to run out and get lunch.  What happened next was a gift from God.  

My boss, Jim, brings his lunch every Monday-Thursday.  I saw it was 12:00 pm and told him I was going to run out and get something.  He asked, "Where are you going?" I replied, "Showmars, I guess." Showmars is a local Greek restaurant with many locations around town.  He said, "Come on.  Let's go!"  Surprised, I asked him if he was going with me.   He said that he didn't really want what he had brought for lunch.  As we arrived at Showmars, Jim agreed that the weather looked ominous.  I joked that I didn't want to die at Showmars.  Well....

We placed to-go orders and sat down on the couch.  My food arrived first.  Normally, I would have left, but I was riding with Jim.  I pointed out to Jim that the fancy street light across the street had a bulb that was blowing flat on its side.  He said he was watching it.  The winds picked up to speeds I didn't recognize.  All of a sudden, I heard a freight train in the background.  I asked my boss, "Is that a freight train?  That's a freight train!"  His face dropped.  We were no where near a train track.  I headed for the bathroom.  I had needed to go before we left the office.  #1 I didn't want to get stuck needing to go to the bathroom if the building fell down and #2 I felt like it was the safest place in the restaurant.  Inside the bathroom, I spoke with a bus driver for CMS schools who was worried sick about the children she had left crouching in the hallway of their school.  Everyone who had ordered take out decided to eat inside the restaurant.  No one wanted to leave.  

Soon after, the winds died down and it was calm again.  As we drove away from the restaurant, we were greeted by broken trees on the lying on the ground.  The National Weather Service came to Charlotte on Friday and confirmed that area was hit by a F1 tornado.  My boss never showed that he was afraid.  It wasn't until the next day when I overheard him on the phone with a coworker telling her how "horrible" it was, did I hear him admit he was scared.  I'm glad I didn't know.  

Less than 2 days later I was driving in the snow with Mom and Daniel.  I said, "Just 2 days ago we had tornadoes and now it is snowing".  Daniel replied, "It's a Snownado."

UPDATE:  Jim informed me that the NWS updated the tornado to an EF-2.