Our Morning Coffee and Weather

[Sir Henry]

I'm having a store bought latte this morning. Should be heading to the range in a couple hours. Its high overcast and might rain.

[CT_Shooter]

My one cup of Columbian coffee is long gone. The windows are open, the smell of flowers and the sound of birds and frogs fills the house. It will be a beautiful, sunny, and warm day today.

We plan to get all of the veggies in the ground. Last night, I watered the ground where we planted a long row of sugar snap peas. There was no sign of them then, but this morning the entire row was sprouted and grown to about two inches tall!

Enjoy your day, too.

[RanchRoper]

Morning tea. Thunderstorms in the forecast. It rained all night again. Weekend supposed to clear up and I'll get some saddle time in.

[Sir Henry]

No tea at home this morning. I'll be heading out in a half hour for hiking and then shooting. I'll stop for a latte along the way.

[JEBar]

the morning reports and pictures of the recent tornadoes in Kansas are terrible .... hope all of our folks are OK

[Coach]

Weather will be mid 80's today...I have a stop in Santa Cruz today and I will take pictures if I'm near the ocean.

[PT7]

We're right next door to KS here in KCMO. We do have a KS daughter living in northeast KS, and since she and we are in "tornado alley," we keep an eye regularly focused on weather happenings. The recent days also have brought some very bad tornado damage in OK as well as KS. We've not heard reporting as relates to any fatalities; mostly severe property damage. Like you, JEBar, sure hope all those folk impacted are okay.

I'm watching our weather today as we're at a 60-70% risk of severe thunderstorms, which could carry along 50+ mph winds and 1" hail (Ping-Pong ball size). I'm glad my van is in a garage! Our tornado risk, thankfully, is low. And I think the storms lessen heading into the weekend. And through June 9th (long range forecast 15 days out), there are 8/15 days of thunderstorms predicated. 'Tis a tense season at times!

Guess what? Probably only very slim chances to use outdoor shooting ranges this week, or next week either!

After that weather news, time for another Henry mug filled with Hills Bros. double mocha! Have a great day.

[daytime dave]

PT7,

Do you have a storm shelter at your house?

[PT7]

DD, to be honest, I did not expect that question. Just was chatting weather over coffee earlier today.

We live in a large apartment complex. Tornadoes and apartments are not the best combo, because typically there are not any storm shelters available. That’s the case here. We have our “safe spot” picked out inside the apartment, which some consider not to be the safest spot. But there is no alternative in our small place. There are “safe spots” recommended for different types of dwellings, and most states in the “tornado belt” have those instructions on their state web sites. For instance, I looked at one today, and here’s the small portion that applies to us:

Safest Places to Be During a Tornado

If a tornado has been spotted or indicated by weather radar, you need to seek shelter immediately. Of course, the safest place to be when a tornado approaches is in a basement or storm shelter underground. But if you are not able to get to a shelter or basement, you need to find shelter that is available.

•Get to a windowless interior room, such as a bathroom, closet or inner hallway
•Stay as far from windows as possible
•Go to the center of the room – corners tend to attract debris
•Protect your head and neck with a blanket, if possible

We live on ground-level apartment as my wife is handicapped and in a power chair. Our interior room is a bathroom (our "safe spot"), which fortunately has no windows. We have an inner hallway but there are windows in close proximity to either end of it. The bathroom is "protected" from the outside bedroom window by doorways that are angled from the outside wall to the bathroom. We have practiced getting my wife in this central location. I help her to sit on a shower bench, spread several large towels on the tub floor for cushion, and place the heavy bed comforter over our heads for protection from potential flying debris. Not only have we practiced, but we had to use it one time when our city tornado sirens sounded.

A storm shelter or basement would be optimal; but probably wouldn't work for us as she cannot walk or do stairs.
But we do the best with what we have; plus you've reminded us to practice again this year.
Thanks for checking on us -- appreciate that!

PT7,

Do you have a storm shelter at your house?

[PT7]

Hey, Dave & Everyone,

Just a follow up to our brief chat about 1-1/2 hours ago regarding a tornado shelter here. Well, it has been a definitely wild & frightening hour we just spent.

We didn't get to practice getting to our "safe spot" in the apartment, because WE HAD TO GET THERE today!! Our tornado sirens were blasting for maybe 30 minutes or longer this afternoon. Tracking a very tight tornado cell from KS just north of where our daughter lives, and it came right over our place! Talked about as highly dangerous by the weather folk. On its travel path, there was reported a touchdown near the MO shooting range I go to Parma Woods), and that's just south of KCI International Airport. (We are about 10 minutes from our airport). Then our KC weather copter showed us on tv where they were tracking the potential tornado cell --- all the way along the highway just 1 mile south of our apartments!! In fact, on the tv warnings they mentioned strip malls and various businesses, our apartment complex, actual names of streets, etc. all along this nearby highway. It seemed like the cell could have been "touched" from our patio if we reached up high enough; that's how close the center of it was to us. Just before I hunkered down in the central bathroom next to my wife, I noticed quite a few cars really speeding along the access road by our garages. Probably some folk trying to get home before anything happened.

So we were in our bathroom with pillows and bedspread all over us, holding on to the handicapped assist bars for some stability on the shower bench. I think we were both more than nervous, to say the least, during this tornado warning. Too, too close for comfort this time.

We're still under a severe thunderstorm warning; saw some small hail, but now east of us there are the warnings of 2" hail as the tornado cell still exists and is threatening those next cities along this storm line. BTW, we are pretty certain the KC Royals game is cancelled this evening. The tornado cell path was just a short distance north of the stadium. So I'll end with that little bit of nervous humor!

What an afternoon experience!!

PT7,

Do you have a storm shelter at your house?