A Strange Facination | Things I Like

Today’s Things I Like is probably a bit strange to some people.  I love tornado’s!  Love might be a strong word to use because we really don’t like them but they absolutely fascinate me.  The conditions for which they need to form, the mystery of them, and the power they have.  It is something that I have watched and wondered about for years.  I remember seeing a tornado as a kid, think it was my first.  I tried finding out what year it was and I think it was summer of 1991 (yes, that makes me feel old).  It was a huge (or maybe just to me as a kid) tornado that we watched from my parents house go straight into Minatare, NE.  I remember driving down there after it was over and the damage was amazing.

I think most of you know that my husband was caught right beside the Windsor tornado 2 years ago.  Luckily his work was only side swiped by that tornado and I talk about huge above, the Windsor tornado was MASSIVE!  We will NEVER forget that day, even my daughter who was only 3 remembers that day and brings it up often.  I found this video from 9News when this tornado hadn’t even reached Windsor yet.  What amazes me are the cars that are driving right by it!!

An image I took of a house in Windsor, CO.

Then just 3 days ago on June 7th this storm was where my parents live.  When I called her she was of course standing outside watching the clouds.  See, for us if you can’t see what is going on how will you know if you are in danger!  Yup, when we have tornado watches and warnings we are out there looking.

As I write this I am watching TornadoVideos.net because storms are brewing again in the Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska area and if you have ever watched Storm Chasers on The Discovery Channel then you know that when I say Reed Timmer in his Dominator is in the area means.  He has an awesome live video feed of several tornado chasers which allows me to see right where they are at.  I have used this feed several times this year and a few times last year.  This year while going through Kimball, Nebraska I actually saw the DOW (Doppler On Wheels) trucks parked there.  I was beyond excited and wanted to stop but was too embarrassed to do so.

So I am sure that you are wondering why I have posted this on my photography blog, it has nothing to do with photography.  I posted it because this is me.  I love storms.  We seem to be having more and more severe storms in the last few years and when my weather alert unit goes off everything stops.  I must check the weather map and then I’m on the chasers live feed site.  This has become life recently.  Oh……Tornado Watch for Weld county.  No joke.  The weather alert unit just went off.  See!!