Curious and Julie

I'm glad you're both okay. I agree with you about the tracking system. Who would have thought those nerdy weathermen would turn out to be such heroes, huh?

I mentioned on another thread we had an F4/5 hit our town on my 9th birthday. It killed 33 people and injured hundreds. Our local library is holding a 40th anniversary memorial on my birthday this year. Maybe I'll bring a cake and celebrate our survival with them.

Back then we had no tracking system or alarms - not even a forecast of rain. It was a beautiful day (sunny and 70s), and my grandfather was visiting from Denmark - first time I'd ever met him. He and my mother were drinking a glass of wine and watching the storm brew outside. Mom told grandpa not to worry because it was just a typical thunderstorm. She changed her tune when the windows blew out. Grandpa never visited the U.S. again - said our weather is too violent.

One "blessing" for me on that day was the fact that my father took off work early because it was my birthday. If it were any other day, he would have been stuck in traffic at the same time and same intersection where the tornado did the most damage.

We didn't know the extent of the damage until the following day. It was such a strange site because everything was covered with a fresh layer of snow - and the National Guard were everywhere. It was amazing to see a huge city bus flipped over on top of the bus station. Another amazing site was someone's wedding photo in a frame wedged halfway into a tree.