Tornado!

No, that's not our house. :) It's from the area that did get hit last night.

Now, Katy and I are big fans of weather, and as much as we enjoy it, I think Claire might like it even more. Well last night we had a chance to enjoy it a bit differently than we have so far this year. Though the La Nina weather pattern has shifted the jet stream north the past two weeks so that we are now seeing some fun weather, we hadn't received anything in Omaha until last night.

At about 2:30 a.m., I woke up to silence. Silence is key because we always keep a fan running on high for white noise so I can sleep. One of our circuits had tripped and that shut off a few outlets, but all else was fine. While I was laying there, however, I could hear fairly strong winds and certainly see plenty of lightning outside the windows. Apparently winds in our neighborhood, or very close, were about 70 mph. After not being able to get back to sleep, I decided to turn the TV on in the living room to see if anything interesting was happening. I used that one because it's hooked up to rabbit ears for local channels in case the satellite was out. As I turned it on, I heard the weatherman stating our county was no longer in a tornado warning. Interesting, I thought, since the sirens hadn't been on at all. Just then they started, though it was far too late and they shouldn't have at that point.

For the next 90 minutes, I watched storm information roll in about a tornado that had touched down in the Millard area, which is southwestern Omaha. This is the area where Katy's sister and her family live. The tornado had not touched down in their neighborhood, but they were right in the path as it did indeed touch down about a mile northeast of them. Most of their damage appears to be minor, some shingles off here and there and especially on a backyard shed, but a neighbor's fence was blown down. The image above is in the neighborhood where the twister touched down a little before 2:30, I believe, this morning, around 139th & Z, which is a few blocks north of Harrison for those who know Omaha.

Again, sirens didn't go off until after the storm hit, according to residents of that area. I suspect the tornado wasn't showing on radar in time to get the warnings out...or at least I hope that was the reason because otherwise, I would think someone at the Weather Service office is going to be in a bit of trouble today. Fortunately, nobody has been reported injured and the damage seems to be just frayed nerves and property.

Quick job update...Ticketmaster decided to hold off and make a decision on things this week due to some unforeseen delays, I'm told. Still no word from anyone else, but honestly, as long as God is in control and I believe He is in control, I'm not horribly worried. I feel this will all be solved pretty soon. :)