Here’s the thing – I love a good storm. Have since I was a child. I great up in one of those midwestern towns where the storm rolls in, and you can see everyone out on their porches watching. My favorite activity is to curl up on a couch with a comfy blanket, a cup of tea, and a book and listen to the rain outside. I also believe that rain makes for the perfect lullaby when one is trying to fall asleep.
But the second it tips over into the possibility of a tornado, I’m a complete mess.
Maybe this stems from growing up in tornado alley in a home without a basement. Maybe it stems from that time my extended family all had to cram into our bathroom during my first communion party and hope for the best. Maybe it was watching the film Twister and then having nightmares for weeks or me-sized tornadoes chasing me around. Who can say? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ( (And, no, I did not see the sequel.)
When my family moved to a small town in Wisconsin, I didn’t know that we were moving to a place that got a tornado once every twenty-five to thirty years (nor was this a reason for moving there) – but I was glad for it. (Not-so-fun fact: My mom and I almost drove through the one that hit in 1998 because cell phones weren’t that common, and we had gone to sturge to run for errands – bet she’s glad I begged to stop at the CD store before heading home. Did I mention this was 1998? 😂)
I’ve moved a bit around the Midwest during my life, mostly hopping across the WI/IL border and back (plus one side question to MN). I currently live in WI, which sees, on average, about twenty-three tornadoes in a year. June is our twisty-est month, followed by July.
Well, we got an early start this year. We’re not even halfway through June, and we’ve already had thirty-one touch downs.
(For a comparison, IL averages sixty to sixty-two a year and has so far had a hundred and forty, making it the fourth year in a row with more than a hundred. I’d been thinking seriously about moving back to IL, but I have to say that this little stat is enough to keep me where I am.)
You know who don’t get (many) tornadoes? The Scots. Just sayin’. 👀🤣
Are tornadoes a thing where you live? Or do you have to deal with other things like hurricanes? Earthquakes? Volcanic eruptions? It’s sort of amazing we’ve managed to survive on this planet at all sometimes.
Ami Maxine 