"Take Shelter Now" !!!!

With nothing more than possible rain until 3pm, the hounds, dog and I had been outside to check out the yard, the winds and was getting ready to watch the IU women's basketball team play on tv in the B1G Tournament. We had gotten all the way to halftime of that game when this warning came across my iPhone. The hounds, dog and I headed for the best place ... master bathroom with no windows yet next to the big walk in closet that had a small window facing west. Both rooms inside brick walls.

 

I clicked on windy dot com to check out the winds and I did not like the circular motion I was seeing moving around us. (white dot) Combine this screen shot, with the previous warning and Walter going into a stressful panic mode ... I was a little concerned but nothing I had not gone through before, even in this house. The walls on each room we were in were brick walls as if that would make any difference.

When I saw this warning I moved back into the bathroom with the two hounds and the bulldog. 

While all four of us sat in the bathroom, Henry and Watson layed on the floor of the big closet doorway, calm and relaxed. Walter, not so much. He didn't have to see the warning on the iPhone or the winds on the map ... he knew what was going on.

I did not want to get blindsided, I wanted some kind of warning if things were heading our way, without depending on a smart phone warning or notice. I walked into the large close (like a room) and opened that small window so I could hear what was happening ... something like "that train sound" people claim they hear before/during a tornado. I know I should have remained in place but you know me ... 

I had heard this same sound last year and it sounded like it was west of us. Looking out that window is due west and yes ..... it sounded close enough to the sound of a train that I had to really think if that was what I heard or was it the local train that is nearby. BTW, I am hearing that train's whistle right now as I typed that an hour or two later.

After posting this I read in the paper online a tornado had been spotted a couple of miles near the Kasson area but then confuses me with "between the westside and Posey County line on Hwy 66" ... that would be NW of me not towards Kasson ... but still too close.

I kept looking at the Windy site and those winds were still in a circular motion in our area but the point of compression was SW of us in Southern Illinois. 35 minutes later I took a look at the radar on Weather Bug app and saw we were on the tail end of the storm. 

I walked over to take another look out that west window in the closet and saw sunshine and blue sky, so the hounds and the dog and I headed back into the house. After all we had a good ballgame to watch. Luckily it was taping while we were gone so I could rewind the DVR and pick up where we left off. As they say in basketball "No Harm No Foul". 

It was looking pretty promising that the storm was over in those first couple of photos but once I stepped out on the patio deck to see due south ... I could tell the storm was still headed our way. Just like the radar showed above, there was still a storm south of us, heading north east, which would be away from the house.

In all my years of living in Indiana, plus growing up NE of Indianapolis where the farm land is flatter than flat ... I never cared for the distinct line of dark and light clouds across the horizon. At least the sky was not turning "greenish" ... then I would have been concerned and we would have been back in the bathroom.

As usual, after one these tornado warnings ... the winds pick up behind it as it moves NE ... I figured it was a good sign to see this blue bird on the fence and I had seen two squirrels scampering from tree to tree behind the fence. I kept the hounds and dog inside while I took the photos. 

This photo and all those below this point were us checking out the backyard after it stopped raining a little before 11am. That was about an hour before we got the tornado warning. The yard has really drained well after these photos were taken before 11am. You are going to see "history" .... Walter is actually outside and about to jump off into the deep end, into the yard ... but ... he didn't. LOL

I thought Walter was actually going to do it .... but ....

.... he turned and walked back inside.

Watson was looking for and waiting for his squirrel that never showed up. While Henry did some relaxing while the winds howled before all of our excitement. 

From some texts for the city and utility company at 2:45pm, sounds like there are some downed trees and power lines but nothing major being reported. The last tornado in this area that touched down was 11-12 years ago and was 10 miles north of the house near I-64 and marched it's way NE toward the area that I was living at the time. I remember that too, and about 10 miles from the house that tornado split into two directions while Heidi, Winston, Sadie and I hid in the small bathroom in the house up north.

All is good here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana ... some high winds until 9pm local time and then a week of sunshine.