Tornado Central

At least 31 tornados were spotted in the Tennessee valley today. One of them passed frighteningly close to my house. There wasn't any damage to my house, just some trees. But many of the houses around ours were damaged. About two miles away, the home and convenience store belonging to one of my dad's relatives were both completely flattened, and the two owners are in the hospital. There's a 90 year old local woman missing, her home completely leveled. Hail the size of baseballs (yes, BASEballs) was all over the place, and trees and power lines are down. Our power is on now, but right down the road is where the clearly defined swath of destruction has caused major power outages for my rural neighbors. I was in Nashville when it happened, at an artist's studio where I work two days a week, and we were listening to the radio the whole day. One tornado came frighteningly close to us there in the city, and we went to the basement for a while when they said, "If you are in the downtown Nashville area, seek immediate shelter. A tornado has touched down on I-65."

It irks the SHIT out of me that the weather people oversensationalize EVERYthing. Because we become anaesthetized to it. No one really pays attention to the weather reports anymore, because 99 percent of the time it's a false alarm. They make a business out of scaring people. But I'm glad I took it seriously today. At least 10 people were killed in the storms, and I'm sure that number will rise. And there are two more severe thunderstorm fronts on the way tonight. What a weird, weird day.