Supercells and Tornados

May 15, 2014

I was six years old and we had just arrived at our campground in Pennsylvania in the mountains on May 31, 1985. I was quite excited because the campground had a playground which has stuck in my mind over the years because we rarely stayed at campgrounds that had any kind of amenities. While my parents were setting up camp, my brother and I headed off and played for a bit before returning to the campsite. I don’t remember the specifics but I remember leaving in a rush and my parents trying to decide what to do with our stuff. I was more concerned with the playground so I wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on around me, I just wanted to go back to play. In the end my parents decided to leave the tent and we got in the car and left. I had to go to the bathroom and it wasn’t negotiable so we ended up pulling into a rest stop and all going inside. When we went in it was sunny but when I finally came out it was dark, stormy and the skies were downright scary. We all went back inside the brick building and waited for the storms to pass, which ended up being quite a few hours (or at least seemed like it in my six year old mind). The rest of the day was a blur and things are a bit fuzzy but I think we ended up staying in a hotel that night and returned to the campground the next day.

The first thing I noticed when pulling into the campground was that the playground was all bent and weird looking and it stressed me out because that’s what I kept focusing on, I wanted to go back and play dangit!! By the time we were allowed back to the campsite, I had well forgotten the merry-go-round and the swings because it looked like someone had taken my Lincoln Log set and snapped it to pieces. Trees were down everywhere and we couldn’t even drive all of the way back to our site. We parked and walked back through a field, finally finding what remained of our site. We had picked out a spot close to a ravine where a river was and, what I now know was a tornado path, was right on the other side of the stream. Our tent was ripped to shreds and down the embankment, the picnic table tossed in the river and the whole space was destroyed. We plucked our belongings that had been left from around the site while my Mom started crying and my brother declared that my poop saved our lives. I never said I grew up with a normal family! Later on we would find out that there had been 6 tornados in the area that day which were part of a larger outbreak across the region. On the way home we saw paths of tornados everywhere and I began to feel really thankful for my Dad who loved his weather and knew when we needed to get to a safer place. After that storm though, I had a huge fear of tornadoes and thunderstorms that I held onto until my early teen years.

After my Mom passed away and my Dad and I grew closer, I began to get why he would watch the weather and was excited by it. No longer did I scream and run when I saw red lightning on the beach, but I stayed and watched with him. He taught me what to look for in the skies and on the radar and how to stay safe but he also taught me that by learning about something, you lose your fear of it. Yesterday I kicked my fear to the basement along with my camera gear, cat and hard drives while I went outside as a supercell approached us here in North Canton and took some pictures. I was safe, keeping an eye on the radar and reports with Storm Shield (that app is AMAZING) while keeping an eye on the cloud. I was in my front yard so it was only a quick run to be in safety but I knew from the tracking the cell would pass us juuust to the west and it did. I like to think that my Dad was outside with me watching the amazing clouds pass us by.

PS: Jim Cantore tweeted out the picture too (heard it may have been used on air but not sure)

wall cloud in north canton ohio on may 14 2014