Tonight's Potentially Severe Weather ALERT!

     I was floating out in the lake, soaking up the rays of the sun right next to my favorite cousin, Jeremy, looking up at the beautiful, sunny sky. Fluffy, white clouds were rolling, looking like puffs of smoke coming out of a factory; we were trying to guess their shapes. One cloud in particular caught my eye. It was particularly fluffier, and larger than the other clouds in the sky. I looked over at Jeremy and pointed out the cloud to him. “I bet that cloud is going to mature into a severe thunderstorm,” I said. “No it won’t! You don’t know anything!” He said back, laughing. We used to chase severe thunderstorms before, but we had not chased any in a long time because every severe storm the weather radio claimed would produce tornados didn’t produce one. We watched the cloud like a hawk while we barbequed rib eye steaks, for lunch. The cloud just kept growing larger and larger until it looked just like a supercell. We headed back out to the shore of the lake to sit and eat our delectable steak and watch the massive cloud. It was the most beautiful storm I had ever seen, maturing so silently, lightening flashing throughout its puffy core. I had done much research on supercells, but I had never actually seen one. I was in complete trepidation. When you think about the name “supercell,” it kind of sounds like an invincible kind of blood cell, but it’s not and it is in no way cool unless you are a storm chaser.

The clouds from this bad boy are pushed in an upward fashion, bubbling and unfolding into the sky. Supercells have strong rotation in them, a lot of times tossing out tornados like they are free candy, but not always. These storms also produce high wind gusts, heavy rain fall, ferocious lightening, and large hail. At that time our weather radio went off informing us of the horror we already knew. Where would we take cover? We only had a rickety old tent! We decided that this might be a once in a lifetime chance to see a storm like this so we thought we should take some pictures. As the storm crept closer, a funnel cloud began to form on the other side of the lake. We took pictures as it touched down to the ground but the wind started blowing so ferociously and the tornado turned to us. We ran as quickly as we could to the public restrooms and got on our hands and knees and covered our heads by the bench. We could hear the angry roar of the unforgivable tornado and then in suddenly ceased. The tornado had disintegrated into the sky. That was five years ago and I was so scared that I swore I would never get that close to a storm like that again and I hope I won’t have to be ever again. I hope tonight won’t prove me wrong.

                The National Oceanic Atmospheric Association (NOAA) has published a hazardous weather outlook for tonight. I am usually never worried about the warnings that NOAA issues, but this one caught my eye, and I for one, am scared because it mentions supercells.  These storms are extremely dangerous! The hazardous outlook reads:

                                                             “SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG A DRY

                                                              LINE FROM EASTERN KANSAS INTO NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA FROM LATE

                                                              THIS AFTERNOON INTO EARLY THIS EVENING. WHILE INDIVIDUAL

                                                              STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE TO THE NORTHEAST...THESE STORMS WILL

                                                              GRADUALLY SHIFT EAST INTO WESTERN MISSOURI FROM MID TO LATE

                                                              EVENING ALONG THE ADVANCING DRY LINE. HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF

                                                               BASEBALLS WILL BE POSSIBLE THIS EVENING”   

The outlook then continues on to say that many storms will be coming through Missouri this evening with possibilities of lightening risk, tornado risk, damaging wind risk, large hail risk, and flooding risk. I am really hoping this storm is wrong about the tornadoes most of all. Everyone make sure to listen to your weather radios if you have one for warnings, watches, and weather. If you do not have a weather radio, tune in to your local television stations or NOAA’s website. Make sure that you prepare for these storms moving in and take cover when you are told to because it is better to be safe than sorry and I would hate to see anyone get hurt!  I hope I am wrong about the weather! My brother called me about an hour ago and told me that he was looking at the doppler radar and the storms look pretty bad and should be here in Missouri around 7 or 8 p.m. Know the signs of a tornado. You can refer to my blog earlier in the year called "What if it's NOT a Storm?" and it tells you signs of tornados and how to prepare and be safe.