March Madness and April Fools

 

 

 When I talk about March Madness,  I don't mean college basketball or Donald Trump indictments. When I talk about April Fools I don't mean road construction, potholes or guys wearing shorts in  breezy 45 degrees.  I'm talking about the weather.

I'm talking about Severe Weather Season and 70 mile an hour winds, power outages and tornado warnings. 

I'm talking about Friday March 31, when the Chicago area was under a tornado watch until 10:00 PM.       The watch was lifted at 8:30 PM.

The chance for severe weather stretched from Arkansas and Missouri to Indiana and Ohio.  The Storm Prediction Center was not joking that there was a chance of particularly dangerous conditions. 

Friday morning was mild and calm, temps in the mid-60's.  Enjoy it while it lasts, said my neighbor,  walking his dog in the alley. 

I packed my scram bag, just in case. This includes--flashlight, batteries, a jacket, important papers, checkbook,  cash,  a portable radio, and an extra black sweater. I do not have a mobile phone. I do have a phone jack in the basement for the landline and an outlet to plug in the battery for the laptop. 

What's in your scram bag?  Do you have multiple ways to receive weather updates?  Have a safety plan.

 In the evening, I watched weather updates on WGN-TV.  The whole weather team was there.  Tom Skilling is great! He is so calm, yet excited about squall lines. 

Yes, there were multiple tornadoes! People were killed.  Little Rock, Arkansas was impacted. A roof was blown off the Apollo Theater in Belvidere, Illinois. There were tornadoes in Iowa and Indiana.   You can read the Accu-Weather  reports  here. 

Saturday, April 1  was brisk and cooler. There was not much damage here in south Oak Park.  It was a Saturday, and there were clementines at the Carnival Grocery.  Pigeons were dancing on the ledges of the Bank. Life was beautiful, miraculous and ordinary.