<p>Well, this is a first…son sent text that they are under tornado warning…and cozy in the downstairs hall at Lakeside until 7:30 this evening.</p>
<p>Just commenting. The kids are fine. It is a first for us, though.</p>
<p>just received a message that it is over and just raining hard.</p>
<p>Great to hear!!</p>
<p>TheStudent…</p>
<p>I know what it’s like to first experience tornado warnings as a native Californians living in Alabama. At first, I was scared, but then I realized that it’s good to have the warning to prepare…unlike earthquakes where there are no warnings. </p>
<p>Glad to hear the kids are safe. The wind/rain has moved up to our area, it will soon pass.</p>
<p>I was having dinner in the Anderson Room, the fancy dining room of the Ferguson Center, when we were notified to go to the bottom floor of the building. I’m glad that everyone on campus is safe and that all the campus experienced was high winds and lots of rain.</p>
<p>The Student. . . glad all is well for your son and sooooo happy to see you back here on CC! We’ve missed you!</p>
<p>Its nice to see what all of you have going on! Thank you! </p>
<p>Long story but I think life is settling and Bama has been a great choice.</p>
<p>I’m eager to hear about your daughter’s year…maybe pm?</p>
<p>and mom2collegekids: you are so right!!!</p>
<p>Thanks for the update! Nice to see you on here!</p>
<p>I need a student around to keep my technology functioning. How my son puts up with me!</p>
<p>It is really interesting how bonded I feel to our Bama bound group!</p>
<p>Glad all is well, I am glad to hear it is the first time this year. I was thinking that it happened more often and I would have to be worrying all the time. Not like I won’t have Tuscaloosa on my weather feed. Then I can have all 3 kids locations on the weather feed, eek! </p>
<p>My D just moved to San Fran and I am not really too happy about it from an earthquake standpoint, particularly after what is happening in Japan. She had a few mild ones when she lived in the OC, but I think it will be worse up there.</p>
<p>Hi Student:) </p>
<p>I have been keeping close tabs on weather all year, I’d finally settled into the “oh they don’t have tornadoes all the time” mode. Was moving into the “I better update our earthquake preparedness” - all the flashlights have gone missing, cupboards are bare (no DS only DDs who needs all that food) … </p>
<p>Watching TV, DH on his new toy - iPad, when he announces that DS spent time huddled in Walmart - tornadoe warning. Little sis - “HOW COOL!” Me, I’m back to weather watching.</p>
<p>For those of you who are OOS (well, instate folks too) and on FB, I’d recommend “friending” James Spann, a meteorologist out of Birmingham. He posts regularly during weather events & it’s a good way to keep up on things. He’s very matter of fact and I trust him to not overplay weather possibilities.</p>
<p>Having said that, he feels that all the tornado warnings yesterday were overblown & that they should have remained severe thunderstorm warnings. There were significant straight line winds with the possibilities of some spin up tornadoes embedded in the main line, but most of the damage was because of winds.</p>
<p>RobD - I have looked at his blog several times since you mentioned it during the ice storm last January and have found it very helpful. I will have to start following him on FB too.</p>
<p>I downloded an iphone app called Weather Alert USA and I think it is pretty good. It was $3.99 which is against my normal “no paid apps” rule, but in this case it is money well spent. You can set multiple forecast locations and you can have it alert you when particular watches or warnings come up. I have mine set to only tell me when there is a Tornado Warning. Yesterday evening it sounded just like the alert they use on TV when they issued the Warning for Tuscaloosa. The app also can be programmed not to alert you between certain hours - I presume that’s because you would be asleep - but I think that’s precisely when you need to know if a Tornado is coming! Hopefully there won’t be much more severe weather this year!</p>
<p>My son and some other students walked back from class during the storm. He said they all got soaked but it was no worse than our normal Nor’easters.</p>
<p>I guess it all comes down to what you are accustomed to.</p>
<p>This is not meant to downplay a Tornado warning, just letting you know what he experienced.</p>
<p>there is a free iphone weather app from waff.com a huntsville tv station…you can put in tuscaloosa…its actually pretty good, with weather alerts etc. think they have one for droids too</p>
<p>^^^Parent56, hope your son was safe during the storm, too. Don’t know if Bham gets tornadoes as well.</p>
<p>Son texted us he was stuck in Nott Hall during the warning, then texted us when it was over and he was safe.</p>
<p>About tornados & storms in the south:</p>
<p>Having moved from the northeast to TN, I didn’t quite “get” tornados, having dealt with nor’easters, hurricanes and winter storms. The first week we lived in TN, I remember having to drop paperwork off at the middle school. They issued a severe thunderstorm warning right before I was getting to leave; I called the MS to double check something & the secretary said “you know, you might want to wait because of the warning.” Psss. Thunderstorm warning? Puhlease, we had thunderstorms in NJ. So off I went. </p>
<p>And it was unlike any thunderstorm I had ever seen. Heavy, blinding sheets of rain, wind, pitch black sky. Maybe the secretary knew something I didn’t ;)</p>
<p>Unlike a lot of other weather phenomenon, tornados are incredibly specific in terms of location. You can be mere houses away from where one hits and have no damage, unlike a hurricane, nor’easter or blizzard that blankets a large geographical area. And while forecasting is much better than it used to be (and the ability to give heads up on rotation minutes before it hits has saved countless lives) it still can’t pinpoint the exact place where rotation can occur or if the rotation will touch down. So a lot of times people hear “tornado warning” and kind of blow it off. I’ve had 8 years of tornado warnings now and I’ve yet to see a funnel cloud, but I still stuff my family in the downstairs bathroom if the sirens go off. </p>
<p>The word I had from D was that the sky turned a greenish color (which I’ve heard about, but never experienced) That’s usually a sign of significant hail or rotation. </p>
<p>I think Tuscaloosa’s had a relatively light year this year with tornado warnings; northern AL has seems to be in the bullseye more. And TN too :)</p>
<p>^^^Great info RobD, will pass that on to son. We also get tornadoes here and have seen them touch down on the water.</p>
<p>I agree you can never be too safe and should take these warnings seriously. I believe that they were walking back after the height of the storm.</p>
<p>^^^Wow, she saw the green sky? How awesome! I’ve seen a funnel cloud come down on the other side of the river when I was down in the French Quarter one time. We all sought shelter, but the tornado didn’t cross the river. Have had friends out in Lake Pontchartrain who have encountered a water spout while out fishing. Scarey stuff!</p>
<p>Glad the kids are safe, and now know how to handle a real tornado threat. Who knows where they’ll end when they graduate, so this was a good learning experience.</p>
<p>There’s another, more dangerous round set for Friday.</p>
<p>[Significant</a> Severe Weather Threat By Friday Afternoon : The Alabama Weather Blog](<a href=“http://www.alabamawx.com/?p=43771]Significant”>http://www.alabamawx.com/?p=43771)</p>