Thursday, June 24, 2004
Madison, Wisconsin: Tornadoes & Thunderstorms
Storms hit much of southern Wisconsin Wednesday night, downing trees and power lines, and damaging homes and other property. Tornadoes touchdown in eight counties, including Dane County.
Sometimes I have to thank God for my clueless-ness. Last night, Wednesday, Madison had its second bout of thunderstorms since my arrival. The first set was fairly mild, as Josie (the cat) and I were preparing for sleep, I noticed lightning flashing around the house, but no thunder. Then as I was almost drifted off to lalaland, a nice boom brought me wide-awake. I look at Josie, who looked at me. She was poised to run, but obviously didn’t want to look like a coward, so I laid back down, and she sat back down, still watching me. I then turned over and unplugged my laptop, and stuck it under the futon—no point in attracting trouble. Josie gave me a look, but that was that.
So Wednesday is different how? Well first, it wasn’t bedtime. It was around 8pm. I was reading, G. S. Binkley’s “A Woman In Love.” Josie was trying to decide to lie on top of or crawl under the blanket. Now normally, I might help this decision for the world along, by just throwing the blanket over top of her, but today, well yesterday, I was content to let her struggle. Cat independence and all. I should mention that it’s been a minor adjustment living in Madison. My neighborhood is relatively quite, but Waubesa is a noisy street. The street gets a fair number of trailer trucks importing and exporting things to and from Madison Kipp Corporation. But also, occasionally planes fly in low on their way to the Madison Airport. The last isn’t to bad, though it did have me ducking one day.
Again, it’s Wednesday, and Josie and I are doing our relatively independent activities, when this low high-pitched sound starts up. It was pesky, like a fly buzzing by your ear, but easy enough to ignore. I looked up, paused, thought, “what the hell is that” then went back to reading. Hey, little Derek who had been so sweet in the first story of the series was being a real brat, and Gage was just letting him get away with. I just wanted to know if Lacy was going to take either of them to task. Besides I didn’t know what it was, and it stopped soon enough.
So back to reading. Josie decided to forgo sleeping on or under the blanket, and took a corner at the edge of the futon. A half hour later the buzzing is back. It’s louder and a bit more insistent, not unlike a persistent fly. Now I’m really like, “What the hell??” Then I’m like, that better not bet the neighbors alarm, because I’ve had to hear that thing all week, while they were off in New York. By now, Josie’s up and looking to me for guidance (she’s smart, but not that smart). So I look outside, and think wow that odd glowing light makes the neighbor’s grass look really pretty from this angle. So as I’m mentally debating strategies for taking the best digital picture of it, a word comes SLAMMING through my head “tornado.”
“TORNADO,” I thought, “Shit! I’m back in the Midwest. We have tornadoes. Is that the tornado siren? Great, I don’t have TV or a radio.” So as I run to the kitchen window, and look in see the unnatural/natural bright sky surrounding the really, really dark clouds, and the trees flaying left and right, I think “ut oh.”
I paused for a moment, called to Josie, “comes on.” Put on some pants, because boxers are perfectly find for a night in reading. Grab my laptop, the cat and head for the basement. Josie’s a bit frantic, and I’m certain she’s thinking, “What the hell have you gotten me into? It use to be just you and me, the garden, the freeway, and that nasty dog… Never mind, lead on.” So as we make a break for the basement (yeah basement), I’m juggling Josie and my 15” PowerBook, and thinking maybe I should go back for the cat bed. But I decided against that as the loud buzzing sound, a.k.a Tornado Warning somehow gets louder. It’s almost like a shriek at this point.
So in the basement, Josie and I. Myself and Josie. Josie’s pretty much like, “…well, this is different, let me explore.” I’m pretty much like, “...well, this is different, let me sit.” And we’re both back off to our independent tasks. I try to see if I can get an Internet connection on my laptop, so I can check the weather. Sure enough, tornado warnings for Madison, Wisconsin. I thank god for Josie, my laptop, and listen to the swirling wind around the house.
After a few minutes, ten or so, the wind dies down, the siren is gone, and I hear the footsteps of the neighbors, who must have just gotten home. I decide that’s good enough, and grab Josie and the laptop and head back up stairs. Josie indicates that she will forgive my lapse of judgment for a kitty snack, so I give her one. I plug-in (I’m still waiting for DSL), and check the local weather stations. Sure enough a tornado hit Madison. On the South side, thank god. Apparently it touched down twice, once on Fish Hatchery Road. Josie and I were fairly far way, though not that far, when you account for tornado jumps. But the Eastside, where I live managed to survive without a single down power line.
So all in all, life was good. Josie survived her first tornado. I survived my reintroduction to tornadoes. I got to say; in many ways earthquakes are easier. Typically there’s not a lot of pre-warning, just shake, shake, shake. Welcome home. (Spelling Edits 6/25/2004)
Footnotes
Tornadoes Touchdowns Are Reported in Eight Counties, Wisconsin State Journal, Journal Staff, 6/24/2004.
“A Woman In Love.”, G.S. Brinkley, The Athenaeum.
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Permalink: http://www.wide-eyed.org/main/article/madison_wi_5/
Comments
- On 06/28/2004, Laura says:
Whew! Man, I thought of you when I saw the weather up there. Guess I’ll have to find a place with a basement too. :( Did you feel the earthquake this morning?
- On 06/28/2004, Alnisa Allgood says:
Well since my first thought was, “What earthquake, she does realize I’m not in San Francisco anymore?” I’d have to say, no I didn’t feel the earthquake. But I did just Google it, the Epicenter was 10 miles outside of Evansville where my friend Jane lives. I’ll have to call her and make sure she’s okay. But, besides from thinking that the plane traffic started awfully early this morning, my today has been smooth sailing.
So have you decided where your moving to yet? It sounded like Austin was high on your list, then Minnesota made a surprise appearance.