On the Eve of a Possible Tornado Outbreak

I am finding that I am a total weather geek. After hearing on the national news this morning of a possible tornado outbreak for Saturday, I am strangely excited and somewhat anxious! We are living right in the bulls-eye of the storm area, so I actually got on the National Weather Service website to learn more. I was reading the "forecast discussion" section and trying to figure out a lot of new terms like "srn," which means southern, and "advection" and "convection" - both of which I can't really remember. I also learned some new airport codes, like KHYS (Hays) and KSLN (Salina) - why do weather people use airport codes? What I found out was the bulk of the storms could occur on a line from Salina to Wichita - that's us!

The Hesston Tornado happened when I was in 5th grade. Maybe that came at the right age for me to become interested in the weather. Ever since then, I have been an avid weather watcher -- especially when there could be storms. I get excited when I hear thunder and see lightning. I was so disappointed last spring when we didn't have a single bad storm.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not wishing for bad weather! We have good-looking wheat growing, new corn growing in the fields, and a garden in full swing. The last thing I want is for all of that to get hailed-out or for people to lose their homes from a tornado. I guess I'm just simply intrigued by all the early warnings today!

We better make sure there are batteries in the radio and in the flashlights before tomorrow!

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