Tornado!
Last night was interesting...it started with leaves falling from the sky, then larger parts, then the rain picked up intensity moving left to right across the sky (east to west) as I stood on my deck. I glanced left, over the lake and in the distance; over the Giant Food shopping center I saw It. To the south east was a large, amorphous blue and black mass moving south-to-north at high speed along the route 28 corridor just north of IAD (Dulles International Airport). I saw several large bright blue and green explosions in the mass which I took to be transformers blowing as the trees took out power lines. At that same time my daughter calls me from just outside Lowes, near the Dulles Town Center asking my wife if there's a tornado...she looks right (to the west) and screams with "I SEE IT!"...she saw the same mass from the opposite side of the storm from where I was. She started crying and the phone went dead...so of course I had a moment. Ivan was upon us.
This picture was taken of the tornado a few moments before I saw it. Our house is several miles to the right. The buildings you see here are at the intersection of route 28 and 606 north of Dulles Airport.
She and her friends had lost the cell due to the storm and retreated to the Dulles Town Center where they rode out the rest of the evening. At that time I went back out on my deck and I heard it...a metallic groaning sound...like an old bridge straining under the weight of too many years. At that very instant, within four or five seconds, the rain shifted 180 degrees and went horizontal. I heard the wind increasing in intensity. We really don’t have anyplace to go; our three-story townhouse is all above ground and there’s no real interior room on the bottom floor large enough to hold us and also be away from windows. But fortunately for us we were lucky that day because this particular tornado blitzed by us, hopped the Potomac and eventually lost its energy somewhere in southern Maryland. There were 20-something tornadoes on the ground in Virginia on this day and that one was ours. Things started to calm down and other than my nervousness over my daughters whereabouts the weather stabilized. I've never felt as helpless as I did then. It was the sound that was really unnerving...I'll never forget that sound.
So...how was your night? :)
This picture was taken of the tornado a few moments before I saw it. Our house is several miles to the right. The buildings you see here are at the intersection of route 28 and 606 north of Dulles Airport.
She and her friends had lost the cell due to the storm and retreated to the Dulles Town Center where they rode out the rest of the evening. At that time I went back out on my deck and I heard it...a metallic groaning sound...like an old bridge straining under the weight of too many years. At that very instant, within four or five seconds, the rain shifted 180 degrees and went horizontal. I heard the wind increasing in intensity. We really don’t have anyplace to go; our three-story townhouse is all above ground and there’s no real interior room on the bottom floor large enough to hold us and also be away from windows. But fortunately for us we were lucky that day because this particular tornado blitzed by us, hopped the Potomac and eventually lost its energy somewhere in southern Maryland. There were 20-something tornadoes on the ground in Virginia on this day and that one was ours. Things started to calm down and other than my nervousness over my daughters whereabouts the weather stabilized. I've never felt as helpless as I did then. It was the sound that was really unnerving...I'll never forget that sound.
So...how was your night? :)
Big wussie.
Did you take the photo?
Pretty impressive.
Glad everyone's OK.
We have tornado areas in the building here in Cincinnati. I've found this area to be much windier than anyplace I've lived.
In NC, when Fran came through with Cat 1 winds in
Raleigh, we lost about 2000 trees in our neighborhood alone ( about 10 per house) . It sucked.... 5 days without power & a wife 7 1/2 months pregnant. Don't haver to worry about that anymore!
Later,
EAS non-wussie
Posted by
Anonymous |
9:33 AM
Yea...I remember that one you had very well...you had the generator and the chainsaw ready to go...yours was much worse than ours...this one did damage but not the loss of tree's and buildings like you guys had. I thought about that and I think I'll pick up both in the coming months as insurance. The weather in NoVa has progressively gotten wilder over the last ten years and it's smart to be prepared
Posted by
Wes |
10:20 AM
Times like that I'm glad I live in California. Sure we have earthquakes, but our building codes account for that. Even in largescale quakes the damage is minimal compared to things like hurricanes or the large floods you get on the Mississippi every decade or so.
Glad you've "weathered" things well so far, FD. G/L to you as it seems more 'canes are on the way. :(
-Shane
Posted by
Anonymous |
6:00 PM
Cool picture.
I bet you did have a moment. We've been lucky in NC so far since we don't live by the mountains and far enough away from the ocean. My husband's co-worker was with the rescue crew that pulled that pregnant lady from her house (in the mountains). He said is was very difficult.
Thank Goodness everyone is okay your way.
KAB
Posted by
Anonymous |
12:57 PM