rumblings from the sky.....

When you think of Atlanta, it never quite includes some of the wacky weather that you see other parts of the country endure. We do not get the lingering cold snaps that last for months, or snow blizzards. This is perhaps one of the reasons why I decided to move to this part of the country. I was easily convinced that not owning a snow shovel was a good thing. But then, that was my reasoning back in 1983.... I was under the impression that the weather was always mild, sunny and warm; and for the most part, it is.

Yes, we have had a few snow storms since I've been here, but not more than a few, and usually they melt down within a day. Ok, I can live with that. At least I still haven't felt any real need to go out and buy a shovel. Besides, the whole city has a habit of shutting down as everyone is in the same predicament, and the plows the city owns are few themselves. They are put into production only once in awhile, so what is the need to have too many?

We do have our share of tornado warnings though, and even a whole season dedicated to keeping an eye out for the ferocious monsters to strike. That season is generally spring, when a watchful lookout to the sky can become one of the first measures you can take to keep yourself safe from being whisked off. Of course, a watchful eye on the weather channel and local news becomes a standard with which you live in as well. They are hard to predict if still in their mass form, so one needs to know the sound they produce, which at that moment might be a tad too late to do anything about it. You always see the people who have survived these on TV after the fact, and the one unified statement that comes from them all is "it felt like a train was coming through the back yard". That's a pretty accurate statement, as I've felt my share, and been through enough to recognize that this wasn't ordinary weather.

The first real sign to look for is the murky green-gray atmosphere of all these charged ions. It is real creepy as the animals have the first link to what's going on and tend to get real quiet as they hunker down. The only real noise you hear is the wailing of the town sirens. By that point, you know that you'd better be heading to the basement to wait out what might be a false alarm or a full fledged hit. Having the local news on at the time will have you listening to the weatherman warning of where they have recorded touchdowns and areas next in line for the assault. I have a TV in my basement, and watch it faithfully during these times.... feeling like it's never too safe to be informed.

Somehow, my little town, just north of the big city, is like a void area that hasn't suffered any direct hits, but only the sirens of anticipation. Everywhere around me has been affected, and in some cases damaged. Grand oak trees have uplifted themselves by the roots, as if trying to escape the winds, and tall pines are snapped in two, not able to withstand the forces of bending so far over by the same pressures against them. It almost looks like a tall drunken giant was trying to make a trail through the landscape. The after-effect is truly devastating.

Ok, so that being said, spring is a wonderfully beautiful month in this area. Flowers have been sprouting since the first moments of warmth, trees are budding with their clothing of leaves, and everyone is thankful that you can spend more time outdoors. So imagine my exclamation when I heard the local news yesterday warn of impending tornados for the area. What??? This isn't spring.... or did I pull a Rip Van Winkle? We aren't supposed to be worrying about this for a few months. But then I remembered that we aren't supposed to worry about hurricanes either.... and look what's happened to us in the past two years. We were struck by four of the hurricanes that hit in 2004, and two from 2005. Aren't we a little too far inland for that? Apparently not.
I guess it shows me that not everything is as it was... and there is not too much that is predictable in the scope of the weather patterns. At least we still are not experiencing blizzards of the winter fashion.... but who knows, it may be the next "change" we will all have to become accustomed to. Hopefully not, as I still don't want to buy the shovel if I can help it.