Sissy stuff to keep warm with during the "VORTEX"?

[Betty]

My internet connection has been up & down over the past few weeks. Sometimes for 20-40 minutes several times a day, sometimes for half the day. I called the company (Verizon DSL). They didn't fix the problem, but the internet no longer went down for half the day.

Betty's was hit by a tornado Saturday. The weather services, & the city claim there was no tornado in the city. Storm rotation was detected though, & tornado warnings were made for just outside the city. But eyewitnesses across the street say they did see a whirlwind of leaves, branches, twigs, & debris over my house. They say it dissipated near the street dropping branches on a car & in a yard across the street. They said it did look like a tornado to them.

It tore a 200 year old tree out of the ground next door. The very huge tree just barely missed my windows by a few feet. It brought down power, cable & phone lines too, but my power, although flickering remained on.

The wind blew my well secured fans right out of the windows, knocked the curtains & blinds right off the window frames. It blew light objects across the room. It was like a bomb went off. It all lasted less than 10 seconds. It was just a rather mild thunder storm, then all at once the sky suddenly got as dark as night like someone turned off a light switch. Then there was a whoosh, lots of crashing sounds, with all sorts of garbage, mud, leaves & twigs hitting my windows. It ended with the loud crash of the tree cracking & falling, then everything was silent & calm again except for some distant thunder.

Amazingly, the windows & screens held up, but my blinds were totally destroyed. The fans got a little wet but are OK. Curtains are soggy so need to be washed but are OK. Coffee cup & dry milk container on my kitchen counter near the window were blown all the way to beside my bed.

Boy-Cat ran to the bathroom while Suzie ran to her favorite pillow. It was over so fast, & got so quiet they calmed down soon. By the time I was walking around trying to figure out what the hell just happened, they were following me, sniffing around as confused as I was. Once stuff started hitting the windows, I was thinking "tornado", but by the time I ran as far from the windows as I could get, it was over.

I was trying to get online at the time, as my DSL had just gone down again. So my view of the window is just above the monitor. It was daylight at the time (just after 6pm). When I saw the daylight shut off & the window go black, I thought "what the hell..." before I could finish the thought, there was a whoosh, the fans blew out, & stuff hit the windows.

I think, "tornado" & run like hell to the door. By the time my hand was on the doorknob, it stopped, & was quiet. It all was very fast. There were no severe storm or wind warnings for my area at the time. All warnings were for the NY/PA state line. I was taken by surprise. Lesson learned -- if the sky suddenly gets dark, even if it's calm, & the weather issued no warnings for your area, anything can happen, & it could happen in seconds.

Here's some pix of that evening with the huge tree on it's side, across our driveway, & just feet from my windows. To give you an idea of the size of that thing, that fence next door is 11 feet tall. It took out part of the fence too. Somewhere under that is their porch next door. The bottom of those windows next door are 6 feet above the ground.

It was dark. My windows were covered in dirt, mud, & leaves so the pictures are a bit blurry. I tried to brighten & filter them a little.

[Betty]

Almost 4 hours after the tree knocked live power lines onto the ground & was laying on top of them, the city & power company finally arrived to cut away the part of the tree that was on the power lines, & some of the tree from the driveway. But they let the live power line remain on the ground until around 10am Sunday morning before putting up a new cable.

Since working on area lines Sunday morning, my DSL connection seems a little steadier, but still cut out for up to 20 minutes, this morning. That fence is 11 feet tall. That was a big tree.

Here's a view from my window Sunday after they cut away part of the tree.

[Betty]

~

[Betty]

I think the power lines actually stopped the tree from hitting my house or at least slowed it down. With my well secured window fans blown out the windows, & thrown to the other side of the room, the wind was definitely blowing my way.

[Angela M...]

Wow that could shake you up. We had lots of driving rain but not much wind and it started and stopped several times until the evening when the sun came out for a bit. My mother had a huge tree like that at the bottom of our garden. It stood there for 50 years through many storms but came down in a spring storm the year she passed away. I had my tree house up there when I was 11 and used it to hide my Bondage activities for a few years until a scary incident with a bad storm. I had dressed in plastic pants and black tights and a black Leotard and created a harness of rope around my waist and through my legs like a parachute harness. I suspended myself from a higher branch and slipped my arms and legs through ropes tied to other branches spread-eagled pretty tightly. A mistake I did not plan for. I struggled for awhile slowly getting myself excited in my plastic pants until all of a sudden the wind started blowing hard and moving the tree branches apart stretching me in the process. I could not get free or reach the pocket knife suspended above me so for what seemed like hours the wind blew and the rain started and I was being tortured to death at my own hand. It was not well thought out and I vowed never to do it again if I got free but I was sure they would find my body still suspended there days later. At that point I was not excited anymore just afraid my arms and legs were going to be pulled out. After what felt like hours, the rain and wind slowed enough to loosen the ropes enough to get one arm free and cut myself free. I slowly made my way into the basement door and got changed but I was so sore for days after. It was a mistake I did not make again I can tell you. My bondage games were well thought out after that.   

[Betty]

The weather's certainly up & down a lot this winter. The past few days we had record-breaking warm weather for Feb. & this month has been the warmest Feb. ever in our area.

Already down to 43F (6C), from 71F (22C) yesterday. Very high winds & snow expected with lows tonight of 25F (-4C). Sunny & 43F (6C) by Mon. 55F (13C) by Wed. Snow by Thur. again with a nighttime low of 25F expected.

This is just as scary as the unusually unbearably cold winters & springs we had the past few years. Not typical of the weather used to be like around here. The past few years we were getting frequent near 0F (-18C) or below temperatures or wind chills... often 15-30F colder than Alaska was getting at the same time. 2 years ago yesterday we had 20 water main breaks in the city due to the cold -- in a city built & designed for cold weather. They had to import outside contractors to cope with all the water main damage.

Mid 20s F used to be the normal average temperatures for Feb. around here for centuries. This month almost every day was in the mid 30s to mid 50s F, with a few 60-70F days.

Makes me wonder how hot it will get this summer. We already get 90F (32C) days up north here in the summers. But because it's hot, humid, steamy, swampy air, blown in from the Great Lakes, 90F can be deadly for older people or with medical conditions here... plus raised in a colder climate, our bodies can't handle the heat as well as the cold. With the Great Lakes already way warmer than they should be for this time of the year. They may be very steamy this summer.

A person from Arizona may shiver terribly in a heavy coat in 45F weather. At 45F (7C), we wouldn't even bother with a coat unless we'll be outside for hours. Indeed at 45F, some convertibles have their tops down, & a few people are even walking in shorts. It's sort of showing off that we were born here & shock the non-natives. But we melt at 90F because we're not used to it.

[Betty]

Up & down weather today.

6am-60F(16C), 9am-50F(10C), 11am-59F, noon-55F, 1pm-59F, 3pm-55F, now-58F.

Was breathing pretty fair the past couple days until a couple hours ago. Barometer dropped down to a very low 29.30". That's air way to thin for me to breath well. Humidity was up to 74%, but has just gone down to 64%. Hopefully that will help a little. I breath better with lower humidity.

Low of 25F(-4C) tonight. Lows in the teens for Fri. & Sat. night (around -8C). High Sun. of 43F(6C). 54F(12C) expected Mon.

Our hottest visitor in the past 2 hours was 91F(33C) in Buenos Aires. Our coldest was in 2F (-17C) in Fairbanks.

Right now it's a rainy night in London at 45F(7C). 48F in Paris. 39F in Moscow. A sunny morning in Sydney & Auckland at 72F. 43F in Japan. 63F in Hong Kong. 34 in Québec. 64 in NYC. 73 in Los Angeles. A rainy 69F in Washington DC.

[Betty]

Close to 100 million people are at risk for severe weather today through tomorrow afternoon. Earlier in today, storms damaged homes, businesses and trees in Tennessee, Kentucky, southeastern Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia.

The National Weather Service said it received more than 20 reports of tornadoes or possible twisters ripping through parts of Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Tennessee on Tuesday, and reports of one tornado each in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia on Wednesday.

Currently in my town, we're experiencing 35mph winds with gusts up to 45mph. Gusts up to 58-60mph expected later. 70-75mph is considered hurricane strength.

[Betty]

Brrr. 15F (-9C) with a wind chill of 7F. Expecting 8F (-13C) overnight with a wind chill near 0F(-18C). Hard to believe it was in the 50s & 60s a week ago... A big jump from unseasonably very warm to  unseasonably very cold.

[samantha1]

Hi Betty,you seem to have very changeable weather lately