Hello friends and Hivers. I'm joining in on the fun with the #POBphotocontest photography contest, an initiative of @friendlymoose, for the third time I think. And this week it's all about clouds, so let me share my experience and photography.
Well yesterday (Friday) the theme of the week in this photo contest came to me in the form of tornado warnings and watches. A majority of these photos were taken between 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. There was an eerie feeling in the air. The sky color was different and had the feeling that something not so well was about to happen. I live an area where there are a lot of birds and other wildlife.
All living things are not present except us curious humans. At one point all my neighbors were outside witnessing the storm front coming in. Like me everyone was wanting to capture a unique nature occurrence. Perhaps a little on the unsafe side but rest assured if I seen or heard a tornado I would have bolted like lightening to the basement. Most of us had our patio doors open listening and hearing the news tracking the storms as we witnessed it first hand.
No birds chirping, no rabbits hopping around, no squirrels jumping in the trees just no signs of sound or presence of wildlife. It's true animals can sense danger when nature presents it. I often wonder where they hide because I have never found there hiding places. This type of activity is called the calm before the storm.
Living in the Great plains you can really see for miles once you get out of the hustle and bustle of the city. I live on the out skirts of a city, as you can see beyond my backyard are fields. Witnessing a storm such as this one is both amazing and kind of scary at the same time. There was some lightening and rain. We did not experience any hail or see any tornadoes. It's a fact tornadoes can cause horrific damage but hail damage can add up to be substantial as well. The danger was really close to us and sirens were going off for more than hour straight.
Wow waking up this morning I did not realize how many tornadoes were actually sighted. Yesterday was said to be the worst tornadic activity here in 32 years. How close was the activity to me? I live just to the South East of Omaha, so very close. I did witness live tornado activity on the news channel and had friends who actually captured photos of tornadoes. In 2016 I did photograph a tornado and I have witnessed a handful of them throughout the years but nothing closer than 5 miles. I hope not to witness one much closer.
Initially I thought none of the tornadoes hit any towns heads on. Unfortunately it did hit a few small towns in its path. There were many businesses and houses that were completely destroyed. I can't fathom taking cover in a basement and climbing out of it with no house standing.There were also a handful of injuries but fornately I haven't heard of any deaths. Watching numerous interviews with those affected the one thing that most our thankful for is coming out with everyone alive.
What's in store today? Unfortunately at about the same time more of the same. Hopefully a shift in weather will cause this activity not to happen again. More importantly if it does I hope everyone will come out safe and damage will be minimal.
Thanks for stopping by I really appreciate it. Take care, stay safe and have a great rest of your weekend. Until next time!