Walking away from destruction in Alabama (courtesy WKRG-TV via AP)
The photo above was taken yesterday by a TV photographer in the unincorporated community of Beauregard in Lee County, east of Auburn, in east central Alabama. The community took a direct hit from a tornado estimated to be at the significant EF3 level, killing twenty-three people, including a number of small children. In the span of just a few minutes, the half mile wide twister took more lives than the entire tornado death toll nationwide in 2018. The couple pictured is likely walking away from their home which was probably either seriously damaged or destroyed. They are likely in shock and grief after losing their belongings and home, yet they are among the lucky ones who survived the onslaught.
The tornado was part of a series of such storms that rolled across southern and central Alabama and the Florida Panhandle before moving into Georgia and South Carolina, the result of a colder air mass colliding with moist Gulf air moving northward on land. Hot and cold definitely don't mix in weather, and the resulting turbulence generated into a spin cycle that makes tornadoes so dangerous. These storms are always a threat around the time of the Ides of March as the season moves from ice cold to warm with the jet stream pushing the still very cold air of the north into the Southland. There is no way to stop that from happening. The advance warning, while improving, is quite short in time and unless one is attuned to weather radio or some other similar information source it often arrives with no knowledge.
I have written many times about the strength and power of ocean and coastal tides and waves at this time of year, but nothing comes with the suddenness of a tornado and the result can be ruined or destroyed lives and homes in short order. It shows the power of nature and how mankind will never fully conquer the strength of our natural environs.
This much I can say with certainty. My own experience with a tornado came in the latter part of winter many moons ago when I was undergoing military training In Missouri, a definite hot spot in tornado alley. We had been out on a field training exercise and were on our way back to barracks on foot when the tornado sirens went off all over the post. We went into ditches beside the road and could hear the noise of a tornado, sounding like a freight train, but not right over us but off in the near distance. When the all clear signal came, we finished our march and when arriving in the barracks area our building was fine, but another not far away was gone. It left behind a straight line of debris in the direction the tornado followed after flattening the building. The normal occupants were fortunate that they, just like my training group, had been out in the field when the tornado struck. Had the twister hit in the dark of night with little warning, untold numbers might not have awakened the next day.
Like all violent storms of nature, never assume you are out of harm's way until you know the storm has passed. And that is just another message as we near the Ides of March for this year. Stay alert, stay ready, stay alive. And may God shine His light of love and comfort for all of those in Beauregard, Alabama this day.
The tornado was part of a series of such storms that rolled across southern and central Alabama and the Florida Panhandle before moving into Georgia and South Carolina, the result of a colder air mass colliding with moist Gulf air moving northward on land. Hot and cold definitely don't mix in weather, and the resulting turbulence generated into a spin cycle that makes tornadoes so dangerous. These storms are always a threat around the time of the Ides of March as the season moves from ice cold to warm with the jet stream pushing the still very cold air of the north into the Southland. There is no way to stop that from happening. The advance warning, while improving, is quite short in time and unless one is attuned to weather radio or some other similar information source it often arrives with no knowledge.
I have written many times about the strength and power of ocean and coastal tides and waves at this time of year, but nothing comes with the suddenness of a tornado and the result can be ruined or destroyed lives and homes in short order. It shows the power of nature and how mankind will never fully conquer the strength of our natural environs.
This much I can say with certainty. My own experience with a tornado came in the latter part of winter many moons ago when I was undergoing military training In Missouri, a definite hot spot in tornado alley. We had been out on a field training exercise and were on our way back to barracks on foot when the tornado sirens went off all over the post. We went into ditches beside the road and could hear the noise of a tornado, sounding like a freight train, but not right over us but off in the near distance. When the all clear signal came, we finished our march and when arriving in the barracks area our building was fine, but another not far away was gone. It left behind a straight line of debris in the direction the tornado followed after flattening the building. The normal occupants were fortunate that they, just like my training group, had been out in the field when the tornado struck. Had the twister hit in the dark of night with little warning, untold numbers might not have awakened the next day.
Like all violent storms of nature, never assume you are out of harm's way until you know the storm has passed. And that is just another message as we near the Ides of March for this year. Stay alert, stay ready, stay alive. And may God shine His light of love and comfort for all of those in Beauregard, Alabama this day.
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