The Storm Chases

As Lori sat in her car plotting the path of the storm, she sent a text to James to see if he agreed with the path. The Last thing she would want to do was be in front of it. You always want to chase a storm from the opposite direction it is heading. Most storms in our area travel in an easterly direction. Sometimes they are northeast sometimes they are southeast. It is the occasional storm that goes against that pattern. This current storm was headed southeast therefore it was important to approach it from the northwest side.

After James sent his agreement to her, she quickly plotted a path to get north of it and try to keep up with it. If she could get north of its path, she could stay ahead of it and watch it heading south. Currently, she was south of the storm path. It was moving quickly, and Lori just had this feeling it was going to drop another tornado. This very storm had produced one before it crossed the state line. There was a lot of traffic for there is a severe storm coming through. It was clear people weren’t paying attention to the weather.

It is kind of like the storm of life. We are not paying attention to what is coming until it is right on top of us. Lori could relate. She had seen what was coming in her personal life but was in denial and didn’t want others to see what was going on. And that is ok for a time. It is embarrassing and humiliating when things happen in your personal life that you do not want others to see. Lori was now using something that she enjoyed to deal with the issues in her life. She could sit at coffee shops or in her rental car and have deep meditation moments or write in her journal. It was a relaxing way to see life from an entirely new perspective and be ok with the new changes coming even though it would not be easy.

The storm kept building to her left and she knew she needed to hurry up and get north of it. If she didn’t hurry, she would be right in the middle of it. She could tell the updrafts were increasing and according to the radar it was starting to have some rotation with it. But she didn’t need the radar at this point. When the sunlight hits the hail within a storm it creates this green light. It glows and makes this eerie looking cloud. She could clearly see it and just knew it wouldn’t be long before this storm dropped hail at the least and then possibly a tornado.

She had thought today was going to be a good day for chasing storms. The forecast all week had looked promising for this day. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center had put the area under an elevated risk for the day. She was honestly glad to get out of the house. The issues she was having to deal with kept mounting daily and she would be glad when they were over. But right now, she didn’t have to think about any of that. She was storm chasing and loving every minute of it.

And there it was. She could see the rotation slowing moving downwards and it connected with the earth scoring it as it moved along. Her phone then went off with the tornado warning for the area she was in. As she was driving she pointed the dashcam right at the tornado. She was still south of it and it was clear now that she was not going to make it north of the tornado before it got to the area she was headed. She stopped the car and looked at it. The radar showed it moving right towards her. As she pulled into the Burger King parking lot, she knew that the freezer would be a safe place. Thankful she had purchased the insurance for the Rental Car she grabbed her camera and her HAM radio and quickly went inside the restaurant. As she was walking, she called on the SKYWARN frequency and confirmed the tornado was on the ground and its location with direction moving. Grabbed a few photos and then told everyone in the restaurant the storm was right about to them, and they needed to take shelter. They all quickly moved to the freezer. Hope you brought a jacket it is cold in there but at least you would be safe. About the time they got the freezer closed the power went out. Now they were in a cold freezer with no light. But at least they were safe.

As Lori was in the freezer, she felt safer than she did at home. She thought back to the many years that passed by and wondered why she spent all those years living in fear. Here she was in a life-threatening situation, and she felt at peace. The past was behind her, and she would no longer have to live in that past situation.

About 10 minutes had passed by and she wanted to get out and see what had happened. The door opened easily, and everything appeared to be standing inside the building. Maybe the tornado didn’t touch them. Tornadoes are tricky. As she looked around everything south of her was fine but those buildings and things north of her were in bad shape. A tree branch is all that touched Lori’s car and barely a scratch at that. She radioed back in that the tornado was past her location. She had looked around and could still see the tornado on the ground.

She then went to go check on people and walked up to where some of the buildings had been destroyed to make sure everyone was ok or if anyone needed help. All she found were a few minor injuries. Thankfully everyone was listening to the warnings and sought shelter. It is important to pay attention in life. Just like the storms that we go through during different seasons of the year, we go through storms in our life. It is what we do during the storm that matters.

After checking on some people ensuring that others were ok and that there were not any emergencies around, Lori walked back to her car and headed towards home. A home that now only her puppies awaited her. Lori was ok with that. She was healing from this storm in her life, and while there may have been some bumps and bruises from debris hitting her, the emergency had passed and now it was time to come out of her shell.

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