I'd Been So Lucky...
So far this year I've managed to avoid "tornado" season. I've been in a few areas where there were a few watches, but no real warnings, as the meteorological world refers to the immediate danger of an actual tornado. Last spring I was dodging them left and right, with one particular near miss in, I believe it was, western Tennessee.
Then I got dispatched to pick up a load near Dayton, OH that is bound for Nogales, AZ. The load has so far taken me from one storm system to another. Yesterday as I made my way across I-44 in Missouri I endured some pretty hectic weather and apparently got very lucky when I saw a big storm on the horizon but managed to get by it unscathed. Local radio station reports later confirmed at least two tornado's produced by that storm.
Today I continued along I-44 and ran into a very nasty storm west of Oklahoma City, OK which prompted me to have to pull off on the shoulder (which I hate doing) because the wind f'd up my drivers' side windshield wiper and I couldn't see where I was going because the wiper wasn't clearing the rain off the windshield.
The wind and torrential rain was the worst I've probably ever seen in my life in that storm and I feel quite certain that if a tornado didn't spawn from that storm, the straight line winds were plenty bad enough to do some serious damage to the area. I am loaded very heavy and usually the weight helps keep things steady in windy weather... but the winds were tough to battle during that squall.
Once I got closer to the TX border the sunshine started to peek out then the clouds started to move east leaving blue skies littered with big fluffy white clouds behind. I figured the worst was over...
But as I started typing this my truck started rocking. As I'm in Amarillo I kinda just assumed someone had approached my truck, got on the side steps and was about to start knocking. Then I realized it was wind. I hopped up to the front seat and opened the curtain to see a huge brown cloud filling the sky... wind and dust storm... ahead of what is apparently a severe thunderstorm headed right for me. Yay.
So I shall hang out, hold tight and hope for the best. I'm already tired of tornado season. When is winter again?
The good thing about this load bound for AZ is that it will take me through my first "home away from home" where I lived for nearly two years. It'll be nice to see the Tularosa Basin and Alamogordo New Mexico again. It's been ages since I've been there and have often thought about it fondly. I have also considered it a place I'd be happy to retire to when I come of that age to be doing such things. It'll be fun to drive through the old stomping grounds and remember the fun I had while I lived there.
Then I got dispatched to pick up a load near Dayton, OH that is bound for Nogales, AZ. The load has so far taken me from one storm system to another. Yesterday as I made my way across I-44 in Missouri I endured some pretty hectic weather and apparently got very lucky when I saw a big storm on the horizon but managed to get by it unscathed. Local radio station reports later confirmed at least two tornado's produced by that storm.
Today I continued along I-44 and ran into a very nasty storm west of Oklahoma City, OK which prompted me to have to pull off on the shoulder (which I hate doing) because the wind f'd up my drivers' side windshield wiper and I couldn't see where I was going because the wiper wasn't clearing the rain off the windshield.
The wind and torrential rain was the worst I've probably ever seen in my life in that storm and I feel quite certain that if a tornado didn't spawn from that storm, the straight line winds were plenty bad enough to do some serious damage to the area. I am loaded very heavy and usually the weight helps keep things steady in windy weather... but the winds were tough to battle during that squall.
Once I got closer to the TX border the sunshine started to peek out then the clouds started to move east leaving blue skies littered with big fluffy white clouds behind. I figured the worst was over...
But as I started typing this my truck started rocking. As I'm in Amarillo I kinda just assumed someone had approached my truck, got on the side steps and was about to start knocking. Then I realized it was wind. I hopped up to the front seat and opened the curtain to see a huge brown cloud filling the sky... wind and dust storm... ahead of what is apparently a severe thunderstorm headed right for me. Yay.
So I shall hang out, hold tight and hope for the best. I'm already tired of tornado season. When is winter again?
The good thing about this load bound for AZ is that it will take me through my first "home away from home" where I lived for nearly two years. It'll be nice to see the Tularosa Basin and Alamogordo New Mexico again. It's been ages since I've been there and have often thought about it fondly. I have also considered it a place I'd be happy to retire to when I come of that age to be doing such things. It'll be fun to drive through the old stomping grounds and remember the fun I had while I lived there.
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