People who don’t live in tornado alley often ask me, “How much warning do you get before a tornado arrives?” In this case, it was around 24 hours. On the Sunday evening news, we were warned of possible tornadoes Monday evening. That doesn’t mean there’s much you can do about it (other than not be home when it hits), but at least you know it’s coming.

On the way home from work Monday, Susan took this picture with her cell phone.

That is what’s called a “rope tornado”, and it was right over our home town (Yukon). Fortunately it was small, and didn’t do much damage. The people of Choctaw, however, saw this:

Yeah. That’s not good. And by the way, often tornadoes bring hail. My friend Hubert took this picture in his front yard yesterday.

Again, yeah — that’s friggin’ baseball sized hail! Do you know what happens when that hits your car? This happens:

Oh, and as for that big tornado — do you know what happens when that hits your convenient store? This happens:

For the record, this is the Love’s we stopped at to get gas on the way home with the camper on Sunday, the night before.

Our friends and family are fine, although I heard reports of at least one co-worker’s home being demolished and others sustaining serious damage.

Wind. It’s stronger than you think.