Tornadoes and other things

Wow, it's been a wild week for weather. So many tornadoes. So scary. And floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and a volcano erupting, all this year.

But back to tornadoes. I saw a short video posted by The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel (of Salisbury, I might add) of a wall cloud. Being curious, I googled wall cloud. Found some gorgeous photos of impressive wall clouds and read that these often precede formation of a tornado.

As I was perusing the photos, however, I realized that while I have  not, to my knowledge, seen an actual wall cloud, I have seen during thunderstorms some cloud formations that resemble the wall clouds. I am not sure exactly what defines and separates a wall cloud from other clouds that might look like them, but I've seen swirly looking clouds like the ones in the photos Google so obligingly provided.

Maybe it's a good thing I didn't know what I was looking at.

There was apparently a tornado just north of the town where I was born, Jonesboro Arkansas.

I've always been terrified by tornadoes. Not sure why. Because they're so unpredictable? They appear so fast, wreak so much havoc in such a short time? I wonder if my fear goes back to watching "The Wizard of Oz" as a child.

It's fascinating how you can be in relatively close proximity to a tornado, watch it, and never be in any danger, but other people are caught up and destroyed in them, or their property is demolished.

We tend to be more threatened by hurricanes here on the coast. Hurricanes are scary, too, but as long as we can preduct them, warn people and so on, we can escape. We can prepare by boarding up windows and leaving the area. You cannot stand nearby and watch a hurricane. It's all-encompassing and quite violent, and it doesn't come and go in moments.

These are scary times. The Earth seems to be in turmoil right now. Something's different. Climate change? Coincidence? Time will tell.

I am not nervous or anxious, though, that's the curious thing. I think I was more anxious when I was younger. Now, I feel more at peace with myself and the world. Thank you, God, for that.