What's With All the Tornadoes?

It is that time of year. There has been never been a spring season in all my when there wasn't several tornado watches, sometimes multiple a week and a few tornado warnings. I think here in the Midwest (Illinois) we actually are so very used to tornado warnings that we probably don't take them seriously enough. You might think when the weather lady gets on TV saying go to the lowest level of your home that every single person would be rushing down to safety at the suggestion. This is really not the case for the majority. It's like the case of the boy who cried wolf. We can all count many times that they said tornado warning but nothing ever happened. Most people will wait until it looks so bad outside, or the power has either flickered or went off before we head to shelter.

That being said I decided this year I would be more careful. There are have been so many destructive tornadoes this season that I thought I better err on the side of caution. We had a tornado warning last night, right about the same time the huge tornado was destroying part of Missouri. I took my kids and we just set ourselves up in the basement. Nothing happened. I had even been told a tornado was spotted out in a field but heading our way about 10 mile away. It never made it here, and I am thankful for that. There is an old Gypsy story from my hometown about 10 miles from here. The town suffered from a tornado that caused some destruction in town. I forget the year, but it's been a very long time ago. An old gypsy woman in town said a little chant and supposedly this was preventing the town from ever having another tornado hit it. EVER. The story itself is true. The fact that it will protect the town from a tornado is up for grabs. It's a popular story there. Many people do in fact believe it. The town hasn't been hit by a tornado since at all. I wish I could remember the year. All I can say is it has been at least the length of my life. I believe it happened when I was a young child. Makes for a great story anyway!