Tornado Alley, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City -- 5:25 pm: As any other typical day in our household, I was fixing dinner. The local news stations like KFOR and KOCO warned us days before to be on guard for tornadoes all week, especially this day. They were right!

I have always loved a good Oklahoma spring storm (minus the tornado factor). In fact, there was a time when I wanted to be a storm chaser back in the day when I lived in Pennsylvania. Since I moved to Oklahoma and now lived through four tornadoes, I since decided I would let the storm chasing to someone else, but I still love a great thunderstorm. This aspect has not changed. Thunder, lightning, and a good soaking rain do it for me.

5:27 pm: Literally, without warning, tornado sirens blast in Bethany, Oklahoma. I rushed to turn the local news on to see where the tornado was and where it was heading. Circulation was just east of us and heading straight for Wilshire Boulevard, a cross street of where I live! As I always do, I gather my kids, my pets, and my insurance documents up and put them all in the makeshift shelter normally called our bathroom. My neighbor and close friend Tracey hurries down her stairs and pounds on my door "Let me in! It's coming!" It's heading straight for us!" As I turn my eyes to the sky, a yellow, rain wrapped sky is all I can see, and as a sick feeling in my stomach comes over me as I see, roof shingles come off an apartment complex down the street. I yelled, "Everyone in the bathroom, and cover your heads!" My children and the neighbor's children were in my bathtub, heads covered under pillows as the storm rattled the house like a train coming full force! With each shake of the house, I prayed that glass would not be broken, and our lives would be spared. It was so difficult to see the actual tornado because of the rain soaked wind.

5:30 pm: As the storm passes us overhead, the lights in the house begin to flicker. Tornado sirens now begin to blow in Warracres, my suburb. Those who have been in tornadoes before are 100% correct in saying there is no sound you can use to describe a tornado's wind. Some try to describe it as a train, others say it is like a loud high-pitched whistle; maybe it is a mixture of both, but even this description does not completely cut it.

The pressure you also feel against your head during a tornado is like reaching higher altitudes in a jumbo jet! At times, it down right hurts!

5:35 pm: The tornado leaves our area and heads straight for Edmond, where it unfortunately strengthens and does more damage. Cautiously watching the news as my children stay in the bathroom, we looked outside to see what was standing. Thankfully, everything was intact; no visible damage seen, no glass shattered, and everyone was alive. I thought to myself, "How could this be?" 10 minutes ago, I was eye to eye with this tornado, and now, it is gone. The only explanation I have is that the vortex "jumped" over us and left us alone. As the children calmed down, all I could think was, we lucked out once again. Thank you God!

May 13 may be another red-letter day in tornado alley, Oklahoma. Springtime storm predictions streamed in the local news, and tornadoes are to rear their ugly head once again as a cold front merges with a dry line. Nevertheless, for now, we are safe.