Are You a Weather Spotter?

Guest Blog by Jacki Hull of Bedford, Virginia

Written about April 19 and 20 storms

“Well, two ugly storms in one week is enough for us for a while. Today has been full of dark clouds, winds, rain. Then as we
were sitting on the porch for a quiet read of the daily paper, I could see rapidly rotating clouds, some heavy rain and heard
a roar of the wind.

Tornado Safety

“I told Peter (spouse) that we needed to get inside. As we moved ourselves to the living room, I prayed that it would not come
our way. (In 2002 a tornado did set down on Kelso Mill Road not far from us.) Well, the funnel stayed about a mile west of
us, but what a mess. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but our friends were really shaken. Buildings down along with trees.
It was duly noted by me how fierce the wind was because the bark was stripped off branches and 200-year-old trees twisted
and shorn of their branches. Electricity was out because poles were down and the lines were broken.

“I called the electric company to report no electricity on Solaridge. The gentleman asked me my location which I told him. Then he
told me there had been a tornado, the crews were on their way and it would be a few hours before everything was back online.

“Because (at the time) Channel 13 didn’t seem to know for sure if it was a tornado, I called the National Weather Bureau to let them know what I had seen. I love the weather and clouds and have been a weather spotter for years since taking a weather class at CVCC. Anyway, Ben at NWB told me the investigators would be coming to Kelso Mill Road and Sharp Mountain Road to check the damage and make an assessment tomorrow which would be on the news Saturday night. I asked him to call me and let us know what their findings are.

“Well, that’s all the excitement for today. Like I said two ugly storms in one week is enough all ready.”