Severe Thunder Storm Alert

     Last evening I was watching an old black and white movie on TCM when suddenly, the screen on the TV went red and a loud European-like siren blasted from the TV That was followed by a voice speaking French, which didn’t do much to clear up what was happening.  Then the screen went to yellow, with some printing, still in French.  I was able to pick out the word “Prince George”.  Fortunately then the voice and printed words switched to English, but they still left me confused.

    The gist of the message was that there was a severe thunder storm warning that could include heavy rain, hailstones, and a possible tornado in the Prince George area.  Now, Prince George is 230 miles away, but still we are sometimes lumped into that “area”, so I wasn’t sure if the warning included the Robson Valley or not, after all, we did receive the warning on our satellite TV.

    Seeking more accurate information I went to my iPad, and checked my Lightning Tracker App.  It showed me that nothing was happening around us, but Prince George was sure getting hammered (photo above,  McBride isn’t shown.)  Zooming out on the app (photo below) to show McBride, I was able to see that there where a multitude of lighting strikes all around McBride, but fortunately all far away.

    Kona had been acting nervously and needy, and I suspect she had somehow picked up on atmospheric disturbance even before we were made aware of the warnings.  That had happened to her before, even though we had not heard any thunder.

    We prepared for a disturbing night, since our radar apps showed a small storm heading our way after midnight, but our night ended up peacefully, with no storm ever hitting us. 

    This morning, I scanned the headlines and found no reference to any tornado.  I had been amazed at even hearing the possibility of a tornado, because in the forty-five years of living in the Interior of BC, I have never before heard of the area getting a possible tornado.   These days with the climate in flux, I guess we never know what will happen.  (A couple of years ago we suffered under a heat dome and had temperatures of 41°C (105°F) which was unheard of in the Robson Valley.)

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