Its storm season. And for Kansans, we usually know what to look for when a severe storm is coming. Tell tale signs are usually the thick bubbly looking green-ish gray clouds looking up at the underside of the storm clouds and the distinctively giant wall clouds for a start.
But storm chasers look for other more definitive signs and I quote from Yankee Magazine’s Now That’s Ingenious! book: “—-the best warning signs that a thunder-storm harbors a tornado is the size of the hail. “The larger the hail, the more severe the storm,” he says. It’s the most severe storms that bring tornadoes, and they usually strike right after the hail ends. —-” [Terry Marshall]
Other pieces of advice that I see heavily ignored across the mid-west by homesteads are the yards not being cleaned and well maintained. That’s why emergency services usually say damage and deaths can be minimalized, and even prevented, if everyone would keep their yards clean. And they mean keep your trees and shrubs groomed and free of any and all dead or decaying limbs, put away yard tools and equipment by placing them in sheds or the home, if you know a storm is coming pull in the patio furniture and lightweight flower pots, kids’ toys, pet bowls, etc. Doing these simple things around your home will even make cleanup after a storm much easier for not just you but your neighbors too. —–CRISTI
