Scary Night!
 

We had a pretty scary night here last night... well really, it was an all day thing, but got worse in the evening! Pretty much all of Saskatchewan was under severe tornado watch, something that is not common at all. I mean, we *sometimes* get a tornado warning, but I've never seen a "watch" before. And the fact that tornado hunters from all over the US were coming up to SK to get footage/data was pretty freaky! Those guys know what they are talking about!

It was hot, and 97% humidity, something that rarely happens here. I've never felt it so muggy here before. In the afternoon, we got a huge thunderstorm, rain, some areas close to me reported large hailstones. There were those big, freaky bubbly clouds for part of the afternoon. Then it cleared up, and we had supper like normal.

Just as I was cleaning up my supper dishes, it started getting dark, and I asked DH to take some stuff to our yucky basement (it's mostly dirt, some cement, completely gross). He set up a blanket & cushions to sit on, our emergency kit, the kids favorite blankies & stuffies, dry clothes & shoes. I went outside a couple times, watching the clouds. I saw this:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...66476274_n.jpg

Not sure if you can tell, but the darker gray cloud in the center is actually a bit of a whirl. I stood out on the street and watched it for a minute, but the lightning was getting so fast & furious, I was scared of being struck by lightning, so I ran inside, lol. I uploaded my photo to FB, and within 1 minute of me coming inside, it was SO dark outside - almost like night! DH started calling me to come into my DD's bedroom (which faces the street I was just standing on & took the swirl picture). He pointed and said "What does that look like to you?", so I looked and saw a HUGE funnel cloud, black as could be, and the sky was a hideous green/brown color!

We live 4 houses from the edge of our town, and the funnel was not that far into the field - it was very close! The wind was going wild, and it started pouring rain. We grabbed the girls, our cell phones, & I grabbed our phone, and made 3 panicked phone calls, 1 to my parents, 1 to my sister, and 1 to my best friend, yelling to get the heck into the basement!!!

When it was safe to come up, the sky was clearing up (amazing how that happens). I went on FB to see if anyone had got a picture, or to see if it touched down. A neighbor snapped this picture:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...59499328_o.jpg

Everything was okay though. It just skirted past town, and never touched down. It was very scary though. Normally we don't get tornadoes. Like I said earlier, we sometimes get a warning, maybe once a summer, but this was the first time we ever saw something, and had to get into the basement! The girls thought it was a grand adventure, sitting in the basement room (that is our storage room, and they were a bunch of toys)... Avalynne wanted to stay down there, even when it was safe to come up, lol!!

All in all, a very scary night! Thankfully, the storm cells have seemed to pass. Today we are having violent winds (90 kph / 56 mph), but no more threat of tornadoes or funnel clouds!!

Oh my gosh!!!! Your post gave me the chills. I'm so glad you and your family are okay.

Wow Jae - glad you were on top of it and prepared. That is really scary. I'm so glad no one was hurt.

oh wow. That is scary business! I'm glad you stayed safe!

Eeek! That IS scary! Tornadoes scare me like crazy... so unpredictable. So glad you all were safe!!!

Yikes, Im glad you are okay.

That sounded scary enough but looked even worse. I am so glad we don't get stuff like this in England

omg...that is scary!

Oh my gosh i am glad everyone is okay id be freaking out getting chills while reading your post

That's very scary! I have never seen anything like that, I hope I never will! Glad you are all ok!

I'm glad you're all okay! How scary.

Tornadoes are definitely something to be cautious of. They scare me quite a bit now that I have kids. I'm glad you were all safe!!

I didn't realize they were so rare there since we do actually get them here and I'm just a bit further south than you. Weird. Glad you are all safe and you didn't get a bad scare.

Yikes! Glad you are all safe!

How scary! I am so glad we don't have big tornadoes here.

Yikes!! Glad y'all are all safe!!

We get them a lot here in the spring/summer. Here though it's opposite. A Watch just means conditions are favorable for a tornado and a warning means one has been spotted. I hate tornadoes or any storms for that matter. I get literally sick to my stomach it stresses me out so much. They freak me out

Oh man that is so scary and so very neat too! Glad you guys are safe!

How scary!! I am glad you are all safe!

We get warning and watches quite frequently here in IL. Not so much where we live now but when we lived a bit further south we got them all the time. A tornado destroyed part of my parent's town two years ago, just a block away from my parent's house....we had my son's graduation party atheir place on June 2010 and then packed up and headed home that evening...later that night the town got hit. It had been beautiful and sunny all day long and came out of nowhere. Tornados are scary stuff!! I get so nervous when it start to rain/storm...or even when it's sunny but windy! I HATE storms!!

Oh WOW, so glad you're all safe

wow that got close to you Jade!! There sure were some scary times last night....and the night before!! But I think we were on the edge of the nasty stuff, we didnt get it nearly as bad. The winds today were just insane though! Can't wait for some real summer weather here!!

Yikes! Glad you all are safe!

Yeah, I don't like weather like that! I'm glad you are okay.

Glad you all are safe!

I still have a memory of when I was 6 driving home from the zoo and my Dad telling me to look behind us and seeing something similar to that in St. Paul, MN. The green sky and the darkness are something that is hard to describe (and even see in photos)!
You never think it will happen "there" but it does. Like last year when OK and TX had an earthquake! Like seriously in the middle of the freaking continent we have to worry about earthquakes too? Thankfully it was minimal damage. But just reinforces that you never know and it CAN happen to you.

Again...so glad you all were safe and that the kiddos weren't too scarred by the whole ordeal! (Although Momma was a bit I know!)

Holy cow ... that gives me goosebumps! So gald you are all safe!

Omg i'm just glad you and your family are safe!