The Gusty Winds of March

   March blew in with tornado warnings all over the map. We got our share of high winds through not as bad as other areas and everyone breathed a sigh of relief when this one missed us.
   Like everyone else we stayed tuned to the Weather Channel as it tracked the storms and kept our ears glued to the radio for local warnings plus got prepared to head for the basement  or any other point of safety.
   Violent storms are a part of March weather as seasonal patterns change. Tornadoes form when cold air from the north fueled by strong winds from the west meets a layer of warm air coming up from the Gulf of Mexico. We've grown to expect to tornadoes in March.
   Surprisingly according to the National Weather Service November holds the record for the month of the most frequent tornadoes. The weather conditions at that time are about the same as they are in March.
   A Tornado Outbreak is a designation given when a group of confirmed tornadoes are formed from the same system. The number varies from 6 to 10 plus. The record outbreak occurred in late April of 2011, which covered a three day period.
  There were tornadoes in 21 states for a total spawn of 358 confirmed. This one period accounted for over 20% of the total tornadoes in the United States for that given year. 300 lives were lost and there was over eleven billion dollars in damages.
  The year of the Super Tornadoes were 1974, which many of us remember. Friends lost loved ones as the storms cut through the county. Nation wide tornadoes developed that night from Louisiana to Michigan as the storms roared east.
   Many years ago we stood in our garden and watched a miniature tornado (called dust devils out west) come up our driveway. The sound of a freight train where there was no train alerted us. The whirling wind came up from the gorge, jumped from one side of the drive to the other laying our hay fields flat in swirled patterns. It finally died out when it struck a pile of sticks and brush we'd cleared from a fence row throwing debris high into the air.
  The photo is from Google (NWS origin) is a clear illustration of a tornado. They are a part of our national weather patterns and there is nothing we can do to prevent them.
   For safety heed the warnings, know the best places in your home and workplace to take shelter, stock some food and water there, and stay tuned to you local station for up-to-date reports on approaching storms.