Author Topic: Tennessee Twisters  (Read 166 times)

edwardofhuncote

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Tennessee Twisters
« on: December 10, 2023, 01:41:55 PM »
I'm just hearing about the tornados that hit the Nashville burbs yesterday afternoon/evening. Having lived there, it's amazing how quickly these things can materialize and tear the town up. I remember the boats from a nearby marina in Hendersonville scattered across the town like toys once during my tenure.

I checked in with Joey, but I know of at least two more folks in the area. One of my buddies who runs Huber Banjos https://huberbanjos.com had his shop tore up pretty bad. He's okay though.

bigredbass

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Re: Tennessee Twisters
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2023, 02:22:22 PM »
Tornados in December is NOT what I had in mind for Santa to bring me.

Around dusk here last night, all the local weather radars had a tornado inbound from due west of here.  The last two tornados that damaged the area took exactly the same track.  Plus, Uncle Sam and Homeland Security mounted an air-raid siren a block from my house that would melt a db-meter and I think peeled the paint of the side of the house that faces it.  It goes off, the phone is blasting every other minute with warnings, and my nerves tightened up like a high E string.

We live in an old neighborhood, and our house is surrounded by massive trees which give great shade, but could come over on us.  So we loaded up and went and rode it out at the neighborhood hospital along with others.

They think three tornados came through, and two of them were less than three miles away and 8-9 miles away (incredibly the first was a mile from the hospital).  The first tore up my route to work every day, know those streets very well, and they're shredded with three fatalities.  The second wrecked parts of Hendersonville where Greg's friend has his shop.  6 fatalities so far, and lots and lots of shredded homes, businesses, and lives.

Me and my wife are fine, house is good, but these things are simply become a fact of life around here every other year or so.  My wife is a Nashville native (rare !) and thinks this was never a problem for most of her life, so we think it's one more symptom of Global Warming, but who really knows.

There's nothing like being scared sh****ss to make you appreciate things.


edwardofhuncote

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Re: Tennessee Twisters
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2023, 03:06:52 PM »
There's Joey... I thought you might be headed back to Texas 'bout now.  ;D  Glad y'all got to shelter.


How about Mike B... you got a copy on traffic down there?

cozmik_cowboy

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Re: Tennessee Twisters
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2023, 08:25:36 PM »
A tornado went down the alley behind our house when I was a kid - think '64 or '65.  There were 3 barns on the other side of the alley.  The one on the east was tilted over 45° over the alley.  The one on the west was scattered across our (and the neighbors') yard.  The on in the middle?  Still standing when Dad sold the house 2 years ago.
A college girl who was living with us was helping little brother with his homework in the kitchen, heard it coming, threw him on the floor and herself on top of him (for which I I have always been envious....).  Next day we found pieces of the kitchen window glass buried in the woodwork behind where they'd been sitting.....
My best friend took me out in one of their fields and showed a refrigerator that had ended up there, with a piece of straw driven into the side.

I'd be perfectly happy to never see another one.

And in '90, another one in another state killed a friend of mine.  They are Scary Sh*t.

Glad you're OK, Joey.

Peter
"Is not Hypnocracy no other than the aspiration to discover the meaning of Hypnocracy?  Have you heard the one about the yellow dog yet?"
St. Dilbert

"If I could explain it in prose, i wouldn't have had to write the song."
Robt. Hunter

edwardofhuncote

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Re: Tennessee Twisters
« Reply #4 on: December 11, 2023, 03:02:39 AM »
They happen very rarely here in the mountains, but it does happen. I saw several tornadic waves in Nashville back in the 90's, most just fizzled into microbursts and violent t-storms. Nashville is flat, lots of sprawl, and waterways everywhere. It's hot and humid as dammit-all in Summer, and that breeds these things. A monster F3 storm meandered through East Nashville and right on down Broadway in Spring of '98 and devastated the town. There were literally piles of cars at each end of the street, like someone pushed them there with a giant broom. It was surreal, even in my late 20's. 

The first one I remember was in Thomasville, North Carolina... I was 4, so this would be 1973. A pretty big one came down our street, uprooted the sign from the A & P grocery store and planted it in our yard, while simultaneously picking up my Ol' Man's prized '54 Cadillac and flipping it upside down in the neighbors yard. We had an old slate-topped coffee table... Mom and me hid under that thing until the noise was gone. I went back by that old house on a recent trip to Carolina. It seemed bigger when I was little.

pauldo

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Re: Tennessee Twisters
« Reply #5 on: December 11, 2023, 03:14:22 AM »
Joey,  I would suggest it IS Global Weirding.  Up until just a couple years ago we NEVER heard of tornadoes in December and here we are….   

Glad you and your family are safe.

edwardofhuncote

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Re: Tennessee Twisters
« Reply #6 on: December 12, 2023, 08:49:07 PM »