…if you guessed May Flowers, you will receive half a point. The answer we were looking for was Tornados. Yesterday, I arrived home and found those nice dark clouds rolling in; the one where you know bad weather is surely to follow. Shortly after, it did rain for a bit and the thunder and lightning started, albeit for only about 30 minutes. As I am in Colorado, it brought about a childhood memory when my father was stationed at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) at the base of the Rockies. While unusual, there was a major storm that turned tornadic, except that the tornado was actually up in the mountains. I remember my father pointing it out before the base sirens went off and we all went down to the basement.

According to weather.com, tornados are most prevalent from April to July with May and June being the peak months. So far this year we have had 80 tornados, according to NOAA, which is below the set minimum of 110 and way below the maximum of roughly 500; however, they should start increasing quite rapidly. While the western states really have nothing to fear, the mid-west is generally where all the action lies. Regardless, about 60 people die each year from tornados. With an 11 minute lead time it seems as if there should be plenty of time to warn the people but quite often a complaint surfaces about failing sirens and notification systems. But, as those who work in the emergency management system know, you get what you pay for, and upkeep on, but all too often people don’t realize the importance of such a system until it is too late. One of the never ending struggles of E.M. I suppose.