Day 8: Tornado Watch

Before I get to the real excitement of the day, let me give you a quick definition. IA stands for individual augmentee. I am an IA. What this basically means is that I, as Navy personnel, have been called to augment or help out the Army. Consequently, I am not sent with anyone else from my current command (Fallon). I train with and then work with the Army. For this reason I am at an Army base, Fort Riley, and will, when in Afghanistan, fall under the direction of the Army. I only mention this so that you understand why I am here versus at a Navy base. Also, you may see me throw out this term later on in my blog...so now you will understand what I am talking about.

Well, when I first arrived in Kansas I joked with some of the other Navy guys that I was hoping to see a tornado before I left. Today I learned that you should be careful what you wish for. At approximately 10 AM a storm blew in. Initially it was only rainy but then quickly turned into a pretty strong hail storm. The sky darkened and then sirens started sounding indicating that we were in the midst of a tornado warning. Now I didn’t actually get my wish...I did not see any true funnel clouds. However, some in my group who had a better view were able to see some small ones that formed, but that did not make it down to the ground. I haven’t heard of any official tornado touchdowns in the area. However, I do know that Manhattan, Kansas (20 minutes down the road) had some golf ball and baseball sized hail which caused some significant damage. The storm passed within a few hours and the remainder of the day was pretty calm. It was somewhat exciting but I have decided that I no longer truly wish to see an actual tornado...I think I will stick to watching tornados on the internet or news.

Here is some footage from the day. Initially you will see the hail storm followed by the video of the dark storm clouds (they actually were much darker at the storm’s peak) and tornado warning sirens. The picture is of some of my group in the hallway during the storm. This was considered the most tornado safe part of the building we were in.