Hi everyone, thanks for the good thoughts. We are OK here, although the map in that article that Gisela linked to from the Washington Post pretty much surrounded where I live :yikes: .
I heard on the news that one of the tornados in Alabama was maybe a mile wide. Most of the worst of it was in Alabama, which is well to the south of Virginia.
Dan mentioned that tornados don't occur in the UK. My family is from the Midwest of the US, and there tornados are a fact of life.
The house of one of my uncles was destroyed in a huge tornado in Kansas in the mid 70's. I was about 10 then, and Dad and Grandpa and I went to help clean things. I still remember how amazed I was at what tornados can do. That tornado took the entiire house away except for the rock fireplace, and a closet. My aunt's clothes were stil in the closet, and some of her figurines standing on the shelves built into the floor-to-ceiling rock fireplace were unbroken. The tornado left the cows in the pasture near the house, but picked up a Chevy pickup and dumped it about 100 yards away, with no damage.
My aunt and uncle were in the basement during this, and they didn't hear anything except the sound of wind.
..it just looks awful. Anyone still want to complain about the English weather? All our best wishes to our American friends.
