[arel]

Hi all.

After yesterday's tornado in Brooklyn, there has been some concern, posted privately and on at least one thread, about whether or not I was affected.

I'm fine. My neighborhood was untouched. For me, the storm was just very noisy, with crash after crash of thunder. I did not hear any loud wind, and I knew nothing of a tornado watch or warning. It simply would not have occurred to me to worry about a tornado in Brooklyn. So I wasn't scared.

Unless the forecast has changed since I last listened, they are predicting another big thunderstorm tomorrow morning, I think.

Now the rules have changed. Now I will be concerned about a tornado. Well, maybe. Maybe yesterday's tornado was a freak event.

Maybe I will buy an emergency weather radio.

Who would have dreamed there would be a tornado in Brooklyn? In Brooklyn, we worry about dangerous people, not dangerous weather. We don't even worry about hurricanes, and we should.

[DareToDream]

Arel - Glad you are okay! I have friends in Brooklyn who said they only had a lot of thunder and lightning, but no tornado......Has there ever been a documented tornado in Brooklyn before? We had a couple of small ones in the Mid-Hudson region when we lived there, but I don't remember ever hearing of one in Brooklyn or the other boroughs........

[arel]

Nope. I think this is the first tornado in Brooklyn since record keeping began. There have been a few tornadoes in NYC, I've learned, but this was the strongest. It was an F2.The others were F1 or F0.

The tornado damage was very localized.

When I got up, the streets had dried and you'd never think anything had happened.

I haven't visited the damage sites, but I have seen pictures. And I've heard they've cleaned them up already.

I'm waiting for a hurricane and an earthquake.

Now I have another reason to move to Vermont. And another reason to be glad I turned down that job in the South Bronx.

Fortunately, right now I am not dependent on the subway for my work. I drive. So, thankfully, I did not go through the hours of misery that so many people experienced yesterday.

[tkln]

It took one of my co-workers 5 hours to drive about 15 miles yesterday. It affected almost everyone's commute in some way...it was an insane storm and left almost as quickly as it came.

Glad to see you are okay!

[DareToDream]

Originally Posted by arel

Nope. I think this is the first tornado in Brooklyn since record keeping began. There have been a few tornadoes in NYC, I've learned, but this was the strongest. It was an F2.The others were F1 or F0.

The tornado damage was very localized.

When I got up, the streets had dried and you'd never think anything had happened.

I haven't visited the damage sites, but I have seen pictures. And I've heard they've cleaned them up already.

I'm waiting for a hurricane and an earthquake.

Now I have another reason to move to Vermont. And another reason to be glad I turned down that job in the South Bronx.

Fortunately, right now I am not dependent on the subway for my work. I drive. So, thankfully, I did not go through the hours of misery that so many people experienced yesterday.

Definitely be glad you don't need the subway for work! They said that was a royal mess. We had a couple of earthquakes in the Mid-Hudson region while we lived there, very mild, just rattled the dishes and felt more like a big truck driving buy. We also had a couple of hurricanes that came through many years ago.....Never know what Mother Nature will through at us

[sugarmaple]

Hi, glad to hear you are fine; I thought of you when I saw the headlines....a tree grows in brooklyn, we all know that {smile}...strange and scary stuff all of these weather/climate changes...freak storms everywhere...for awhile this spring and summer, the weather in VT was so bizarre and so unlike VT...a couple of years ago, we had a small tornado in VT...however the 'officials' for some reason called it a micro-burst....I never heard of that before...ripped up trees, damage was amazing...one completely wooded land parcel became an open meadow with views...

take care of yourself.

[vter]

We have tornadoes here in VT occaisonally. Windsheer (sp?) is more common (or microburst as mentioned above). A good friend of ours had the top of a very large pine tree come off, travel in it's vertical position about 40 feet, then dropped into their roof. The mets were trying to figure out if it was a tornado or windsheer - windsheer won out!

[Suzet2262]

I am glad you are ok Arel!!

[arel]

Thank you, everyone, for your expressions of concern.

I checked the NYC forum several times and saw no mention of the tornado on the thread list. Maybe there was some mention of the tornado within the threads, but I didn't take the time to look.

We New Yorkers are known for our blase attitudes. But a tornado in Brooklyn??? That's really something. I'm surprised there is no thread about it. According to the Weather Channel's website, this was the first tornado in Brooklyn in about 100 years. It was not the first recorded tornado, as I erroneously wrote on an earlier post.

I've read that there will be more severe weather in NYC because of global warming.

Hopefully, I'll be visiting Brattleboro before the end of the month. Right now the friend at whose home I stay when I visit is away. This weekend I plan to visit friends in southern Rhode Island.

So much has been happening in NYC. A bursing steam pipe, causing what looked like a volcano on the street, subway flooding, a tornado in Brooklyn. I must get myself to Vermont as soon as I can. I hope it doesn't take a hurricane, serious crime, major earthquake or nuclear attack to break my attachment to NYC.

What's holding me back? Three things, basically: attachment, inertia and fear.

That is: attachment to NYC and to my familiar home, inertia and resistance regarding the intense amount of physical and emotional work involved in moving, and fear of regret. I also have practical concerns about the Vermont economy, and, less so, about the winter and winter driving. At least I know I would be moving to Brattleboro; the only other alternatives, at least for the future, would be Burlington, Middlebury or Montpelier. A tiny town would not be a good fit for a New Yorker, except maybe Waitsfield.

I bet when I move in there will be a steam pipe explosion and a tornado. So no culture shock for me.

[Dwatted Wabbit]

Glad to hear you're OK. Haven't been here lately, then couldn't get signed in.
Being in a huge city during a huge disaster is an experience I don't want to have.