A Coup D’état of Sorts 4/2/2023

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

If it is springtime and you are in the south, there will be, at some point, and likely at more than one point, bad weather.  I don’t know all the science surrounding it but if I had to guess I would wager it is the last semblance of coolness from winter mixing with the creeping in heat that is ever so casually trying to begin its tyrannical reign of terror that it is so infamously known as the southern summer.  And I know we aren’t anywhere near summer technically but around here it likes to arrive as early as humanly possible. As I type this as a matter of fact, we will be very near the 90 degree mark next week as we just barely move into April so I am not even being overly dramatic when I say that summer is already on the move.  Maybe that is why our weather this time of year tends to be so hostile because it is in fact a literal violent overthrow of the previous season. Yes, that makes sense to me.  Also, I feel completely comfortable in blaming the miserable heat of summer for yet another point of contention so from now on that is the theory I am embracing.  The next bit of stormy weather coming (and I won’t have to wait long) will cause me to shake my fist at the summer as the root of it all.

A few nights back we knew bad storms were coming.  We had heard the forecasters talk for days about significant severe weather being possible.  And ironically as I am typing this I get another notification about the severe weather that is predicted for tonight. While for some reason these outbreaks feel like they almost always happen in the middle of the night which only adds to the fear factor, the experience I am going to begin by talking about today was one of those rare occasions that you could actually be prepared and experience it as it happened.  You could tell something was coming though even if we hadn’t been being warned about as much. It was so abnormally still outside.  It was still to the point that it was disconcerting.  The stillness was only occasionally broken by a sudden powerful wind that would rush through the trees making it almost sound if you were near a waterfall and then just as suddenly it would vanish. Having lived through many a storm scenario like this it is familiar that this is only the beginning stages.  At this point the sky could be dark and cloud filled or it could be just as likely to be sunshine with only the occasional cloud that didn’t remotely seem capable of having any ill will.  But I know, the looks of things at that point cannot be trusted.

Because I know those looks as well as the feel progresses rapidly. On this day what had been deceptive bright sun vanished in a matter of seconds. I had looked out the windows to scoff at the lovely weather and turned my head only briefly. I looked back to see that ominous shade of slate behind the trees. Occasionally there will even be a very off putting yellow tinge to all of the outdoors when storms are coming. This day didn’t have that for whatever reason. Since I am not sure what causes it to occur, I am even less certain what causes it not to occur.  The appearances that weren’t kept up went right along with everything else though. The aforementioned stillness dissolved into leaves and twigs whipping about as the wind steadied itself into gusting constancy. It did not add any consistency to its direction however as you could easily watch some exceptionally limber tree lean as far as it could one way only to be doing the exact same thing in the opposite direction moments later.  It’s difficult to watch that happen and not think of the swirling tornado and it blowing in circles.  I am never fond of seeing the trees looking like spinning compass needles.  It’s never a good thing.

We had done all we could to really batten down our hatches and we just sat and watched. As the atmospheric pressure changed the noises started.  It began with the creaks and pops of the house and then escalated to the disturbing sound as if someone were trying to come in the doors as they were suctioned in multiple directions in their frames. And while the show that this particular storm system put on was quite impressive, this time it was all bark no bite. At least for us. A bit of rain and a rumble of thunder later in the night that did admittedly sound like the house had exploded and that was that.

Later in the week we had more though, and it was not so impotent. We had the dreaded middle of the night phone calls giving warnings of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. No one is a fan of the middle of the night phone call and the ones warning you of impending danger is no different. There is nothing quite like the existential dread of hearing a robot call mispronounce the names of native American towns as she tells you of places in the path of damaging winds, possible twisters and baseball sized hail.  It makes for a restless night for countless reasons.  This was a Saturday night and though the night the dreaded calls came with computer voices and dire messages and every time it mentioned this area you can’t help but wince a bit.

The following Sunday the threat continued. Arriving at church we heard tales of people who had the rooves of cars and houses battered with hail the size of their fist. Then the stories of destroyed neighborhoods began. An apparent tornado took out a church. At any time, this is tragic but for it to happen on a Sunday morning just seems exceptionally ungodly.  Even during the service, the pounding of torrential rain could be heard over the songs of the worshippers.  And then, as it almost always does, it melted into a perfectly lovely day that seemed like it had never known any unpleasantness.

The wind is blowing quite significantly outside my windows right now. There is a mixture of clouds and bright sunshine.  I know what could be on the agenda tonight though. We may be spared the calls until later since I think my area is due to see the more significant stuff after we’ve gotten up.  I think our area is to keep watch from around 7am until noon. And keep watch we will, since at noon there is a T-ball game to be played. Will it actually be able to be played? It certainly isn’t out of the question since shoving a beauty of a day in immediately behind a devastating storm is not remotely abnormal. Tornados and T-ball, southern spring goings-on run quite the spectrum.  But we are a people that are resilient if nothing else. We’ve learned to take the bad with the good though and we know that Spring will bring plenty of both.