March 24, 2011

It's a twister!


Photo by Mike Lupinacci a friend of Mike Lupinacci

We don't get many actual tornadoes out this way (more straight-line winds), but it sure looks like one touched down yesterday evening in Westmoreland County (Post-Gazette, Tribune-Review).

Fort Allen seemed to be the hardest hit area according to the local TV news reports. Also hit was Hempfield High School (my alma mater) where the roof was torn off of the mini-auditorium and the field house. Fortunately, no one was hurt even though students were participating in after-school activities at the time. Here's a video of it about to hit the school:

Here on the South Side of Pittsburgh, we experienced large marble-sized hail. (I joined half my neighbors on my block rushing to our windows to see what was making all that racket.)

I have to admit that while I'm very happy that no one was hurt at good ol' HASH (Hempfield Area Sr. High as it was called back in the day), I did spend one or more study halls wishing that a twister would spirit me or the whole school off Wizard of Oz-style. On that note, while I was looking for footage on YouTube, I came across the following video. While it's from the Class the year before mine, it gave me a good laugh.

WARNING! This video contains more scenes of feathered hair than is recommended for viewing in a single sitting!


(Or just watch the movie Dazed and Confused)

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4 comments:

  1. Ms. Monongahela, Ms. Chief EditorMarch 24, 2011 at 9:40 AM

    "Marble size!" That's the size we were struggling to define yesterday. Melon, quarter, dime, pea, inch ... none of them seemed quite right. I am finally at peace. :-)

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  2. MariaMarch 24, 2011 at 11:51 AM

    Glad to be of service!

    Forgot to mention in the post how weird it was to hear the phrase "Monkey Wrench Road" over and over again on the news (very near where I grew up). I feel really bad for those folks as they got hit hard.

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  3. Ol' FrothMarch 24, 2011 at 12:45 PM

    I was driving home from work through the hail, Seemed like I was operating a tin can being pelted by gravel. Amazingly, no dents or paint damage.

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  4. MariaMarch 24, 2011 at 12:57 PM

    I would normally have been walking to work at the time -- a 15 to 20 minute walk -- but I kept hearing all the warnings and switched my schedule.

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