Now that I think winter is over, at least we haven't had temps in the 30's for over a week now, we are headed into storm season in Oklahoma. The storms are ramping up now so all eyes are on the weather maps and sky. I need to tell you that I truly hate wind.
Both the place where we park our RV in Newcastle as well as at our lot in Sulphur have canopies that we park under which is great protection from hail, snow and ice. It's also nice when it is raining. But if the wind is approaching 60 mph we know we probably need to get out from under the canopy and of course if tornadoes are in the area we definitely need to get to some type of storm shelter. Yes, we have a weather radio with an alarm that goes off. Our RV's main radio also has a weather band on it.
So in preparation for these nasty storms I have a tornado to-go bag with a list on my phone of things that need to go in it. We also have two carry cases for our girls as those are required in shelters. I always try to have the bag ready to go in case we have to leave quickly and it includes things like bottled water, snacks, water for the dogs, medications, phone chargers, keys, computer, purse, battery operated fan, small lantern, etc.
In the park in Newcastle we have a large tornado shelter. It is a refer box off a semi that the owner used to drive and it's sunk into the side of a hill. We did get into it a couple of times last year but not so far this year. Our park is in a fairly deep gulley near two major highways and it is heavily treed. So usually the wind in the park is far less than what is happening up on the hills around us and most of the tornadoes and bad storms follow one of the two highways and miss us. But that doesn't mean we get lax in keeping our eye on the storms.
In the park in Sulphur the shelters are way too small for the number of people that are typically in the park on the weekends. In 15 years, however, we have only had to leave the RV one time and the rain was coming down so hard we had a horrible time driving to the shelter as we could hardly see the road and when we got near to it we realized there was no way we would find it if we got out of our vehicle so we just sat and prayed that all would pass over without a tornado.
Last night we had a major rain storm come over with predictions of high winds and hail. So I put our to-go bag and dog carriers in the car and then I sat at the dining table with our weather station readout in front of me keeping a close eye on the wind. Prayers were answered and all we got was a lot of badly needed rain but no hail or wind. Tonight we had planned to drive to Sulphur for the weekend but it seems there may be more storms coming in so we plan to stay put for the evening and make the drive in the morning.
It would be so nice if we can get into June without having to head for the tornado shelter this year. I know we can still get tornadoes in June but they are far less likely than in May. I cannot wait until we can be someplace else in the country in April through June where tornadoes are not typical.
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