It's 8:27 in the morning and the sky outside is getting to be a dusky gray. In the Western half of the state ( as well as neighboring states ) last night they had some pretty rough weather. I guess we're going to get a bit of it today and into the night.
While I'm not particularly worried about it, my son is. Growing up I lived in several states that often carried the threat of tornadoes during the spring and early summer seasons. I don't remember ever being as afraid of them as my son. I do remember, when we moved to Utah from Nebraska, asking my teacher if they had tornadoes in Utah and she explained that they couldn't make it over the mountains around Salt Lake City.
I was pretty young so that made perfect sense.
I wish I could use that explanation for my son but he is way too smart to buy into that. Honestly, I think it is the fear of the unknown that drives his fear. He's seen the shows on the Discovery channel and the Weather Channel about how tornadoes form and the breathtaking footage of the massive destruction they can do. But he's really never seen one first hand. Last Spring, I thought it might help to take him to one of the Storm Spotter classes that are held by the National Meteorological Society and offered free of charge to the public. It was pretty informative. Even I learned a few things I did not know. However, I can't say that it helped his fears that much.
The one thing that does make them scary is the fact that they are so random. You never really know when and where they will happen. Although all kinds of radar and other scientific instruments are developed to better forecast and track the weather, there's no single way to really predict and identify them better than human eyes. Which, as anyone can figure, works best when the sun is up. So, going to bed at night during a severe thunderstorm can be pretty scary for a kid. All those blinding surges of electrical light followed by booming thunderclaps powerful enough to shake the windows and the fierce, howling winds that seemingly threaten to rip the roof off of the house even cause me to sometimes get out of bed and turn the local news station on.
While I'm not particularly worried about it, my son is. Growing up I lived in several states that often carried the threat of tornadoes during the spring and early summer seasons. I don't remember ever being as afraid of them as my son. I do remember, when we moved to Utah from Nebraska, asking my teacher if they had tornadoes in Utah and she explained that they couldn't make it over the mountains around Salt Lake City.
I was pretty young so that made perfect sense.
I wish I could use that explanation for my son but he is way too smart to buy into that. Honestly, I think it is the fear of the unknown that drives his fear. He's seen the shows on the Discovery channel and the Weather Channel about how tornadoes form and the breathtaking footage of the massive destruction they can do. But he's really never seen one first hand. Last Spring, I thought it might help to take him to one of the Storm Spotter classes that are held by the National Meteorological Society and offered free of charge to the public. It was pretty informative. Even I learned a few things I did not know. However, I can't say that it helped his fears that much.
The one thing that does make them scary is the fact that they are so random. You never really know when and where they will happen. Although all kinds of radar and other scientific instruments are developed to better forecast and track the weather, there's no single way to really predict and identify them better than human eyes. Which, as anyone can figure, works best when the sun is up. So, going to bed at night during a severe thunderstorm can be pretty scary for a kid. All those blinding surges of electrical light followed by booming thunderclaps powerful enough to shake the windows and the fierce, howling winds that seemingly threaten to rip the roof off of the house even cause me to sometimes get out of bed and turn the local news station on.
