Tornado Scare

6:00 pm I message Todd at school and tell him they are expecting baseball-sized hail. He says he's coming home.

6:10 Rain starts

6:20 Hail starts...first its just small hail, then it gets larger and larger and larger...

6:40 By now, the sirens are going off, the weather guys are talking about funnel clouds and possible tornadoes being spotted. The hail is hitting the roof so hard it sounds like it's going to come through the roof any minute. Todd grabs the camera and we can see the funnel cloud just above our apartment's office. The hail is tennis-ball sized. I'm calling my dad to let him know what's going on and that we are okay. I head for the closet (Todd is cooking dinner...he wasn't too worried obviously!)

6:45 The reports keep coming in about funnel clouds and possible tornadoes. The hail is still thunderous and the tornado sirens are going off. We are keeping the TV on so we can hear it's progress. I'm terrified because the cross streets they keep mentioning are between .5-1.5 miles from our home.

7:00 The sirens turn off and the hail and rain has stopped. Like several others, we head outside to assess the damage. Our Honda is covered in leaf debris, but both cars are fine...just some dents. There are five or six cars in our parking lot with their back windows completely shattered. We feel lucky!

7:05 Sirens go off again...we head inside, but the worst seems to have passed. We keep track of the progress for a few moments, and we finally feel better. There is still some leftover thunder and lightning, but I am so grateful it wasn't much worse!

I've heard the sirens go off before, but we've never had a scare this close to home. I'm so grateful that Todd was home, and that the funnel clouds above us never touched ground near us. We're also grateful that our cars are safe and intact, and that our friends here are also safe!