Yesterday's storms
There must be some sort of invisible dome over me that causes cool weather to skip around me. I was out and about for 10 hours on Saturday yet never encountered any of the severe weather that plagued the area yesterday.
I slept through the first round in the morning, oblivious to the sirens, even though there was minor wind damage at the City Market (only a block away), and within a 1 mile radius an abadononed 5-story building downtown collapsed and the Rib Shack in North Kansas City was destroyed. Once I was awake, all I ever encountered was about 2 minutes of moderate rain and about 15 seconds of tiny hail.
Now, I did have an interesting experience while I was out shopping. I was in the fitting room in a department store trying on pants when an alarm sounded and they evacuated everyone to a hallway in the corner of the building. So I put my pants back on and headed to the hallway... where people were making nervous comments about the facts that the area they put us in was where mirrors and cutlery were on display.
Within 5 minutes of arriving in the designated area, the all clear was sounded, so I returned to the fitting room to try on my pants. Within moments, another tornado alarm was called.
This time I ignored it and finished trying on my pants. I then ermerged from the fitting room and continued browsing. Most customers were doing the same, very few heeded the warning that time. After several minutes some store employees finally herded us all back to the hallway. But, just as I arrived, the all clear sounded again.
I started looking at shirts when I heard the sirens start up outside. Not wanting to be herded again, I abandoned my planned purchases and left the store.
I stepped outsidde to an ominous sky and sirens sounding all about. But what struck me was that people, lots of people, were paying no attention and going about their normal shopping. (You know you're in Kansas City when tornado sirens are no cause for alarm.) Sure enough, nothing ever happened -- not even rain.
So while everyone else in the metro was getting pummeled, I attended a cookout that happened completely unencumbered while storms passed on all sides but nothing came near me.