Take  a look at the photographs of the approaching thunderstorm below.

Just minutes after the photographs  below were taken, that same storm (maybe even those same clouds) cause a tornado warning just a few minutes drive from where the photos were taken. The warning may have been issued due to a storm spotter or chaser reporting to the local NWS station.

Is there a tornado in these clouds?

Wind blows a tree as a thunderstorm approaches

Now, from what I have heard, only a funnel cloud and not a tornado was spotted. The most important point is that there was no tornadic damage and no one was hurt (there was probably some damage from the strong winds produced by the storm – I would guess the winds in the photos were in the 30-40 MPH range, which is not too bad).

By coincidence 25 years ago on the same day of June (June 8, 1984 to be exact) an F5 tornado wiped out 90% of the Wisconsin Village of Barneveld.

That tornado killed 9 people. It also injured 200 more. You can read about that storm and others at the NWS website.

In March, I attended an NWS (National Weather Service) storm spotting class.

I have to thank my brother for suggesting it. To be honest, I did not take too much convincing. Storm spotting is something that has always interested me (I also admit to repeated dreams of being chased by a tornado when I was younger). My brother and I also once witnessed a tornado near Mitchel Intenational Airport in Milwaukee (MKE). It was neary 10 minutes after we saw it before the tornado warning sirens went off. Several people were injured but fortunately, no one was killed. That was a small tornado (still powerful enough to throw cars around in the air).

What is an NWS storm spotter?

A storm spotter is an educated volunteer. They usually get some of that storm education at NWS storm spotting classes like the one I attended. They simply report on storm activity from where they observe it. This may only be from their home.

Education is the key part of storm spotting!

Much of the storm spotting class was learning the difference between clouds that don’t produce tornadoes (called shelf clouds) and clouds that produce tornadoes (called wall clouds). Then there are the scary looking clouds (called SCUDS -SCary looking cloUDS- by our local NWS). There are a lot of scary looking clouds! The storm spotter’s job is to provide accurate information about storms, so knowing the difference is very important.

Doesn’t technology make storm spotters unnecessary?

Strom spotters are a very necessary key link in the NWS warning system. I learned that radar has more limitation than I realized. Due to radar’s angle of coverage, much of what happens close to the ground cannot be seen on radar. At distances, the resolution of radar may not be high enough. Some activity radar can miss altogether and sometimes it only gives a clue as to what is happening.

It takes someone on the ground at the location to provide the needed info. In one major tornado outbreak in Tornado Alley, 17% of the storms were only spotted by one spotter. Imagine  how many lives were saved by that spotter’s accurate reporting. Millions in damage was done.

What’s the difference between a storm spotter and a storm chaser?

The NWS does not expect storm spotters to take risks. Safety is the first priority. An accurate report is second. Many storm spotters only report from their local area when the weather occurs in their vicinity.

A storm chaser hunts the storms. A storm chaser by drive hundreds of miles chasing a storm that has potential to produce severe weather and tornadoes just to be in the area when the storm occurs. Some storm spotters are also storm chasers. It is important for a storm chaser to be even more highly educated about storms and tornadoes as they my find themselves in very dangerous situations. There is a definite wrong way to chase storms and there are lots of videos on YouTube demonstrating the wrong way. I admit they are fun to watch though.

Even experienced storm chasers can find themselves in very real danger.

There is a National Geographic DVD of natural disasters. In the special features, there is a section on the team that went out to get video for the tornado part of the video. Putting it shortly, they found themselves locked out of their van with the tornado approaching. They also discovered that a second tornado formed just behind them while they were filming the first. Watching them try to get out while dealing with a 75 pound IMAX camera is worth any price you will pay to watch the DVD. The footage is truly spectacular and is better than the rest of the DVD!

The importance of an NOAA Weather Alert Radio.

Just like a smoke detector, every home should have an NOAA weather radio with “Public Alert.” This is the sever storm version of a smoke detector. When there is a tornado warning (or one of several other alerts) the radio sounds an alarm. Storm warning sirens are only meant to be heard outdoors and you may not hear the warning indoors or if you are asleep.

New models with S.A.M.E. technology will limit the alerts to just the county you live in instead of alerts that may not affect you. Some models will also let you specify what alerts you will hear (not much chance of my house being hit by an iceberg – yes that is an alert). NOAA weather alert radios range in price from $20 to $200. My search found models with most features around $30-$60.

Soon after attending the storm spotting class I purchased a Midland WR-300 weather alert radio from NewEgg. If you do not mind a camouflage design, there is a similar model with all the same features at a lower price. If you live in the Midwest where tornadoes occur frequently (although they can occur anywhere in the US and the US also has the highest number of tornadoes in the world) you should really get a weather alert radio of some type for your home to keep your family safe.

Personally, I think a weather alert radio would have been much better that digital television converts for the government to spend money on.

A digital television converter gives you entertainment but won’t warn you of a coming tornado in the middle of the night (unless you leave your TV on all night). An NOAA weather alert radio can save your life and the lives of your loved ones.

You can find out more about sever thunderstorms, tornadoes and storm spotting class by finding your local National Weather Service site on the NOAA website.

My continued story of an incredible week of events.

The story thus far.

Our hero (that would be me) and his wife are attempting to return home after a trip to Chicago’s Chinatown. Upon exiting the freeway, they have suddenly found themselves marooned on a stretch of road with all exits off flooded by water. Essentially, we stuck on an island with no way off. I ended the last post, telling you I was ready to give up and take one of the few remaining parking places at the Burger King at Rawson and 13th. However, I have growing concerns about our house. Yes, this reads like a bad movie. If you have not read the first part of this story, you may want to click here and read it first. I have also added a couple photos of two roads, now dry, that were flooded. This might give you a better idea why the whole thing was so bizarre.

As far as I could tell, the only way in or out of the area seemed to be those coming off the freeway eastbound on Rawson.

While these cars still had to drive through several inches of water at least they were getting through. There were several cars stuck in the flood in the westbound lanes. As I said before, why do people think they can get past cars that have already got stuck in the water? If your going to follow what someone else has done, try something they succeeded at, not failed.
I noticed that a couple cars were escaping by going the wrong way against the eastbound traffic. The water was still a bit deeper in the left turn lane than I wanted to risk, but if I timed it right, we might sneak through while there was not too much traffic.

I managed to time it pretty good.

I reached the light just as there was a break in the traffic and managed get to the next break in the boulevard before the traffic became dangerous. My first thought was to go west and try to take 27th Street over to College Avenue. Well, you know what they say about the plans of mice and men (and I think the mice had already left the ship).

Just on the other side of I-94 Rawson was again flooded.

I never even knew there was water anywhere near there. In this case, even the eastern lanes were getting very flooded as well. While some cars were still coming eastbound, there was no way to sneak through westbound at all. We had to turn around and head back where we came from. By this time, a police car had blocked the left lanes to allow cars to get out of the area. The only choice left was to go back on I-94.

We had left I-94 nearly an hour ago just minutes from home and all we managed to do was get back on at the next ramp.

This was progress at least. My hope was to take College east and I thought I should be OK. Well, College Avenue was open. We were fine until we turned south on Howell Avenue. Now, Mitchell International Airport is north of College on Howell, so I thought a major road like Howell would be clear. The only water I knew of near Howell was the pond in front of the Milwaukee Area Technical College.

The pond had overflowed.

It was covering our path on Howell. One car was swamped right in front of the College entrance. With lots of traffic coming on the northbound lanes, going the wrong way did not look like a possibility. One last chance. I turned around.

We took College further east.

I was concerned. College Avenue is in something of a valley at the end of one Mitchell Airports runways. For once, it was the opposite side of the road that was flooded. When we reached the next intersection, they were setting a barricade up to block westbound traffic from taking College Avenue. The rest of the trip home the roads were fine. Our trip home from Chicago had taken at least twice as long as usual.

At this point, I need to give you two important pieces of information about our home.

1. We live in the lower level of a bi-level house.
2. The house has never had a sump pump.

For most of my life, there had never been any water in the sump well. The backyard has even flooded to the point I took an inflatable raft across it and still there was no water in the basement. This changed a few years ago.

We once had a little water in the basement. This only affected a small area of the basement. This prompted me to purchase a submersible pump. I used it to pump the water out of the sump well through a garden hose. It took maybe two hours before the water completely gone and the sump well was empty. It is our belief that the flooding was caused by the driveway my Grandfather had just put in (he had some sump pump problems also at the time. One other time I have noticed some water in the sump well. Other than those two times, we have been dry. This time things were different.

Upon arriving home I made a quick check in the backyard. It was dry. At least, it was not flooded as we have seen in other major rainfalls.

Quickly, I unlocked the door and hurried to check if our home was dry.

It was not good. While maybe a quarter inch of water does not seem like much, it is if your home is the lower level of a bi-level. The entire floor is carpeted. All the carpet was at least soaked. In most areas, the water was above the carpeting and I splashed around as I checked our home.

Everything in contact with the floor was wet.

Anything in a box on the floor was wet. Anything in a box on a box on the floor was wet (the boxes seemed to wick the water up into each other). I also was concerned about all the electrical plugs and outlets (just my computer desk itself draws power from a couple circuits to supply our computers) hoping none of them were actually in a puddle.

My first problem was to get my submersible pump started.

I had the pump but I needed a garden hose. I tried grabbing one from the backyard, but the end came off as I unscrewed it. I needed a new hose and I needed it fast before the water got any higher. It was now quite late (9-9:30pm on a Saturday) and I needed to find someplace open and that I could reach with the roads all flooded (the neighbors did not seem to be home).

I am not a fan of Target.

But, they have a new store not too far away (and on our side of the flooded streets). That seemed like the best bet. I was glad to discover they had garden section and garden hoses. I literally ran through Target with the cart. There was almost no one at the store so a cashier called me to her register as I approached. I drove home as fast as I felt I could without risking a ticket or even the time it would take to explain my hurry to an officer.

Once I got the pump running, the water started to go down.

For several days, we had the front door of the house open with the hose going out the door. There was also the sound of water dripping into the basement drain all night. There were little rivers crossing the laundry room leading to the drain. I spent most of the night picking up carpet or using a carpet cleaner to try to vacuum the water out.

It took several days for the floor to dry.

Nearly all the carpet was ruined. We spent a week sleeping on couches upstairs. While cleaning up, everything has been moved around so it is difficult to find things. Even two weeks later some parts of the house still smell damp even though we have two dehumidifiers taking several gallons of water out of the air a day.

The weather was not over yet though.

The storms continued some more on Sunday. I found it amusing that the normal little girl screams I have been hearing for the past few weeks (several seemed to appear this year in a normally quiet neighborhood) turned into true screams of terror as a storm approached on Sunday. The storms were not too bad in my neighborhood but for some local areas even a little bit more was too much.

I still have much I am thankful for:

• My wife’s insistence that I put my Photoshop computer on a piece of wood instead of right on the floor. Also, the area my computers are in seems to be the highest point of the floor. The carpet there was wet enough to cause the wood my computer was on to warp nearly in half as it dried, yet none of my hardware seems to have suffered any damage.
• We did not lose too much that was important or truly valuable. A few minor things that were in boxes (including all my old Star Wars RPG books that I was collecting) were lost.
• Passports are laminated. There were in a non-waterproof box in our bedroom.
• We had a place to sleep till we got the bedroom dry.
• We are much more fortunate than many others. You may have seen what happened to some houses in Wisconsin Dells as a lake overflowed and then emptied out taking several houses with it. I have had family that used to live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and have been there. I can’t imagine a whole city flooded like that, although even some nearby towns in Wisconsin have similar situations.

It was a long week of cleaning up and sleeping uncomfortably. But we are safe.

While this was the end of the flooding for us, I still had some excitement during the rest of the week.

I attended a Robert Allen real estate seminar. I’ll eventually have a post about the seminar itself, but there were a couple interesting/odd things that happened at the hotel the seminar was held at.

1. First, I arrived at the hotel for the first day (nearly late even though the hotel was 7 minutes from my home) to find several trucks from Universal Studios in the parking lot. They were filming a movie in Milwaukee and the crew must have been staying at the hotel. Not something I’m used to seeing.
2. Second, there was a tornado warning and the entire hotel was evacuated to the basement. Except for our seminar. No one told us. Apparently, our meeting room was in the center of the building and was considered safe. Still, if there was a tornado possibly headed towards the hotel, I’D LIKE TO KNOW! Wouldn’t you? The seminar guy did not know about it either. Anyway, there was no tornado damage, but storms during the night caused the appearance of buckets around the hotel to catch water dripping from the ceiling. Kind of funny to see in a very nice hotel.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little story.

I regret that I did not think about taking any photos of the flooding. I was a little bit stressed at the time. A video of the cars trying to make it through hood high water would have been entertaining.

I you have the means, I would suggest donating to charities like the Red Cross or Salvation Army.

Many people were not as fortunate as we were and have lost their homes in other areas of the country. There is also those in other countries that have had even worse events (China and Burma). The Red Cross and Salvation Army are some of the most efficient means of helping others who have suffered real tragedies. Often, they are faster than government aid. They are worthy of our support.

I am still having dreams about water similar to Bart Simpson.

Except it is not because I drank too much water before going to bed. I keep hearing a drip, drip, drip…

Will your income survive?

Wendy Piersall at eMoms at Home had a bit of a weather trouble.

That’s probably an understatement. It is good that not much harm was done.

Yep, you read that right.

I’m holed up in a hotel right now because a small tornado touched down in my neighborhood on Thursday. Although a few people had some injuries in my town, for the most part everyone is OK, thank goodness.

Source: Tornado + No Electricity = Grumpy eMom – eMoms at Home – The Internet Home Business Blog for Moms & Dads

What would happen to your income in a situation where you couldn’t do business as usual?

For most people, weather bad enough to close their place of employment means they have no income. Basically, if you get paid by the hour if and you can’t put in an hours worth of time, you can’t get paid.

What if you’re self-employed?

Obviously if your place of business is your home, and your home is damaged due to weather, you’re in even more serious trouble. Most likely, for some period of time, your income probably isn’t going to cross your mind. Eventually, you will realize that you need to start worrying about your business.

As an online business safer?

Some are. Many online businesses to not require you to be there every day. However, some can lose quite a bit of money without daily upkeep. You may be able to go for a few days or even weeks. However in many cases, if someone’s not there your income will start to decline. That’s why we see so many guest bloggers during the summer. Bloggers know that if there are not daily posts to their site even when they want a vacation, traffic can quickly disappear.

Maybe you can run your online business from a laptop?

That’s great. Hopefully your laptop is safe with you. Are you able to get somewhere where you can use it. You need two things: power and an Internet connection. There are cases where you may not be able to obtain either one. While something localized like a tornado may allow you to find what you need reasonably close, larger weather problems like a blizzard or hurricane may mean travel is not possible.

Of course, you can’t really move a brick-and-mortar business.

I once had a similar situation to Wendy with a tornado. While our business suffered no damage, we had no electricity for several days. Forget things like electric cash registers and computers. Just lights to see in the building were a concern. We were fortunate when a customer offered us use of his power generator for a few days. While we were not able to do any real work, at least we could find our customer’s orders in the computer.

There are other things besides weather that can put you temporarily out of business.

In some cases being out of business temporarily can put you out of business permanently. Let’s face it, many businesses and most individuals have very little of a safety net. If we don’t work, we don’t get paid, and we can’t pay our bills.

It’s called linear income.

If you don’t work, you have no income. If you do work, we have an income (at least that’s the way it’s supposed to work). You may have something saved as a backup for the proverbial rainy day. Many do not.

There are businesses that provide a residual income.

A residual income is an income that you continue to get paid in the future for work you do today. Residual income is not that easy to find though. Most of the time and we think a residual income you think of the author of a book, the movie industry, and maybe the music industry. These people do the work and then continue to see income whenever their work is read, viewed, or listened to. Still, in most cases their income stream tends to die out after time. Eventually, everyone who is interested in their work has already purchased it.

There are some other industries that have residual income.

There are some cases where a one-time sale can create a long-term income. In some cases, a cell phone dealer may continue to make a commission on your monthly charges as long as you stay with his plan. The insurance industry may provide one of the best forms of residual income. Your insurance agent continues to get paid every time you pay your insurance bill. However, many insurance companies are making that a little more difficult.

Still, a residual income is something to really look for.

It’s the one type of income that can take a little bit of stress off your shoulders when life happens. When you know your income will still be there, you can concentrate on what matters most at the moment. That’s something that’s really worth looking for.

So why don’t we all have a residual income?

Honestly, because most people won’t work for future reward. Work now, get paid later, does not sound as good as work now, get paid now. It’s the lure of quick money. It’s not so much greed, but instant gratification and current needs vs. future plans.

Also, there is a lot of fake residual income out there.

The idea of residual income is what makes so many people look at multilevel marketing. Yet, for many reasons, almost nobody finds residual income at multilevel marketing. It’s why so many people who start multilevel marketing companies, have also started many multilevel marketing companies. There’s no real residual income. Just a quick buck for a few lucky ones and onto something new.

Do you have a plan B?

Do you have a backup plan? It’s considered wise to have a few days of food and water and other necessities in case of some disaster. Do you have a disaster plan for your income? It could be weather or it could be a social or economic disaster. It could be local or it could be regional. Would your income survive?