Tornado Season Already?

We've had a really wet fall and winter so far. For the past 2 years we've battled severe drought so the rain has been welcome. We've also had a relatively warm fall and winter with a few cold days sprinkled in here and there. That's not unusual for the south though. Unfortunately we've had really warm days this week with lots of rain and heavy fog. All of this adds up to a bad weather mix.

Today, my sister called to let me know that a tornado watch had been issued for our area. She knows I don't watch t.v. at all during the day. I said "Yah, yah, call me back if it looks serious." Shortly, S called to say that I needed to turn the t.v. on and keep watch on the weather. " Okay, I'll turn it on in just a minute." A few minutes later he called back to tell me it has been updated to a tornado warning and I need to take it seriously so turn on the t.v.! He also said the safest place is under our back porch (which is concreted but also floods with rain, is dark and has no telling what crawling around down there.) He always tells me the same thing and I always say that I will take my chances.

The sirens start going off so I decide I might better turn the t.v. on. Sure enough, they say a tornado has not been sighted but there is a significant signature or something just a few miles from our home. The rain is coming down so hard that the yard is flooded and the field across the road look like a river is running through it. The winds are supposed to be up to 50 m.p.h. and it certainly looks it.

Thankfully, it turned out to be a mild inconvenience. As far as I know there was no touch down or major damage in our area. The weather guy says it's not that terribly unusual to have tornadoes in January but it looks like it might be going to be a long season.