Mostly I don't mind living in a mobile home...except on nights like tonight when the tornado warning siren goes off. Then I mind. Usually we just pile into the car with the dog and rush up to the gas stations less than a mile away, sit and wait, ready to run inside if necessary. Tonight was a bit more complicated. My mom is here and my daughter has 2 friends spending the night. The sirens went off and I hustled everyone into the car, including the dog,who had to sit at my moms feet on the passenger side. E got out the weather radio and we listened on the way to the gas stations and fast food places. I turned into McD's thinking I'd get food for everyone while we were out but when I went through the drive through we were told that McD's was closed because a tornado was spotted 3 miles away. We hadn't heard that on the weather radio. We went to a gas station next door and I parked in front. We waited and listened through all the storm and flash flood warnings for other counties. Then we found out that yes, a tornado had been spotted 3 miles away. Yikes! We got out and went inside the gas station convenience store. The woman working there told me I couldn't bring a dog in. I told her, "Idon't care. A tornado's been spotted 3 miles away and we're coming in." We stood around inside for about 10 minutes, bought some drinks, I wandered outside and we eventually came home. I don't think the tornado warning has been cancelled yet. It's still thundering and raining. The severe thunderstorm warning is in effect until 3 a.m.

Since I can't do much besides sit and wait I looked up some tornado facts & myths. A lot of people still think they need to open their windows if there's a tornado. MYTH! Don't waste your precious time with windows that will break anyway. It's not true that windows need to be opened to equalize pressure. Windows won't implode or explode, except when hit by flying debris which could easily happen while you're running around opening them. Debris in a tornado can reach speeds of over 100 MPH. Flying glass at that speed can cut through your skull and slice through your brain of embed itself in your heart. It's not worth it to open the windows.

Another MYTH is taking cover under a bridge or overpass. New evidence has shown this to be EXTREMELY dangerous. The high winds can actually pull people out from under the bridge or overpass (I saw video proof of this on a show on the weather channel). But don't stay in your car either. Get out and find a ditch, lay face down and cover your head with your arms.