Fourth Anniversary of The Springfield Tornado: an Anecdote

Winter turned into summer within a matter of weeks.  As soon as the massive snow mountains were completely gone, the temperatures got into the 70's and 80's and in late April we got our first taste of summer.

Since today is June first, all the newscasters have been rehashing the Tornado of 2011.

The weather was unusually hot and muggy that day and thunderstorms were in the forecast for that afternoon.  Things changed very quickly when a funnel cloud started to form in Westfield.  The tornado made its way eastward over the Connecticut River not far from the South End Bridge right around the time my husband was headed home from work.  I was worried because that is the route he takes home, and he was in its path. About ten minutes after I saw the broadcast on the news (in the basement!) he arrived home. What a relief!



A few weeks ago I was at Pynchon Point Park. It is a pleasant place to hang out on a beautiful spring day. Many anglers go there in the spring for the striped bass and the shad run. I have yet to see anyone catch fish there, but I'm sure they do. The river near the park is shallow for quite a distance, and with the warm weather they probably prefer the deeper water. Here's a picture of the bridge that was parallel to the tornado. Notice the fishing rod on the sandbar. The tornado went over the river not far from the spot where I took this picture.

I spoke to one of the fishermen who was there with his family. They had been displaced by the tornado four years ago. His home was totally destroyed and they had to move in with relatives. He was elated that their new house was almost completed and they would be moving in a few weeks. Although he lost everything (and for a few frightening minutes his son was missing), he was very thankful that they had survived the ordeal and that no one in his family was killed or injured by the Tornado of 2011.

You can see some of the houses that were destroyed in last year's post.

Four years later, things have pretty much gotten back to normal, and there is little evidence of tornado damage, except for the spindly trees that were planted to replace the hundred year old ones destroyed in the storm.

I will end this with a haiku, inspired a man who lost everything, except what really mattered.

death and destruction
sadness and loss will never
replace memories.

If you like haiku, I highly recommend the The Art of Being Human, Volume 11.  There are many talented writers featured in this book.  My haikus are on pages 13-14.

Copyright © 2014 Katley Demetria Brown. Site Designed by Katley Demetria Brown. All Rights Reserved. Photos and poetry © Katley Demetria Brown (with the exception of YouTube video courtesy of Severe Weather & Hard Dance Music)

Where the Hell is Spring?

Where the hell is Spring? Kitty can't wait to go on the (enclosed) porch and spend hours watching the birds.  Instead she's confined to a small perch on the window sill.

I took this picture back in February.  It is now April and the vernal equinox is several weeks behind us. Most of the snow has melted, but it hasn't been all that warm. There was heavy rain in late March which washed away most of it.

As the snowbanks gradually became smaller, I took pictures of them just to see how long they would take to finally disappear.

The first photo was in February after we had a major monster snowstorm.  I used cars as a frame of reference.  My guess was that this snowbank was at least eight feet high.

The next one was taken a month later.  Notice how the snow became darker and dirtier.  The snowbank shrank maybe a couple of feet. 

Early April:  Snow loses to springtime sun, but not quickly enough:  It's about four feet high.  It will take some serious warm weather to make this disappear.

Although it's officially spring (I don't go by the calendar, but by the crocuses in the flower beds), I still haven't ditched the winter coat and the boots yet.  The first crocus came up the same day that I took the previous picture (April 2).  Several days later they popped their purple heads out all at once.

April is a very cruel month, and on tonight's news I heard a forecast for sleet and freezing rain, as well as a winter weather advisory for tonight and early tomorrow.

Maybe spring has been cancelled this year.  After all, there was a year without a summer.  I find that prospect depressing.

Since April is National Poetry Month, and I didn't include a poem for this post since I've been involved in a number of projects (including the dreaded spring cleaning), here's the link to T.S. Eliot's poem "The Waste Land."

Once everything turns green and colorful around here it won't look so much like a wasteland anymore.

Copyright © 2015 Katley Demetria Brown. Photography is © Katley Demetria Brown 2015 and may not be reproduced without permission..
Site Designed by Katley Demetria Brown. All Rights Reserved.