Stormy Weather …

Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …

It’s been a raucous spring, weather-wise, here in southern Indiana.

Twice we’ve had tornadoes pass way to close to the palatial Foster estate, along with hail, lots of lightning and thunder.

We’ve also had straight line winds that knocked down a few of our stockade fence panels and we had a flood in early April.

We sit on the high ground but sump pumps were working overtime and I had the cleanest garage floor after squeegeeing the surface 3 times in a week.

All this stormy weather brought Lena Horne to mind.

“I walk around, heavy-hearted and sad.

Night comes around and I’m still feelin’ bad.

Rain’s pouring down, blinding every hope I had.

This pitterin’, pattering, beating and splattering drives me mad.

Love, Love, Love, Love, this misery’s just too much for me.

Stormy weather, just can’t get my poor self together.”

Great song.

This recent spate of stormy weather made me remember the Palm Sunday tornadoes in April of 1965.

I remember standing with my Dad on the driveway looking to the northwest at this “amphitheater of thunderheads” that heralded the storms’ trek through northwest Ohio.

The white and pink thunderheads off in the distance, illuminated by the setting sun where we were flashed almost constant lightning.

I remember the clouds looked like huge heads of cauliflower.

That outbreak killed 266 people and injured 3,662 others in the southern US and the Midwest, primarily in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

There were at least four “double/twin funnel tornadoes” and damage, in today’s dollars, totaled $12.1B.

A large number of deaths were due to the fact that most people didn’t know the difference between a
‘forecast” and “alert” which resulted in tornado “watches” and “warnings” being used by the weather bureau the next year.

In the mid 1950’s, I remember standing at the top of the basement stairs while my Mother yelled at me “to come down here” while she held my sister, Charlene.

I could hear the hail pounding on the front of our Burns Street house in Mansfield, Ohio as thunder roared.

But I was afraid of the Maytag washing machine which had been disassembled and the parts were lying on the floor.

I thought it was a monster.

That scared me more than the storm.

There’s a raw power to Mother Nature’s storms that I find amazing and humbling.

Years ago, I was standing on the beach of Pelee Island with my son-in-law just after sunset and a thunderstorm was rumbling to the northwest of us.

When storms approach on the lake, there’s nothing between you and the storm to absorb any of the noise.

The thunder sounds louder and seems to rumble forever and the lightning is vivid when you’re not fighting the urban light pollution.

The storm drew closer and just as the wind switched to the northwest with a cool burst, I yelled to my son-in-law, “How can you witness something like this and not think there’s a greater power in charge than man?”

A true religious experience for me.

There’s something about weather that should be understood by we humans.

We think we’re all so powerful and mighty and yet something that starts out with water vapor and electric charges can develop into a storm that can spawn winds that can destroy most man-made objects.

In the winter, we see delicate and intricate snowflakes that can fall by the trillions and render man totally unable to move when that snow drifts and blows.

Perhaps that why over the years, there have been so many “weather” songs written that are connected to our very emotional being.

Someone “guestimated” there are over 900 songwriters or singers that have done “weather” songs.

There have been over 100 weather songs that have charted inside the Top 40 of the Official Singles Chart’s history.

Did someone mention movies?

“The Wizard of Oz”, “Twister”, “The Perfect Storm” and “The Day After Tomorrow” quickly come to mind while the classic 1948 film, “Key Largo’ with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall is a murder mystery set while a hurricane is headed for the lavish resort.

In 1972, Chi Coltrane released “Thunder and Lightning” and it got to the #20 spot on the charts.

“Thunder and lightning.

I tell you it’s frightening.

It’s thunder and lighting

and you’re in control.”

Chi seemed destined to a big music career but she seemed pleased to stay out of the bright lights.

I’m glad she provided a fitting end to this week’s blog.