Tornadic dreams

Living in a place prone to wild weather can yield some wild dreams. Yesterday's storms wreaked havoc on my dreams last night.

Driving to a mid day meeting, I was caught in the powerful storms that blew through town. From the conference room, we could see the darkening sky, and fingers of the thunderstorm reaching down out of the clouds. News reports described heavy damage to some buildings around town.

Dreams last night brought those storms back to life. I dreamt that our neighborhood was hit, and that I was caught in the path of another tornado while walking near the intersection of Jefferson and Chouteau.

In the dream, I found a big drainage inlet to climb into for protection. The best protection was when instead I woke up at about 3:00 AM and the weather outside was just fine.

It has been about fifty years since the city of St. Louis has been struck by a serious tornado. Given the time between recorded serious tornados strikes in St. Louis, we are overdue for another touchdown.

Tornados are strange events in the way they come so quickly, wreak major devastation, and can be followed within minutes by tranquil weather and bright sunshine. They're surreal and powerful, sort of like dreams.