Editorial: Be ready for anything
Published 7:07 pm Tuesday, September 22, 2009
By The North Chilton Advertiser staff
It was a small tornado that didn’t do much damage, but try telling that to someone watching the twister touch down.
Chilton County dodged a bullet Wednesday when a tornado in Lomax turned out to be an EF-0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. We were fortunate the tornado was small for obvious reasons but also because no tornado warning or watch was issued before the storm hit.
The National Weather Service isn’t to blame. Meteorologists there can’t see something that isn’t on the radar, and Scott Unger with the service said, “There is no information on radar that would lead us to believe there was a tornado on the ground.” But several police officers caught a first-hand glimpse of the twister. Officers immediately came across the scanner with news of the tornado, and Clanton Police Cheif Brian Stilwell asked that the severe weather siren be sounded.
Though winds reached 60-70 miles per hour, the tornado might not have been big enough to cause any real damage. Next time, we might not be so lucky. But at least we can count on having public servants on the scene and willing to notify residents when the weather gets rough.
