Weather is a good thing to keep an eye on.  On May 15, 1968, an F5 tornado struck my hometown.  You can see the wonderful Facebook page devoted to the event here.  Or check out the NOAA page chronicling the May15, 1968 Iowa tornado outbreak, one of which was the Charles City tornado.

I respect tornado warnings.  I’ll never forget the eerie green of the sky or the stillness right before it hit.  We were in the basement, and we saw stuff through the basement window.  We were fortunate to only lose a garage window and a tree my parents were trying to figure out how to get rid of anyway.  Later that night, my dad drove us my grandparent’s home in Wisconsin.  We stayed at least a week before power and other utilities were restored to town.  He left my mom and us kids there (three kids) and returned to town to help with the cleanup.