Ever since I was a young child growing up in the midwest, I’ve been terrified of extreme weather.
Sometimes we had winter snowstorms that would knock out the power and make us stranded in our homes out in the rural countryside. Once we got to spring every year, that’s when tornado season would kick into high gear. I remember coming home from school on the bus one afternoon and seeing the sky turn green. Often tornado-bearing storm clouds would color the light shining through an otherworldly green hue. Sometimes we would hear the tornado sirens, other times it was merely a false alarm. But on more than one occasion we all ran into the basement to take cover in the event of one destroying the house while we’re sitting around and standing in it. We had a terrible tornado scare yesterday at 6am in the morning. The sun hadn’t risen yet but the emergency alert alarms on our phones were sounding. Thankfully our house wasn’t hit by a tornado, but we lost our power and now it’s hot from a lack of air conditioning. Even though it’s the end of the summer here, temperatures in the house are up to 85 degrees and we are all sweating. I wish I had a storm generator and a small portable air conditioner for a situation like this. It wouldn’t completely replace the central air conditioner, but it would at least knock the temperature down a few degrees and make the indoor environment more survivable. I can’t wait for the power to be restored so I can turn the air conditioner on again and get the indoor climate cool and dry.