Hello Big Country and welcome to my NEW blog - Texas Weather and Beyond! This is my first posting and I hope you enjoy! I thought I would share a story with you all.
Once upon a time, there was a six year boy (we'll call him Boo) who was scared to death of thunderstorms. Boo grew up in a middle class neighborhood in North Dallas. He had one older brother and an older sister. His father was a violinist in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and his mother was a stay at home mom.
One Spring day back in 1972, on his way home from school, he was gazing out the car window and noticed big puffy clouds building in the western sky. Boo became concerned and asked his mother, "Mommy, are we going to see thunderstorms and tornadoes today? The sky is starting to look funny again." His mother, not wanting to scare her son said said, "no honey we're only supposed to see a few rain showers this evening." Boo was relieved. He hated thunderstorms and especially tornadoes.
After arriving home, Boo went out to play tackle the man with the ball with his neighborhood friends in his front yard. About an hour went by, when all of the sudden a loud BANG came from the distance. "That's thunder", Boo told his friends. "My mommy said we would only see rain showers this afternoon. Why is the sky green? Somethings not right! We all better go inside now." As Boo was running towards his front door, his mother was already on the porch to greet him. " I guess I was wrong" his mother said. "It looks like we may see some thunderstorms today." "Harold Taft (chief meteorologist for KXAS in the metroplex) just cut into programming and said that thunderstorms are moving in and that it may be a rough afternoon. We better go inside for a while." Boo was starting to get a bit scared. He asked his mother, " when is daddy going to be home. Just then, the front door opened. "Daddy's home", be exclaimed. He always felt safe when his father was home. "Looks like we have some bad weather coming son. We all need to stay indoors for a while" said his father.
While waiting for the storms to arrive, Boo's mother decided to she would start to cook dinner. Boo's brother and sister were hanging out in their rooms and his father went to change out of his work clothes. It couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes, when all of the sudden a loud siren starting to blow outside. "What's that load noise, mommy?" Boo's mother did not answer right away, she immediately yelled for Boo's father and turned the television's volume up. "A Tornado Warning has been issued for Dallas County. Residents in Northwestern Dallas County need to head to their safe zone immediately. A tornado is now on the ground, five miles southwest of Farmers Branch moving northeast at 30mph. Please seek shelter immediately." They all new, when Harold Taft said take shelter, you needed to heed his advice. Boo's father overheard Harold on television. He quickly came down their hallway and shouted, " Everyone in the station wagon, now!" So, they all ran outside and piled into their station wagon. Boo's father quickly drove behind their house and pulled their vehicle into a cement covered parking garage. Boo was confused! He was always taught to stay at home and seek shelter in an interior room when there was a tornado warning issued. But, he said nothing to his father. He just gazed out the back window of their station wagon, petrified, as he saw the F-2 tornado roaring down a nearby street about a mile away. After the tornado had passed, Boo's family drove back home. Everyone survived this event, but Boo's life had changed.
Boo now had become infatuated with weather, he started watching Harold Taft (the first on-air meteorologist in Texas) every night at 6:15pm, on Dallas' local news. He even asked his parents if he could have his own weather radio for his seventh birthday. His wish was granted several months later. And from that day forward, Boo carried that weather radio everywhere he went. He even got grounded from listening to his new radio for a week, just for carrying it to school when his parents told him not to.....twice!
As the years rolled by, Boo continued his fascination with weather. Almost 27 years later to the day, Boo graduated from Texas A&M with a B.S. Degree in meteorology at the ripe old age of 33.
SO, THE MORAL OF THIS STORY IS......IF THERE IS ANYONE YOU SHOULD TRUST FOR THE MOST ACCURATE FORECAST IN THE STATE OF TEXAS, IT'S DAN EDWARDS, HE'S ONLY BEEN WATCHING TEXAS WEATHER FOR 37 YEARS!
