Sorry I'm late responding to your email, but I was thinking about the great Tri-State Tornado of 1925
Every March 18th, I am unable to do little else and I hope you understand.
Sorry I am late with my response, but I was thinking about the great Tri-State Tornado. It was the deadliest tornado in United States history, and its storied details subsume me to the point of catatonia every March 18. I am only now catching up on what I missed, and in the midst of recalling the twister’s 210-mile path across three separate states with a speed greater than a cheetah, I neglected to respond to your email about my overdue car payment. Please accept my apologies.
Sorry I missed your text, but I was thinking about the boy in the tree. See, in Murphysboro, IL, which received the greatest impact of any single city during the Tri-State Tornado, some men searching the rubble afterwards came across a boy in a tree. The tree had no low branching for the boy to have climbed. They concluded that the boy must have been blown to the top by the tornado’s winds, which surely topped 300mph, easily lending it EF5 status. I’ve seen pictures of the tree, and it looks like an elm. I was thinking about all this when you texted me about our anniversary dinner plans for that evening, which I also seem to have missed.
Sorry I missed your nursery school pickup, but I was thinking about the Tri-State Tornado’s haunting pseudonym, “The Great Cloud.” See, the unique set of meteorological conditions on March 18, 1925 (which have been described by tornado expert Tom Grazulis as a once-in-every-thousand year event) gave the tornado the appearance of a great “rolling fog” to contemporary eyewitnesses; a great burst shrouded in hail and rain. In short, it did not look like a tornado. This nightmarish appearance led to the rare deaths of many, many farmers, who, in Grazulis’ words, were often the most “weather-wise people.” This tragic irony is but one harrowing facet of the Tri-State Tornado’s ghoulishly compelling lore.
So I am thankful that Annie’s parents had an extra carseat. Also that they had a very nice guest room.
Sorry I missed your urgent request for comment, but I was thinking about the Tri-State Tornado’s effects to this day. See, tornadoes like this and the devastation they wrought catalyzed the development of modern-day weather warning systems. So if there’s a silver lining from this historic weather event, that’s it. But the truth is that the devastation was so vast that it is hard to view the great Tri-State Tornado of 1925 as anything other than a unique, frightening, and humbling demonstration of nature’s power and utter indifference to mankind.
And, yes, you can tell your editor that I will indeed be at the courthouse on my arraignment date. We plan to use the “Tri-State Tornado defense.”
Sorry I was late in reading this post, I was pondering how strong thunderstorms were reported in a broad area that also included parts of Oklahoma, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ontario. By all accounts it was a widespread outbreak with severe thunderstorms occurring as far east as Ohio, as far southwest as Louisiana, and as far southeast as Georgia. I also seem to have neglected to get out of bed to properly use the bathroom.