A tornado struck north of Mt. Ayr, Iowa yesterday around 5:17 PM, early news reports suggest the damage at one farm is in the millions of dollars. Mt. Ayr is about 30 minutes from here.
What’s interesting is I had just started mowing around 5:00 or a little after, when I noticed the ducks had returned to their pen, which is earlier than normal. I’ve written about the geese who share the two ponds, but in the time I’ve lived here, I have not see a flock ever pause or rest on the ponds. But about the time of the tornado, a flock of a dozen more geese changed direction over the farm and set down in the big pond.
As I mowed back and forth, Zinger, who usually watches the mowing from under the deck, was following me back and forth as I made progress through the yard. The sky overhead was cloudy, and the thunder and lightning were all NW of Two Mile.
Finally, seeing Zinger so distressed, I stopped, went inside, and opened my Weather Scope software to look at the radar.
Below is the image I snapped around 5:33 PM. The tornado warning area stopped about a mile up Seven Mile Road, so Two Mile wasn’t included in the warning, but the animals were clearly feeling the disturbance. In the photo, the circle is the software marking the center of the thunderstorm, not the tornado location.
(Click to see large) Still image from Weather Scope software of thunderstorm location after a tornado caused damage north of Mr. Ayr, Iowa.
Related posts:
Pingback: Animal Sense « Weekends in Paradelle