The storms in the East last night were in the Midwest yesterday. There were tornado warnings and the hotel was considering moving all its guests to a conference room. Several of my colleagues and I were at an Indian restaurant a 5-minute walk away from the hotel when all of this was happening. The hotel shuttle service would not come get us because of the tornado threat. We paid a guy - a complete stranger with a big Chevy Suburban (filled with lot of "stuff") stopping for takeout - $20 to run 5 of us back to the hotel. (Because of all the "stuff" he had to make two trips.) The rain was intense and the main road looked like a river. I am very grateful to this man who told us his name was "Jake the Snake."
When I got back to the hotel I learned a tornado touched now near where I was staying. Back in my room, I opened my curtains and put on the Weather Channel, which was beeping every 5 minutes because of the tornado threat. (That is a very disconcerting noise.) I kept an eye outside to watch for the funnel cloud and had a plan in mind in case I saw one. During my "watch," I saw the strangest sky I have ever seen.
It was dark out. Well, actually, it was supposed to be dark out. Instead, the sky was the most incredible color of orange I have ever seen. I don't mean "Ah, isn't that beautiful?" sunset orange. I mean angry forest fire orange. I really did wonder if there was a forest fire but knew there were nothing but farms and strips malls around us. The orange was so bright it made it look like daytime. I was so stunned I didn't even think of taking a picture of it with my cell phone. I wish I had. Instead, this picture is from the Web. It really doesn't do it justice but provides some idea. (Note: This is just a random picture of an orange, tornado sky. It is not what I saw that night.)
The next day my colleagues were talking about the eerie night sky. Apparently I wasn't the only one watching to see if I was going to be in harm's way. One colleague said he saw green in the sky. I didn't see that.
Now that I'm home and not threatened by a tornado, I googled "orange sky during tornado." I didn't persist enough to learn why this happens but I saw dozens of accounts of people seeing this type of sky in areas threatened by severe thunderstorms or tornadic activity. Like my colleague, many people reported a green-ish hue in the sky.
As I head upstairs to nap, I know I will see that sky in my head as I drift off. I am also thankful for this life experience that ended well. I now know what an unusual sky can mean. I can use this information to protect myself if needed as I travel to the Midwest 3 more times in the next several weeks.
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