Memphis:Thunderstorm of April 7th
From GeoClasses
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Aron Cantor
I didn't really notice the thunderstorm too much because I was inside Chili's working. I do remember it getting pretty dark outside and going out to check it out. I saw a sheet of dark, ominous clouds covering half of the sky but ending in a straight line going across the sky, it looked stange. I did see the occasional lightning strike through the window, but aside from that the storm didn't really effect me at all
Ronell Rolfe
In Collierville it rained mostly but after the rain the sun came out until it started to hail very badly. Golf ball size hail started to fall fast which put dents in the grass from the force of the ice. I never did panic and seek cover in a safe place because there was not a tornado spotted in the area.
Nikki Hairrell
Thunderstrorm of April 2006 From GeoClasses On Friday April, 7th 2006 I was in Birmingham Alabama. I was down there to watch my boyfriend pitch in his debut outing. Meanwhile a storm was brewing north west of Birmingham, and coming down hard in my hometown, Memphis Tennessee. There was golf ball sized hail and strong winds! My mom even called to tell me that my dad came and got her new car from work, because he didnt want the hail to damage it! In Birmingham, the weather was predicted to be bad. We figured Lance's game would be rained out. When I woke up Friday morning in Birmingham, the sun was out and there were a few clouds. As the day progressed, the weather man predicted tornadoes to touch down! Again there were no signs of such, yet. Around lunch time it came over the radio that all Birmingham city and county schools would be let out early, about one o'clock. After hearing this, I for sure thought there was no chance Lance would pitch that night. Well, the afternoon went on with no rain and few clouds. The warnings continued to back up into the night. The baseball game started on time at 7:05 and the wind was blowing fairly hard to the east. There were few fans there, maybe 2500, because of all the severe weather watches. The baseball game went on three hours with not a single drop of rain, we even saw a beautiful fireworks display! When we got home Lance moved his furniture into his apartment, from a uhaul downstairs. Still no bad weather. We came to the conclusion that it had missed us somehow. However, late that night around 12:30 am the storm finally reached the Birmingham area. I was already asleep but Lance went outside to watch the rain come down. There was big lightning and stong winds. But, the storm definately got weaker before it reached us. I slept through the whole thing. In the morning, the only damage I saw was one small tree branch, from a blooming bradford pear, was bent over to the ground. Not even the pine needles that had accumulated on the grass were disturbed. That was how the storm hit Birmingham.
Roya Alizadegan
I was driving down the road when the storm hit. First, it was just thunder and then all of a sudden it started raining like crazy. Like five minutes after it started to hail on my car. I was freaking out. I had never been in a hail storm, but it wazs only hailing in one area so I was not in it for that long. Once I finally got to my destination, it had stoped raining and hailing, but was very humid and hot outside.It was a little freaky.
Mark Pacini
Mata dropped me off around 8:30, the clouds then were dark and it looked like rain. I went in Patterson to use the restroom. I came back outside about 5-10 minutes later, and the ground was wet because it had rained. It must have just rained really quickly. It was sunny though, anyways, I went to class. When I left class sometime around 11:00, the clouds were dark, and it looked like rain once again. I then went once again to Patterson, to get lunch, and by the time I ate my lunch, sirens were sounding, and people were saying there was a tornado watch which led the University to close around noon.
Courtney White
Friday, April 7, 2006: The big storm. I was in the East/Southeast Memphis area. That morning at 11 am I had a dentist appointment to get a filling. When I got to the dentist office it got real dark and ugly outside. Just then I heard announcements about the schools dismissing early so I knew that the storm was serious. I left the dentist office at about 11:35 and by the time I got 10 minutes down the street, the rain started pouring down so hard that I could not see to drive. Next big hail balls started coming down with the rain. The hail was hitting the windows so hard I thought that it was going to break my windows. The rain and hail was coming down really hard and the wind was blowing really hard. I made it to my parent’s house through all of the rain and then the sirens starting going off. I stayed at my parent’s house until about 5 PM. By this time the sun had come back out, it had stopped raining and it was very hot and the air was real still outside. It looked like nothing happened earlier. When I got home to my surprise my computer had been struck with lightning and everything that was on my computer was lost.
Amanda Simpson
On April 7th, 2006, I was at the University of Memphis just leaving my Anthropology class at 11:15. I made it to my vehicle and made a phone call that lasted about ten minutes. When I pulled out and took a left onto Southern it started to sprinkle. I took a right at the stop sign and then a left and got on Walker. By the time I was in front of the Tiger Book Store, it had begun to rain heavier and produce small pieces of hail, smaller then a dime. By the time I went through the light at Walker and Highland the gutters on the side of the road were filled with rushing water, which made people merge into the left lane. The heavy rain and hail forced drivers to slow down to fifteen miles in speed. About 10 minutes later the hail and heavy rain stopped. About 5 minutes later I had reached the light at Walker and Hollywood and it was sprinkling very little and the sun was shining in that area. As I was driving down Hollywood to Frayser Blvd. I saw big gray storm clouds to the right and fluffy white clouds to the left with the sun out.
Christina R. Ailsworth
On April 7th, 2006, I was in Cordova, TN. I was at my uncle's house when the sirn came on and I thought that a tornado was actually about to hit the area. About 15 minutes after the siren sounded the lights in the house went off and it began to hail hard. I looked out the window to see anything and it was raining so hard. It was almost as if the rain was coming down in blankets. I went downstairs in the guest room whrere there is a skylight window and I thought the hail was going to crack the window. That storm was some kind of awfull, I just knew that there had to be some type of tornado near the area. After the rain and hail stopped, the lights were still out. My cousin and I went outside to see if there was any damage done to our cars. It sure was!!!! I have three dents on the side of my car because of the hail. That storm really scared me.
Candace Graham
On April 7th there was a big thunderstorm. During the storm I was doing work for my class, probably it was for Geography. I saw the hail falling from my window. As I was doing my work, I also was watching the the television to keep up on how severe the weather was getting. I was watching the television to see if I needed to take cover just in case something were to happen. The only thing that happened in Raleigh was the hail and heavy rain. Although we were still under watch, I went out with my friend while it was lightning.
Marshell Becton
When I arrived to school for my 8am class it looked as if it was going to be a nice day. Then the clouds rolled in at about 8:30 and it turned very dark outside. The rain came and went. I went home and fell asleep and as soon as I woke up I saw the weather had changed again. I turned on the tv and watched the news. They reported that the storm was headed toward Collierville. I grabbed my dog and ran to the closet. I sat there for a few minutes, but I didn't hear anything so i came out and turned on the tv again. Then all of a sudden I heard something that sounded like a knock at the door. I went to open it, but then it turned into a banging sound. The noise sounded like bricks were falling on my roof. I looked outside and there was hail falling from the sky. At first it was small ones and then their size increased. I rushed outside to get one because I had never seen hail before. Suddenly, I relaized that I was outside where a possible tornado was and I quickly ran back in. I tossed the hail in the freezer and grabbed my dog and ran for the closet. It looked dark outside, but not as dark as it was earlier durning my 8am class. There was a sheet of cloud over the sky with no sun in sight. My mother called and I remained on the phone with her until it was over. After it was over, I went outside and collected more hail. As I was looking around I noticed that every car in my drive-way was damaged. My brother's antique Cadillac had a shattered windshield and his other car, the back window was completely knocked out. Everyone suffered small dents in their cars; however, my car had the least amount of damage.
Michelle Simkin
On April 7th I experienced the thunderstorm while I was at work. I heard the sirens going off and the hail falling onto downtown Memphis. I heard that a tornado was heading towards Collierville and that all of the schools had let out early. Our work closed by everyone stayed because it was too dangerous to leave. That previous weekend was another storm that had done extensive damage to Arkansas. I was in Arkansas but made it home before the storm, but my dad got stuck in it. Every city he entered he had just missed the tornadoes by 2 min until he came to Wynne where he had to pull under a tree due to the golf ball size hail. He watched with police men and other drivers as a large tornado formed and headed east. After a normal 3 hr trip turned into 6 hrs. we were glad to hear he made it home to Memphis. After that experience I decided to stay inside on the 7th.
Justin Kelley
My experience is probably not as good as most of my classmates will be. Every thing that happened passed either beside my house or just skipped over the top of it. Everyone who lived beside me or in front of me got huge pieces of hail all over them, they were about the size of baseballs. The only thing that I really experienced during the storm was rain, very dark clouds, and wicked looking lightning. I am not complaining about not getting to experience hail and tornados but that’s all I got.
Brynn Boyd
I really wasn’t really affected that much by the storm but it was all around me. I was at my fiancé’s house, but 15 minutes away at my house they had baseball size hail in the front yard. My dad and sisters had picked some up out of the yard and put them in the freezer for us to see. I personally have never seen any hail even close to that big. My mom was in Nashville were she worked and they were surrounded as well it in Goodlettsville pretty bad and that’s only 15 minutes from Vanderbilt were she works. It was pretty scary to know that these things are all around you and around your family.
Ebony Fountain
On April 7, I was actually at my aunt's house just chilling on the couch. Then about a couple of minutes later, I heard something hitting her porch. I was saying to my self what the heck is that. Later, my uncle came in with little white balls in his hand the size of bird eggs. I was like what is that? He was like look outside. I looked outside and it was sort of scary because it was very warm and the wind was blowing like crazy. Then later my counsin turned on the television, Action News 5 was stating that a tornardo had touched down around my area (Marion, AR) then I knew it was time to take cover.
Herron Copeland
Friday, April 7th, I was at home sleep and I heard the siren go off down the street. Dr. Lurb said he wanted us to tell how the weather was so I stepped outside to get an accurate description. When I went outside I saw a cat flying down the street so I said the wind was blowing too hard for me and I think I can get an accurate description from in the house. So when I went in the house it got ugly, it was lightning and thundering like the twister movie. Then it rained, it hailed, after that it stopped and the cat fell down from the sky.
