Tarmo Tanilsoo
EF5
This is going to be a long post, so take your time to read.
This all started at the night... or rather early morning of 16 July 2001 when I was waken by a thunderstorm. Thunderstorm came and went. Morning was beautiful. In those days, we lived at the other side of the area, in Sassi village(still in Laguja area), but I was taken to grandparents place in Laguja(where I live now) since parents left home to go to a market and just in case if a thunderstorm comes. I had been very annoyed that mother sold strawberries at the market, since that didn't left the time for family. On the same morning I wished that 29 May 2000 hail even would have destroyed them.. But anyway, my mind wasn't at home in 2001 and AS was still very hard. At noon, I headed out to Tartu with my parents, to do a rehabilitation plan at a hospital at Lunini st. - as mentioned earlier, I have Aspergers Syndrome. Weather was nice, but hot. I had taken my desk calculator with me in the car(then, as a symptom of AS, I just loved numbers and calculators). I noticed some cirro-like clouds in the horizon. By the time we arrived to the hospital, Sun was still shining. But while we were there, rumbles started. I was afraid that it was thunder, but we could blame city noise in that as well. However, I saw a cloud in the window, what I now believe to be cumulonimbus. When we left hospital, rumbles had turned into bangs. And then it was. It was dark. We managed to left Tartu, before heavy rains begain in Tartu and flooded the streets. It was really dark. However, I saw a lighter area near the horizon. However, something looked strange with me too. That time, I was very afraid of thunderstorms. Even darker cloud could spark a fear on me. I hardly heard thunder thanks to a loud car engine though(car was old Žiguli). However, instead of having eyes closed etc, I was watching the sky and said: "That is like in Savage Skies!"(documentary, what was shown on a TV in late 1990's and early 2000's on a television station now defunct) To describe the darkness - when we arrived to the Nõo, street lights had automatically turned on. Then we stopped at a pharmacy store, because mother needed to step by over there. But then - if I remember correctly it started hailing. Then, mother went to the store and - it rained so hard that you were totally wet in a second. At the same time, power went out in Nõo. We stopped by at another store at the same time and I saw now this. I commented it as "disaster". A rain was flying on the roads. I think it could have been as well horizontal rain. When we finally got home, I ran to the house, saying "Ну погода, погоди!"(Oh weather, wait! - Russian language. Russian time cartoon Ну погоди! was one of my favourite cartoons that time). Power was still out. However, I hardly realized the real situation. By the way, hail had crushed most of strawberries in the farm. At 7 PM, I turned my battery-powered radio on and what I heard. It was Vikerraadio at 106,1. Anchor said: "Rescue services are warning for tornadoes. There have been mainly reports of tornadoes in ... counties, but tornadoes are likely..." I ran outside and notified parents working outside about a tornado threat. Meanwhile, sky started to get dark again in southwest. And thunder started rumbling. I heard cracks on AM(I learned to hear thunders from AM from Savage Skies). I panicked, I first wanted father to take me to grandparents place, what has a cellar(farm I was didn't have until year 2005). I had already grabbed my radio, when I saw a dark cloud in southwest. I now think that shelf cloud, or something like that was coming. Then, I decided to get the storms at parents home. It went dark. It was dark like it was 10 PM, but it was 7 PM. Then winds came. Thunder came and went. This was a scary day. I was just entertaining myself with reading a phone book's information about area codes and phone networks. Next morning, weather was beautiful. At 6 AM, I brought in the morning paper and it had weather as front page and last page story. There was a fatality and country was near energy crisis. Radio told mainly about tornadoes and traffic reports reported storm damage. It surely was a crazy week. Thunderstorms hit us all week. It took couple of days to get power back. At one evening it come, then it went out again. At daytime, only one station was on air at daytime, because local transmission tower had maintenance and all UHF channels were off air at daytime. Eventually, the week passed. Damage was seen everywhere. It was like in Tornado Alley. Actually I do live in Baltic Tornado Alley(From Riga to Tartu).
This is one week I hardly forget. I was listening to radio every day at every top of the hour to get latest weather updates. Situation was really crazy. This is sounding for Tallinn at 00Z on 16 July.
Time has passed. I have lost fear of thunderstorms. Aspergers Syndrome has diminished a lot(it will never go totally away though). I got digital thermometer on 6 September 2003(on my birthday). In 2004, I started taking measurements from thunderstorms. Now, actually, I don't even run inside if cumulonimbus cloud already shows up. However, I hardly remember that we have had such weeks after the July's Storms of 2001.
This all started at the night... or rather early morning of 16 July 2001 when I was waken by a thunderstorm. Thunderstorm came and went. Morning was beautiful. In those days, we lived at the other side of the area, in Sassi village(still in Laguja area), but I was taken to grandparents place in Laguja(where I live now) since parents left home to go to a market and just in case if a thunderstorm comes. I had been very annoyed that mother sold strawberries at the market, since that didn't left the time for family. On the same morning I wished that 29 May 2000 hail even would have destroyed them.. But anyway, my mind wasn't at home in 2001 and AS was still very hard. At noon, I headed out to Tartu with my parents, to do a rehabilitation plan at a hospital at Lunini st. - as mentioned earlier, I have Aspergers Syndrome. Weather was nice, but hot. I had taken my desk calculator with me in the car(then, as a symptom of AS, I just loved numbers and calculators). I noticed some cirro-like clouds in the horizon. By the time we arrived to the hospital, Sun was still shining. But while we were there, rumbles started. I was afraid that it was thunder, but we could blame city noise in that as well. However, I saw a cloud in the window, what I now believe to be cumulonimbus. When we left hospital, rumbles had turned into bangs. And then it was. It was dark. We managed to left Tartu, before heavy rains begain in Tartu and flooded the streets. It was really dark. However, I saw a lighter area near the horizon. However, something looked strange with me too. That time, I was very afraid of thunderstorms. Even darker cloud could spark a fear on me. I hardly heard thunder thanks to a loud car engine though(car was old Žiguli). However, instead of having eyes closed etc, I was watching the sky and said: "That is like in Savage Skies!"(documentary, what was shown on a TV in late 1990's and early 2000's on a television station now defunct) To describe the darkness - when we arrived to the Nõo, street lights had automatically turned on. Then we stopped at a pharmacy store, because mother needed to step by over there. But then - if I remember correctly it started hailing. Then, mother went to the store and - it rained so hard that you were totally wet in a second. At the same time, power went out in Nõo. We stopped by at another store at the same time and I saw now this. I commented it as "disaster". A rain was flying on the roads. I think it could have been as well horizontal rain. When we finally got home, I ran to the house, saying "Ну погода, погоди!"(Oh weather, wait! - Russian language. Russian time cartoon Ну погоди! was one of my favourite cartoons that time). Power was still out. However, I hardly realized the real situation. By the way, hail had crushed most of strawberries in the farm. At 7 PM, I turned my battery-powered radio on and what I heard. It was Vikerraadio at 106,1. Anchor said: "Rescue services are warning for tornadoes. There have been mainly reports of tornadoes in ... counties, but tornadoes are likely..." I ran outside and notified parents working outside about a tornado threat. Meanwhile, sky started to get dark again in southwest. And thunder started rumbling. I heard cracks on AM(I learned to hear thunders from AM from Savage Skies). I panicked, I first wanted father to take me to grandparents place, what has a cellar(farm I was didn't have until year 2005). I had already grabbed my radio, when I saw a dark cloud in southwest. I now think that shelf cloud, or something like that was coming. Then, I decided to get the storms at parents home. It went dark. It was dark like it was 10 PM, but it was 7 PM. Then winds came. Thunder came and went. This was a scary day. I was just entertaining myself with reading a phone book's information about area codes and phone networks. Next morning, weather was beautiful. At 6 AM, I brought in the morning paper and it had weather as front page and last page story. There was a fatality and country was near energy crisis. Radio told mainly about tornadoes and traffic reports reported storm damage. It surely was a crazy week. Thunderstorms hit us all week. It took couple of days to get power back. At one evening it come, then it went out again. At daytime, only one station was on air at daytime, because local transmission tower had maintenance and all UHF channels were off air at daytime. Eventually, the week passed. Damage was seen everywhere. It was like in Tornado Alley. Actually I do live in Baltic Tornado Alley(From Riga to Tartu).
This is one week I hardly forget. I was listening to radio every day at every top of the hour to get latest weather updates. Situation was really crazy. This is sounding for Tallinn at 00Z on 16 July.
Time has passed. I have lost fear of thunderstorms. Aspergers Syndrome has diminished a lot(it will never go totally away though). I got digital thermometer on 6 September 2003(on my birthday). In 2004, I started taking measurements from thunderstorms. Now, actually, I don't even run inside if cumulonimbus cloud already shows up. However, I hardly remember that we have had such weeks after the July's Storms of 2001.
