Jeanne, you scared the #$^*#@#$ out of me

[SouthernWx]

I agree with themusk....officials in this metro Atlanta city and county finally installed tornado sirens after the April 8-9, 1998 tornado outbreak ripped through metro Atlanta, and I'm very thankful they did.

While I've been very storm-wary since age 12 (after surviving a 1974 tornado that tore my home apart at 5:30 in the morning), many folks in this area aren't. Having reliable sirens is another means of alerting folks, especially at night that dangerous storms are approaching Douglas county. NOAA weather-alert radios are great, but having sirens means even folks who don't have weather radios or aren't watching tv can still get a warning to seek safe shelter.

[Summer Rain]

Bpy, do I remember the '84 tornado outbreak in NC! My daughter wasn't quite 6 months old and I was terrified we'd all be blown away. Thankfully, none touched down in Durham, where we were living then, but I could've sworn I heard the sound of it overhead just before it struck in Raleigh, 18-20 miles from us.

There was another bad one in 1988, I think it was. That one hit in Raleigh and did a lot of damage and killed several, if I recall correctly. It was an F2, at least. This was in November, so not the typical time of year we get them here.

The third one (also in Durham) touched down about half a mile from our house and tore roofs off, etc., but didn't cause many injuries. My son saw the funnel cloud and ran into the house to tell us. It lifted just before getting to us. All except the third one occurred at night, so it was hard to see them coming.

[Stormsfury]

Here's a slideshow by SPC forecaster Greg Carbin regarding the 1984 Carolinas tornado outbreak. It was one of the most amazing storm systems I've ever seen (barometric pressure fell to 28.85"/977 mb in Atlanta as the intense meso-low passed over...the lowest pressure ever recorded in Atlanta. The same mesoscale low pressure area was responsible for most of the killer tornadoes in the Carolinas later that evening).

March 28, 1984 tornado outbreak website:
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/staff/carbin/ghd3/sld001.html

I remember that outbreak ... watching local media (stayed on throughout the event, which in 1984 was a VERY RARE feat all things considering) and TWC ... the outbreak hitting my state was frightening, and almost surreal ... the very thing that 90% of the time occurs in the Midwest was unfolding in the Southeast ... even w/out thunderstorms, sustained winds of 30-40 MPH and higher gusts, and the lowest pressure record was set in Columbia (28.94") before broken by Hugo, and then again broken by the Superstorm of 1993 ...