On Friday (4/13) there was a line of nasty thunderstorms/small tornados running through the DFW area (between 5:00 and 8:00 pm). I thought it was a great time to practice/drill for Texas spring weather. Some of my thoughts/observations:

1) We have a NOAA alert radio (programmed to set off for warnings in our county) at our house. Fortunately, I noticed that the backup battery was low and picked up a new one on the way home from work. Although the power was out for an hour, we still could keep updated on the progress of the storm.

2) We used the "radar" channel that appears on our local cable companies broadcast, as well as watched the local news (they broke into programming). Unfortunately, when the power went off, we lost our visual feed and had to rely upon our NOAA radio and AM broadcast station (KRLD 1080). Because I'm kinda visual guy, I had trouble following the radio updates. Definitely need to keep a series of maps, with county listings) nearby to track the storms progress in the event of TV outage.

3) I had a cheapo camping lantern (4 AA, incandescent bulb) for power outages. Won't go cheapo again. Definitely going to upgrade because it was nearly pitch black outside (and inside) even though the sun hadn't set. Anyone have suggestions on a replacement?

4) I had upgraded my AA mini-mag to LED (using Nite-Ize kit) a few days earlier. Much better than traditional bulb.

5) Repair supplies - I don't have much in the way of supplies to make emergency repairs to windows, fences, etc. I'm making a list and checking the sales at Lowes and Home Depot.

Any other Texas stories?