Seems like the weather that hit Martin's house came my way too.

First rain, then thunder and lightning, them crazy-heavy rain, then hail, then wind. It was, to be honest, kind of exciting to watch. Then I get this text message:

THE NATL WEATHER SVC IN UPTON NY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR.
QUEENS COUNTY IN SE NY.
CNTL NASSAU COUNTY IN SE NY.

* UNTIL 725 PM EDT.

Here's the deal: I live on an island in a 1950's era stick-built house on the south shore of Nassau County, NY. Not in the direct path of the warning, but awfully close. We do not have a basement in our house.

As far as tornado preparedness goes, I get a big FAIL. I had no idea what to do. Not only do we not have a basement, we don't even have any interior rooms without windows. My options if I actually saw a funnel cloud seemed to be:

1) Try and create a shelter in the house using sturdy furniture, mattresses, etc.
2) Make a run to my firehouse, about 1/2 mile away. It does not have a basement either, but at least it's of new, sturdy, masonry construction. And there's loads of first aide supplies and extrication equipment available if necessary!

In reality, the rain and hail was so heavy I doubt I'd ever have seen a funnel cloud, and going outside with a 1- and 3- year old seemed particularly dumb unless I had no choice. How do people actually see a funnel cloud coming through these storms?

So what happened? Nothing. The rain stopped at about 7:20, and I went out to look around and see if anything scary was going on. Lots of water on the ground, some menacing looking clouds moving away from me, and the most amazing full rainbow I've seen in a number of years.

So, what would you have done? Tornados are sufficiently rare around here that I have not given them much thought.