March roars in like a lion

Storm forced part of Thomaston Road to close Thursday night
(Photo by Woody Marshall/The Telegraph)

I ate lunch Thursday at the Ryan’s Steakhouse in Warner Robins. I was speaking to the Warner Robins Noonday Optimist Club.

You don’t want to sound like a pessimist when you sit down to break bread with the Optimists, but I told the gentleman next to me about how I now pay attention to severe weather warnings.

No longer do I ignore then. Four and a half years ago, just a few weeks after we moved to south Monroe County, we hardly raised an eyebrow one Sunday afternoon when a tornado watch was issued. It was November, and we had just gotten through watching a football game, for goshsakes. That’s not typical tornado weather.

But within minutes, a tornado had cut a swath through our neighborhood, and I had neighbors who lost dozens of trees. That will get your attention.

I will never forget the sound of that storm as it passed around us. We huddled in a walk-in closet, and you could almost feel it in the atmosphere as it passed over.

I will never forget the strange way the clouds looked. They were low, with a strange color and light. They raced through as if they were in a hurry. The sky was very angry.

And it looked the same way Thursday night.

It reminds us of just how unpredictable the weather can be this time of year.

The first day of March certainly roared in like a lion.