We are fine.

I wrote earlier about my fear of tornadoes. I once drove into a tornadic storm on Interstate 57 between Champaign and Rantoul, Illinois. My fear of dangerous weather intensified when I lived in South Carolina and saw the damage created by Hurricane Hugo.

When I moved to Madison twenty years ago, locals assured me that tornadoes were not likely to hit this area because of the city's proximity to multiple lakes. Foolish myth!* Since we've lived here, tornadoes have hit near us three times: Madison's west side in 2004; Stoughton in 2005; and last night, in Verona.

Mr. Irene and I hadn't fallen asleep yet when the sirens went off yesterday. We're normally cautious when the National Weather Service issues a warning, but this one caught us off guard. We were about to head to the basement only as the storm hit, about three miles south of us.

Madison, Wisconsin, June 2004. This was the view near where Mr. Irene's Parents live.

*UPDATE: A meteorologist discusses the lake myth here.