Hey all! I was thinking back on some of the bigger storms we weathered while we were near Omaha NE. Being from Virginia, I had seen thunderstorms and small hail storms, but nothing prepared me for the storms in the Midwest.

More than once, we were battered with hail so large I was terrified our windshield or solar panels were going to shatter, and we had to move under an awning multiple times throughout the weeks we were in the area. Gwyn and I had turned on our severe weather alerts on our phones after one incident where we didn’t know a storm was coming, and it was too late to take cover. During that storm we woke up around 3 am with wind so high and rain so hard we couldn’t drive the van. We literally just hoped that the storm would pass and not create another tornado. She did attempt to move the van under an awning at a Bass Pro Shop we were staying at, but the rain was so rough, she drove into a small ditch. We were able to back out of the ditch and Gwyn was able to turn the van to decrease the how much wind was catching the side of the vehicle. I know I was really concerned the van could turn over the wind sounded so high. The wind was shaking the vehicle violently and I was absolutely horrified since we couldn’t even see to leave the van.

I was already scared of thunderstorms since I was small because my Gran was struck by lightning when she was a young adult (she survived) and watching her PTSD around storms instills a fear in a person. Or it instilled a fear into me. So from already being afraid of storms, with large hail, insane winds, and threats of tornadoes 1-2x a week, I was ready to move to another area. Gwyn had to talk me out of a panic attack the night we couldn’t leave or move the campervan. I could feel my heart rate increasing and as well as my breathing. Thankfully she was able to help ground me after a while and we were able to weather out the rest of the storm more easily with the van turned the same way as the wind was blowing. I think I laid in bed about 3 hours listening to the thunder and waiting for the wind/rain to subside.

I’m not sure what was going on with the weather patterns in the late spring, but we had tornado watches and warnings at least one time a week during our stay in the area. One week before we arrived, 7 tornadoes touched down nearby, which was scary to hear for us, and devastating for the locals. One of the first days we were there, I drove to a nearby town called Elkhorn so I could see what the aftermath of a tornado looked like firsthand. I had never seen the damage in real life. I knew as soon as I started seeing trees bent and broken limbs I had made it to the area. After seeing the trees, I started seeing pieces of houses and barns scattered in the fields and road closures. While I was there, I also saw a lot of volunteers and workers cleaning up the devastation and over the next few weeks heard calls for donations for the families affected by the storms. It felt like the people in the area took care of their residents and it was a closeknit community.

I know the locals all said that it was an odd year, that even the long term residents had never seen storms so often as this year. Hopefully this year was a fluke, and they won’t have to endure so many storms next year.

What I learned from Nebraska is to always have your severe storm warnings option on your phone, even if it’s only seeing your location as you utilize the app.