A Locomotive Passed Overhead

Yesterday afternoon, it was 72 degrees and heavily overcast; this morning, it was 45 degrees and perfectly clear. Between those times, approximately 4:15 to 5:30, we had low-road flooding everywhere, continuous lightning and high winds. The weather service sent predictions as to the time a possible tornado would arrive at different places, including an area called Mountain Top.

On that evening’s news, two people along that line, including one in a supermarket that got a little beat up, said they heard the sound of a locomotive passing overhead. That’s the typical noise of a tornado, a train the PUC cannot regulate.

We’re still waiting for the Powers That Be to determine if it has been a true tornado or just some real damaging winds and loud noise. Nobody was able to see a funnel cloud in the darkness, which would have made for a dandy photo in the newspaper.

In this area, where tornados or their junior partners are fairly rare, there isn’t any warning for us to take cover. We don’t have the siren mentality that permeates the Midwest, the southwest-facing spotters during “that type” of weather so well known in the flatlands. It’s more like, “What the ****! was that?”

Everybody Has A Story
Frank Kozden died, a local resident who moved to New Jersey some years ago and cooked in various restaurants and diners. “Among the many customers he served were Howard Cosell, Larry Holmes, June Lockhart and Ed Sullivan.”