Crazy Weather

The weather here in Missouri is always a little crazy and today was no exception. My sister and I decided to get our long run done today because the high temperature was going to be in the 60's. Yep, you read that right. There was snow and ice on the ground at the beginning of the week, 60s today and dropping back into the 20s for tomorrow.
There was a storm that came through the night and another storm due to come through in the afternoon so we were going to get out in between. My sister wanted to do 10-11 miles and I wanted to stay in the 6-8 range so we decided she would run over to the park near me and I would run over and meet her there. First loop was uneventful. It was humid but we were happy to be out in short sleeves with none of the cumbersome winter gear. Second loop the tornado sirens alarmed. We were under a tornado warning. The skies still looked fine and there were a lot of people running so we kept going. Stopped at a water fountain, noticed the skies getting a little darker so I called my husband to ask if we should head home. Of course, he had PBS on for the kids and said we'd be fine to keep going.
So, we continued around the park. As we turned at the far end we heard some thunder so we were starting to think we would just run back to my house. There are many old trees in that park and you definitely don't want to be there if there is lightening. We were pretty close to the turn to go toward my house when my husband called and said, "yeah, you might want to come home, the storm is coming pretty quickly." Good, decision made for us. Luckily, we got to my house before the storm hit and my sister's boyfriend picked her up. My sister ran 8.5 miles and I ran a little over 7 so we were happy to have gotten that much done.
Come to find out a tornado had actually touched down a little further west. Which I didn't realize until we were driving over to my friend's house about an hour later. The streets were blocked for downed power lines. The stoplights were dark. There were news crews and utility trucks. Thankfully, no lives were lost but there are many without homes tonight.
So wishing everyone a happy, healthy and safe new year. I know I will be happily ringing in the new year at home this year. No plans, just me and the hubby,a bottle of wine streaming a Netflix movie. Cheers!
Happy New Year!