Stay Ahead of the Storm

A couple of years ago, my daughter and I went to the X-Games in Austin for the third year in a row. We were under flash flood warnings so I was hyper-aware of the weather. The atmosphere was unstable and there were popup showers in the area. As we were watching the Skateboard Street competition, we could see a big bank of black clouds gathering in the distance. I was hoping it would go around us but I was monitoring it closely on my iPhone weather app, WeatherBug. My main concern was lightning. WeatherBug has a lightning app within the app called Spark. It uses real-time lightning data and your GPS, and it tells you how far away the closest lightning strike is to your location. Unfortunately, it didn't work when I needed it most. I knew there was lightning in the not-too-far distance but Spark just gave me a blank screen.

The X-Games is very good about monitoring the weather and making the right call. Just the day before, the entire park was evacuated to our cars while we waited out the weather. So I felt okay about staying to watch Skateboard Street even though I could see the gathering clouds. But when the announcement came over the PA to evacuate the grounds and retreat to our cars, all hell broke loose. In about less than one minute after the announcement, the skies opened up and large drops of rain pelted the scattering crowd. Everyone scrambled to gather their loved ones and their belongings and headed for the exits. Me, my daughter, and her two friends started running for the shelter of my car in the parking lot about half a mile away. Before we could go ten meters, the wind picked up and that's when I really started getting concerned.

I grew up on the Texas coast and I've lived through several hurricanes, so I feel like a have a pretty good grasp of the power of hurricane-force winds. That day at the X-Games, it felt like we experienced close to hurricane-force winds. At that point, my concern shifted from lightning to wind. There were so many tents, cranes, and structures that could be blown over that I kept my head on a swivel, trying to anticipate what would happen next. At the same time, I was trying to keep my eyes glued to my daughter and her two friends, coral them, and guide them to the car without getting lost or hurt. Once I made eye contact with them, we all ran towards the parking lot. About 10 meters into our mad dash, the three of them decided to stop and seek shelter under a small pop-up tent along with about 30 other people. I understand why they did that; large drops of rain were pelting them, soaking them to the skin, and everyone else seemed to be doing it. But I wheeled back around and urged them to keep running for the car. Reluctantly, they did.

We ran another 300 meters into the paddock where they house the EMTs and ambulances. Fortunately they had opened the gates to these normally off-limits premises. We were herded in there with dozens of other people, all of us soaked to the skin. I pulled my cell phone out of my soaking wet pants and pulled up the Sparks app. It finally worked. There was lightning within six miles.

I never felt like our lives were in danger, but I did feel like the situation could have turned as quickly as the rain and wind was unleashed upon us. While we were waiting for the all clear signal, I had time to reflect on what had just happened, and how we could have been better prepared. Lessoned learned:

1. Knowing the weather was unstable going into the event, I should have not waited until the announcement to evacuate; I should have gathered the troops and started moving towards the parking lot when the dark clouds were approaching.
2. By the time the bad weather hits, it's too late to make a plan. I should have prepared the girls for the possibility of evacuating before it started raining and gusting. When the weather hit, it was pandemonium. People were running in every direction and we could easily have been separated. In fact, I witnessed one mother desperately calling out for her child, from whom she had been separated during the event. I was torn between wanting to help her and feeling the tugging responsibility to the three girls. Not knowing what the child looked like, I decided that there was nothing I could do at the moment to help here. Later on, I saw her and her child in the paddock.
3. What I remember most vividly is how loud it was. The howling wind makes a surprisingly loud noise, making it almost impossible to give or follow instructions. If I had a do-over I would have told the girls that, in the event that we were separated, we would meet at a designated spot.