[JandC]

This has been a strange weather week down here in SW Florida to say the least. Here in Cape Coral about 8 or 9 days age we had a telephone alert of a Tornado warning (no sirens exist down here). When they issued the warning a twister was already on the ground (EF2) tearing up about 200 homes in the SW part of town. We live in the NE part of town so we just had heavy rain.

Since that clean up effort began there have been two more serious storms blast through with tornadoes in other parts of Florida. The most recent causing a couple of deaths further north.

Even though we don't have a basement to take shelter in, our home is constructed of concrete block/stucco plus has the strapped hurricane rafters. That is not to say that we are tornado proof, but newer homes built since Charlie should be able to stand up to a EF-3 pretty good.

The problem down here is there is really no warning. Up north if the conditions are "right" for an approaching storm to possibly produce a tornado then the NWS issues a Tornado Watch, and if one is spotted then they issue a Tornado Warning. This week it has been our experience down here that they never issue official tornado watches, plus they are pretty slow on the actual warnings.

Anyone down here this year in an RV should have at least one app on their phone active at all times plus probably a weather radio. I would also locate a close by building that was built after 2005 because chances are code required it to be built by strict wind mitigation standards.

According to the weather forecast, SW Florida could be in for another round of severe storms this coming weekend. Be safe.