About Bristow's New Bristow Village

Last night my husband James and I were glued to the Weather Channel.  There's something about watching a metereologist at the top of his/her game when calling out tornado warnings and sightings is like calling a basketball game...there is something new to report seemingly every sixty seconds.  The storms that the southeast had been experiencing were still worse in places like Georgia last night, but Virginia was staring down the storms that had hit Alabama the day before.

So as our local radar map began to look more and more angry, I suggested we turn on a local network station.  Sure enough, a tornado had been spotted in the neighboring County and was moving toward us.  That at 10:30 pm.  In less than five minutes we had our five indoor cats in the unfinished part of our basement, along with a phone, laptop and NOAA weather radio.  I was pretty scared during those fifteen minutes we spent in the basement. 

Our biggest concern when we got out of the basement was our outdoor cat, who we had tried to find a half hour before the storm hit.  He has a tendency to go in the rain sewer, and we knew we were expecting a downpour.  So after the storm passed, we were out in our rain jackets looking for Gray Kitty again.  Nothing.  From experience, we know it's best to sit inside and wait for him to come back to the door and meow.  Sure enough, about forty minutes later he was a soaking wet mess on the doorstep.  We were so relieved he was okay.

It wasn't until a lunch appointment this afternoon that I found out a tornado had affected a neighborhood about two to three miles from us.  Thankfully, no one was hurt.  Typical Northern Virginia tornado... just rearranging the furniture.  I wasn't going to take any chances though.  You'll find me in the basement anytime a tornado has been spotted nearby and moving my direction. 

Here are some images from the Bristow Center Shopping Center and New Bristow Village.  The closest intersection, for those unfamiliar is Route 215 and Route 28 in Bristow, VA.