Tornadoes and Sharks...Just Summertime on Cape Cod #CapeCod #tornadoes

*Free use photo -- not the actual Cape tornado

I've lived on Cape Cod for twenty years now, and the summertime shark influx has been an ongoing annual occurrence since about 2009.  Before that, the Cape didn't have a lot of reports of Great White sharks (despite the fact that the 1975 hit movie Jaws was filmed on Martha's Vineyard...view a few pics of local settings in this post).  The first time I really remember hearing a lot about sharks here was in 2004, when a 15-foot Great White shark became somewhat stuck in a body of water near Wood's Hole.  That shark drew tons of attention, a lot of curious boaters, and became the first Great White tagged with a satellite tracking device in the Atlantic before it was coaxed back out into the open ocean by experts.  Sightings now happen all the time, and sadly, we had a shark attack fatality last year--the first deadly shark attack in MA since one in Buzzards Bay in 1936.

With the Cape being a peninsula surrounded by water, in addition to sharks and other sea life, we do often get wild weather as well: Nor'Easters, hurricanes, blizzards, etc.  A few of them were significant enough for me to write about on my blog, so with this past week's bizarre tornado touch-down, I took a little look back to some of the other crazy weather events I discussed on my blog since I started it in 2012.

Hurricane Sandy devastated a great deal of the East Coast in October of 2012, but the Cape escaped the majority of its wrath (and that was a relief--Sandy was a deadly, destructive hurricane).  While we only got the fringes of Sandy, we were hit with a rough Nor'Easter about two weeks later.  What I remember about that one is that a downed power line started a fire in our tree (Sandy's sister storm) and also how a true friend came through for me at an important time.

In 2014, we had a terrible blizzard that blanketed the Cape the first weekend of school February break...and of course the night before we were due to leave to take our kids to Disney (all park tickets bought in advance cause I'm a planner).  While we made it to Florida, our older son had a terrible injury the day we got back.  (Blizzards, Blackouts, and Broken Legs).

In 2015 there was Juno, or "Snowmageddon 2015".  That led to a post about some of the other blizzards we've experienced here, and also the disastrous blizzard-related skiing trip. (Blizzard of 2015/Snowmageddon)

But tornadoes?  It's just been announced that we actually had THREE tornadoes last week.  Before that, there was one in Wood's Hole (Wood's Hole again?) last October...before that, 1977 and then 1968.  

Thankfully, my understanding thus far is that no injuries occurred...although there was extensive damage, and there is footage of the roof being ripped off a Yarmouth hotel which is mind-boggling.

My family spent a lot of time in our basement Monday night and Tuesday during the day.  While taking cover in the basement with my younger son on Tuesday, we heard water splattering, and I opened the storage room door to find water pouring through the two small windows.  When the tornado warning lifted for our area, we ran outside to find the window wells overflowing with the amount of rain that had slammed down in such a short period of time.  We took buckets and bailed the window wells while getting soaked...every step in our yard had us sinking into swampy puddles of mud and mulch.  We spent the rest of the afternoon learning how to use our wet-vac, and getting our work-out in as we carried tubs of water up the stairs to empty.  Definitely a day I won't forget soon, but the most important thing is that while our house was damp, it was still standing...and more importantly, no injuries reported despite three tornadoes during the busiest season here.

So it literally has been a "Sharknado" summer here on Cape Cod...I do hope things calm down a bit and that everyone who comes here (including our revolving-door house guests coming in August) gets a chance to relax and have a safe and wonderful visit.