Friday Night....... Holy Moley Weatherman!!!!!!

Hey Guys,

Hope you all had a great Easter! I know I did! Ann served up the traditional Easter Feast of Ham, Tater Salad, Macaroni Pie, Deviled Eggs and I put on the feedbag. Man, am I stuffed.

Anyway, back to the original idea behind this blog, the weather Friday Night. That was some scary stuff. We were able to get the two games at Collyer Park completed and I was on the way to the station when the storm began to hit Laurens. Nothing like seeing intense cloud to cloud and cloud to ground lightning all at the same time. Add to that rain coming down sideways and you have a recipe for a scary weather night.

By the time I got to the station my family was there waiting for me. The guys ran the board for the ballgames and were there with Joel's girlfriend Tiffany, but as a precaution Ann and my four legged daughter Missy were there also. You see, my personal weatherman, B. Randall Stevens had advised us to be on alert and plan on being at the fallout shelter (WLBG) that evening. Boy, was he ever right.

As I walked into WLBG all Hell was breaking loose! I wobbled into the studio as fast as I could and was just in time for all kinds of weather alerts to come over the Weather Radio. Severe thunderstorms were popping up all over the place, and just as I sat down at the console the Tornado Warning siren goes off. Man, was I shook up. I popped a happy pill and got on the air trying to give out warnings as best as I could. After a couple of minutes my prayers were answered as Randy and his wife came rushing in to the station and Randy came into the control room and took over. Folks, I can't tell you how relieved I was to see him. You got to give that rascal his due, he knows weather. Within a matter of a minute or so he had the radar site on the computer and was warning people of the path of the potential tornado in the Hickory Tavern / Gray Court area. As fast as I could feed them to him he was giving out warnings, and on top of it all he was as cool as a cucumber. He continued to scan the different radar sites and spotted a potential tornado and announced it over the air five minutes before the National Weather Service did. He was amazing to watch. All this he did while trying to keep me calm, deal with an excited dog, and a weather situation that could have been potentially fatal to a lot of folks if the proper warnings were issued. It was one hectic hour and a half, but he was Johnny on the spot the whole time. When it comes to weather, Randy Stevens is the man, and I salute and thank him for his efforts to keep everyone informed and safe.

I feel lucky that Randy was at the helm Friday Night. He proved again why having a viable local radio station manned during times of bad weather is so important. The TV stations might not broadcast the weather situation in the area continuously, but WLBG did, and will continue to do in the future. Why, because we are a part of this community and that is what neighbors do, they help out their neighbors during tough times.

Remember, in times of bad weather, tune WLBG in, we will be there to try our best to keep you informed and safe because that is what we do, and we do it for you.

Until next time, God Bless!
The Big "Un