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This Week in America: Tornado Season

The first time you hear a tornado siren in the American South… you don’t forget it.

For many people living in Australia, tornadoes feel like something distant — dramatic footage from the news somewhere in the American Midwest. But living in Tennessee, you quickly learn that severe weather isn’t something that sits in the background of life.

It’s something you pay attention to.

In this week’s reflection I talk about the moment tornado season became real for our family — when an EF-4 tornado passed just two streets away from our home, and the following year another storm crossed directly over our house. I also share the strange memory of driving through Nashville with tornado sirens echoing across the city… on the way to the hospital for the birth of our daughter.

But the story isn’t just about storms.

It’s about the way communities respond when disaster hits. Pickup trucks arriving with chainsaws. Neighbours helping neighbours. Thousands of volunteers showing up to clear roads and rebuild lives — a reminder of why Tennessee is known as the Volunteer State.

Living overseas teaches you that every place has its own rhythms.

In the American South, tornado season is one of them.

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