You people in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Southeast Ontario sure dodged a bullet there.

I can't actually remember them ever being in black and white. Also, I'm mildly horrified now by how she speaks to her mom here; I certainly didn't do that myself when I was little! I do remember using words like "stupid" and "crud" in my stories and getting strange looks (which I now suspect were a mix of amusement, horror, and puzzlement) from adults. Maybe that's why I don't use strong language today — such a second-grade way to heighten drama.

Impressed grown-ups asked me if I got the anchor's name from Jane Pauley. I didn't think I had heard of her, but I'm sure her name was rattling in my brain somewhere.

And yes, she is making a face at the viewers (or the tornado?) in this picture.

Note the tiny funnel cloud on the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Heh.

I was always terrified of that beeping that the TV would make before the severe weather report would start scrolling across the bottom of the screen. (And yet it often held me transfixed.) This is high drama, people.