Bloomington braves thunderstorms

Sitting on a cushioned black chair with iPhone in hand, junior Max Waples waited on his porch for signs of a funnel cloud.

“If it got bad, I figured I would go inside,” Waples said.

This seemed to be the common mentality of many IU students as websites and radio stations sounded the alarm for a tornado warning throughout Monroe County.

Junior Emily Kitchen said she was concerned about the tornado warning on Monday, but was no longer worried on Tuesday due to the day’s calm weather. Kitchen said that Tuesday’s weather made her want to sit outside and wait for the storm to brew.

“I was worried because it looked pretty bad the other night, so I went in my basement,” Kitchen said. “And I didn’t have cable, so I didn’t know when it would be over.”

Despite the ominous weather, patrons at The Runcible Spoon Cafe and Restaurant did not feel the need to seek shelter, restaurant manager Regen O’Neill said.

“Out of the tables that were occupied, no one felt the urge to move,” O’Neill said. “We have a basement, and we told them that was an option.”

However, proprietors took necessary precautions to ensure the safety of their patrons.

“We had the TV on, and we kept an eye on what was going on outside,” O’Neill said. “We have a lot of windows, and we encouraged people to move away from the windows.”

The weather did prevent students from returning to Bloomington. Kathryn Smoots works in Indianapolis as an intern for the WRTV Channel 6 weather department and had to stay at work for an extra hour until the tornado warning expired.

“I got back to Bloomington around 10:45,” Smoots said. “Normally, I get back around 8.”

The weather during junior Michelle Wiertel’s drive back to Bloomington forced her to pull over on State Road 37.

“It was hailing so hard we had to pull over halfway back to Bloomington and wait for it to stop,” Wiertel said. “We were stopped for a good 15 minutes.”

However, the day before, Wiertel and her roommates watched the storm from her porch in Brownstone Terrace Apartments.

“It was crazy how dark it got,” Wiertel said. “We were lovin’ it.”

The storms that came with the tornado warnings Monday and Tuesday knocked trees down throughout the Bloomington campus and damaged personal property, said Lt. Craig Munroe of the IU Police Department.

“A branch went through the back windshield of a car that was parked in the IUPD parking lot,” Munroe said. “Trees were blown down, but that’s fairly common with old trees.”

The overall feel throughout the campus was one more of interest than actual fear.

“Even from the car, it was really, really fun to watch,” Wiertel said.