Wyvern Oaks Talks About the Tornado Scare the Night Before "Lysts on the Lake"

The author of the blog "Wyvern Oaks" gives her account of the tornado scare that occurred Thursday, May 10, the last day of CMAI and the day before the "Lysts on the Lake" international jousting tournament.

"....About halfway through the practice, we started to see lightning quite close, and hear thunder. Riders were told to dismount, and that practice was being canceled due to the weather. Someone checked the forecast on their cell phone, and discovered we were under a tornado watch. They announced over the loudspeakers that we were to take shelter in the cement-block bathrooms if the tornado sirens went off, or if we heard a noise like a train. So much for an uneventful practice!

We began to help the jousters disarm and get them off their horses, when suddenly the wind picked up and rain started coming in sideways through the covered arena. The wind began howling, and the solid panel jousting lane started coming down in the wind. We quickly got the remaining riders off their horses, as the thunder built and the lightning came down so quickly the sky was nearly daylit. At this point, the wind and the driving rain were so loud we were screaming at one another just to be heard, even though we were standing quite close...." Read more

After the storm (photo by Wyvern Oaks)