The sequel to my Friday post about covering tornadoes is this week, when I got to talk to the most seriously injured survivor, whose house basically disintegrated.

And of course you have to opine, in part because you did one week earlier, in both cases hopefully saying something, instead of the usual Wisconsin daily newspaper approach along the lines of “Tornadoes: We oppose them!”

One thing from the column bears repeating. There was no tornado warning before Platteville’s two tornadoes, because none of the trained, veteran weather spotters saw the tornadoes (the bigger of which formed right outside the city), nor did anyone else, nor did weather radar until after the fact. Weather radio and weather sirens have useful purposes, but there is no substitute for using your own brains. Ultimately you are responsible for your own safety.