Beautiful venue, home of the Texas Rangers. VERY windy, stormy night…
Center fiels score board. Notice not only the fact that it is so windy the flags are nearly flat, but the U.S. flag in the middle has come loose at the top, and is only hanging on by the bottom…
The sky was both beautiful, and eery at the same time. The photo doesn’t really do it justice…
Being a baseball fan since childhood, I’ve seen the tarp process countless times…
The tarp has been unrolled, and now the crew is preparing to unfurl it…
As the crew pulls, you get just a hint that the wind is beginning to get underneath. So far, so good…
Still going well, but a little more wind is getting under…
Ok, this is about the point the fans knew it was about to get interesting…
As “oooh” and “ahhh” raised up from the crowd, the field crew fights desperately to keep the tarp from taking off like a kite…
Wave upon wave of air rushed underneath the tarp…
The air bursting forth from the tarp, I’m still amazed this thing didn’t get the crew airborn…
Using the crew members in the foreground for scale, you can see just how high the tarp got at its highest point. An impressive show of force by the wind…
Having secured the third base side, it now became a matter of getting all the air out from underneath…
Almost there…
Success! Having smoothed it out, and removed as much of the air as possible, they anchored the corners using tractors and riding mowers…
We made it to the main entrance/exit on the third base side, but all gates were locked, and guarded, not allowing anyone to leave during the tornado warning. Everyone in the stadium was making their way to the ground level.
Having gone from a “tornado warning,” to an actual tornado sighting, everyone was now guided to the tunnels under the stadium…
Musings and Art of KzooEnrique 