Mother Nature got the year off to a rude start Tuesday afternoon, bringing buckets of rainfall, heavy winds and isolated tornadoes.

For a brief 20 minutes or so Tuesday, the northern portion of Chambers County — our neighbors in Alabama — were under a tornado warning. 

Thankfully, this storm system didn’t produce long-track tornadoes, so any rotation on the ground likely was very brief. However, we know some trees were knocked down. 

Troup County went under a severe thunderstorm warning around 5 p.m., probably the worst of the weather we experienced. 

Then, overnight, more heavy rain and wind came through the area during “round two” of the weather system. Thankfully, the severe threat was not as significant overnight, though the chance of tornadoes was still there.

With the South’s severe weather system basically underway — spring typically trends worse than winter — now seems like a good time to remind everyone to have a way to get weather information overnight. Whether that means using a weather radio or getting an app on your phone (there are dozens) that will wake you if you are under a tornado warning. 

We know there are people out there who would rather ignore the weather and hope for the best. However, that’s the wrong approach. Staying on top of storms in our area is a good way to stay safe, especially when they come in during hours where most of us are in bed.

Prepare, make a plan and be ready. We never know what spring weather season will bring.