If I were writing a script I would have people talking in the feed store about the Extreme weather that was coming in last night. The man at the gas station making a comment. 
I would have the lead come home and unload her feed and feed her animals and then walk her dogs about the dense quiet of the evening with her camera. All in fast cuts that flow with confidence and smiles. Her big pig would follow her, the cats, the dogs and chickens on the fences.
On her walk she would feel a stiff breeze rise up, whipping at her hair. We cut to the pigs jogging in and out of their storm shelter house.
She walks on, then she stops and turns back to the barn- we can hear the cows bells from the milking parlour, ringing, slightly above the gathering wind. This makes her turn back.
She is noting the natural indications of bad weather coming but she is not alarmed, the clouds are dense and flat – not scary. The wind rises slowly.
She settles the animals and shuts the barn doors. Then she goes in to make dinner, the music playing on the radio. (The passage below was found in my inbox sent by a neighbour but in the script I would probably have it read over the radio. (And shortened))
I want to stress the fact that the majority of the severe weather today will occur after dark into the overnight hours. Fast moving storms with damaging winds/tornadoes will be possible from N IL through S IL and move west to east. Many hours today will remain dry and you may even see a peek of sun or two. Do not fall into a sense of complacency, ESPECIALLY if by 7:00 P.M.there are no storms in your area. These storms are expected to develop and last throughout the night. They are not solely instability driven storms where they would lose strength once the sun sets, they are being driven by another source of fuel. Advection. A very warm and moist/unstable air mass will be advecting into the region as a warm front charges through. My fear is that people will note a lack of thunderstorm activity and the sun setting and completely disregard the weather going forward through the overnight. Do NOT fall into that false sense of security. Keep the weather radios on, the phone next to you, and have several different ways to receive alerts. If you plan on being out spotting and/or chasing, please be extra cautious as these storms will be moving at greater that 60 MPH and after dark. Keep in mind that there will also be radar limitations across northeast Illinois. Have an escape route and keep your distance. Stay safe everyone, I will be in it for the long haul provided my house isn’t under a direct threat.
NEAL
While the dinner cooks and with a glass of wine, the computer on the bench pings with a warning – her area is under a tornado watch. But this has happened before so she is not alarmed. Just a little annoyed that storm clouds will be passing through in the dark without a chance to photograph them. Storms are not unusual.
Ignoring the weather, she turns the computer and researches this new word ‘advection’.
Britannica says: Advection, in atmospheric science, change in a property of a moving mass of air because the mass is transported by the wind to a region where the property has a different value (e.g., the change in temperature when a warm air mass moves into a cool region). Advection can refer to either the horizontal or vertical components of the motion.
The husband comes home in a fury of activity – he has been listening to the sensational alarmist weather forecasts in his truck on the way home and cannot understand why she is not getting things packed for the basement. He drives his vehicles at speed into the garages and barns, slamming doors shut. Once inside and incongruously, he runs his hot bath so he can wash before the power goes out. This makes no sense and she remarks on his priorities which annoys him. The woman is amused at his panic then immersion in hot water as she finishes the dinner.
The jabber from his radio by the bath joins her calm orchestral soundtrack. A discordance.
In my movie these would be the opening frames. I am not sure what happens next. Maybe the panic caused by the media over the storms is a cover for something much more dangerous. There is a spin doctor in an high- rise office somewhere. Something insidious is being moved through the region. Something secret. Something they do not want anyone to note. So the weather forecasters are turning the local populations heads skywards, then the people are scurrying for cover, hiding their heads and closing their eyes as something massive is driven through the region, slipped through in the background while all the people hide.
We would then cut to the storm chasers who are out on the road and we will set them up to discover whatever the government is trying to hide. Only one survives the altercation.
Then back to our protagonist. She sees something from the corner of her vision on her second walk with the camera, maybe out to water herbs or feed the chicks in the glasshouse after dinner. She sees something she captures on film maybe. Its significance not noted until later.
Then the injured storm chaser bursts through the door and her head whips up and round. Eyes wide. The sounds from the radio in the bathroom are smacked off as the power goes out. The dog leaps.
The movie would be called Advection of course. The transport of a large mass from one area to another.
…
But of course in real life everyone went to bed after a normal evening. The tornado watch sat until 10pm. I could see lightening far away from the windows and fell asleep watching it. I was woken in the dead of night to loud hard hail and then intense rain with thunder and lightening. Huge house rocking winds.
Twice actually. Two nasty squalls. But the worst of the weather missed us.
It is morning now but we see no damage – my biggest worry being the barn doors that are old and large but they are still standing.
I hope you have a good day. It is a long time since I was involved in the world of script writing. It was fun to play for an hour.
Now it is time to get to work. It is still pretty windy and the temperature will drop the rain may even turn to snow. But who knows.
Have a lovely day,
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
79 responses to “Advection”
It all sounds like the X-Files – you’ll have a chupacabra coming in out of the storm…
Anything can happen! c
Ha! You caught that same conspiracy-in-broad-daylight tone that was so very X-Files. 😉 If *that’s* the case, then who’s to say it doesn’t turn out that the protagonist is herself the alien/monster/leader of the conspiracy! 😀 See that, Celi?! You’ve got all of us waiting for the full screenplay and red carpet night.
xo,
Kath
ROFL – she seemed quite human a few of weeks ago, but could have been switched in Milan…
Excuse me! Haute couture aside, there’s nothing to suggest that Milan or any part of Italy, for that matter, is a site of alien infestation — well, other than the ubiquitous McDonald’s but that’s a different kind of infestation.
I think that’s for Mulder and Scully to decide, but who’s to say it didn’t happen last night in the barn…
Well that’s certainly far more likely than in Milan. After all, it’s a well-known alternative fact that aliens are allergic to pasta but they do love corn and soy beans.
You have a very good point there!
Scully in a barn!! laughing out loud!!
Sounds perfectly possible to me!! Not the red carpet but the alien. c
Of *course* you couldn’t do the whole screenplay if the protagonist turns out to be any of the above, Celi. The whole point of a conspiracy gets tanked by the [TaDAAAAAAH!] reveal if one should…happen to…be the power at the center of it all.
What happens in Milano evidently doesn’t stay in Milano…
😉
Et tu, Kathryn?
Not to worry John, all the aliens are up here in Wisconsin near where I live – the ‘official UFO capital of Wisconsin!”
You guys!!!
You had me on the edge of my seat here. That would make a good movie. 🙂 The shot of the sky with those clouds around the red of the sun was phenomenal! I am so glad the tornadoes didn’t manifest there. The weather is unstable everywhere. Read yesterday that this was Chicago’s first January and February without snow in recorded history. So glad you are all safe.
Hmm – we had snow down here – not a lot but I am surprised it all missed Chicago. I might double check that for you. c
You know the news. Not sure you can believe all of it or any of it. Let me know if you find out that’s not the case.
Don’t know about Chicago but we had a good 8″ today after in rained most of the night, bah.
Ok that is the 2nd time I have heard the term advecton in the last two weeks. Ours was in relation to the cyclone that hit the east coast of SA. Mozambique and the Natal coast were hit by the actual cyclone, but our torrential rains were caused by hot air currents coming down from Zimbabwe and Namibia. The hot and cold air currents whirled around each other causing the advection above our heads. But thanks to Dineo our dams have been filled to overflowing 🙂 So glad you too missed the worst of the storm, to be in the eye of a tornado must be terrifying. Hope your good weather comes back soon, it is nearly spring. Laura
Advection is the synonym for convection – and same here! I had never heard of it before either. Convection yes but not its opposite.
Mad Dog and I are on the same page. Aliens. In fact, I’ve seen a movie that sounds very much like what you describe. As the people scurry about either looking
up or down (or bathing), the aliens strike. Boom. It wasn’t pretty. You will have to live out your days in an underground bunker playing the same Trivial Pursuit game over and over and gnawing on stale crackers.
Horrors, I hate Trivial Pursuit
I love, love, love your stories Celi!!! And this is a great one!!! I can see it unfolding!!! And I always, selfishly want more! 🙂 xoxoxo
Pity no-one will pay me to write nonsense – I quite enjoy it! c
hmmm, sounds as though those tornadoes came very close to you. Have you ever been through one before? I have… and I wouldn’t have gone casually to bed. I believe I’d have spent the night in the basement or even the storm cellar with the piggies. Glad to hear you’re safe and hope you find all’s well when you go out to your animals this morning. Have a good day. ~ Mame 🙂
No other country in the world has tornadoes as frequently as here in the USA so no, I have no history with them. And am very glad not to have gone through one. c
Yes, Mame, so have I. I used to enjoy storms but no more, a woman was killed by flying debris just down the road from where I lived. She lived in a mobile home and was heading for the ditch to hunker down when struck.
You had me on the edge of my seat. Great dramatic writing! Then, breathing a sigh of relief that all is well in real life… Of course, if there had been a disaster, you probably wouldn’t have been writing this in the first place, 😉 😉
If there had been a disaster I would try to get the news out that i was ok.. if i was ok – I guess
I was on the edge of my chair reading your script….. Glad the storms went around – but oh my where there storms….. Bless those who were in the paths last night.
yes they did some terrible damage – thankfully not around here though
Ci, you are such a grand writer. Perfect detail selections to pull the reader right along to feel with the character.
I love it when you play on the keyboard.
On the coastal plains we watch the weather and approaching storms closely, too….and have the nervous chatter on tv/radio – but your tend to observe and go by experience and instinct.
I’d rather have weather than earthquakes.
Thanks for the story and smiles.
(PS have you seen the gardening robot? I inserted a video this morning – you might get a giggle if you have time)
I have not seen it – I will find it – thank you.. c
Great script. I especially like the conspiracy aspect of it….nuclear waste, aliens, russians…the possibilities are endless! I’m glad the tornadoes didn’t come your way. I have a memory of my mother getting me out of bed to go to the neighbor’s basement. This was in the late 60’s in Lubbock, TX, when a tornado decimated the downtown area. I’ll never forget what it looked like as my dad drove me through the area a few days later….huge buildings had been shredded down to toothpick sized rubble. I do hope that John put your beautiful truck in the garage as well. Have a good day, C. Definitely a wellies day with the new mud on the ground.
Hi Kim, yes my gumboots are heavy with mud.. c
What a great story Celi!
Just a little fun. c
Wow! That was riveting. I would go see that movie. (But, glad the advection missed you. Hope the farm fared well.)
Everything and everyone is in the proper place – so all good.. c
Bit too early in the day for such scary stories! (But loved the outcome!)
Bit too early to be writing them too!! c
Advection – a good name for a horse!
Yes! It would be! c
Great is right! Dramatic with doses of hilarity.
. I was worried about you after reading of the family in Naplate with no basement so they climbed into tub and afterwards saw sky!
The one that did most of the damage was about 60 miles away. But I have heard as many as 16 tornadoes were sighted though that is as yet unverified. c