this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2026
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2 North American 4 You
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Non-American here actually not quite understanding the picture:
What is the looming grey thing above the house?
Tornado?
Suspecting an inside joke I miss...
[Edit]
Pieced it together myself based on the other comments:
Apparently Waffle House never closes except during near-world-ending events, like dangerous hurricans about to hit.
So seeing a closed one would actually be scary as hell.
That was a good one, really too American for me!
The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) referred to “The Waffle House Index” in one of their preparedness reports, citing what you’ve already gleaned from other comments… a closed Waffle House means you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think FEMA also did a report on how to survive a zombie attack.
These aren’t meant to be “real” preparedness reports, it’s meant to drive awareness to having a disaster kit ready at all times.
Random fact no one asked for: Waffle House has employees that travel to yellow zones to keep the stores running or shut them down if they go red. That way, the local employees can tend to their family and property while the store maintains its operational status.
As a USian, I can confirm I am also struggling to figure out what’s going on in the photo’s background. It’s not just you.
While I'm not from a tornado prone region, I don't think that's a tornado.
It might even be an edited image that's been compressed many times? The grey thing seems to cut into the top of the building in some areas. As if they took a photo of a closed waffle house and edited it to look scary for the joke. Or something on the window/foreground
Or it is indeed a very scary cloud and I'm glad I don't have to deal with that regularly
Looking closely, it rather does look like it's edited. The lines between the dark and light of the sky are quite abrupt, for example.
But at first glance, I had no trouble believing that to be a tornado. They come in MANY shapes and sizes.
Never seen one in person, but living in tornado alley all my life, I've seen more than enough pics and footage.