A rather huge storm moved through here today. Jeremy sent me down the street to arrange the shade cloth for his mushrooms. He had heard some rumblings of thunder and wanted to make sure the shade cloth was up to allow more air movement. So I had to get over there before it started raining.
The sky had a very ominous look and there was a lot of rumbling up there. I passed by one neighbor's house and he said there was a front way up high, with winds at 60 knots or something, and they were expecting to it to come down on us pretty soon.
I got back home just as the rain was starting to sprinkle down and there was a crack of thunder. I ran inside to get the camera, hoping to get a good video of some thunder and lightning. What happened instead of lightning was a wall of water suddenly came down and then it got incredibly windy and blew all the rain right at me! I was drenched straight through in an instant and the poor camera got it too! It was incredibly windy and then the rain just started pouring down faster than anything I remember seeing.
I went out to check on the backyard and the entire rain garden was flooded and overflowing into the yard. The rain barrels were shooting water out their tops and water was pouring everywhere. I noticed that the strong wind had torn one of our bean trellises down.
After things calmed down I went outside to take a look - as did nearly everyone on the block! The intersection south of us was flooded and water was up over the wheels of cars. Kids were splashing, more like wading, through the street. Three houses up from us half a tree had come down across the street. I thought it lucky that there wasn't a car there - but it turns out there was a motorcycle there!
One of our neighbors came out with a little chainsaw and set to work cutting away the branches while other neighbors hauled them away, and the motorcycle owner kept an eye on her bike. It was the first time she'd ever parked it on the street! After a short while she was able to ride it out from under the branches and it had only sustained a bent handlebar.
Minutes later another deluge hit. I filmed the thunder and lightning this time, and luckily no wall of water came out to drench me! It's kind of a boring video I guess, mostly just continuous sheet lightning. But there is one bright flash at the end followed by some thunder (which of course set off someone's car alarm). More exciting to be in it I guess. =)
We only had a little bit of hail, though I hear there was hail 2-4 inches in diameter in other areas. And I heard of at least one tornado that touched down. Crazy midwest weather! =)
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Your Homesteader
- Aimee
- This is the blog formerly known as “Northwest Meets Midwest,” where I shared about the absurdities and adventures of living in the Midwest (having moved here from the Northwest). But really, this blog has been more and more a story of how we’ve fallen into urban farming and homesteading. So read on and enjoy our adventures in canning, preserving, mushroom-growing, local/organic fanaticism, chicken raising, designing and constructing, sewing, and attempting a little self-sufficiency in our corner of Minneapolis.
3 comments:
Glad to hear you guys did OK. We had to head to the basement briefly but otherwise got by with a small bit of rain and some wind.
In time you will learn to love the Midwestern storms. I couldn't stand the weather in San Diego after a while. The rain was so mild and weak. Nothing like the chance to witness the power we are all subject to like a good old early summer storm !
Ohio gets weather like that. Lots of lightening and torrential rain. It is always fun to witness. In DC we would get to a point where the heat would build up so much that a storm would break out with an awesome downpour and tons of lightening and thunder, a different experience but still fun to witness. Although in DC the rain feels so nice after the oppressive heat you take your life in your hands just to go stand out in it. The rain is warm but still cooler than what the air had been. It seems cooler after that until it builds back up again. I miss the intensity of those storms.
I love your videos, even the last one. It really gets the look of the storm, and the first one feels kind of like the preview for an action thriller movie. You have the heart and soul of a reporter, risking drenching of self and camera to get the scoop. I was feeling envious as I watched them, even though we had a huge storm last week. But this week the rain has just missed us, and I feel deprived already.
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