Thursday, April 6, 2017

Stormy Weather

Life is bare, gloom and misery everywhere
Stormy weather

- "Stormy Weather" - Billie Holiday (1952)


 By mid-afternoon yesterday (04/05) the NWS had issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch (till 9 pm). I watched radar as storms began to form in northern Kentucky and glide northeast. By 4:30 pm we could hear thunder approaching.



 The storms came mostly in two rounds: 4:45 pm and 6 pm. The first round dropped hail, mostly pea-sized with a few stones to half an inch. It was the lighter amount of hail, though.


 Our back porch was peppered with hail, mostly small stuff. It sure make a racket on the roof and the windows, though.


 Here's a close-up of the top of that chair. I got out a yardstick and measured a number of stones that were a full half inch across.


 After the latter storm, the ground was covered with hail. Our garden looked like it had snowed.


 While the rain was falling in a deluge, the hail floated atop the water on our back porch and seemed to move in waves.The ground seemed alive with movement.


 I watched as small hail gathered into drifts and move atop swells that must have been what one would see from a ship at sea during a storm. Over an inch of rain fell in about a thirty minute period.


 When the rain slowed I stepped outside and found this washed up against the base of our house.


 Here's a close-up of the hail outside our back door. Small sticks were knocked down by the wind. I'll have to clean them up in the days ahead. We lost one small limb from the south maple. A friend told me a tree fell on Fuls Road, taking out his power. Bob said trees were down on Puddenbag, too ... near his house in western German Twp.

 Wright Patterson Air Force Base issued a tornado watch for a while. I saw turbulence tear clouds apart but I never saw anything tornadic. Those were exciting storms, though.

 Care to see the raw video? OK, my hands shake (I have a benign essential tremor), the wind was blowing and lightning was striking nearby. Give me a break ...


 This video was facing WSW from my garden area.


And this video was facing nearly south.


 Yeah, that was close enough! Time to go inside!





1 comment:

  1. WOW OH WOW, Bill! Interesting that even in the video you could sure hear the birds tweeting with all that thunder! I cannot hardly believe all the water on the porch! What a fantastic storm to witness! Yowsa - been a long while since I saw a whopper like this one! Thznks - even caught some wind chimes tinkling while that wind was just whipping! Great stuff! Just promise me you will never get that close to lightning again!

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