Hopefully this post will go through!
Well, today was the 11th anniversary of the Jarrell, TX tornado! My mom and I walked out of Wal-Mart and saw a huge black cloud coming from the northeast. The rest is history! ;)
Today's forecast didn't look too promising. I was too busy to think much about it, but I did think that it would be funny if we had a storm today in the middle of this heat!
Around 6pm, my mom and I came out of Costco, and I half expected to see dark clouds. Ha ha! I didn't see any there, but as we got onto the elevated roads to come home, the northeastern sky looked "funny." Not stormy, just strange. By the time we got home, it was obvious something was happening, but we still didn't know what! A huge gust front blew through, lowering the temperature nearly 20 degrees in the span of about 5 minutes! Now that was a welcome feeling, since it had been 97 degrees! We got home, and my dad said, oh yes, there were some storms moving in.
I checked the radar. Yes, there were storms moving this way! From the northeast! Thankfully they were very benign rain showers instead of supercell thunderstorms with an F5 tornado inside!
God does have a sense of humor. ;)
Tonight we have a giant line of thunderstorms moving this way from the TX panhandle. I've seen this type of complex hold together long enough to give our area some decent rainfall in the past, so I am pretty optimistic about these! Our garden would enjoy a break from the hose water we've been feeding it lately.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Weather update
I haven't posted because nothing has happened with the weather! It's been very quiet since the big storms 1.5 weeks ago. We're getting into a summer time weather pattern now, which means very little rain, plenty of humidity and HOT temperatures! The only chance of rain we have is if something forms in the heat of the day from gulf moisture.
It's always exciting when something unexpected pops up, but I'm not getting my hopes up! I'll have to go against my bad habit of sleeping late and start getting up at sunrise to do yard work. Otherwise I mow for 10 minutes and feel like I've been run through a wringer!
This is the first Memorial day in several years that looks like it's going to be dry! I sure hope this summer doesn't bring drought conditions. That's always so depressing!
It's always exciting when something unexpected pops up, but I'm not getting my hopes up! I'll have to go against my bad habit of sleeping late and start getting up at sunrise to do yard work. Otherwise I mow for 10 minutes and feel like I've been run through a wringer!
This is the first Memorial day in several years that looks like it's going to be dry! I sure hope this summer doesn't bring drought conditions. That's always so depressing!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
My version of Storm Stories. ;)
I don't think I ever wrote about what happened here as the storms passed over.
Wednesday evening, there was a chance of storms, but when we left the house at 5pm, there wasn't anything on the radar that I noticed. Choir practice lasted until shortly after 8:30pm, and we began our drive back home. I noticed occasional flashes of lightning in the northwest, but didn't worry too much about it. As I drove home, I turned on the XM emergency alert channel on the radio to see if there were any warnings. After listening to them for 5 minutes, all I learned was that there were "tornado watches for the southern plains." Well, that's not too helpful, really.
In the meantime as we drove towards home, the lightning became brighter and closer every minute! It also began to flash constantly, with only a few seconds break between flashes. I mentioned to my mom that I didn't like seeing increasing lightning in a storm because often tornadic storms will do that right before producing a tornado! We still didn't worry too much because after all, the marvelous technology of XM radio hadn't said there were any warnings. :)
When we got home, I immediately pulled the car into the garage. By this time, the lightning was pretty scary because it was directly overhead and constant! I ran inside and looked at the radar, while my mom turned on the TV. She called out that there was a tornado warning, and at that moment I saw the hook echo on the huge storm. YIKES! I turned off the computer immediately and we began cleaning out the coat closet for shelter. (If you haven't seen it, our coat closet is about 3 feet by 4 feet. Not much space for 3 people! But it's the only interior room in our house.)
The TV was lit up with warnings on the maps, and the weather men were excitedly talking about how bad this situation was. I got out my camera and took a video of the TV screen and the giant hook-echo'd storm that was coming straight for us. (with at least 2 confirmed funnel clouds!) Right about 9:42pm on my video, the lights went out!
So here we were, sitting in the pitch black house, with a hook echo coming straight for us. I stupidly hadn't thought of it before when we had lights, but now that we were in the dark about everything, (literally!) I sent my friend a text and asked her to pray along with us. The rain started, and then a few pieces of hail started falling. They were marble-sized mostly, but we had a few loud bumps on the roof that may have been really big pieces. I wasn't about to go outside and see! We waited and waited for a blast of wind after the hail, but it never came. As we listened to a TV station on the radio, we figured that the hook echo passed less than 2 miles from our house. But there was no wind! No huge hail to break our windows! We were so thankful to God for sparing us this time, and after seeing all the terrible tree and window damage in Austin, we were even more thankful!
So that's why I don't have exciting pictures from here at home. We didn't have anything "exciting" enough to photograph!
Thanks for reading! :)
Wednesday evening, there was a chance of storms, but when we left the house at 5pm, there wasn't anything on the radar that I noticed. Choir practice lasted until shortly after 8:30pm, and we began our drive back home. I noticed occasional flashes of lightning in the northwest, but didn't worry too much about it. As I drove home, I turned on the XM emergency alert channel on the radio to see if there were any warnings. After listening to them for 5 minutes, all I learned was that there were "tornado watches for the southern plains." Well, that's not too helpful, really.
In the meantime as we drove towards home, the lightning became brighter and closer every minute! It also began to flash constantly, with only a few seconds break between flashes. I mentioned to my mom that I didn't like seeing increasing lightning in a storm because often tornadic storms will do that right before producing a tornado! We still didn't worry too much because after all, the marvelous technology of XM radio hadn't said there were any warnings. :)
When we got home, I immediately pulled the car into the garage. By this time, the lightning was pretty scary because it was directly overhead and constant! I ran inside and looked at the radar, while my mom turned on the TV. She called out that there was a tornado warning, and at that moment I saw the hook echo on the huge storm. YIKES! I turned off the computer immediately and we began cleaning out the coat closet for shelter. (If you haven't seen it, our coat closet is about 3 feet by 4 feet. Not much space for 3 people! But it's the only interior room in our house.)
The TV was lit up with warnings on the maps, and the weather men were excitedly talking about how bad this situation was. I got out my camera and took a video of the TV screen and the giant hook-echo'd storm that was coming straight for us. (with at least 2 confirmed funnel clouds!) Right about 9:42pm on my video, the lights went out!
So here we were, sitting in the pitch black house, with a hook echo coming straight for us. I stupidly hadn't thought of it before when we had lights, but now that we were in the dark about everything, (literally!) I sent my friend a text and asked her to pray along with us. The rain started, and then a few pieces of hail started falling. They were marble-sized mostly, but we had a few loud bumps on the roof that may have been really big pieces. I wasn't about to go outside and see! We waited and waited for a blast of wind after the hail, but it never came. As we listened to a TV station on the radio, we figured that the hook echo passed less than 2 miles from our house. But there was no wind! No huge hail to break our windows! We were so thankful to God for sparing us this time, and after seeing all the terrible tree and window damage in Austin, we were even more thankful!
So that's why I don't have exciting pictures from here at home. We didn't have anything "exciting" enough to photograph!
Thanks for reading! :)
Friday, May 16, 2008
May 14th-15th, 2008 Storm Pictures!
Well, it looks like Blogger isn't going to cooperate with me loading my pictures into this post, so you'll have to go here to check them out. Sorry for the inconvenience! The album has the pictures that got posted in the body of the other post, too.
May 14th-15th, 2008 Cont'd
Yet another view of the carpet of leaves at the office.
This is a skylight in the building we are using for church services. Notice all the cracks where the hail blasted it?
The entire skylight is covered in cracks!
Another view. I'm just hoping all that glass doesn't fall ON someone! Most of the westward-facing windows on the building were broken, too. Overall, at least 100 windows were broken here!In downtown Austin, one builder reported one of his half-finished buildings had 1,800 windows broken by the hail. OUCH!
I have some videos to post too, but those will come a little later. Does anyone know what kind of software I'd need to go through digital video frame by frame? I took a couple lightning videos and would love to catch a few frames out of those!
Our power went out at approximately 9:45pm and stayed off until around 6am Thursday morning.
Now we'll see if this posts like it's supposed to.....
Thursday, May 15, 2008
May 14th-15th, 2008
Wow!
I have a long post to make when we get home later this afternoon. We had some real storms! I have pictures and video, too!
The short version: We had a hook echo (with confirmed funnel cloud) pass literally within about 2 miles of our house. These storms had constant lightning (very common with tornadic storms) and our power was out for 9 hours!
More later!
I have a long post to make when we get home later this afternoon. We had some real storms! I have pictures and video, too!
The short version: We had a hook echo (with confirmed funnel cloud) pass literally within about 2 miles of our house. These storms had constant lightning (very common with tornadic storms) and our power was out for 9 hours!
More later!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
May 13th, 2008
Well, today might be interesting! We've already had a bit of rain this morning, and there is a 60% chance for the rest of the day.
We're under the slight risk category, but parts of north TX are under a moderate risk. The risk areas could potentially be re-adjusted through the day, so we'll see what happens!
I mowed the back yard yesterday, so that's a pretty sure guarantee that it will rain. ;) Maybe I should wash the car too. Haha!
Check out the Storm Prediction Center to see the convective outlooks for today and tomorrow.
We're under the slight risk category, but parts of north TX are under a moderate risk. The risk areas could potentially be re-adjusted through the day, so we'll see what happens!
I mowed the back yard yesterday, so that's a pretty sure guarantee that it will rain. ;) Maybe I should wash the car too. Haha!
Check out the Storm Prediction Center to see the convective outlooks for today and tomorrow.
Monday, May 12, 2008
May 12th, 2008
I realized I made a typo in my last post. The storm was on Saturday, May 10th, not the 11th. That's what happens when I attempt blogging while exhausted! ;)
Anyway, I posted the best of the pictures I took on Saturday evening.
May 10th, 2008 storm pictures
Tomorrow night (Tuesday) has a 70% chance of thunderstorms! In fact we have a chance of rain each day/night this week, through Thursday.
Anyway, I posted the best of the pictures I took on Saturday evening.
May 10th, 2008 storm pictures
Tomorrow night (Tuesday) has a 70% chance of thunderstorms! In fact we have a chance of rain each day/night this week, through Thursday.
May 12th, 2008
The evening of May 11th, we had a small thunderstorm move by on our south. It didn't affect us at all, except for giving us a few rumbles of thunder. I did get a LOT of good cumulonimbus pictures, though! Areas in and around Austin got a decent amount of hail, some as large as golf balls! Yikes! I guess it's a good thing that storm missed us.
I will post the pictures in an album for viewing later today. Right now I'm so tired I can barely think straight. I've been awake since 6:15am *yesterday* morning. (Choir practice starts at 8:15am before church!)
More rain is forecast for the middle of this week. I'm excited to see what happens!
I will post the pictures in an album for viewing later today. Right now I'm so tired I can barely think straight. I've been awake since 6:15am *yesterday* morning. (Choir practice starts at 8:15am before church!)
More rain is forecast for the middle of this week. I'm excited to see what happens!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
May 10th, 2008
Well, the storms last night just missed us. We got a nice lightning show and a few big drops of rain, but nothing very exciting. Today has been HOT and muggy, and there was still a small chance of some thunderstorms. Last night's storm did quite a bit of damage in several places where it managed to hit.
One small storm has just developed to our southwest. It seems to be expanding, but we'll see what happens. It's already thundered a few times. I love it! ;)
One small storm has just developed to our southwest. It seems to be expanding, but we'll see what happens. It's already thundered a few times. I love it! ;)
Friday, May 9, 2008
May 9th, 2008
I don't think my first post went through.
We're under a severe thunderstorm watch today! There is a 20% chance of thunderstorms, some possibly severe. Apparently anything that does develop could become severe very quickly. I'm excited! ;)
That was earlier.....now the radar shows some thunderstorms developing to our west, moving in our direction! There is a warning out for this group of storms.
It'll probably be dark if/when they arrive here. Too bad, else I would try getting some good pictures. :)
We're under a severe thunderstorm watch today! There is a 20% chance of thunderstorms, some possibly severe. Apparently anything that does develop could become severe very quickly. I'm excited! ;)
That was earlier.....now the radar shows some thunderstorms developing to our west, moving in our direction! There is a warning out for this group of storms.
It'll probably be dark if/when they arrive here. Too bad, else I would try getting some good pictures. :)
Thursday, May 8, 2008
May 8th, 2008
The anticipated severe weather didn't materialize for our area! It ended up being very hot and humid today. Not as hot and humid as it will be in July/August, but quite warm nonetheless.
The forecast says highs in the 90's for the rest of the week. Hello summer! And here I thought we'd be slowly easing into hotter temperatures. I guess not!
I'll post some outside pictures I took yesterday, on my other blog: WeatherAndSpace
The forecast says highs in the 90's for the rest of the week. Hello summer! And here I thought we'd be slowly easing into hotter temperatures. I guess not!
I'll post some outside pictures I took yesterday, on my other blog: WeatherAndSpace
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
May 6th, 2008
Well, it was looking like today might bring us some more severe storms. They were forecast to develop well to our west, then move into the area in the early morning hours. It was very warm and humid outside, and "felt" stormy!
Well.....now for some reason I'm not too optimistic. What do you think?
Nationwide radar
The green that is splattered over most of TX is ground clutter as far as I can tell. The storms in west TX are fading fast. Oh well, there's always tomorrow! ;) We still haven't passed the date when our last local significant tornado occurred in 1997!
We did get 0.34" of rain on Sunday night/Monday morning, which was nice. I decided to start adding my favorite weather links to the blog, so keep an eye out for some interesting stuff!
Well.....now for some reason I'm not too optimistic. What do you think?
Nationwide radar
The green that is splattered over most of TX is ground clutter as far as I can tell. The storms in west TX are fading fast. Oh well, there's always tomorrow! ;) We still haven't passed the date when our last local significant tornado occurred in 1997!
We did get 0.34" of rain on Sunday night/Monday morning, which was nice. I decided to start adding my favorite weather links to the blog, so keep an eye out for some interesting stuff!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Slightly off-topic
This doesn't have anything to do with weather, but I wanted to post about it anyway!
This morning, a resident in a neighborhood about 2 miles from here took a picture of part of a very large animal. It was partially hidden by a bush, so all you can see is the tail and part of the back. It looks like a mountain lion to me! What do you think?!
Read the article and see the picture!
Now I know we've all read about how most wild animals are more afraid of us than we are of them. I'm sorry, but I've read too many stories of mountain lion attacks to be comforted by that. I'd rather be paranoid. ;) I assume that if it is a mountain lion, it is coming after the prolific herds of deer we have in our neighborhoods, along with a pet or two as a snack. Sorry, I know that's an awful thing to say. :(
Just the same, we won't be taking anymore walks after dark, and I'd advise everyone around here to keep your pets indoors as much as possible, and to not let your children play outdoors without having an eye on them at all times!
This morning, a resident in a neighborhood about 2 miles from here took a picture of part of a very large animal. It was partially hidden by a bush, so all you can see is the tail and part of the back. It looks like a mountain lion to me! What do you think?!
Read the article and see the picture!
Now I know we've all read about how most wild animals are more afraid of us than we are of them. I'm sorry, but I've read too many stories of mountain lion attacks to be comforted by that. I'd rather be paranoid. ;) I assume that if it is a mountain lion, it is coming after the prolific herds of deer we have in our neighborhoods, along with a pet or two as a snack. Sorry, I know that's an awful thing to say. :(
Just the same, we won't be taking anymore walks after dark, and I'd advise everyone around here to keep your pets indoors as much as possible, and to not let your children play outdoors without having an eye on them at all times!
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