Wild and Wet

We've had some wild weather lately. Last night they were telling us we were in a severe thunderstorm warning area with high winds, hail, etc., but for some reason it just missed our house. It got very dark, and there was some wild lightening all around, but we only ended up with about a tenth of an inch of rain and the rest of it missed us. I'm not complaining, mind you. It's good to get some moisture on the crop, but we sure don't need the hail or wind. Over the weekend we ended up with a little over an inch-and-a-half, so that was perfect. It's always amazing what mother nature can throw at you.

Today it's cloudy and looks as though it could open up and rain again, but according to radar it looks like it's all past us. Supposed to be another hot, humid one.

I always laugh at the weather people on TV. They are always trying to be soooo accurate in their predictions. They have all kinds of maps and animated graphics to show you exactly what minute it's going to be over your house. They compete with who has the biggest most powerful most accurate radar in the universe - then, when they show it being over your house, it isn't always there!

A few years ago, Hubby and I were watching some tornado warnings in the area. Hubby is a farm boy and when warnings are issued and people are told to 'seek shelter immediately in the basement' he immediately runs outside and starts looking to the sky. In a previous lifetime he would have made a good scout. At any rate, we would shove our kids (4) and our animals (6) in the basement, then he and I would go outside.

This time it got really scary out and they were saying there were tornados spotted all around out area. (I never have actually seen one, but Hubby has. When he was just out of high school there was a force 4 tornado that came through and just missed his house by a mile. It totally destroyed a small town in nearby and did a lot of damage to neighboring family farms. He took some pictures of it and it was rather wild looking - huge! I hope to never see one like that 'in person'.) When the weather station gave the 'all clear', Hubby decided he wanted to go up the road to check on one of the fields. We left the kids home, glued to the TV and headed up the road. A little bit from the field the radio station issued another tornado warning. One had been spotted in our area. As they began describing the location, Hubby and I looked at each other. I could see him doing the mental calculation in his head as I did in mine. The realization came at the same time. We looked up. The tornado was supposed to be right above our heads! It was raining, some, but no 'nader.

I find it amusing that a few years ago one of the local TV stations remodeled and put a "weather window" in their "weather station". That's got to be the most accurate piece of equipment they have! A lot less expensive than the mega-watt-doppler-thingy...