Anyone who watched TV during Irma’s attack on Florida and the Florida Keys saw a lot of stupid weathermen standing outside in unsafe high winds to make their reports.  Even social media lit up with criticisms of this behavior, asking the weathermen to practice safety when reporting on storms like Irma.  Shortly after Irma left the country, I found this cartoon.

In preparation for viewing today’s total solar eclipse, Ted spent a lot of time poring over forecast models and weather forecasts for our area.  In addition, he checked out what the TV weatherpersons were saying and watched their “futurecasts” for rain and cloud cover.  The bottom line:  picking a viewing site was a tough call to make.

Last night, it looked like it didn’t matter where we went in the path of totality along I-70.  The forecast for the entire area predicted hot and humid weather with highs in the 90s and a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms.  We made the call to go with Plan A:  Pick up Kari and Dylan, then drive to Columbia, MO (95 miles west of St. Peters) to meet Kathy and Annette for a family eclipse event.  Sky and Teddy opted to stay home and participate in the classroom eclipse activities at school.

When it was time to leave this morning, the weather maps showed a clear, cloud-free strip all across the state on I-70, so we headed for Columbia.  Unfortunately, the farther west we drove, the more cloudy it became.  The radar showed a large thunderstorm developing in Kansas City and moving eastward along I-70 toward Columbia.  By the time we got to Columbia, we knew we wouldn’t be able to see the eclipse through the cloud cover.  Checking the radar maps again, we found a clear area around Warrenton (60 miles back eastward) and knew we had time to backtrack before the eclipse started.  Kathy and Annette were willing to drive the additional distance, so we headed down the highway.  Warrenton turned out to be a good choice.  We had a shady area for our picnic food, lots of sunny areas for eclipse viewing, and a bathroom nearby.

Ted and I have seen two partial solar eclipses (1970 and 1994).  Both were 98-99 percent total, but the light only dimmed; it didn’t get dark.  During the two minutes of totality today it didn’t get as dark as night; it was more like deep dusk, just before full darkness.  Still, we heard birds singing and cicadas chirping, the lights in the park came on, and there was a slight breeze (a.k.a. solar wind).  We saw the 360-degree “sunset” all around us as the sun’s rays shone on the horizon from behind the moon.  The temperature dropped a few degrees–enough to notice that we were more comfortable than we had been in the 94-degree sunshine.  We didn’t notice stars with our eclipse glasses on, but one of the videos I took shows lots of stars.  The most amazing sight during totality was the sun’s corona.  It was a brilliant white against the black circle of the moon–like sparkling diamonds in the sky.  There was an audible gasp from the people in the park when the corona became visible.  Unfortunately, my camera isn’t good enough to take a clear picture of the corona.  Check with NASA for that view.

We went to Dyer Park in Warrenton and were joined by about 15 other people.

We set up our picnic food at a table in the shade (it was in the 90s), but laid on blankets in the sun and walked around looking upward as we ate.

Our group of eclipse viewers.

This is one of my pictures of the total eclipse and the sun’s corona.  The dark spot in the center is the moon.

Here is another photo of the total eclipse.  Even during totality, the sun’s corona is so bright, it overlit my picture.

This is my favorite picture.  My photos of the first phase of the eclipse didn’t turn out very well, but I got better during the second phase.

The second phase is about half over at this point.

Ted and Dylan, checking out the progress of the eclipse.

We were all glad we made the call to go to Warrenton and we all agreed it was an event worth watching.  Yes, good times with the family.  We should do it again in Carbondale, IL for the next total solar eclipse in 2024.

For two years, Carbondale, IL has been advertising itself as “the eclipse crossroads of America.”  Carbondale was in the path of totality for today’s solar eclipse and will be in the path of totality for the next U.S. total solar eclipse in 2024 as well.  Hotel rooms have been fully booked in Carbondale for over a year.  Today’s weather forecast for Carbondale predicted mostly sunny weather and that’s exactly the kind of weather the city experienced.  (Or, in Ted’s weather-speak, the forecast verified.)

This is a picture of the crowd viewing the eclipse from the Southern Illinois University stadium in Carbondale.  Ticket prices for stadium seats ranged from $25 to $10,000 for a 20-person suite.  There are a lot of media folks filming on the field.

There were only a few clouds in the mostly sunny sky, but guess where one of them was.  You can see the eclipsing sun behind the cloud.Note:  These pictures were provided by a friend of Kari’s who went to Carbondale to view the eclipse.

Wal-Mart’s bakery is prepared for tomorrow’s total solar eclipse.

We didn’t buy a cake, but we have everything we need to view this spectacular event in Columbia, MO with Kathy, Annette, Kari, and Dylan.

The annual Perseid meteor shower–the warm-up act for next week’s total solar eclipse–peaked this weekend, so Ted and I scheduled a date night to view it.  The best meteor shower we’ve seen was the Leonid shower in November 2012.  We took my convertible and a heavy blanket, put the top and the seats down, and spent an hour covered with the blanket, sky-watching from the Busch Wildlife Area.*  The Perseid has been described as the most popular meteor shower because it falls in August, when it’s actually nice to be outside in the evening.  Last night, the temperature was in the low 70s.  Perfect.

We scouted out some possible viewing areas away from city lights and settled on a country road north of us near the confluence of the Cuiver and Mississippi Rivers.  There was a convenient public boat ramp where we could park the car while we set up our lawn chairs on the levee and enjoyed the evening.

The country road (CTH C) was actually more like a one-lane gravel driveway (you can see it on the right), but the view was great.

This year’s Perseid shower was supposed to be a big one, with 150-200 meteors per hour visible, including long tails.  Unfortunately, there was also a three-quarter moon, which seriously limited meteor visibility.  We arrived at our spot at about 8:30 pm, allowing us time to watch meteors before the 11:00 moonrise.  The most active meteors would be visible at 17 degrees above the horizon at 9:00 pm.  The area was dark enough to see the Milky Way (we can’t even see the entire Big Dipper from our house), but there was still enough ambient light along the horizon to limit our viewing from about 20-25 degrees upward.  As a result, we could see only the fringe of the meteor shower–far fewer than 150 per hour.  Still, we saw a meteor every few minutes and about a third of them had long tails that crossed most of the sky.

It was definitely worth a summer date night, sky-watching with the crickets and frogs chirping and croaking around us.

* When we were ready to leave the Leonid shower and started the car, the headlights came on and attracted the attention of a county policeman on patrol.  He drove into the lot where we were the only parked car, shined his police-issue flashlight in my face, and told me to roll down the window.  Blinded by the flashlight, it took me awhile to find the window button.  “What are you two doing here?” the policeman growled.  “Watching the meteor shower,” I replied.  There was an instant change in his demeanor to friendly and conversational.  “Really?  How many have you seen?” he asked.  We talked a few minutes and then went our separate ways.  In all the times I sat in a parked car with my boyfriend of the moment, we were never confronted by a policeman!!!  Adventures continue, even after retirement.  And with my husband of 43 years (at that time)!

St. Louis set a record high of 108 degrees today, the first time we’ve hit 108 degrees since 2012, when we had two 108-degree days.  The only other time St. Louis recorded 108 degrees was in 1954.  So far, we’ve had 7 days with temperatures above 100 degrees this summer–5 of them in the last 6 days.  The weather forecaster predicted tomorrow will be “much cooler” with a high of only 98 degrees, and she’s forecasting a “major break” in temperatures next week when she expects temperatures to be in the low to mid-90s.

The Foundry Art Center is located at the St. Charles riverfront, so after viewing Sky’s and Dylan’s artwork, Ted and I walked along the river to survey the flooding from the recent rains (11 inches at our house).  Flood stage for the Missouri River at St. Charles is 25 feet.  At the time we were walking, the river was at 35.7 feet.  A few hours later, it crested at 35.8 feet.  One of the awesome sights at a flooding river is the speed of the current in the center of the river.  The power of a river in flood is obvious and is definitely something to be avoided.

The Katy Trail is under here somewhere.  That’s the top of a park bench beside the trees and behind the sign.

It’s a wide river when it’s in flood.  You can tell where the rapid current is flowing by the darker strip of water beyond the foreground trees.  The foreground trees are in the park; the normal riverbed lies behind them.

Park rest rooms are currently inaccessible.  You can see the train tracks underwater at the trash can and the tops of park benches among the trees on the right.

No picnics scheduled under this shelter for awhile.  The ground is a little higher here, so the train tracks show.

The bandstand is surrounded by 3- to 4-foot deep water.

In the 1993 flood, the water came to the back doors of the businesses on the right.  The pioneers built the downtown on high ground.

The St. Louis National Weather Service Office recently had a public photo contest.  The winning photo (below) is currently the NWS-STL Facebook profile picture.  Wow!

The rain has finally moved out of the area.  We had a total​ of 11 inches at our house in 6 days–7.5 inches over the weekend and 3.5 inches yesterday and today, with one day of sunshine between the two storm systems.

Most of the rivers in the area have crested; some will have an additional crest from yesterday’s and today’s rain, but it will be lower than the crest from the weekend rain.  Flooding in the area is pretty bad, and clean-up will take awhile.  We’re looking forward to sunshine for the next 5-6 days.  It will be a welcome change.

We had a beautiful, sunny 66-degree day today for a change.  It was a short break, though:  the rain returns tomorrow for another two days, with up to another 2-5 inches forecast in addition to the 5-7 inches the same area had over the weekend.  MODOT posted a map of statewide road closings today, including parts of I-44, I-55, and I-70.  As the water rises on I-55, people were instructed today to decide which side of the flooded roadway they want to be on tomorrow, because it will be closed tonight.

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After our 7.5 inches of rain over the weekend, there was a final sunset sprinkle that produced a rainbow.  The rainbow visible from our house was less spectacular than the one in the photo below submitted by a local TV viewer.

We’ve had 7.5 inches of rain in the last 60-70 hours.  The cold front has gone through and, although the normal high for tomorrow is 71 degrees, temperatures aren’t expected to rise above the low 50s.  The weather guy on TV said he wished it was February, so it would be warm.  At least we weren’t in the blizzard or tornado zones, like western Kansas and Texas.

A television viewer sent this beautiful sunset picture to a local station and it was later posted on Facebook.  I feel peaceful just looking at it.

With the Spring Break Road Trip on our agenda, I suggested to Ted that for this “special” birthday of mine, we make it a destination birthday and celebrate it on Key West.  I didn’t even have to twist his arm to get him to say “yes.”

Of course, we traveled on the Overseas Highway (U.S. 1) because it’s the only road connecting the Florida Keys to each other and to the Florida mainland.  The highway is 113 miles long with 42 bridges, and it’s scenic all the way.  It’s also slow all the way–think mostly less than 45 mph with moderate to heavy traffic on a two-lane highway and essentially no opportunities to pass a slower vehicle.  You have to switch to “island time” and just enjoy the ride and the scenery.  Add a major accident with a 45-minute delay, and we arrived hungry for dinner in Key West.  It was warm, and the tourists–including us–were out in full force.  There was lots of music and lots of action on Duval Street–the main drag.  The street is 1.25 miles long and extends across Key West from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean.

We picked a restaurant called the Gas Monkey–whatever that means.  The food was good and it was warm enough to eat outside.  What more could we wish for?

It’s Key West.  Key lime pie is mandated, isn’t it?  I don’t usually like Key lime pie very much, but the real thing was delicious.

This is the second-most photographed spot in Key West.  The line to take a picture was a block long in the afternoon so we came back after dark.  Then we were third in line.

We took a conch (cahnk) train tour of the city and learned a lot of interesting things about the history and architecture of Key West.

Some of the high points regarding Key West’s architecture include:  houses are built with higher ceilings on the first floor than on the second to allow the warm air to rise higher; since the 1923 fire leveled the city, all buildings are required to have tin roofs; porch ceilings are painted blue to keep the wasps from landing on them–the wasps think the blue is the sky; “zigzag roofs” are designed to create channels to drain rainwater for collection.  There is no fresh water in the Keys; it is piped in from Miami.  Our hotel had a 50,000 gallon cistern to store rainwater.

A few highlights of Key West’s history include:  (1) The Overseas Railroad was completed in 1912 and destroyed by the Category 5 Labor Day hurricane of 1935.  The rail bed was later used as the foundation for the Overseas Highway; (2) A fire leveled the city in 1923 and burned so hot that people had to go into the water to survive the heat; (3) The Depression hit Key West so hard that 90 percent of the population was unemployed and people were put to work under some of FDR’s programs to rebuild the city.  The city was then destroyed in the 1935 hurricane and rebuilt again (no government funding this time), after which it became a tourist destination; (4) In 1982, Key West, aka the Conch Republic, declared a faux war on the United States.  This is an interesting and amusing story.

And that’s enough history.  Let’s get back to being a tourist.  It was my birthday, so we went to the starting point.  This is the most photographed spot on the island and the “Mile 0” sign is the most stolen sign in the city.  The mayor got tired of replacing it, so he added a video camera and promised that, if you steal the sign, you can “arrive for vacation and leave on probation.”

I’m going to start over counting birthdays.  This one can be “zero” and then I’ll take the advice on the sign: “Begin 1.”  (We did not steal the sign.)

Walking around the city, we saw Rick’s Bar (Casablanca), Sloppy Joe’s Bar (Hemingway’s hangout), Hemingway’s home, and Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffet).  We also saw an interesting sign on a driveway gate.

I think the message is clear, don’t you?

In Key West, they “celebrate the sunset” and it’s a big deal.  People start to gather an hour or more before sunset, so we joined them on Sunset Pier.

As sunset got closer, there were hundreds of people sitting, standing, eating, and/or drinking from one end of the pier to the other.

Key West = margaritas on Sunset Pier.

Live music kept us entertained while we watched the sun drop lower and lower in the sky.

Lots of boats gathered on the water to watch the sunset.

And then the sun went below the horizon.

After sunset, Ted and I had a delicious dinner followed by even better Key lime pie than last night’s.  It was a beautiful day and evening for a birthday celebration.  This one will be unforgettable and hard to beat.

Last night, the winter storm warning was cut back to a shorter time span with less snow accumulation.  We didn’t see any falling snow east of Nashville yesterday, and the warning was due to expire at 11:00 a.m. today, so we didn’t expect to wake up and see another three inches of snow on our car!  Now we’ve seen more snow in the last two days than we had at home in the last three years!!  Why did we think we should go south for some warmer weather?  At least it was sunny all day today and temperatures got into the upper 40s.

We hauled out the snow brush and cleaned off the car.  Again.

We looked out of our hotel window this morning and saw . . . snow!!!  There was a 20 percent (slight) chance of light rain in the forecast for Nashville, but nothing about 3 inches of snow!  The winter storm is forecast for east of Nashville. Three inches is more snow than we’ve had at home all winter.  I think we were the only people at the hotel who had a snow brush in the car to deal with the wet, sloppy mess.

My snow-covered car.

Snow still coming down at the hotel.

 

We didn’t have to go too far east of Nashville to find snow-free ground and, in spite of the winter storm warning, we had dry–but cloudy–skies all day.  Three inches of snow was not part of the spring break road trip plan.

According to the National Weather Service, winter is over.  This means it’s practically summer, right?

It’s been so warm over the past two weeks, that spring is arriving early.  Ted and I saw a star magnolia blooming in our neighborhood today, and the leaves are coming out on our privet hedge.  Our magnolia trees have buds that look almost ready to burst into flowers and our daffodils are several inches tall.  We saw a small patch of daffodils blooming today, but ours must be less protected–they’re a little bit behind.

One year, spring came early and stayed long enough for the trees to begin leafing out.  Then we got hit by temperatures in the low 20s and everything froze.  All the plants were weak for the entire summer.  I hope that won’t happen this year.  Meanwhile, it’s warm, sunny, and blooming nicely outside.  Cheers for spring!

Some of our daffodils growing to bloom for us.

Our hedge has green leaves sprouting.

A neighborhood star magnolia beginning to bloom.

The entire Midwest seems to be enjoying warmer than usual weather.  I love it!  We set a new record high of 79 degrees today, breaking the old record of 78 degrees that we set last year on this date.  So far, we’ve had 9 of 20 days in February that were above 60 degrees and 6 of those were above 70 degrees, with 4 more 60/70-degree days forecast before it cools down on Saturday.  Maybe even another record high coming up on Wednesday.

The normal high for today, according to the TV weathercaster, is 47 degrees.  Last year, the normal high for this day was 46 degrees.  That’s some pretty fast global warming!

We took the flannel sheets off the bed, and our daffodils are several inches high.  Keep those warm, sunny days coming!

The National Weather Service cancelled the ice storm warning at noon today.  In its place, the NWS has now issued a dense fog advisory from 10:41 pm tonight (the time it was posted) until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.  The cold ground and all the moisture from the melting ice and rain has us socked in.  Tomorrow’s forecast:  53 degrees with an 80 percent chance of thunderstorms.

I’m ready for some sunshine.

The freezing rain has moved out of our area and the ice storm warning has been lifted.  We were lucky to be on the northern edge of most of the freezing rain.  Springfield, MO had thunder ice–a rare meteorological event–resulting in many downed trees from the heavy ice accumulations.

Our forecast was for one-quarter to three-quarters inch of ice accumulation, and we had about one-half inch over the three days of the storm warning.  Each day, we had freezing rain after midnight and into the morning hours; then it stopped raining and warmed up just enough to make the ice drip and melt.  On Friday, we had a glazing; on Saturday, my meteorologist husband said we had 0.2 inches of ice; and today, we had about one-quarter inch of ice.  Total:  about one-half inch, but in three doses.  Much better than a single one-half inch accumulation!

I based my Saturday evening symphony attendance prediction on all the local closings over the weekend–many places just closed for 2-3 days right away–but I was (thankfully) wrong.  The roads were wet, but not icy, and we went to the concert for a wonderful performance of Dvořák’s New World Symphony.  The orchestra made it worth going out in the cold.

Saturday--ice on our hedge

Saturday–ice on our hedge and trees

Saturday's ice

Saturday’s ice–melted in the afternoon, then . . .

. . . followed by Sunday's ice

. . . followed by Sunday’s ice

Close-up view on Sunday

Close-up view on Saturday–already beginning to melt

The woods on Saturday

The woods on Saturday

New ice in the woods on Sunday

Repeat performance with fresh ice on Sunday

The National Weather Service has issued an ice storm warning, effective from 9:00 am Friday (tomorrow) until noon Sunday.  Freezing rain with ice accumulations from 0.25-0.75 inches is forecast.  Damage to trees and power lines is expected.  It looks like we might find ourselves in the lower accumulation area, but the storm track could vary over time.  Even so, a quarter inch of ice is not good.

The evening TV news reported that MoDOT is busy treating roads in preparation for the freezing rain expected to arrive tomorrow morning, and citizens are flocking to the grocery stores.  According to the cancellations on the TV crawl, a lot of the area is shutting down from Friday through Sunday.  We have Saturday night symphony tickets.  I bet we won’t be going.

We are prepared to hunker down over the weekend.  We have some leftover meat from when the kids were here at Christmas, and are planning to eat it this weekend.  Ted went to the grocery store to buy a gallon of milk and some potatoes to go with the meat.  He said there was plenty of milk in stock, but this is what the bread aisle looks like.

"Then let them eat cake!" ~Marie Antoinette

Today was a rainy day and the mall is always deserted on Mondays, so Ted and I decided to walk in the mall and get our three miles in.  We arrived just in time for the sun to break through the clouds at sunset.  The back edge of the rain clouds picked up the beautiful sunset colors.

One of the NWS forecasters once wrote a forecast that included the prediction “sunny by dark.”  That’s what we had today.

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Ted always said there’s no challenge to forecasting summer weather in St. Louis–just put in a high around 90, a low in the 70s and a chance of afternoon heat-induced thunderstorms.  It looks like Ted’s formula still works, based on the forecast I saw on the noon news today.

wx4castsmart

 

 

 

This evening, we had dinner at The Chef’s Table, an upscale restaurant on the ship.  I would give The Restaurant, where we usually eat dinner, at least three stars for its three-course meals every evening, so The Chef’s Table would have to get at least four stars.

We had five courses, each with a matched wine.  (They don’t fill the wine glass five times, so we’re still walking.)  The appetizer was roasted pepper and tomato jelly with goat cheese latté foam.  It was actually pretty good, even though I don’t care for goat cheese.  It’s more more palatable in foam form.

Then came the salad, followed by a palate cleanser–bellini with a mix of prosecco and peach pureé and topped with peach juice foam.  Not to take anything away from the chef, but it tasted like an excellent crushed peach popsicle.

The main course was cod fillet, paired with Jerusalem artichoke.  Ted ate it, but I swapped fish for very, very tender chicken.

We finished with mascarpone passion–a mascarpone mousse with passion fruit cremeux.  It was topped with a raspberry candy sort of thing, two passion fruit seeds, and two pansy petals.  I had lavendar in England, and now I’ve eaten pansies.  I’m still waiting for the nasturtium salad.

Mascarpone Passion. I probably won't be making this at home, but it was scrumptious.

Mascarpone Passion. I probably won’t be making this at home, but it was scrumptious.

The four paired wines (none with the bellini) were perfectly matched to each course and complemented the flavors of the food.  Yes, it’s a tough life, but. . .

We walked back to our stateroom, and when we went out on our veranda, we saw a beautiful sunset over the Baltic Sea.  What a wonderful vacation we’re having!

Aaahhh. . .

Aaahhh. . .

Our house was the first one built in our plat of the subdivision.  As a result, the early morning sounds of construction were very familiar to us, with houses being built all around ours.  Now, 37 years later, it sounds much the same because many of our neighbors’ roofs are being replaced due to the hail damage from last month’s storm.  Fortunately, our roof is less than four years old and wasn’t damaged.  We’ll be in Europe for the next six weeks, so most of the repair work should be finished by the time we return.  We won’t miss the sounds of all the nail guns.  Been there, done that.

On our way to Colorado last week, we drove through a series of spring thunderstorms, including some that were severe.  It’s about a 15-hour trip in good weather, but it seems a lot longer and it’s a lot more stressful driving through storm after storm for a good portion of two days.

We had a wonderful time with Jeff’s family (as usual) and were happy that we could be present for Kyra’s high school graduation, as well as for her seminary graduation.  We had good times during our visit and were sorry to have to leave.

Our drive home was much nicer.  In spite of the fact that rain had been predicted all the way across Kansas and into Missouri, the probabilities were dropped from 50 percent to 20 percent.  Although we saw some anvil clouds and rain in the distance several times, we drove in bright sunshine and low 80s all the way.  We almost caught up to the rain showers in Missouri, but they dissipated ahead of us.

As we left Jeff’s house in the morning, we saw ten hot air balloons rising in the calm early morning skies.  Then, east of Kansas City, just before the Missouri rain ahead of us dissipated, we saw a rainbow from our sunny side of the weather.  What a peaceful beginning and end to our day’s drive.

Balloons

 

Rainbow

Our driving weather today wasn’t quite as bad as yesterday’s.  We only drove through three squalls, but the hail was bigger and lasted longer.  The story can be told in pictures.

Hail accumulating on the windshield

Hail accumulating on the windshield

Hail on the grass at the rest stop

Hail on the grass at the rest stop

The storm with the hail behind us

The storm with the hail behind us . . .

. . . as we drove toward the next storm.

20160527_150533

Finally! The storms were to the east of us as we approached Jeff’s house.

We usually look forward to night driving in Kansas because it’s so dark, we can see the Milky Way and zillions of stars–a nice change from our usual suburban sky view.  On this trip, however, the sky show was lightning.

It’s spring on the Great Plains, so that means tornadoes and thunderstorms.  We had tornado watches and severe thunderstorm warnings all the way from the Missouri border to WaKeeney, Kansas where we stopped for the night.  We drove through four squall lines (red cells on the radar) and reached WaKeeney just before hitting the fifth one.  We had very heavy rain several times, as well as some small hail, and we saw impressive, almost constant lightning in all directions.  At one point, we hit a strong crosswind.  Fortunately, my car is IFR rated (right!) and traffic is light in Kansas.  Ted’s driving experience and quick reaction skills kept the car moving forward in spite of two swerves.

When we arrived at the motel, a special weather report mentioned that the squall line we had just passed through was now producing quarter-size hail and 60 mph winds.  I’m glad we were ahead of that!  It was a long, tense drive, but a great show by Mother Nature.

A shelf cloud ahead of the storms.

A shelf cloud just above the horizon ahead of the storms

A very low-hanging cloud

A very low-hanging cloud

One of many lightning strikes

One of many lightning strikes

Just last week, Ted and I were saying we’ve never seen golf ball-sized hail, much less two-inch hail.  Then, today, look what fell from the sky.

This stuff makes a lot of noise on the roof!

This stuff makes a lot of noise on the roof!

 

At first, I was outside, just enjoying the sound of thunder from the approaching storm.  Then I heard big plops in the pool and noticed it was hailing ahead of the rain.  It seemed like a good idea to seek shelter indoors, so I watched the big (one- to one-and-a-half-inch) hail from a window.  When the wind picked up and started blowing the hailstones against the glass, I was afraid the window would shatter, so I moved to the leeward safety of the covered front porch.  After a minute or two, these huge hailstones started falling.  Being a meteorologist’s wife, I rolled up my jeans, put on some flipflops and a waterproof jacket, and ran into the grass to rescue some hailstones for authentic documentation with my National Weather Service yardstick–even though it’s not seasonally appropriate.

Note:  Our hail turned out to be nearly insignificant.  Just a few miles away, in O’Fallon, grapefruit-sized hail was reported and the NWS office had four-inch hail.

Over a week of weather in the 60s and 70s plus some rain gave me a surprise when I looked out the window today.  The grass is green!  It’s not turning green–it’s green!  Spring has sprung!

Another record high today:  78 degrees!  Unfortunately, reality returns next week with highs in the mid- and upper 40s, but this was great while it lasted.