Weather

My goodness the weather has been giving us the dickens here for the last few days. It has been raining heavily with thunder and lightning. I love a good storm so I can enjoy all that.

Tornadoes are another matter. Tornadoes are pounding this area. I do not worry too much where I live because we are sort of tucked into the hills. But all around the area has been hit hard with them.

One of the worst was the twin tornadoes that hit a little town in Nebraska the first night. It almost leveled the whole town. So much loss. Two lives were lost which is two too many but it could have been so much worse.

The twin tornadoes are two funnels coming down from one set of clouds. They are not unheard of but it is not a common phenomenon. Apparently these were about a mile apart. Just as soon as the first one was finished with the town the second one hit. How frightened those people must have been.

There were so many tornadoes all around that night. I believe most of Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota were either watching for signs or taking cover.

The second night there were again tornadoes all around. I did not hear of any major touch-downs but I am sure it is all in the perception. Even if the loss is minimal it can be devastating if the loss is yours.

All through this time the thunderstorms came and went. There was a lot of rain. Sometimes the wind was so strong that I could feel the house shudder.

The third day I took advantage of a break in the storms to go get some much needed grocery shopping done. I have to drive 25 miles to the store so I let it go longer than I should sometimes.

As we came over the last hill before turning off into my little town (my son was with me), I saw the biggest mirage I had ever seen. I pointed it out to my son. But it did not seem to move like most mirages will do. We decided to drive down to the highway and take that way home.

When we got there what a shock! All the fields were under water.  The fence posts showed about 6 inched from the tops so the water is deep. The fields looked like a big beautiful lake.

The river is at least half a mile away at that point so it overflowed a lot. And I had just driven that highway the day before. I saw the river at several spots and it looked high but not ready to cover that much ground. It was not over the banks at all.

The fields were growing so nicely too. The corn was between 6 and 9 inches tall in most places and the soybeans were spreading nicely. I hope they will not be too damaged.

In the meantime it began to rain again. There were severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado warnings again.

I was in my room watching TV when the lightning began to illuminate the sky almost continually. There was no thunder just the flickering in the sky. I got up and went to the front door to watch. I know I should not do that but it was interesting.

Then I saw on the news that another twin tornado had hit a little town in South Dakota. Wow. So far I have not heard of fatalities but there were two injuries. Thank goodness.

The weather seems to be moving on but that could all change at the drop of a raindrop.