Over the winter (and even now… despite what Punxsutawney Phil said about spring), I’ve heard the woes of living up north. This time of year, though, is when we have woes in my part of the country. (Besides during hurricane season, but that’s another story.)
It’s tornado season! The state is warming, cold fronts continue pushing in, and it makes conditions perfect for what weathermen dub “severe weather.” Yesterday was a little more than the normal severe.
I saw the storm coming and closed the windows. Good thing I did when I did. Next thing I know, a wall of rain and wind slam into the house. Hail and huge raindrops pummel the windows. Things bang around, the power flickers, the local news feed fades, Elmira Gulch turns into a witch as she flies by my window, I run into the closet with all the living room pillows. And wait.
My parents who live three miles away as the crow flies had inch and a half hail. (That’s the actual hail from their house.) Not sure if the ones hitting my house were that big. Being home alone meant I was on the phone with my parents and husband as soon as everything calmed down, assuring them that nothing serious had happened and relating the damage to the property and my composure.
I later learned that winds from the same storm cell (both before hitting my area and after) were nearly hurricane force–as much as 80 miles an hour. No idea how bad the wind was hitting my house, but here’s a look at what it did to my backyard.
Fence panels down, pots strewn everywhere, and the grill thrown from where it usually rests (to the right of the pictured window) to against the fence. (And, thank God, the grill didn’t blow up. : ) )
But, the good news is that my veggie garden didn’t get smooshed by a fence panel (God cares about the little things) and that none of the damage is anything that can’t be cleaned up this weekend.
Not that this compares to a winter of ridiculous amounts of snow and ongoing blizzards. That’s true misery. This was–at its worst–a ten minute burst of insane weather. But this is definitely the worst tornado season I personally have ever experienced even though this wasn’t even a tornado…
The Everyday Epic 
That’s impressive hail. We don’t get weather like that here at all. I can’t imagine how terrifying it must have been to be home alone with the threat of a tornado.
The snow and blizzards don’t fuss me. Maybe because I’ve always lived in New England where blizzards are commonplace. It does get rather windy, but I daresay hardly windy to throw a grill across the yard.
Glad no serious damage was done.