Weather. Wow.
Jun. 29th, 2012 08:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
monkey5sHere in Ohio we have been suffering the Very Hot Dries like so much of the country. This week has been heat index warnings, fire hazard warnings, very high temperatures and astonishingly low humidity.
The two weeks prior to this, we had been promised thunderstorms a couple of different times, but we never got anything anywhere near us. And by now it's so dry that light rain would evaporate mid-air. So the assurances that we would be getting thunderstorms this afternoon were met with... skepticism. At work, I said, "Let's just check the weather radar on Accuweather, shall we?"
Wow. E. Nor. Mous. storm heading directly for us. A great big reverse C, featuring lots of red and orange color-coding, racing across Indiana. As it rapidly got closer, the NOAA weather radio started sounding the warnings, with stats to convince listeners of the seriousness of the situation. Like, for instance, 80 mph straight-line winds to cause damage, with the storm traveling at 60 mph. And this storm had produced golf-ball-sized hail (bonus! right?).
It was more impressive to track it on the radar. Accuweather lets you magnify zones to get a better idea of exactly where the storm track is going. The Columbus zone showed that yes, the worst of it was heading right for us. And that big, dark red zone included pink areas- and even some purple inside the pink.
For the record? Dark red is severe, driving rain and wind; the pink means dark as night at 5pm on a midsummer afternoon; and the purple apparently scared the tornado siren into going off. Yes, the supervisor was spooked enough that she made us go into tornado mode and wait in the public restroom until the siren stopped. Which... OK, straight-line winds can cause scary massive damage. But the winds were so strong and LOUD that I have no idea when the siren actually stopped- we couldn't hear anything beyond the wind buckling the metal roof.
The worst of it passed within a half-hour, and left behind heavy clouds, some spotty rain, and things blown around. Very few puddles- the driving rain coming down wasn't really such a large amount. I doubt the grass with even perk up, much less the trees be less stressed.
Supposedly there might be an isolated storm or two tomorrow or even Sunday, but it's not changing the heat index warnings. And when I got home, the outside air was cooled down to the low 70's. I opened the door of the house and hot air rolled out like I just opened the oven after preheating.
The two weeks prior to this, we had been promised thunderstorms a couple of different times, but we never got anything anywhere near us. And by now it's so dry that light rain would evaporate mid-air. So the assurances that we would be getting thunderstorms this afternoon were met with... skepticism. At work, I said, "Let's just check the weather radar on Accuweather, shall we?"
Wow. E. Nor. Mous. storm heading directly for us. A great big reverse C, featuring lots of red and orange color-coding, racing across Indiana. As it rapidly got closer, the NOAA weather radio started sounding the warnings, with stats to convince listeners of the seriousness of the situation. Like, for instance, 80 mph straight-line winds to cause damage, with the storm traveling at 60 mph. And this storm had produced golf-ball-sized hail (bonus! right?).
It was more impressive to track it on the radar. Accuweather lets you magnify zones to get a better idea of exactly where the storm track is going. The Columbus zone showed that yes, the worst of it was heading right for us. And that big, dark red zone included pink areas- and even some purple inside the pink.
For the record? Dark red is severe, driving rain and wind; the pink means dark as night at 5pm on a midsummer afternoon; and the purple apparently scared the tornado siren into going off. Yes, the supervisor was spooked enough that she made us go into tornado mode and wait in the public restroom until the siren stopped. Which... OK, straight-line winds can cause scary massive damage. But the winds were so strong and LOUD that I have no idea when the siren actually stopped- we couldn't hear anything beyond the wind buckling the metal roof.
The worst of it passed within a half-hour, and left behind heavy clouds, some spotty rain, and things blown around. Very few puddles- the driving rain coming down wasn't really such a large amount. I doubt the grass with even perk up, much less the trees be less stressed.
Supposedly there might be an isolated storm or two tomorrow or even Sunday, but it's not changing the heat index warnings. And when I got home, the outside air was cooled down to the low 70's. I opened the door of the house and hot air rolled out like I just opened the oven after preheating.
