thunderstorms

Reprieve – Day 963

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Wild White Clouds on the Horizon – Photo: L.Weikel

Reprieve

I realize the heat wave we’ve endured here on the East Coast pales in comparison to the brutality sustained by the Pacific Northwest this week. Nevertheless, it was hard to focus on anything with it so hot. I’m glad for the reprieve.

The thunderstorms that rolled through our area last night were spectacular. Brilliant, jagged lightning split the air outside our front door and thunder followed so quickly, it was clear the storm was practically sitting on top of us. And then the rain just pelted us.

What I’ve disliked most about the recent heat wave is how walking became untenable. I need to take a walk. Desperately. So does Spartacus.

Fields, Forest, and Clouds – Photo: L. Weikel

Not Happening

Quite honestly, though, as a good puppy-Mommy, there was no way I was going to take him for a walk when he was flopping down on the porch and breathing heavily after being outside for five minutes. He didn’t even need to chase a toy to justify the flop.

And I knew exactly how he felt.

I’m ashamed to say it, but over the past four days I think I’ve averaged something like 0.28 miles per day. That’s appalling. But it looks like the weather over the next several days should be conducive to getting back out there and logging some miles. In fact, unless it’s a deluge, I’m even willing to walk between the raindrops, if that’s what it takes.

While I didn’t get a chance to walk today, I did have to make a quick grocery run. As I drove along a dirt road near my home, I couldn’t take my eyes off the massive, brilliant white clouds massing on the horizon. There was just so much activity in the sky, it was mesmerizing.

I’m craving my conversations with Nature. They help me keep my priorities straight and my attitude relatively upbeat. My walks, alas, are my primary inspiration and I’m lost without them.

From Afar – Photo: L. Weikel

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Big Storms Coming – Day 657

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Shelf Clouds – Photo: L. Weikel

Big Storms Coming

Early this evening, I’d settled into a comfy position on our porch glider and was finally allowing myself to get into my current book, The Murmur of Bees*, when I received a text. “Big storms coming,” said the first one. “For you guys,” came the clarifying text soon after.

This was from my son whose first career aspiration, as a preschooler, was ‘meteorologist.’ He’s been a storm chaser since birth, quite honestly. Or at least a storm watcher. (We probably only chased a few.)

And while he may not have chosen weather as his day job, he still watches it with a fervor we know and trust. Whether it’s Boston or here – he knows what’s going on.

I’ll admit, I was pretty well hunkered down for a good read, as was Karl. And while we intended to take a walk, as we do every day, I can vouch that walking right then wasn’t a high priority when I received Sage’s text messages.

Weather Channel – or Sage?

I actually thought he might be mistaken, since I’d not received any alerts on my phone. Surely we would’ve been told we were under a severe thunderstorm watch or warning if some big ones were expected in our area? My Weather Channel app has been remarkably accurate with those lately.

So I checked. Nope. No warnings or watches issued. In fact, the hourly forecast stated that at the stroke of the hour (ten minutes from then) the chance of precipitation was 16%. (Not to put too fine a point on those predictions, eh, Weather Channel?) Then the chance of precipitation jumped to 64% at the next hour. So yeah, ok. It didn’t look like anything huge was coming as Sage was rather direly predicting, but we would heed his warning and allow ourselves to be prodded into walking now rather than after a chapter or two more in our books.

Pictorial Progression

Below is a sample of the changes that unfolded in the sky as we took our walk tonight.

Setting out – clouds in the East – Photo: L. Weikel

 

15 minutes later, to the West- Approaching Ghouls; Photo: L. Weikel

 

First Striations – Photo: L. Weikel

 

Close up – Photo: L. Weikel

The final two shots (one at the top of this post and the other below) are of what we learned later this evening are called shelf clouds. And boy, were they ever harbingers of a wild, if relatively brief, thunderstorm.

Shelf Clouds – Photo: L. Weikel

Just after I took those last two photos, I texted one of them to Sage and asked, “Will we get home in time???” His response was a none too optimistic: “No.”

Lucky for us, though we did make it back to the house with less than five minutes to spare before the heavens opened. Why? Because we’d listened and trusted Sage rather than the Weather Channel!

(In fairness, I will disclose that I did receive a “Severe Thunderstorm Warning” 13 minutes before it hit. That wouldn’t have helped us if we’d been 30 minutes away from home!)

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Enormous Thunderstorms – Day 603

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Photo: L. Weikel

Enormous Thunderstorms

We were bombarded this afternoon. The oppressive heat that’s been building over the past several days yielded to a 20 degree drop in temperature this afternoon when waves of enormous thunderstorms arrived from the south.

Massive, angry-looking banks of deep slate-gray thunderheads slid into our area. As the front arrived, it almost felt like the onslaught of alien invaders. The sky darkened and wind suddenly started whipping around, swinging the birdfeeders and sending the wind chimes into a clamoring frenzy.

We could hear the rain approaching before it arrived. Sheets and sheets of it cascaded from the heavens immediately overflowing not only our home’s gutters but also the creek across the road. What might qualify as a small pond appeared near our barn within 20 minutes.

Soothing Noise

As these storms arrived, our home became so dark in the middle of the afternoon that it could easily have passed for an hour past sunset. The steady pelting of the massive raindrops created such a uniform clatter that, along with the darkness, I felt compelled to listen. I lay down on our bed and simply allowed Mother Nature to soothe my soul.

Laying on the bed in the darkness, I stopped thinking. I felt held by the storm; comforted by the wild saturation and ultimate letting loose of all that moisture.

Temporary Respite

Sadly, the respite from the blanketing heat was short-lived. We never did get a walk in today, although we did manage to mow the lawn before the rain arrived. I just went outside again before settling in to write this post and was shocked to feel how thick and warm the air is again. Warmer than I expected at this late hour.

This month is going to be intense. I feel it in my bones.

Photo: L. Weikel

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Distracted – Day 478

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Setting Waxing Moon – Photo: L. Weikel

Oops

I lost track of time. Distracted by the returns of the primaries of “Super Tuesday,” I’m finding myself with 15 minutes to get this post written.

Earlier, we were pummeled by thunderstorms. Thankfully, we weren’t subject to anything like what hammered Nashville last night. What a nightmare.

But at least from my perspective, it feels as though the weather here is mirroring what we’re witnessing unfold across the country electorally. It’s a storm of support for Biden – which seems to have popped up as rapidly as a summer thunderstorm. The rapidity I’m referencing is based upon the fact that his campaign almost seemed to be on life support a mere week ago.

Clarity

Of course, it’s still early as far as getting final numbers on Texas and, even more so, California. But it nevertheless looks like there are going to be some additional, perhaps unexpected, “reckoning” decisions in the near days to come.

I’m including a photo with this post tonight of the gorgeous night sky of two nights ago. A huge orange crescent moon was setting, and this was my best attempt to capture it.

But I hope you enjoy the clarity of the night sky.

Let’s hope we can all attain the clarity we need to select leaders who will care about and lift all of us.

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Fireworks Bust – Day 230

Posted on by Lisa Weikel 2 Comments
Not fireworks, but… – Photo: L. Weikel

Fireworks Bust        

Man, I was so bummed out this evening. Karl and I were really looking forward to attending the Riverside Symphonia’s annual Concert Under the Stars at Tinicum Park tonight.

We’ve attended many of these old-fashioned, spread-your-blanket-out-on-the-grass, break out the picnic food, and listen to the music 4thof July celebrations. They truly are nostalgic of celebrations you might read about from the 19thcentury, with parasols and picnic baskets, and ladies with big hats fluttering hand-held fans.

The musicians of the Symphonia never disappoint. They always get my toes tapping, even if I’m immersed in reading a book or simply entranced by the vast opportunity to “people-watch” the hundreds who’ve come from all around to spend an evening indulging in simple pleasures. I know they’re from all around because there are usually license plates from at least six, seven, eight different states on the cars parked in row after row on the fields of dark green grass.

Old Friends From Another Time

It’s pretty much inevitable that I’ll run into old friends of one stripe or another. Some of us used to see each other on a regular basis when our kids went to school together – many for 12 straight years. Now, well…unless we make a concerted effort, we’ve fallen away and rarely connect.

So many faces we see are evidence of another phase of our life: friends with whom we spent some of the most amazing (and sometimes stressful) years of our lives, all wrapped up in the unnerving business of raising kids we all hoped would grow up to be unique, inspired, and essentially happy with themselves and their choices in life.

But alas, thunderstorms and whipping winds ripped through the area in the late afternoon, drenching us yet again. In all honesty, we toyed with braving the wet blankets and soaked shoes but when we checked the weather again, there was too high a probability for more storms.

Storms Wrecked It For Us

The best part of this annual event is the fireworks display. With the backdrop of the cliffs (palisades) along the river valley, they never fail to be spectacular.

I was so hoping to have them be part of our anniversary celebration this weekend. (It’s unusual for the Concert Under the Stars to be in June.) And to be clear: the concert was to go on “rain or shine.” So they probably still had the event. We were the fuddy-duddies.

Here’s hoping that next year we don’t get rained out. If you’ve never been, mark it on your calendar. It’s worth making a point to attend.

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A Quiet Night – Day 159

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Photo: L. Weikel

A Quiet Night

I’m sitting here in my living room, the heavy wooden front door of our home swung wide, allowing the sounds of the night to drift in through the screen door. Rain was pouring some minutes ago, but has subsided for the moment. Now I only hear the rushing of the small creek across the road in front of our home that runs the length of our country road and ultimately feeds the Tohickon Creek.

The peepers continue to chirrup and groat, regardless of whether the rain pelts, pounds, or caresses. I wonder at that sometimes. Surely some of those heavy drops that sting us when they hit our skin must take a far worse toll on these little beasties. I would think they’d take cover.

But maybe they revel in the experience of storms.

Thunderstorms are the Best

I’m always up for a good thunderstorm. I love them. I remember sitting with my mother out on the front porch of our stone farmhouse, about half an hour north of here. We would watch most storms approach from the west, marching down the valley toward the Delaware River, from our right to our left. Mommy always said that storms would go down one side of the valley, run into the river, and come back up the other side. I never understood this meteorologically (and perhaps storms didn’t actually behave that way), but it always did seem as though we’d experience two rounds of thunder and lightning when a system would move through.

Listening to the rain pick up in intensity again, I’m reminded this be could urging the grass – especially the wild onion, which runs rampant throughout our lawn, to reach heights that will require us to ‘take measures’ to reduce it to a manageable length. We’re into dandelions, too, and whatever else actually wants to live in our lawn – except poison ivy! – such as a recent abundance of mosses making their way across our front yard.

I’ll probably write soon about the mosses that have begun proliferating in our lawn, taking over where the grass was growing thin. Moss is quite beautiful, especially if you let yourself get down on the ground and really look at it closely. It’s amazingly intricate! And so soft to walk on with your bare feet.

Have the Peepers Gone to Sleep?

It sounds like the wind is picking up now. I notice the peepers have stopped singing entirely – at least for the moment.

Wishing all of you a lovely evening (if anyone is awake and reading this) filled with peaceful dreams and deeply restful sleep. And if you’re reading this in the morning? Breathe deep and celebrate this holiday weekend. Passover, Easter, or simply the joy of springtime making its presence known to us again. Giving us hope for all life.

Photo: L. Weikel

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