whoze bin messin' wif da weather ?

[stetto]

Yep, and here it comes at us.

These weather people though!

[Onepoint]

I have to give credit where its due, they started out the day before warning us, showed the maps where the worst of it was going to be, and they were pretty much dead on.  I also have never seen so many storm chasers before, there were 3 NOAA trucks all loaded with sensors in Scottsbluff the day before,  and a whole batch of out of state people with weird cars driving the roads, like lots with duct tape on the windshields etc so they can drive through hail I guess.   I suppose it paid off for them, multiple videos and pics posted of tornadoes and big hail.   I counted 22 tornadoes within 70 miles of us yesterday.    Fortunately damage was minimal for such a large area that was effected,  the worst was probably in Carpenter WY, which is east of Cheyenne on the CO border,  went right over a house and barn, destroyed the barn, took part of the roof of the house and took away the attached garage with a F150 in it, and left the truck 1000' away.  A 14yo girl home alone rode it out, her dad was in Torrington at the time and was on the phone with her according to the interview later, I bet it felt like a million miles away at the time.

[stetto]

I watched some of that vid. We rarely get that kind of rough weather.

We have a good old traditional thunderstorm coming through right now, they say if the sun comes out later we may be in for armaggeddon, stay tuned.

What I was saying about the weather folks here was referring to the look of absolute glee as they tapdanced through their expanded time on air. It's been a very quiet Spring.....

[Onepoint]

I take back some of the 'minimal damage', some ranch North of Torrington lost all its out buildings and tractors and had several horses cut up.  They lost their pastures, hay and fences last year to a big range fire as well so its especially tough for them now.    Bayard NE which is east of Scottsbluff lost the roof off a retirement home.  Softball sized hail basically destroyed a few houses in from Wheatland to FT Laramie, and did some damage in Cheyenne as well.    Lots of power lines down, some people won't get it back until wednesday.  We got a 1/10" of light rain, and I am so thankful.  Here I was bitching because we have had trouble with our well pump, it went out last weekend, and a new one was bad as well,  fought it all week to make it run right and it finally quit altogether saturday late evening, finally got one that works by sunday noon, so it's resolved hopefully, but I don't think I want to trade troubles with any of them.

[stetto]

Well, we got some pretty intense weather last, but nothing as severe as the Honcho's corner of WY. An untabulated number of tornadoes appeared just south of Fargo, 50 miles west of us, but other than some semis knocked over and nuisance damage it was wind and rain.

3 inches in my back yard. Be careful what you wish for.

We watched an HBO tv western last night, Deadwood. I've never heard hard language like that in my life. I'm no prude by a far piece but an otherwise well made historical drama was pretty much ruined with the F & C bombs. I bring this up because the show went well with apocalyptic weather, and the streets of Deadwood were ALWAYS made of 4 inch deep mud, though they hadn't shown a rainstorm one.....

[balsum fractus]

Back home again. Grass grew about a foot in the week we were gone. Lots of rain, mixed with periods of sun in between. The vegetation and mosquitos are thriving!

[stetto]

Somebody had a rough one last night...



Little town southwest of Minneapolis.

My 8th acre appreciates being spared this stuff.





In the 15 years we've been up here I've never seen this kind of hail, though they get it like this almost every year just 50 miles west. Something to do with topography, I'm told. The river valley separating us from Nort Dekoda acts like a breakwater...so I'm told.

[balsum fractus]

Whoa! Scarey looking weather!

[Onepoint]

Oooh, thats bad.  Wehadsome like that round us earlier this year,  been hot and dry mostly now, we are in a belt of dry, where north and south of us has had some showers.   Which will change the second I start cutting hay. 

[stetto]

Oooh, thats bad.  Wehadsome like that round us earlier this year,  been hot and dry mostly now, we are in a belt of dry, where north and south of us has had some showers.   Which will change the second I start cutting hay.

Boy, do we resemble that remark! Almost every year we miss out on a lot of wet activity when north and south of us get near Biblical rains.

This year we're holding under an inch/week, which is pretty darn nice for a change. They continue to claim drought to the west, there must be a particular dry spot out there that repels the many storms that have come through this summer...

[stetto]

Uh oh, tornado warning, something nasty is bearing down on us as I type. Will update afterward, boys. Say a prayer for the 8th acre!

[Onepoint]

I guess you made it?   We have been lucky I guess that we have not had much for severe weather so far, other than severe dry.  Cheyenne has had showers for a couple weeks, and it looks it, it's still green down there.  Here its looking a lot like Afghanistan right now.   At least it's cloudy this morning and cooler, not with the sun blazing and by 8 its already 85 and climbing.   Though next week is supposed to be a triple digit scorcher again.

[stetto]

Ow! Sorry man, I am not a fan of that heat either. Supposed to be 90s through the weekend here.

The sirens went off at 9:30, sent the herd into the cellar, this fool went looking for trouble outside....There's a vid I'll try to get up later. Our power just came back on a half hour ago.

We have a lot of really small branches all over the place, someone told me is a sign of a really weak cyclonic wind. We lost a few trees.



A new "window" into the neighbor's field:



Mama's lilacs took a hit.



The corn was blown down, but will pick itself back up like it always does. Otherwise the 8th acre fared really well. From radio reports this morning we got off lucky. One entire small town over on the NoDak border lost every tree in town, clocked the wind at 140mph.

They're predicting 100s in the Bakken, but that's normal for them and a few hunnert miles due west of us.

[Onepoint]

That's enough excitement, other than the trees you got away ok looks like.

[stetto]

Just some lightning and clouds and sirens....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWZULAiu7Bw