Posts Tagged ‘weather’
Light Show
Last night the sky was flashing constantly yet I only heard thunder periodically. When I took Asher out for his last walk of the day, we stopped at the barn to collect feed buckets and close doors for the night. According to weather radar, the storm’s heavy rain was just approaching Minneapolis at the time, but the leading edge of the wall of clouds had already arrived straight overhead.
The horses headed out into the hay field and I wondered if they had an inkling of what was going to happen in an hour or so.
Back in the house, warnings on TV talked about the possibility of hail and to expect a strong gust of wind when the storm arrived. We didn’t get either, thank goodness.
By the time the rain arrived, it was dark outside. I could hear periods of heavy rain falling but couldn’t see much of anything beyond how far the outdoor lights shone.
I expect this morning to be an adventure of discovery as I check rain gauges and survey for fallen branches. That will define a storm’s significance, more than the amount of visible lightning that occurred.
Here’s hoping we came through that batch of threatening weather unscathed.
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Less Hot
The weather alerts that keep pinging my phone warn of excessive heat. Sounds ominous. Medium heat would be tolerable, but excessive? Yikes. We better be very careful. Except, the breeze coming off the lake this morning is about as perfect as a person could ask.
The filtered sunlight with dancing shadows of tree leaves projected on the logs of the sunporch wall augment the ambiance of serenity to a wonderful degree.
If I wasn’t inclined to think about how much the horses at home will be sweating today and Asher thrashing against his itchy skin, my life today would be downright heavenly. Comparing my usual grimy activity of constantly groundskeeping 20 rural acres to our getaways north where I laze around luxuriously highlights the significant difference in my experiences.
There is no lack of appreciation for this privilege on my part.
In fact, were I to imagine a time when Cyndie and I no longer chose to live in the situation where we needed to do so much work to maintain Wintervale, I’d gladly lobby to become the caretaker of her family’s property on this lake.
That might be the excessive heat warning talking. Check with me in the midst of a January deep freeze to see if that visualization of a possible future still stands up.
We are enjoying conditions that feel a lot less hot than what the weather app warnings keep beeping about. In today’s blurb by Paul Douglas in the Strib, I see that Saudi Arabia saw a midnight temperature index of 134°F when the dew point was 95.
Hot conditions, like so many other things in this world, are relative, aren’t they?
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Storm Repellent
I don’t know how it works but our location has enjoyed the good fortune of appearing storm-resistant this year. Too many times to count during this spring and summer, I have checked the radar with storms looming and found a seam over our house between blocks of the most intense weather. Last night, it was even more surprising because there was no separation in the storm blob approaching us, but then it just stopped.
We could hear the thunder for almost an hour but when the storm finally began to make progress moving east, the lightning bolts all passed to our south.
The news reported hail up to the size of baseballs from some of these storms so we were very happy to have the worst of it miss us once again. Keeping our fingers crossed that this severe weather dodging luck stays with us for as long as possible.
We are also extremely happy to have a dog who is not bothered by lightning and thunder.
Asher shows no concern about wild weather which contributes greatly to our ability to maintain calm indoors while the sky is rumbling outside.
Maybe the credit for the storm-repellent we’ve been blessed with this year should go to Asher.
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Rain Chances
“Don’t worry about the future” is wise advice. “Live in the moment” is a great idea. However, in order to pack for a weeklong trip, I need to visualize how the future days might turn out. Will I need any warm clothes or not? Should I pack a raincoat? I need to put myself in that future place.
Well…
That forecast indicates my biking and camping future next week has a pretty consistent chance of being a wet one. I think I’ll want a raincoat.
Today and tomorrow I will strive to fully appreciate the comforts of home before setting off on an adventure against the elements on Saturday.
I wonder if it’s possible to ride a bike while holding an umbrella.
We received a fresh soaking of under a half-inch of rain yesterday, forcing me to delay mowing until today and tomorrow. I salvaged a tiny amount of the day by fence trimming for an hour before dinner. It felt a bit like “too little, too late” but it was better than nothing.
Our weather forecast for the next two days shows no sign of precipitation. I’ll be cutting grass wherever the turf supports the tractor tires enough to not leave mud streaks.
We’ve decided to try sawing branches from a maple tree shading Cyndie’s garden and then need to prepare the horses for a farrier appointment before noon so it looks to be a busy day on the ranch.
At least I shouldn’t need an umbrella. Yet…
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Hanging On
It feels like we are waiting for the grand chorus of an epic chart-busting anthem to crescendo and meld all the disparate elements of our lives into a satisfying resolution of peaceful bliss. Another way of saying, “another day, another dollar.” Every day is unique but it feels like the same things keep happening in each different day.
Bright sunshine. Big booming dark clouds. Gushing flood of rainfall. Bright sunshine. Hot steam evaporating. Insects hatching. Humidity rising. Big booming dark clouds return.
Between the dramatic downpours, we try to chip away at one or two outdoor projects that we can achieve despite the swampy conditions left by the cloudbursts.
Being quarantined on our property for the last three weeks has served to make me aware that it is unusual for us not to go out for some reason this many days in a row. Oh, wait, we drove up to get Asher last weekend. I already forgot. Never mind.
I’m just getting punchy because I haven’t felt like doing much of anything, yet innumerable things deserve to be done. I include getting some extended hours on my bike seat which hasn’t happened in far too long despite the Tour of Minnesota week of riding starting in just ten days.
Weather, or not. [it’s a battle to play with words with autocorrect on]
And you can bet we will see some weather while pedaling the pavement and camping in tents. In the 25 years I’ve ridden this adventure in June, there was only one time that the weather was gorgeous every single day. It was my first year in 1994.
I am doing my best to hang on to my sensibilities and accept whatever happens next. Planning has become optional.
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Intermittent Soaking
Making plans to do anything outside in the kind of weather we have been experiencing of late is something of a crap shoot. At least we have the consolation of not yet dealing with the threats to life and property from tornadoes like folks to our south have been facing.
What we are getting is tantalizing sunshine that almost dries the grass enough to mow before the skies switch to gloomy clouds.
Just when you figure out those clouds on the horizon are sliding past to the south, another batch of heavy gray clouds show up from the north.
In the seconds after serving the horses their grain, the cloud drops its contents in a soaking downpour.
As soon as the ground is sufficiently saturated, the rain ends and sunshine returns to evaporate the water in steaming clouds off the asphalt driveway.
Rinse and repeat. Good luck finding grass dry enough to mow without difficulty.
If it is too wet to mow, I should go for a bike ride. I don’t like riding in the rain so I am really happy I didn’t get lured out by the temporary sunshine yesterday afternoon.
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Left Out
The day started mostly sunny but the forecast warned of a chance of rain in the afternoon. Sometime after Cyndie departed for a couple of days away with friends, I granted Asher a chance to walk through the woods wherever his nose led us, hoping to distract him from already missing her.
Before we set out, I opened a gate to allow the horses some time to graze grass. As far as we can tell, their bodies are adjusting to the gradual change in diet just fine.
While our neighbor to the south mowed grass along our property lines, Asher and I popped out of the woods and made our way between the horses in the field and the riding mower. It seemed like a perfect afternoon of spring sunshine.
The sky was partly cloudy, but it didn’t seem all that threatening. I hadn’t paid any attention to what the radar looked like. I’ve heard the phrase “popcorn showers” used for the dotted image of precipitation blobs that showed up when I finally checked.
Asher and I had made our way around our entire property and into the barn where I left him to kill time while I cleaned up manure and then prepared buckets of feed. I was planning to bring out the buckets as an enticement to get the horses to come in off the field. Before I made it out the door, they came racing in at top speed.
We couldn’t feel the wind at that point but the sound of the howling gusts that suddenly blew through the surrounding trees was downright spooky. Eerie enough to scare the horses back to the safety of the barn. I hung their buckets of feed as quickly as I could to get them focused on their evening meal while I scooted down to close the gate to the field.
I made it back just as rain started to fall. Then it started to pour out of the cloud with an ominous roar that rumbled the metal roof to maximum decibels. I looked out the half door at the horses and noticed why it was so loud on the roof. It looked to be equal parts rain and BB-sized hail.
Unfortunately, of the four spots the horses choose for feeding, Mia’s is outside the cover of the overhang. With enough warning, we can easily move her under but she was already out there when the deluge hit.
I could see the pellets of hail bouncing off of her. It didn’t seem to bother Mia a bit. Light turned around a couple of times to look out at the cloudburst but other than that, the dramatic precipitation didn’t disturb the horses from their feed.
The gusher ended as quickly as it arrived. Mia was wet but unfazed by it all.
Asher and I walked back up to the house under a fresh interval of sunshine and ate our respective dinners devoid of any further meteorologic theatrics.
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Weather Pummeling
Our region took a pummeling from Momma Nature yesterday with high winds pushing some heavy rain sideways. I was on an errand to Baldwin to seek advice from my tractor dealership and pulled over to capture some photos of the wild sky.
With winds gusting into the 40s (mph), the bottom of the cloud cover was getting whipped into undulating waves.
Knowing it was past due time to change the engine oil of the New Holland diesel tractor, I pulled the manual to check other recommended periodic maintenance. I quickly felt overwhelmed by the list of tasks I had no knowledge or experience doing.
It didn’t take long for the Service Manager to convince me to spend some of my savings and have them do the dirty work. He had me at, “We have time to start on it early next week.”
On the way home, I stopped off to take advantage of ‘Discount Tuesday’ at the movie theater to see the four military-embedded journalists race against time to reach DC in the 2024 film, “Civil War.” I sure hope that version of a possible future for the country remains a fabrication for film and has no relationship with an eventual reality.
I returned home in the nick of time to help Cyndie tend to the horses amid the rain and wicked gales. Being immersed in the fictional world for a couple of hours had me rather disoriented in coping with the wild conditions that were turning feeding time into something of a circus that seemed to fit well with the on-screen chaos I’d just consumed.
Cyndie reported some new chaos across one of our trails through the woods.
If that is the only tree that topples under these conditions, I will be surprised. By dinner time last night, we had received over an inch of rain as measured in the gauges Cyndie remembered to put out earlier in the day.
Our soils are saturated and that makes high-wind days that much more effective at tipping tall trees.
One blessing we thoroughly appreciate is that Asher demonstrates zero stress over lightning and thunder. That’s not something I taught him. He showed up with that trait. I need to remember that gift alone should earn him a pass on other behaviors of his I find myself regretting.
Our dog staying calm during a pummeling storm contributes greatly to our quality of life.
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Ensuing Calm
I always envy the stoic way the horses appear to take whatever nature dishes out and emerge from the worst weather with a look of understanding that better days always arrive eventually. Why is my impression one of surprise about the ease with which a nice day shows up after the tumult of wind and heavy precipitation in all its forms?
On Tuesday night, I dashed out after having showered and eaten dinner to run the plow up and down the driveway before the slushy mess entirely froze overnight. It was an exercise that paid off for me yesterday. All that saturated snow around the driveway was rock solid in the morning.
The partly cloudy skies yesterday allowed for enough sunlight to dry up most of the residual scraps of icy snow that lingered.
The afternoon included a visit from the farrier to trim the horses’ hooves. She reported clear signs of new spring growth showing up in their feet.
During my morning rounds of scooping poop, I came across so many frozen plate-sized mud impressions sluffed from their hooves it looked like every step they took in that mess of snow and mud came with a new unwanted sole attached. It reminded me of the time that was happening to me with mud sticking to the bottom of my boots.
Can you tell which direction the breeze was coming from in the image above? Cyndie said the pattern of blown snow had disappeared from the asphalt moments after she took that photo. The dark pavement does hold some of that solar energy for a time after the sun had disappeared below the horizon.
The winds were light and the sunshine plentiful on the day after our 3-day storm. It provided a welcome calm, indeed.
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Just Weather
When a long-duration storm is dishing out its worst, there doesn’t seem to be any other news that rises above it. I tried to keep one eye on NCAA March Madness Tournament basketball games yesterday but the other eye was darting between the snow out the window or the radar updates online.
It snowed most of the day but we didn’t get a lot of accumulation until the sun went down. The temperature hovered right around freezing and the line where snow changed to rain appeared to be slowly moving north as we turned in for the night.
Cyndie put blankets on the horses in the afternoon because Mix and Mia were shivering from the wetness and also because of the likelihood that the cold precipitation would change to rain and soak them even more. We leave it up to them to decide whether they want to stay under the overhang or stand in the rain.
I’m always surprised by how often they choose to walk away from the cover of a roof over their heads.
I’m anxious to get out there this morning to see what the conditions are like in the paddock. Muddy, wet, and snowy all at the same time, I suspect.
As they say, we need the moisture.
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Relative Something 