Weather as Entertainment
It rained a lot yesterday, so we all got wet in the morning, then the sun came out and it was hot and humid and we all started to steam dry the afternoon went by damp and breezy but nothing beat the extraordinary lightening show that we watched yesterday evening after dinner.
Our county was put under a Tornado Watch until 1am so we filled our water bottles, made sure that the camping torches were at hand and had batteries in them, I took the kunekune (Tima and Tane) across to the barn (they sleep in an upturned robins egg blue plastic fish bowl and I thought it might blow away) and then we ate a fantastic dinner of home made ravioli on a bed of creamed New Zealand red stemmed silverbeet (Swiss Chard here in America) and the usual Mama salad then, after I had done my rounds, the young ones and I lined up on the porch with bowls of home made banana chocolate chip ice cream and watched the show.
The thunder was continuous for over three hours, continuous as in constant noise, and the lightening was the same. The sky was alight with all kinds of lightening – the clouds were back lit and front lit and the sky just plain lit up. But the air was warm, it was only slightly above breezy and so we decided to be entertained.
John asked me to stop coming in to tell him the weather updates – he was trying to sleep.
At 10 pm it began to rain hard. Then they broadcast a severe thunderstorm warning. By then we had all taken shelter inside. Then a Tornado Warning as one was sighted close by and a warning of a sever storm heding up our road. Then the storm rushed by without damage. Then the young ones were asleep. And by the time it got to a Flood Advisory I was fast asleep too.
I finished writing this at 10.40 pm last night, just rain by then and no hail (hail would be very bad for the gardens let alone a bloody tornado).
Military helicopters buzzing us in the afternoon was a trifle disconcerting.
I set this page to publish at 6am this morning so if the electricity has gone off you will still get word. It often goes off in storms. So I guess since I have not amended this there might have been Bad Weather during the night and we have no power.
The gardens are loving all this rain! So is the Head Gardener.
Lots of love
cecilia
35 Comments on “Weather as Entertainment”
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thekitchensgarden 
Glad you all made it ok. Hope you DO have power – that is the big downside to these storms, especially when on well water! We are bracing for those storms later today, and the forecast for straight line winds is the scary part. My veggies are just doing great at the moment, hate for them all to suddenly be blown away.
I used to grow my vegies in a netted cage when I lived in NSW. It was useful in hailstorms, but I had it mainly to keep the birds off the crops, especially the satin bower birds, who’d dig anything up. There is nothing to beat watching a storm go past a mile off while you’re safe and reasonably dry. Overhead is not so much fun, and power outages are a disaster if you have a couple of well stocked freezers. I tend to let mine run down in cyclone season.
The nets are to keep the bad bugs off and they work really well! c
I love watching storms roll in but am not a fan of tornadoes at all because they are so unpredictable. Looks as if your garden is growing and producing lovely things and what a delicious dinner . I can almost taste it.
If you weren’t so far away, I’d say we had the same storm last night – lots of thunder and torrential rain for hours. Now it’s humid without sunshine and there’s a new storm on the way in an hour or so. Fortunately tornadoes are quite rare here 🙂
I’m curious. You mention emergency preparations. Lamps and water. But where would you go? Do you have a storm cellar? I hope so. Stay safe!
We do have a basement but I hate that basement. I would send everyone down there and take my chances under my big table – i think it is the strongest unit in the house.. who knows.. c
What an exciting evening..not many people have had the experience of such weather. Happy to know you are all safe
To watch a storm roll in while you are safe Is so dramatic. Sounds like your Mother Nature show went on and on.
I love the decryption of what you all ate!!
So glad you escaped the worst of the storm. I was very worried about you and the farmy and relieved to see your post this morning. Local TV news has been full of pictures and reports last night and this morning. I figured it had to be close to you.
The worst of it was quite close – we drove through a damaged town on the way to the feed store this morning. What a mess. c
We had thunder and lightning here last night too but thankfully we don’t get tornadoes. More thunderstorms forecast here this afternoon and tonight there will be major political storms as the results of our Referendum (about remaining or leaving the EU) come in. Love your feast shot.
Hope you’re all safe and sound.
Wow! I think that was a very big storm, ‘cos it stretched all the way to Northern France – we had similar noise and flash ALL NIGHT and there’s another one just getting under way. I’m going to have to u plug everything soon. Jock’s left to fly to Scotland, so I hope it doesn’t follow him. I’m very glad you suffered no damage.
love,
ViV xox
What a lovely blog – and your garden looks incredible. Glad both it and you survived the storms
I saw your intense lightning displayed by an online tracker. It was very frequent. It would have been impressive to watch.
Mother Nature was kind by leaving the farmy in tact.
Have a happy day C.
🙂 Mandy xo
Stay safe, crew!
Our region of southern Minnesota was also under severe weather watches and warnings last evening. Warning sirens blew here in Faribault due to both severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings. I didn’t seek shelter as skies did not appear threatening. Baseball sized hail pelted an area just to the north. I hope you escaped any damage.
What’s with the military helicopters? Is this common/uncommon?
No not common at all plus they had their doors open and long tubes sticking out of them – what that was I have no idea – some training run I imagine.. So LOUD too.. c
It was weird watching weather news this am, UK, France and Chicago seemed to be sharing the same storm. Beautiful video of lightening coming thick and fast. I love a good thunderstorm, hope we have a few good ones this upcoming summer. Hope you are still safe today. Laura
We pretty much slept through the storm. I tracked it for a while on radar but then fell asleep. But we got about 3 1/2 inches of rain and the crops look happier already. We also noticed the fly-0ver by the helicopters and wondered why they were up and about.
Well, way over here on the west coast we had some rain come in overnight, but nothing so dramatic as all that! I love thunderstorms, but we rarely get them here, but tornados freak me out no end. I hope all is well and that you do have power this morning! Gotta have hot coffee first thing.
And here in Shanghai, we are also having spectacular thunder and lightning so I guess all points of the compass have been touched. Lovely photos again and I adore your chess set!!
We are needing rain here also. The heat has been high (although I like heat), but 114* on Sunday will be a tad much. Today it’s much cooler with clouds in the sky. I’ll take it!
Linda
Good morning or afternoon, or whenever your power gets back on! I am assuming I read it correctly, that you wrote and posted the blog to Word Press last night with instructions ffor them to actually publish at 6am, correct? And the fact we still see that info means you did, in fact, lose power and what we’re seeing has not been updated since it was written last night? I sure hope you get power on again very soon and we hear quickly from you… the whole world (literally) awaits to hear of your safety. I pray you’re all safe and sound.
And I was wondering… without a radio or television, how do you receive tornado warnings, or other such weather announcements?
Dinner sounds delish, especially dessert out on the verandah while watching the light show. An event filled evening.
Hope you have a great day too! ~ Mame 🙂
Yes, the power came back on in time to make the coffee! And we have been at warp speed ever since. I get warnings about bad weather from a friend who lives in Chicago – he watches the weather for me. When the ALERTS come out they are a red banner across the top of my computer screen and my phone shreiks! So even without TV or radio the great world of the weather makes sure I know.
ahhh, so glad to see your presence here… it is a worry. From the sounds of it, seems the damage occurred rather close and that would be scary. Tornados are not usual up in these parts of southern Ontario, but we did have a nasty one come through back in the mid to late-80’s that did horrendous damage to a large town not too far away from where we were living and I can easily say it was one of the scariest things I’ve experienced, and I wasn’t in the middle of it. Tornadoes normally have a narrow swath but they carry with them a punch like nothing else. The most important thing, to be sure, is that you got your coffee!!! 🙂
I think you are talking about the 1979 one that went through Woodstock and a number of other small towns in SW Ontario. I witnessed a lot of the devastation firsthand as I lived there at the time. The little village of Vanessa was hit hard, there were foundations only where houses used to stand. My town of Waterford lost a lot of trees (think beautiful old trees lining beautiful old streets in rural area small towns) and there was damage to a lot of homes and buildings. I was home alone at the time and had no idea what was happening, I heard a lot of noise and rain, then nothing (literally nothing), then more noise and rain. Our home was missed, but as the crow flies only 3 miles away Vanessa took it on the nose. All these years later I still get goose bumps thinking about it.
Glad the farmy was missed by this week’s storm.
Chris S in Canada
oh my gosh- how scary is that- I have never lived in tornado areas- it’s bad enough with wildfire dangers because of lightning. Have a super duper safe day!
Sounds like quite the show. I’m glad no harm came in the wake of such fury. I’ve seen thunderstorm and lightning below the aircraft at night. Very spectacular! Food and veggies look yummy. How can you tell its approaching mealtime. Enjoy.
I can imagine the French lads really enjoyed the show – I know at least here in Ireland, lightning is a rarity! My hubby was amazed at the daily thunderstorms in Florida. And a bit scared 🙂
I can see which way the wind blows by the bend of the corn – it is so windy here the unsheltered trees all look like that.
Glad to know you and yours are safe. Much love, Your Gayle
Sounds like everyone had storms last night… we in NZ had high winds and heavy rain here (we don’t really get much in the way of lightning), our power went off and my battery backup on my alarm didn’t work, so was rather late to work this morning 😦 Glad you’re all safe!
Love the look of both of your vegetable garden and the results of it: that dinner looked infinitely moreish! No comments about the weather ere you feel sorry for my ‘fears’ again!!! Oh, thinking of your growing herd of cows: shall probably absent myself for most of July to be up all night and sleeping most of the day to follow my beloved ‘Tour de France’ – many blogs attendant naturally – but my favourite Oz one is ‘Les Vaches du Tour’ where we not only enjoy the gorgeous French countryside and the elegant bottoms of the cyclists but count how many different BREEDS of cows are on the wayside – last year we managed 153 0r 155 methinks . . .
So pleased there was no tornado ..