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
The Kitchen's Garden 
35 responses to “Weather as Entertainment”
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