Ready for the "severe" weather

[lihpster]

Forecast is for severe thunderstorms this afternoon. Right now, it's sunny and beautiful, but they say it's coming. Chance of large hail and a small chance, (5%), of tornados. I think I'm about as prepared as I can get.
Got covered seating in the back yard with good views of the sky. Seating out front isn't covered, but I can hold an umbrella. Got a 12 pack of beer ice cold and ready. Got chips, salsa and some beef jerky. I think I'm all set.

 

[Autonomous]

We were camping up by Mossyrock but came home a day early.
Didn't seem smart to hang out under full grown fir trees with wet ground and high winds.

 

[LVSteve]

Stepson had to break a ride home last night in TX when a hailstorm came through. All the Texas members will now be nodding.

 

[SMSgt]

The Chicken Little meteorologists were screaming the sky would be falling yesterday evening. Emergency broadcasts were constantly streaming across the TV screens. We got a couple inches of much-needed rain and some lightning and thunder. Just the typical FL thunderstorms, and a mild one at that.

 

[lihpster]

Yeah. For all the talk we get about how it "rains all the time", which it doesn't, people forget that we have a much lower barometer when it comes to severe weather. Not to say it can't happen, it just doesn't happen every year. And even when it rains for a month straight, a Florida hurricane will drop more moisture. What we consider a "snowpocalypse" is Tuesday afternoon between 3 and 4:30 PM in Montana. The flooding in Southern Oregon and the hellstorm of a fire season we went through a couple years back, are memorable for their rare nature. Things just usually don't get that extreme here. It's nice when Mother Nature seems like simply a tempermental friend, rather than an adversary that occasionally tries to murder you, like the Crow going after Jeremiah Johnson. And it sure makes for pretty scenery.

 

[pharmer]

Best of luck right now. Our turn starts in 2 months. I'm already stocking tins of grilled smoked mackerel, tuna, pasta and rice. "Hurricane supplies" this far inland need to last 2 weeks. Coastal folks come here when a growler is spinning up. Joe

 

[quikdraw67]

not severe here, but weird.

snow showers/light squalls today. got a coating that's still there as of 20:00 DST.

Supposed to be 70 on Saturday, bizarro world, but typical NEPA early "spring"

 

[dben002]

Forecast is for severe thunderstorms this afternoon. Right now, it's sunny and beautiful, but they say it's coming. Chance of large hail and a small chance, (5%), of tornados. I think I'm about as prepared as I can get.
Got covered seating in the back yard with good views of the sky. Seating out front isn't covered, but I can hold an umbrella. Got a 12 pack of beer ice cold and ready. Got chips, salsa and some beef jerky. I think I'm all set.

Take advise from Lee Trevino and during lightning hold up a 1 iron. Lee said even God can't hit a 1 iron.

 

[lihpster]

Absolute bust. No lightning, no thunder, no storm. Some breezy showers was the best we got. I finally took a nap.

 

[charlie sherrill]

I looked at the weather forecast this morning. It forecast a 98% chance of rain with almost an inch. I got two of my grandchildren out of school a little early. I wanted to plant some sweet corn before the rain got here. The rain was supposed to start around 5:00 p.m. We got the corn planted by 4:30 p.m. Oh well, it was something I needed to do anyway and if it doesn't rain in a few days I'll break out the sprinkler.

 

[Krogen]

Absolute bust. No lightning, no thunder, no storm. Some breezy showers was the best we got. I finally took a nap.

Same up here. The weather-panickers, er.... "forecasters" were talking dime-sized hail, then nickels, quarters and then they got to golf balls and maybe tennis balls. They worked themselves into a tizzy. We had a few dumps of rain, some lightning and that was that. The effort the newsies put into stirring up the population is shameful. It's not the battle of Britain, fer cryin' out loud!

When one considers the fires, hurricanes and tornados that other parts of the country have suffered, I am embarrassed by our media talking heads. A bit of a thunderstorm and they proclaim the sky is falling. And they get paid for it.

 

[lihpster]

When one considers the fires, hurricanes and tornados that other parts of the country have suffered, I am embarrassed by our media talking heads. A bit of a thunderstorm and they proclaim the sky is falling. And they get paid for it.

Yep. And it made the national news. I heard Al Roker explain how MILLIONS were "at risk"! At risk of losing a ballcap, maybe.

 

[Rudi]

I'm shocked!! The weather man wrong again??????????

 

[dsf]

I'm driving to Reno from SF on Friday for the weekend gun show. Supposed to get some rain, maybe a bit of snow in the Sierras.

Reminder - steer into the skid, CA folks. It's just snow.

 

[soFlaNative]

I'm constantly amazed at the tales of incompetence in all aspects of service shared by Forum members. I'm in south Florida for cryin' out loud, supposedly the fraud and 3rd world capital of the U.S. and rarely encounter the kind of inbred activity others seem to experience daily.
The forcasters down here freely admit as a professional standard they are required to represent the worst possible scenario due to the know it all's who puff out their chest and poo poo the odds then will be first in line for drinking water and fuel.

The bar must be really low in some of y'all's neck of the woods.

 

[moosedog]

Love watching a good thunderstorm while appreciating my safe haven home.
When I was a little guy and would hear the thunder, ma would say it's the Angels moving their furniture.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

We were car camping with my best friend and his wife a few years ago Labor Day. The forecast was for an afternoon shower. After lunch we tidied up the camp site, put loose items in the truck and made a nice pile of firewood and tarped it. It was cool enough that we decided to play cards in the vestibule of the tent (6'x9') instead of under an awning. As the storm got going, The winds got savvier (50-60mph gusts in the woods) and the rain fell in sheets about 2 to 2.5 inches in a few hours.

We never missed a hand of euchre Nothing blew over or away my wood stayed dry.

Turns out there was a tornado on the other side of the ridge. Level thinking and good equipment go a long way in preventing a weather calamity!

I noticed at home, we didn't suffer when powerful storms went through. So what, if the power goes out! Plan ahead and push on!

Those people that have their homes and towns blown away, they have it bad. But the people that complain about flooding every Spring. I have no sympathy for, that river has been doing its thing for centuries!

Ivan

 

[Krogen]

I'm shocked!! The weather man wrong again??????????

Yeah.... What other job could you keep when you're wrong as often as you're right? I'd get fired!

Seriously though, It's downright nuts in the PNW where lihpster and I live. Weather guessers forecast doom and gloom and the sheeple panic. It's almost like Leonard messing with Sheldon. In the winter it's snowmageddon, last fall it was a Bomb Cyclone. Now in the spring they have hail storms to screech about. Yesterday way down in Bellevue they had the masses running to put their cars in public parking garages to avoid hail damage. South of Seattle there was a newsie in a car covering the exodus from a smaller town. Panic in the streets and gridlock. Where were they going to go? The storm was forecasted for much of Western Oregon and Washington. Were they going to outrun it? The talking heads tell you to charge your cell phones and flashlights because (shudder) the power could go out! Be sure you know how to open your garage door if the opener has no power! Like you're going somewhere? Don't rely on a cordless phone when the power's out! Who uses those anyway? Don't use your gas range for heat! It was 68 degrees yesterday and 50 this morning. Heat? Put on a sweater for gosh sakes.

Sheesh. It's embarrassing to live here.

I feel much better now! Got THAT off my chest. I think I'll panic, take my charged up flashlight and phone, open an electrified garage door and go to the gun club. It's a work party day, ya know. . . .

 

[oldbrownhat]

We - even your erstwhile best friends up here south coastal Canuckistan - were getting the same dire predictions from our MICE (Midnight Interpreters of Chicken Entrails, ie meterologists). We had a good downpour just after midnight but that's been it.

I see that today they've reverted to the predictable "55ºF and 30% chance of showers." As I look out the window over my morning coffee, it's 48º and clearing. Safe for another carefree day of puttering about

 

[lihpster]

Even when the meteorologists get it right, the public freaks out and does the wrong thing. Example, a few years ago, the forecasters were calling for snow. Not a lot compared to Buffalo, but a significant amount for this area, about 6-8". They forecast that the snow would start about 2 PM and told people to stay home if they could, as slippery streets would make travel chancy.
What did the whole town do? Went to work and everybody left work and headed home at 2 PM. Would have clogged the streets without snow. With snow? About 6" fell in 2 hours. I left my house at 2PM to go to work as I worked swing shift. 10 miles away. Wrecks and spinouts and abandoned vehicles everywhere. At 6PM I had made almost 9 miles and was almost to work when they called me and told me not to come in, they were shutting down due to weather. Took me 3 hours to get back home. Not that my car ever put a foot wrong, I just couldn't get through the mess.
You know what people blamed the whole mess on? Since they couldn't blame it on the weatherman? Not having salt on the roads. One time we have a problem and it's with the people who can't drive, not the lack of seasoning on the highways. But now we have salt trucks and they put it down if there's a hint of snow or ice. We get one of these events every decade or so, but we need the extra wear and damage to the roads and cars that salt is responsible for.