Storm

Today's news is all about yesterday's big storm. Big storms with flashing lightning, booming thunder, heavy rain, and great balls of hail are an uncommon occurrence around here, so when they do happen it's almost guaranteed to be the talk of the town.

In the morning when I woke up it was very dark and gloomy, but when I went out to feed I was surprised at how warm it was. The clouds kind of cleared a little and we had mostly sunny skies for the rest of the day. That is, until around 4 pm. Then the skies became totally overcast again.

Just before 5 pm a National Weather Service warning came over the television. It advised of a thunderstorm with hail approaching Bakersfield from Taft. It looked like we were right in the path. I noticed the wind had really picked up by then, so I went out to make sure the hay was well covered.

Right about then my husband came home and we went to the far back area by the garden to watch the storm come in. By this time the temperature had dropped by about 10 degrees and there were occasional flashes deep inside the clouds and a continuous rumbling from the thunder. I tried to take a picture of the lightning but I didn't know what I was doing so it didn't work.

Pretty soon the big raindrops started falling so we retreated to the house. Standing between the metal fence and the big metal water truck probably wasn't a great idea anyway. It was none too soon, for the hail started coming down with a vengeance. Next door neighbor Dean called and invited us to watch with him on his porch. (I told you a big storm around here was an event!) I found a couple of umbrellas and we ran over to Dean's. By the way, you'll notice he likes to go all out on his holiday decorations.

Eventually the hail eased up and we headed back home. We had to practically ford the gutter on our way back.

We made it back safe and sound and I heard a pitiful mewing at the front door. It was Kneadermeier. She was soaked and just wanted to get into the garage.

Around 8 pm another piece of the storm passed over and it poured huge drops. I was surprised to hear later that it was only about .6". I would have sworn we got at least 1.5". In fact, maybe we did in our little corner of Bakersfield. I called Carli and asked if she saw the hail. She said it was windy at her place but barely any rain. She lives about 2 1/2 miles from us.

This morning there were reports of power outages and even a school closure. Fortunately we didn't suffer any damage here. As long as that is the case it's okay. I really feel for the folks back east that have the horrible storms with bad damage. For now, we could really use the rain.