Tornado Warnings

Today has been a day of crazy weather.  We woke up to a tornado warning in the morning with more predicted later in the day.  Usually tornado warnings around here mean 15-30% chance of tornados, but today we had a 70% chance!  So we decided we had better "batten down the hatches."

Since there was hail predicted along with the thunderstorms, heavy rain, and tornados--and since the garage is still full of furniture and boxes we haven't sorted through yet--we brought the vehicles up under the front porch.  Thank you, Pillows, for your brilliant design of this house which allowed us to do this!

Thank you also for the storm shelter!  (Note the steel roof!)  In good weather, it's our wine cellar.  Today, just in case, we added bottled water, chairs, battery-operated headlamps, blankets, and some food.  I added an antique chamber pot with a (brand new) roll of TP!  Herb thought of a shovel and crow bar in case we had to dig our way out.  Then we called our closest neighbors and told them to join us if they felt the need.

Once everything was ready, we turned on the weather channel to monitor the progress of the storms.  And that was that, inside . . .

Outside, there wasn't much we could do.  We could put the horses into the barn, but they might be in more danger there from falling trees.  So we left them out in the field with the cows.  Interestingly enough, when it started to seriously thunder and lightning in the afternoon, the horses headed off the hill down into the brush by the road.  Zephyr didn't like the thunder and lightning any more than they did.  She ran outside to bark at every flash of lightning and growl back at the constant low growl of thunder.

The storm light was very eerie, as were the huge banks of dark clouds rolling in.

How can the trees be so light when the sky is so dark and the sun is hidden by heavy clouds?  It was fascinating to watch from the shelter of the porch.

The lightning was too quick for me to catch with my camera, but I could catch the wind as it lashed the branches into a frenzy.  I could only hope the great old oak would continue to stand strong so close to our back porch.

The storms passed temporarily, and the animals came back out to graze.

Then the third wave of storms rolled in along with tremendous flashes of lightning and pouring rain.

Suddenly the rain was over, and all was quiet.  But according to the weather advisory, it's just a lull before another storm . . .