Showing posts with label Storm. Show all posts

The Storm

The other day it was a hot 104 degree afternoon with some clouds. I could see some dark clouds from my 3rd floor window. It was time for me to get off work so I logged out and headed home. My phone sent me an alert to let me know there were possible thunderstorms in my area. Thats a normal broadcast this time of year so I just looked a the sky and shrugged my shoulders. “It might rain later” I said to myself. 

On the way home, my husband ended up behind me as he got off work at the same time. Though he came from another direction, the time distance to our work is the same. 

We were only about a mile from the house when all of a sudden a heavy rain started pouring. It was hard to see. Then the wind got up strong and the rain began to swirl. Once we were in the neighbor hood, The wind and rain was so hard I could not see in front of me. Then the hail came down. We were almost home, we were only 4 houses away from ours. I could not see anything at this point. It was just white. I could hear leaves and limbs slapping my car as I just held the steering wheel tight and winged it to the house not knowing what was in front of me. We both pulled into the car port safely and just looked at each other. “Where did that come from?” I was thinking we needed to take cover but it seem to be dying down a little. The hail was only pea size but it looked like we had snow. 

As soon as we walked into the house at 5:30, the power cut off, the wind and rain stopped and the world was still. We walked outside to see if we could see anything. Our street was covered in leaves in limbs like a blanket. The other neighbors started coming outside and we all gathered in the street to talk about what just happened. It was a twister that came through. 

Neighbors from the street over came walking down to let us know there were several trees down on that side and they saw the twister come down the road from their window. It was crazy. Me and Nick knew then that we were actually driving through a tornado. We were lucky to have no damage.

The main road up from our house was blocked off as well as other streets. Trees were toppled and power lines were down. We were without power for 10 hours. It finally came on early that next morning. Our food in the fridge was still cold and nothing seemed ruined. People were panicking because of the power being out. I found it to be quit nice. I enjoyed the conversations with neighbors and sitting outside until late. I loved the candlelight dinner and shower, No TV and open windows. We left the windows open and went to bed. It was very dark and we could hear the frogs and cricket chirping. I loved the feeling of being in the wilderness. With the roads blocked off we did not hear the usual sound of cars rushing by. It was nice. 

Below are just a few pictures I took. I wanted to save my camera battery at the time. 





I believe God allows the big storms to come sometimes to clean up nature and to give people time to stop and be still. He is with us in the storm as well as in the light of day. 


A Toad and a Storm

Nick went out for a walk and I decided to stay in and clean the camper a little. Well, really, I simply did not feel like putting on shoes. We hung around the camper the rest of the morning and headed out to the ocean after lunch. We decided not to take the umbrella and use our old chairs today. We could see a storm brewing in the distance and it would be easier to make a run for it if we had too. Our camper is sitting about 100 feet from the beach.

We grabbed our old chairs that had been sitting out all night and our beach bag and headed out. 
Once we got to the spot on the sand that we wanted to spend the day, we flung open our chairs and plopped them down. When I opened my chair, a big toad fell out. He looked up at me with a grumpy look on his face. I just messed up his day. 


I grabbed the little fella and took him back over the dunes to a grassy area and let him go. The anxiety of carrying a toad was high as I have not touched a toad since I was probably nine years old. Eeeek. But I knew he would not survive sitting out with us all day in the baking sun. 

As we sat on the beach we enjoyed watching the rain bands sweep across the ocean in the distance. It looked near but in reality it was miles away. People were still enjoying the water and bathing in the sun. 


The skies got darker and we could actually see the storm in the distance as the sun was still bright on the coast. It was beautiful and I love storms.


It was nice sitting on mother natures porch watching the storms pass by.  
It has rained all around us all week but never came to where we are. 

It has been so nice here that we have decided to extend or stay a couple more days. 



Saharan Dust Cloud

Have you heard about the Saharan dust cloud that will be moving across the states? Dust from the Sahara Desert came through the US Gulf Coast and traveled across the Atlantic Ocean.

This happens every year but 2020 is said to be the largest. Some have even named it the Godzilla Dust Cloud. 

On our way home from dinner this past weekend, I noticed it has reached us here in North Carolina. We could see the heavy haze mask the mountain that is normally a beautiful scenery. It is only about 4 miles from here. There were no rain clouds in the sky, it was actually a clear day except for the cloud of dust.  


The cloud is harmless but could cause problems with allergy sufferers or those that have other health issues. This could also effect those suffering from the Covid virus. I also just read that it could make some people have the same feeling of symptoms related to Covid. 

Does anyone else feel like we are in a game, wondering whats in the next level?

Despite the blanket of dust, there are some optical effects. The sunsets are said to be more vivid because of the scattered dust practicals. I’m not to sure about this as the photo I took was when the sunset should have been noticeable. Maybe it will happen after the dust begins to settle in a couple days. 

Are you seeing effects of the Saharan Dust Cloud in your area?