Batten Down the Hatches!

We had an unusually rainy June here in Alberta, and the result is that whenever we get a warm, sunny day, so much moisture is drawn up that afternoon thunderstorms form in the foothills, and then travel eastward over the plains.  Last night was business as usual, except that there were two extremely volatile cells.  We were under tornado warning for about an hour.

We could watch the storm approaching, looking quite ominous.  I also kept track of it on the government website radar.  It looked as if this storm cell would pass by us a few miles to the north, if it kept on tracking as it had been.

We switched from watching it out front to watching it from behind the house, the north side.  The atmosphere was very quiet--no winds, no noise from the storm UNTIL it came close enough for us to hear the growls and percussion of thunder.  Then the wind that rushes just ahead of the storm hit.  We took cover in the basement.

About 20 minutes later it seemed to be lessening, and we went to check.  Yes, it had moved off to the northeast.

Another cell that had blasted Calgary earlier was also tracking east, but about 50 kilometres south of us.  We were relieved to be spared damage, but felt very sorry for anyone whose crops and flowerbeds were damaged.  It seemed to hit particularly hard where last Sunday's heavy storm had dumped hail that flattened crops.

By the time we went to bed all seemed calm, but Jim woke up around 11:30 and there was lightning and thunder all around again.  I didn't hear it, and he stopped short of waking me up to go downstairs again.  But he said the light and sound show continued until about 1 a.m.  I'm glad I slept through it.

We had company last week, from Wednesday to this past Wednesday, Jim's nephew and his wife.  They used our place as a base and did some exploring from here.  All that cooking and cleaning tired me out, so I'm taking a few days off to read and relax.  Next Monday Dear Son #2 and his family arrive for a visit, so there will be lots to do then.