Mother Nature Pays a Visit

What a wild day of weather yesterday was. The day started out absolutely gorgeous. Blue sky and not a cloud to be seen. This was a warm welcome to the less than stellar weather we have had in Minnesota. Spring has made brief appearances but has basically made itself scarce. Of course the sunny skies motivated us to get our flowers for the outside purchased and planted so it was off to Lowe's we went. We had so many flowers to get between the window boxes, the planters, the sidewalk edging and the hanging baskets for the shed. Needless to say we spent longer shopping than planned and by the time we were done everyone was starving. After a quick lunch it was home to plant.

Because Bill and I are the treasurers for Ryan's Scout den, we had a meeting set up for 4:00 to meet with another pack officer to go over "official business." We had a few things to do to get ready for the meeting ad before we knew it 4:00 was here and no flowers were planted. We got done meeting around 5:30 and had noticed the weather seemed to have taken a dramatic turn. A quick peek at the weather/radar and we knew things didn't look good for us.

After a tornado touchdown (that left a 2-year old boy dead and his sister in critical condition) in Hugo, a suburb East of us, last Sunday I think our nerves are all a little frazzled and we are on high alert for severe weather. We quickly called Anna home from playing outside and started watching the sky and the TV simultaneously. I honestly have to say that between the sirens going off, the rumbling sky and the churning clouds the feeling in the air was ominous. We sent the kids to the basement and Bill and I went back and forth between the TV and the deck watching the storm approach. It literally was roaring down Interstate 94 right in our direction. It got to a point where the weather forecasters were saying which highway overpass it was now at. When it got to Weaver Lake Road (one exit north of our exit) on Highway 494 I started to get nervous. Reports were saying golf ball size hail. Yikes!

By now I was racing around closing windows. The TV reported the storm was now to the Bass Lake Road exit (we live right off this road) and I was telling Bill to get inside. I ran to the front door to close it and just froze in my tracks. The sound I heard was one I never have - a roar headed straight for us. It was the hail making it way to our neighborhood because only seconds later the sky opened up and the hail came down. I yelled to Bill to ask him if he heard the roar and he did too. I commented how loud it was but what must a tornado sound like when approaching? I hope I never find out. Bill and I couldn't believe the hail - it was bigger than either of us has ever seen. The kids couldn't believe how loud it was in the basement.

In 5-10 minutes it was over and all that was left was a HUGE mess. Hail everywhere and leaves littering everything. The neighborhood looked so pretty only minutes before that. Now all we have all over is leaves. I can't imagine the mess where debris from homes, etc. is blown around as well. We collected hail and saved it in our freezer and also took lots of pictures. We will have to have our roof looked at just to make sure it wasn't damaged. Because we don't have aluminum or vinyl siding our house isn't full of dents but I can't say our neighbors in the area fared as well. It served as a reminder of why we must respect Mother Nature.


Close up of hail on the deck.


Hail on the deck and around Anna's Playhouse.


Hail in the yard & by play structure.


Hail on the deck by the pool.


Some of the hail collected from our yard.


Close up of hail.


Close up of hail.