Thursday, July 10, 2008

mn afternoon storm chat

Hail as the storm begins
Excerpt of a chat conversation between me and a friend who was working at the other end of town. Obviously my spelling/grammar goes down the tubes when on IM with a good friend.

There's a short video of the storm we're discussing on my flickr page.


( Edit: Here's a local news channel's report on this storm. )



[ ] indicates text changed later for clarity/name removal.



Me: you there? 12:20:30 PM
Friend: yeppers 12:22:00 PM
Me: where'd this thunderstorm come from? 12:22:17 PM
Friend: thers a storm? 12:22:23 PM
Me: it was beautiful when I left[*]. Not a cloud in the sky. 12:22:33 PM

Now lightning and small red squirrels fleeign for cover 12:22:46 PM
Friend: fun! 12:22:52 PM
Me: hey... that sounds like hail 12:27:36 PM

peekign outside 12:27:42 PM

oh yeah, that's hail alright 12:27:58 PM

blocks of ice falling from the sky in loud fashion 12:28:12 PM

in big chunks 12:28:29 PM

ok, hail stopped. raining now 12:31:46 PM

not so big. lima bean sized 12:32:03 PM
Friend: uh oh 12:32:15 PM

on its way? 12:32:25 PM
Me: only did it for about 2 mins 12:32:28 PM
Friend: ok 12:32:32 PM
Me: lemme look at the radar 12:32:32 PM

raining hard now 12:32:38 PM
Friend: rain good - hail - not so much 12:33:02 PM

unless it takes the roof off my house 12:33:10 PM

hahahahaha 12:33:11 PM
Me: take a bit more than this for that 12:33:30 PM

sirens going off 12:34:09 PM

Yeah, WCCO shows it moving your way
link
12:34:35 PM
Friend: not good 12:34:59 PM

maybe it will head more south 12:35:06 PM
Me: you don't want that. 12:35:15 PM

the bigger part is north of us 12:35:20 PM
Friend: ooo 12:35:23 PM
Me: only a little bit is this far south 12:35:29 PM

course, only the red bits are over us 12:35:44 PM
Friend: its dark and stormy looking outside 12:35:58 PM
Me: cats no likey the sirens 12:36:17 PM
Friend: I bet not 12:36:40 PM
Me: and unless it breaks up, it's definitely coming your way. Hail might not go with it though? 12:36:49 PM
Friend: in bloomington the red parts are north and south of us 12:37:20 PM

which is good 12:37:22 PM

heading right ot the airport tho 12:37:42 PM
Me: yuck 12:38:00 PM

it's moving fast. shouldn't delay much I'd assume 12:38:11 PM
Friend: no 12:38:16 PM
Me: and your hastas should be ok. wasn't a lot of hail 12:38:24 PM
Friend: yea 12:38:31 PM
Me: and peppers, and cukes... and tommytoes 12:38:44 PM

you got tommytoes? 12:38:50 PM
Friend: lots of tommy toes 12:38:56 PM
Me: oooooooOOOOoooOOOoooo 12:39:01 PM

can I has one? 12:39:03 PM
Friend: if they survive the hails 12:39:13 PM
Me: shoo hail! 12:39:21 PM
Me: hmmm rain's gone. sky's a weird sea-green-blue tho 12:39:44 PM
Friend: thats not good either 12:39:53 PM
Me: not green green... 12:40:04 PM
Friend: green usually means bad 12:40:06 PM
Me: or yellow green 12:40:09 PM

more robin's egg but not right for sky behind clouds 12:40:21 PM
Friend: maybe the after hail look 12:40:36 PM
Me: could be 12:40:41 PM

I'm not really well versed in rain/hail skys 12:40:56 PM

California girl 12:41:01 PM
Friend: basic rule is green is bad 12:41:12 PM
Me: we got some sleet now and hten 12:41:14 PM
Friend: get out of the outside 12:41:18 PM
Me: whew. got that one covered 12:41:27 PM
Friend: in [South Dakota] the other thing was no wind meant take cover 12:41:37 PM

only got still before twisters came 12:41:45 PM
Me: ahhh 12:41:47 PM

of course. they screwed up the weather patterns 12:41:57 PM
Friend: yea 12:42:02 PM

I still get nervous when I realize there is no wind 12:42:12 PM
Me: NOAA says Chance of precipitation is 60% 12:42:13 PM
Friend: Id say maybe closer to 100 12:42:24 PM
Me: ooo it's dark dark dark now 12:42:34 PM
Friend: round 2 12:42:42 PM
Me: like after sunset dark 12:42:46 PM

not nighttime dark 12:42:55 PM
Friend: like the street lights just came on dark? 12:42:57 PM
Me: but late dusk 12:43:00 PM

lemme check 12:43:05 PM

yup they're on 12:43:21 PM
Friend: keep an eye on things 12:43:29 PM

you in a basement? 12:43:36 PM
Me: curtains are open. near basement 12:43:41 PM
Friend: good 12:43:44 PM
Me: watching sky from the couch 12:43:55 PM
Friend: good 12:43:59 PM

make sure you can gather the kids [feline variety] in a hurry if you need to 12:44:12 PM

you should be ok 12:44:18 PM

but never a bad idea to be ready 12:44:25 PM
Me: NOAA not reporting any rotation 12:44:35 PM

just hail 12:44:37 PM

and "DESTRUCTIVE WINDS IN EXCESS OF 70 MPH" 12:44:56 PM

buckets of rain falling now 12:45:19 PM

visibility just decreased significantly 12:45:39 PM

going to take a photo out the door. brb 12:45:45 PM

Afternoon Summer Rainstorm
A shot of the storm, taken from my front door.


Me: wind blowing rain sideways across roofs 12:48:22 PM

lightning 12:48:28 PM

sky is really dark now 12:48:36 PM

some hail again, not much 12:48:46 PM

lightning and much greener sky 12:49:07 PM

kind of ugly green gray 12:49:26 PM
Friend: let me peek here 12:49:39 PM
Me: NOAA says: DOPPLER RADAR HAS INDICATED SOME WEAK ROTATION WITHIN THIS STORM. 12:50:17 PM

laptop is on battery power now since the storm is so close. rather not have it plugged in just now 12:50:51 PM
Friend: yea 12:51:33 PM

good idea 12:51:35 PM

[My relatives] had a pc get fried that way 12:51:51 PM

even thru a surge protector 12:51:58 PM

but then their house got hit by lightening 12:52:08 PM

so not much a surge protector is going to do about that 12:52:22 PM

[they] said it was about midnite and all of their lights came on 12:52:41 PM

scary then 12:52:49 PM

pretty funny now 12:52:52 PM
Me: yup 12:53:06 PM

our puters and TV (and off atm) are on full fledged UPS boxes, but the laptop not so much. 12:53:39 PM

Ugly green sky... yellowy now. 12:54:04 PM

Rain in sheets. Lightning near on top of us. And the cat tried to sneak out while I took a few photos out the door. 12:54:32 PM
Friend: hahaha 12:54:43 PM
Me: She wouldn't have wanted to be out there long I spect 12:54:49 PM
Friend: nah 12:54:55 PM
Me: Oh wow 12:54:56 PM
Friend: she would be al "why did you let me go here?" 12:55:09 PM
Me: nearly done passing over by the look of the radar images on WCCO 12:56:27 PM
Friend: i see that 12:57:40 PM
Me: and it's getting a bit lighter, though not less stormy 12:57:43 PM
Friend: heading here now 12:57:43 PM

i think the city takes some of the stuffin out of it 12:58:06 PM
Me: worst winds look like they've passed. 12:58:08 PM

it's amazing how fast the color of the sky changes 12:58:36 PM

it was a yucky green just a few mins ago, now back to more gray than green 12:59:08 PM

I should break for a commercial or something... I feel like a sports commentator 12:59:35 PM
Friend: [my husband] is on the phone 1:04:56 PM

he can hear the branches breaking 1:05:10 PM
Me: ugh 1:05:12 PM
Friend: its a mess there 1:05:24 PM

our tommy toes are in bad shape 1:05:40 PM
Me: calling [my Mister] to tell him to stay inside when it goes over. 1:05:44 PM
Friend: and its still in full swing there 1:05:46 PM
Me: oooo no! 1:07:09 PM
Friend: [my husband] said theres about a foot of water in the street 1:07:39 PM

was watching a idiot try to drive through it 1:07:52 PM

south of me yet 1:08:07 PM
Me: Oooo poor tomatoes 1:08:07 PM
Friend: yea 1:08:10 PM

we have them tied up 1:08:14 PM

but its reall windy 1:08:19 PM
Me: Ok, sky is a normal rain-gray now 1:08:24 PM
Friend: good 1:08:30 PM
Me: thunder outside is that constant rolling sound that sounds like a plane flying overhead 1:08:42 PM
Friend: im glad that [my husband] is home with [my son] 1:08:51 PM
Me: yup 1:08:55 PM
Friend: it sounds very scary now 1:08:56 PM
Me: Sirens are going off at [my Mister]'s office now 1:09:09 PM

I'm glad even Minnesotans aren't totally unphased by this stuff 1:09:36 PM

not like an office full of San Diegans in a mild earthquake. 1:10:02 PM

Who all look around for a minute... say... was that a quake? and then go back to business unless there are non-locals in teh room who need comforting 1:10:35 PM

(while I sneaked off to check in with the USGS website and fill in teh survey on their Did You Feel It page) 1:11:11 PM
Friend: yea - but we loves our weather here 1:11:51 PM
Me: yeah 1:11:57 PM

you folks with your weather guys in the mornings comparing notes on which of the twin cities has the coldest windchill that morning. 1:12:27 PM

Oooo St. Paul gets the trophy today at -27F 1:12:47 PM
Friend: haha 1:12:56 PM
Me: winter is fun around here 1:12:57 PM
Friend: when it hit 60 below in Embarras 1:13:05 PM

there was a lot of folks who were ticked that it broke the previous record - where ever that was 1:13:28 PM
Me: I love watching the locals in short sleeves at 12° F 1:13:29 PM
Friend: yea 1:13:34 PM

I have a 60 below mug from when that cold snap hit 1:13:54 PM
Me: woot 1:13:59 PM

Ok, storm's officially blown over. Sky is almost starting to look blue again through the gray 1:14:56 PM



Me: sunny now. go figure. teh deck is even dry now since it's not real wood. 2:12:19 PM
Friend: [my husband] said the power is out all over bloomington

they went to savage to find lunch 2:30:00 PM
Me: the chipmunks are ferrying seeds back and forth from the neighbor's bird feeder. all must be well out there now. 2:43:20 PM

* when I left the house for a doc appointment at 9:30.



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