Derecho

Last year's derecho occurred with Heather and I in the front yard.  We heard it coming before it even arrived.  Kind of eerie, yet cool at the same time.  The winds really picked up and it was scary enough we told the kids to stay inside (but we stayed outside to watch).  The temperature felt like it dropped 10-15 degrees in minutes and dust and leaves blew all over the place!

With the forecast predicting another derecho to occur here very early Thursday morning (it was supposed to arrive around 2:00 a.m.), we prepared the house as best we could (taking in stuff that might blow away) the night before.  We started several plants by seed this spring in pots on our deck.  Since they were doing pretty well, we thought we'd better bring them in so they didn't get damaged in the wind.  In a matter of minutes, our garden was in our kitchen.

It apparently wasn't as bad where we live.  We were on the edge of it and I think we got a lot of wind, but not the really bad stuff.  I took the plants back outside in the morning.  It may have been premature, since at 8:45 a.m. that morning, this rolled through (pictures were taken from where I work).

The winds really picked up and it rained like crazy!  Probably should have left the plants inside, but they came through OK (and got PLENTY of water).