Oh, What a Night!

Last night was WILD around here. So much so that I thought those rapture folks might have just been a few weeks early in their predictions! At work I had heard there might be a chance for a little rain and I was praying for a 30 degree drop in temperature and a nice gentle rain. It was almost 100 degrees (again) after work so I picked Emi up and told her we were going to the grocery store. When we pulled into the grocery store parking lot I parked at the sno cone place where we met Daddy, David and Aubri. We successfully surprised them with a cold treat before dinner.

Eskimo Snos

Afterwards we went home to prepare dinner and do some light yard work. We let the chickens out of their pen to wander around and while we were eating dinner the wind picked up outside. I let the dogs in because it was starting to sprinkle. Before too long the wind picked up so I checked with friends on FaceBook to see what was up with the weather. Some friends on the NE side of town posted about piles of hail and extreme wind and that's when it really picked up in central Norman. The winds gusted to 70-85 mph and it started raining hard and hailing like I've never seen it hail before! For something like 30 minutes it hailed pea to golf ball sized hail in my neighborhood and according to our rain gauge, we had 1.5 inches of rain. I can't imagine being trapped in my car during this storm but I had several friends who experienced just that because the storm came so suddenly.

We were worried about the chickens because instead of going into their house, they stayed under a pine tree for the duration of the storm. The hail was pounding down sideways and we were certain that our bird brained pets were not going to survive. After the hail subsided, Scott went out and rescued the chickens. While outside he said he felt like he was in a tornado. [Today we found out that we experienced microbursts with winds up to 90 mph]

The yards were covered in fallen branches and shredded magnolia leaves, pecan branches and ice pellets. There was steam coming up from the ground and the pool and the water in the pool was moving hypnotically back and forth long after the hail storm ended. It felt creepily like we were in a Stephen King movie.

It was strange to walk around and step into the freezing cold puddles when it was sweltering earlier.

My garden was hammered pretty good so I am not sure if we'll get watermelon, but if I'm being honest, I was not too sure we'd get watermelon before any hailstorm. I think my herbs will be okay and all my animals were accounted for. The creek swelled up about 1/3 of the way up the alley (which is why we can't use the detached garage located on the creek).

Many people on the NE and Central part of town were without power and some places in NE Norman looked like a war zone. We feel lucky that our damage was minimal.

Oklahoma Sky in the Spring (almost Summer)