Going Out with a Bang!

They say that the severe weather season is winding down for 2008 ... but if it is, it's not going quietly! We had a wild night with wind, torrential rain, and a quick trip to the basement when a tornado warning sent the sirens a blaring. No damage here but a local tv station had a chopper in the air just south of our home and you could see the power lines exploding as they were hit by a small tornado. Number of tornadoes in Kansas this year thus far? 172 ... No.1 in the nation! There was a pretty rainbow when the evening's storms had passed.

Sunday Storm

The weather radio was busy Sunday afternoon with severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings in the area. In the end, there wasn't any damage outside of a lot of rain, some spectacular lightning, and a photo opportunity.

Severe Weather Spring 2008

Despite all the record tornadoes in 2008 ... despite the fact that Kansas has had more tornadoes than any other state this year ... despite the fact that we live in Tornado Alley ... we have had very little severe weather here in our neck of the woods this year. There's been:

• A Hail storm
• Some strong winds and downed branches
• One trip to the basement

Kinda disappointing in a way ... but at the same time it's nice to know that we've been safe (thus far...)

1st Winter Storm

We had our first official snowfall of the Winter Season yesterday. A couple of inches of snow and then sleet and then more snow fell at our place. More winter weather is expected this weekend with possible rain, drizzle, sleet, hail and whatever else fits into December weather. And to think that I'm selling my skis I bought before I moved out here ...

Now That's Some Rain!

It started in the middle of the night and continued till around noon this morning. 12 hours and several lightning strikes later, we had received around 4" of rain! It just kept coming and coming till I thought we were going to have to look into plans for an ark.

Parched & Dry No More!

Finally! Tomorrow would have marked the one month mark of no rain in Tonganoxie. A few storms have come through during the mini-drought but they have all missed us ... but not this one! We had a doozy hit us in the middle of the night that dropped 1.40" of rain and brought Tyson flying into bed with us. Lightning storms out here will do that to ya. On an even more positive note, the computer was plugged into a surge protector/battery back-up. Whew!

The Tonganoxie Split

You may have seen a lot of weather related stories on the news as of late concerning flooding and excessive rain in the Midwest. Unfortunately, that doesn't include us. We're dry as a bone here ... even when you consider that areas around KC have been getting more rain than we have. Must be that infamous Tonganoxie Split they talk about. Legend has it that the ol' Chief Tonganoxie is buried somewhere 'round these parts and it's his spirit that keeps us safe and dry. Well ... that theory was blown away (no pun intended) when a tornado hit back in 2000. It has cooled down though ... which is nice ... but a little rain would be nice. Just not as much as what our neighbors have been getting.