Friday, June 10, 2005, 17:02
Deafening
The other night, following storms that resulted in more than 2 inches of rain in less than 24 hours, Randy and I and the dogs went for a walk in the evening. As we got closer to the marsh a half mile away we could hear them.
"Hey!" Randy said. "The spring peepers are out again."
And sure enough, the frogs that we can hear singing earlier the spring were at it again. The rain had filled the marsh with enough water for the frogs to congregate.
"Listen to that," Randy said, as we stopped on the road by the spot where the frogs were peeping.
Except that "peeping" seems like much too mild a word. The frogs were in the marsh, 20 feet away, but they were so loud, I had difficulty facing the marsh. The sound actually hurt my ears. It felt like hundreds of tiny drills trying to bore their way through my eardrums.
"That hurts my ears," I said.
"I know, mine, too," Randy replied.
We stood there listening to the spring peepers for maybe a minute, and then we had to move away to give our ears a rest.
"I wonder how many hundreds of them are in there?" Randy said. "They must be sitting shoulder to shoulder."
I've read that spring peepers are a good indication of how healthy the environment is -- that their presence indicates a lack of pollutants. If that's the case, then the marsh is extremely healthy , and so is the surrounding countryside. The marsh sits in a shallow valley, and if there were pollutants in the surrounding fields, the pollutants would drain into the marsh.
I still can't quite get over it, though. Who would think that something which can fit in the palm of your hand could make such a deafening, shrill noise?
LeAnn R. Ralph
Wednesday, June 08, 2005, 14:05
Tornado Warning!
I am always amazed by the advancements that have been made in weather technology and the ability to predict thunderstorms.
Consider Tuesday afternoon as an example. A little after 5 p.m., I was in my office, working on the computer when I heard thunder rumbling. The sky that I could see from the window did not look especially stormy, but the thunder kept rumbling and rumbling, so after a while, I decided I had better go outside to get a better look.
The sky to the north was dark and stormy. Earlier when I was in town, I had heard tornado warnings on the radio for a county northwest of here and assumed that what I was seeing was the tail end of that storm.
I went back to my office. The thunder grew louder and the rumbles more frequent, so at 5:30 I turned on the television. And there, in tiny letters at the bottom of the screen, it said "Tornado Warning for the following counties: Dunn."
Dunn? But I live in Dunn County!
And *where* in Dunn County?
I rummaged around in the cupboard, found the weather radio and turned it on.
"At 5:10 p.m., trained weather spotters reported a funnel cloud northeast of Wheeler headed east at 10 miles per hour. At 5:20 p.m., a tornado warning was issued for Dunn County," said the computer-generated voice on the weather radio.
Tornado warning? Northeast of Wheeler? Headed east?
I *live* east/northeast of Wheeler!
Thunder and lightning were coming more frequently now, so I unplugged the television and disconnected the t.v. antenna. Over the years, we have lost three televisions to lightning strikes. The sky was very dark, and it was dark in the house, so I turned on some lights.
"People living in the affected tornado warning area should seek shelter in an interior room or in the basement," said the voice on the weather radio.
Good idea.
I gathered up my kitty cats, tossed them in the bathroom and shut the door. The bathroom is an interior room, although I did not want to stay in the bathroom myself because there's no window and I wouldn't be able to keep an eye on the storm.
I paced around the house, from window to window, watching the sky grow darker still. Then the torrential rain began. And the hail.
It had been hailing and pouring rain for 10 minutes when I heard another sound.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! went the weather radio.
I hurried into the kitchen.
"The threat of a tornado has lessened, but a severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for northern Dunn County. This storm has the potential for heavy rain and hail," said the weather radio.
Hmmmm. . .the *potential* for heavy rain and hail? As far as I could tell, it was beyond the "potential" stage right now.
In another 10 minutes, the rain and hail let up.
Just when I thought the storm was over, a while later, out of the bedroom window, I could see a dark blue haze extending from the clouds down to the ground. And the haze was headed in my direction.
"Oh, oh," I said.
In a few minutes, hail and torrential rain were pounding the roof once again. I watched hailstones as big around as quarters bouncing off the windows and bouncing off the driveway. I watched the hail and the rain for the next 10 minutes.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! went the weather radio.
I hurried into the kitchen.
"Another severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for northern Dunn County. This storm has the potential for more heavy rain and hail," said the weather radio.
Hmmmm. . .the *potential* for *more* heavy rain and hail?
If the roaring of the rain on the roof and the pinging sounds of the hail, and the lightning strikes close by accompanied by the simultaneous crash of thunder that made me wince were any indication, we were once again beyond the potential stage.
During the time it was storming, this happened on at least three occasions, that the storm intensified and then 10 minutes later, the weather radio sounded a warning. I am hoping that people who live east of here were able to take better advantage of the warnings.
By the time my husband came home from work at 6:30 p.m., the storms were almost over. All together, it had rained an inch and a quarter.
The weather forecast is predicting more storms today, and in fact, it was already raining and storming this morning.
If I am lucky, the storms will intensify farther west of here so that by the time weather warnings are issued, it will really be a warning, instead of coming "after the fact."
LeAnn R. Ralph