From Sunshine to Hail in One Day!

I think I'm going to stop getting excited and writing posts about warmish sunny days from now on, since it seems that every time I do, we get slammed with a nasty bout of weather the next day! Actually, it's not as if the big cool down was not expected ... in fact light rain was forecast for today and we knew the warm weather would not last, but honestly! Hail in February? I've been trying to remember if we've experienced that since we've lived here, and I can't come up with a single instance where we have gotten hail this early in the year. As storm systems go, this was quite a colorful one on radar ... stretching from South Dakota across Minnesota and down into Iowa in lovely (threatening) shades ranging from blue, magenta, red, yellow and green ... for storm afficionados, there was a little bit of everything in this system! All morning it was dreary and gray, but early this afternoon the skies turned extremely dark and downright spooky (e.g. it was a dark and stormy afternoon) and right about the time I had to dial into a weekly conference call for work, the sky really opened up and let loose with all sorts of nastiness ... first loud thunder and lightning, then torrential rain and hail, all pouring down at the same time for the next 45 minutes or so. Out the window of my "office" I could tell it was hailing, but little did I suspect what was really going on down there until my call ended ... it seemed like there was a lull in the rain, so I decided to take Hanna out in between storms ... we got as far as the back door, I opened it, she looked out at the pouring rain and came right back in. She was having none of that weather! So I went to the front of the house to get a better look and from the porch steps, this is what I saw.... (click to enlarge all photos)
Regular readers will probably recall that our particular intersection is prone to flooding during heavy rains in spring and summer, but this has to be a first for February as well ... we're used to heavy snows, but flooding? Nope. But of course, as always every year, there are those fools who think they can just charge right through our flooded intersection with no problems, something they usually find out (too late) is exactly the wrong thing to do! By the time I went out, the car in the first photo had flooded out and had been abandoned, right there in the middle of the intersection ... it was removed later but still!

Over the years people have said that I "don't suffer fools gladly (or in any other fashion)" so I felt little to no sympathy for this person who thought s/he could drive right through a good three feet or more of standing water at the bottom of a hill where it flows rapidly from both the east and west sides of the road! Back in the day when we first lived here, we used to go out to help push out drivers from the intersection, but this happens so frequently in summer that we just shake our heads now and wish them luck for being so foolish.... Everyone who lives in the neighborhood knows this flooding happens during heavy rains and avoids the intersection, as do those who actually use their good judgment when driving in the area. I know that sounds really harsh, but honestly, some people just seem to refuse the watery world of evidence in front of them and think they're invincible ... so to the hubris filled go the spoils of the car's engine, interior and who knows what else.
The preceding two shots show how far the water made it up over the curb and to the base of the steps leading up to our house ... there was really no place for it to go, since the ground is still mostly frozen (and wet from melted snow) and the storm drains are so often overwhelmed that I had a view of what usually happens in June or July during heavy rains. The big difference, as you can see, is that instead of rain, this particular lake contains not snow, but hail! Yep, what Fernymoss said looked like "pond scum" when he saw these photos is the rest of the hail that had covered the street before the flooding started. And when he got home this evening, there were still quite a few piles of hail all around the place hours later, and for all I know, they're probably still there since the temperature quickly plunged down into the 20s at sunset (as if there was any real sun today).
Here's an example of how quickly the hail piled up ... this is the primrose bed next to the front steps, and as you can see, they're valiantly trying to revive themselves after being buried until just the past few days ... they're looking pretty bedraggled, but that's actually normal, and as soon as the weather moderates, they'll likely spring right back into action. At least it's the first sign of green we've seen in this particular bed! I just hope they don't get too enthusiastic too soon though because here's the most recent forecast for tomorrow:

*Sigh*