Troubled Skies

Skies across the Thumb were troubled on Sunday afternoon as storms swept across Michigan. This view, taken on Richardson Road east of Pigeon, gives a glimpse of the cells that populated the weather maps, producing thunderstorm and tornado watches and warnings throughout much of lower Michigan.

Another image, this one looking west along the railroad that runs through downtown Pigeon, shows swirls and curves and wisps that may be beautiful, but the resultant winds are damaging. Even tonight, many in the Detroit area are without power yet.

Here's what the Weatherbug app on an IPhone was showing right about the time that these photos were taken. It's sort of a tie-dye weather pattern with many scattered cells. I've learned to respect those red and orange patches on weather maps. The cells are strongest there, with driving rain and hail sometimes.

Last year's August 1st Hailstorm

Ice Storm Album

Ice and snow swept across the landscape during the night and into the morning of December 22nd. The trees were covered with a sheet of clear ice, their branches heavy with the weight of the frozen mixture.

With temperatures hovering around freezing, the water crawled along branches until it finally froze and formed tiny icicles like little winter tongues tasting the storm.

Red berries became ornaments. Ice made paths up and down limbs. Snow fell softly by late afternoon as the storm subsided and left beauty in the woodlands of Michigan's Thumb.

Power Trucks in Howell

The Detroit Free Press reported that 678,000 Michigan homes and businesses were without power due to the damaging storm that swept across the Midwest on Sunday. When I drove down to Howell on Wednesday to visit my grandchildren, I almost did not get a hotel room for the night.

The hotel, a Holiday Inn Express on the west side of Howell along Interstate 96, has been full due to families who were still without power. Then, too, crews from the companies that were working to restore power were staying at the hotel, too.

Earlier this week there were reports that said it would take a longer time than usual to get Michigan locations back on the grid because so many crews had been called in to help in the tornado stricken areas of Indiana and Illinois. There is no doubt that the aging power grid is no match for these big storms that take out poles and lines with an increasing frequency.

The best advice that I heard this week was the reminder to always report your own outage. Just because your neighborhood is out doesn't mean that someone has called to report the outage. Each homeowner should make a call and report the power loss. That's kind of counter to the neighborhood understandings of twenty years ago, but it is good advice to remember as these storms pop up more frequently.

Collateral Damage, Vegetable Style

One very large hailstone found the only cucumber in my entire garden and hit it with the force of a meteorite. That hailstone, part of Thursday night's storm, had to know that the cuke was an only child and malevolently, like a drone hit, destroyed the essence of the veggie.

The dill took a good whack, too. And this tomato joined the ranks of damaged goods when all the water (2.7 inches since Wednesday) swelled its little acid cells until the skin burst.

My, my, such drama in the garden.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

August Hailstorm

A summer hailstorm struck at Cedar Bluff this evening. It started out as a sudden shower with those big drops that splat one by one. I had just finished mowing the lawn, poured a glass of wine, and was sitting on the lakeside of the house, watching the clouds form over Lake Huron.

The hail started soon after I moved into the house. First there was a little and the stones were small, maybe a quarter inch. I could hear them hit the windows and the roof. Then the hail started in earnest.

Big chunks of hail fell with heavy rain. The hail continued for 5-7 minutes. I scurried around the house, closing windows, wiping windowsills. It sounded like stones hitting the house. I stayed away from the windows, just in case one would break from the force of the hail and wind.

The storm had not been forecast on the Intellicast or Weather Channel apps that I watch. Here's a photo of the storm, out over Lake Huron, at 7:30 pm. My photos of the storm were taken around 6:51 pm. It's that dark red spot that carries the intensity of the storm and, believe me, I will respect these maps whenever I see them from now on.

The red beets in the garden really took a beating. They survived a battering by a windstorm about three weeks ago. I'm hoping that the plants will pop back from this bruising.

The butternut squash plants might not make it. The leaves are shredded and the blossoms appear to be broken. The plants had begun to set fruit, so there could be some baby squash that were protected that might make it.

This is a tougher image to see. These are dry beans in a field on Premier Road, about two miles in from the shoreline. The hail stripped leaves from the plants which should be just about ready to blossom by this time of the summer.

Hail is created when moisture rises and falls and rises again. That pattern, repeated over and over, is shown in this large hailstone with its fossil-like ice ring pattern.

My miniature roses got hit pretty bad. But plants are tough cookies, especially roses. Maybe the hail will have given them the pruning that I should have done as a gardener.

I have one last thought. I don't have to depend on my garden for food. I can go to the grocery store and farmer's markets. But just think what it was like during the Dust Bowl days or back when gardens were the main source of summer food. Or even now, for families that need the food that only a summer garden can produce.

A hailstorm like the one that just hit this side of The Thumb would be major disaster for many. In a few minutes, so many things can be destroyed. It's a humbling thought.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Saturday Storms

 

On the way to the Loons game in Midland on Saturday we encountered at least four cloudbursts. Here's what the corner of Bay City-Forestville Road and M-19 looked like around 5 pm.

The Loons won the baseball game on a cold summer night in mid Michigan.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Summer Storms in Windmill Country

Summer storms in windmill country have been dramatic today. A cold front swept across Huron County in mid afternoon. Between Elkton and Pigeon, the storm rose dramatically in swirls of clouds and sweeps of rain.

Thunderhead after towering thunderhead crossed Saginaw Bay, then marched east, headed toward the Verona hills and Lake Huron. Around 6 pm, my camera captured this image of the turbines and one huge cloud just north and east of Laker High School.

Along the Lake Huron coastline, violent winds tore down tree branches. My garden was hit hard. The red beets look like they were stepped over by the winds. The foliage on the tomatoes appears shredded, almost like it was hit by hail.

After days of hot and humid weather, the summer storms have arrived.

Copyright 2013

Wanda Hayes Eichler

Big Thunderhead

A huge thunderhead towered over the Cooperative Elevator's eight story tall towers this afternoon. I followed this cloud across the county as I headed east from Pigeon to Harbor Beach. By Bad Axe the skies had thickened. By Verona, there was rain and by the time I turned south off of M-142 at the Parisville Road corner, the skies were blue again.

The white two story building at the far left is Main Street Cafe and Bakery, home of the best homemade potato chips ever. The brown one story building is the Pigeon Village Hall and also houses Winsor Township's offices.

Here's the same cloud with a wind turbine in the photo. I like the contrasts -- strong, definitive tower lines, graceful arc of the blades, and the puff of the storm clouds. This photo was taken along Richardson Road, between Pigeon and Elkton.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Dramatic Rains

Storm clouds over White Rock Shoal -- 10August2012

Our part of Michigan has been swept by dramatic rainstorms for the past two days. This image, taken at 6:49 pm last night shows the intensity of the cloud cover that continuously pounded the Thumb with rains, some so blinding that you almost had to pull over when driving.

The rain let up during the night on Friday. At dinner on Friday night, friends were telling us that they heard that the Bay City area received up to seven inches of rain. One Facebook friend reported flooded basements. At Graywood Farm, south of Pigeon, our rain gauge showed two inches. Here at Cedar Bluff, the gauge measured 1.4 inches since Thursday.

From extreme heat and dry weather to dramatic rains, the weather is setting records this summer.

Copyright 2012
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Draggin' Daylilies

Last night's long and tempestuous storm took the starch out of the daylilies. They are dragging their heads and dripping today.

The storm started around midnight at Cedar Bluff and went on for a good hour. Lightning cracked and flashed minute by minute. Rumbles of thunder came close, then crashed in the distance. Rain pounded down, but there was no hail.

The rain gauge shows a paltry half inch. For all the sound and fury, one would expect an inch or more. With drought condition, every drop is precious.

Copyright 2012

Wanda Hayes Eichler



June 11th Storm Update

We continue to have thunderstorms come across the Thumb. One hit Bad Axe around 7 pm last night with fury. Lots of wind and pelting rain.

The Sunday storms took out the power at our farm and we're still without electricity there. Ed has called Detroit Edison several times a day and has been told to expect service some time on Friday. Meantime, I'm functioning out of the lakehouse south of Harbor Beach where I can see another storm gathering in the west again this morning.

Most food in the frig and freezer is lost. That's about all. We're lucky to have a second home to use. I had intended to work at my Pigeon office this week, but have nine month old grandson Griffin Henry Clark here with me at the lake. Finny's mom and dad are on vacation. Finn's brother Max is in Bad Axe with Grandpa Don and Grandma joni. So, all the Huron County grandparents are "on duty" this week.

Finny was going to stay at the farmhouse with Ed and me. Not so! We'll have to be lake people this week.

June 6th Evening Storm

Storms came thru theThumb tonite. We were lucky. There was no significant damage. This storm was a part of a long, sweeping front that spread out across the Midwest.

Looking west northwest along the driveway to Cedar Bluff, here's the front as it approached the east side of the Thumb and was about to pull out across Lake Huron. This storm carried dust in front of it and you can see the thick dustiness along the horizon line in this photo.