Monday, July 4, 2011

Lightning and thunder and hail, oh my!

Minnesota weather is nothing if not extreme.  And Minnesotans honor their climate by talking about the weather.  Incessantly.

Working with the public I've learned that weather is the best universal chat fodder in these parts - everyone is guaranteed to have something to say about it.  It's a prerequisite to Minnesota Nice.  Fer sure.  And it's one of those little things that's grown on me about this state.  In fact, it's rather endearing.

So, in the Minnesotan spirit I plan on sharing some weather observations with you from time to time.

Let's begin with a video.  This storm hit us on 7/1/2011.  I filmed it as the hail was just beginning - later we got some golfball sized ones that wreaked havoc on the garden.

Despite our small bit of damage we were quite lucky.  We received 15+ minutes of intense hail instead of the damaging winds.  Trees were uprooted and power lines were down in other nearby areas.  Some places are still without power.

Mother nature has a nice way of putting things in perspective.