Rough Weather

  As I was driving home this evening I noticed a lot of cars coming at me with their lights on.  In Florida, if your wipers are going, you're supposed to have your headlights on.  Most people forget to turn their lights off until they turn off their cars.

  I scanned the horizon for a dark curtain of rain below the clouds, but instead noticed that one tall thunderhead was draped in a gauzy white, sunlit curtain of rain falling from its highest reach.  Ah, there is it.  Someone is getting a sun shower…  Nice.

  By the time I got home, the edge of that curtain of rain was dripping lightly, but steadily, on the house.  

  Then the fun began….

  When the thunderhead producing the rain was met by a gust front moving up from the south, it began to pour heavily.  Edward and I had started grilling chicken for dinner as the rain increased.  Our grill is on the porch, thankfully undercover, so the grill was dry.  As the rain picked up it started to slant to the south.   I turned to Edward, and gestured in the direction of the rain.  But when I turned back, the rain was no longer slanting to the south.  Literally, in a matter of seconds, the rain had shifted from slanting to the south, to slanting to the north. I blinked, Edward said "oh shit".  He'd seen this before, in April 2010.   

  The wind was picking up more and now the rain, which had initially been blowing the other way, was blowing onto the porch and onto the grill, which steamed as the rain now falling on it evaporated.  The trees and plants in the ditch swayed ominously.   

  In April of 2010, a front moved down from the northwest, with heavy rains and strong winds.  As the front made landfall we got a tornado warning.  Radar indicated tornadic activity offshore of Largo, moving east.  Toward the house.  I tried to call Edward from work, but what I didn't know was that lightening had struck the streetlight outside the house 15 minutes earlier.  Our phone line was fried and the power was out.  Edward, with nothing else to do, stood watching it rain out the back window.  First to the north, then to the south then from the east.  All in less than a minute.  Then the tree branches started falling.  A tornado had passed approximately a half mile north of the house.  The rapidly shifting winds were the only indicator Edward had as to what was going on.   

  Tonight, as Edward watched the shifting winds, I got out the computer.  The National Weather Service monitors storm clouds with doppler radar, generating a map called the radial velocity.  Clouds approaching the radar are colored red, while those moving away are colored green.   Usually, between the bright red and green areas, there are fainters colors.  When you see two bright opposing colors side-by-side that usually means bad things.  Tonight, that spot was right over us.   Strangely, there were no tornado warnings, not even a severe thunderstorm warning, only urban flood warnings.  That fit as 20 minutes after it started we had 1.25 inches of rain in our gauge.

  By the time the chicken had finished, the winds had shifted to the north again, and calmed down significantly.  The grill was no longer getting rained on.  The areas of red and green on the radial velocity map had started to separate and moved north and offshore.  It was still raining, but things were much quieter.  

  We finished dinner in peace and continued on with the rest of our evening.  I'm still surprised that not even a severe thunderstorm warning had been issued.  That's the problem with knowing how to read those maps.  They can scare scare the shit out of you.  But mostly, I'm glad there was no damage.  A small branch came down in the back yard, nothing of any significance.  I'll pick it up in the morning when I walk the yard before work.  In the meantime, both of us can't help but wonder about this year's weather.  It seems like this area has seen more then its fair share of tornados and waterspouts.  And we're not done yet.  Hurricane season has begun to stretch it's legs as we approach the peak of the season next week.  Only time will tell if we are in for more rough weather.