The Summer of 2018 was, as they say, nuthin’ special … and sadly, Fall looks like it will follow in its footsteps.
Rain, rain go away, come again another day!
We have five more days before we close out this month and we have broken another couple of weather records – this time it was for rainfall.
Yesterday, at Metro Airport, (which is where weather statistics are measured for our city), we received 2.51 inches of rain, which shattered the old record of 1.40 inches on this day back in 1986. On September 20th , we also had a record rainfall of 1.53 inches in one day. Maybe building an ark is a good idea!
Is it time for me to embrace rainy days and not whine about ‘em?
I wouldn’t be bemoaning these rainy days, if I wasn’t chasing after this walking goal. A total of 6.4 inches of rain in September already is making it mighty tough to get it done. I am mindful that many of you have asked why I can’t just walk in the rain? I’ve held steadfast, saying that over three decades of taking the bus to work, many times in extremely ugly weather, makes me less inclined to go traipsing around in the rain, a blizzard, or even extreme heat, if I don’t have to.
As to the rain, obviously I’m not made of sugar, and I’ll likely come around eventually and get into that mindset of enjoying a walk in the rain. There are a few walkers at Council Point Park who walk rain or shine. In fact, the weather forecast was for light rain yesterday morning. It was warm out; I said to myself “just go out, it’s not like a cold rain, with leaves and wind whipping about.” So, in anticipation of this nice walk in the rain, I got out the golf umbrella, a light raincoat and I even practiced the notes of the musical scale, just in case I was inspired to sing while I was out there with the rain twinkling down. Did I sound like Julie Andrews singing Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do? No, not really, but I can still belt out that song I learned in grade school and remember from “The Sound of Music” … can you?
Unfortunately, by the time it was light enough to head out, a torrential rain was pounding on the patio roof, accompanied by some thunder boomers, so I just stayed inside. That rain continued through around mid-day. I’m not talking about the occasional spit or light drizzle – this was a driving rain, coursing through the gutters. Thankfully the leaves were not clogging up the sewer grates as the streets would have been flooded.
Angst.
Stewing over the rain was not the only thing on my mind. Soon thereafter, it was the fear of impending tornadic activity. Just like turning on a light switch, our coolish weather had returned to hot and muggy temps and very high dew points again Tuesday morning, spawning a flurry of warnings about possible severe weather, depending on how hot the temps were by late afternoon. Mother Nature decided to play dirty with the Downriver area of Southeast Michigan. There were increased severe storm warnings as the afternoon progressed, while meteorologists hovered over their charts and models, putting their heads together to predict if the warm and unstable atmosphere would be ripe for a tornado, and, if so … when.
Unfortunately my regular news radio station was broadcasting exhibition hockey on the radio and streaming it as well, and the other news station had a medical program on. I was still online at Twitter, monitoring the Tweets by the National Weather Service Detroit Bureau and my favorite meteorologist, Paul Gross, when sure enough, radar indicated rotation was spotted and the first alert came out around 8:15 p.m.
Too close for comfort.
I shut down the laptop as the sky started rumbling with great gusto, and I turned on two radios simultaneously. Out of one ear, I listened to Red Wing hockey, interspersed with weather bulletins; in the other ear, talk show host Mark Levin’s program was interrupted by the Emergency Alert System, as that shrill sound alerting impending danger was played just prior to the announcement that a tornado had been spotted and was headed northeast. Its arrival was pinpointed for nearby Southgate and Wyandotte by 9:10 p.m. – “take cover immediately” the voice said. I turned off the radios to listen for the City’s emergency siren – there was nothing, but I headed downstairs to the basement, heart pounding and feeling a little wobbly.
Our City’s emergency siren never sounded. They test the alarm system the first Saturday of the month at 1:00 p.m., so I know it works. So, more angst – wondering and worrying. I waited about a half hour and heard and felt nothing, so I dared to go upstairs. I turned on the two radios – the hockey game was still on, and Mark Levin was still rehashing the Cosby verdict and Kavanaugh drama. I went to bed.
A trio of tornadoes.
The early news this morning reported severe weather had wreaked havoc in three Downriver cities last night and luckily no one was killed or injured. At that time, it was undetermined if it was tornadoes or straight line winds that blew through with approximately 100 mph wind strength. I was just in this area last Saturday. It was still dark outside, so no pictures were available yet, but when I checked out the damage online later, I saw massive trees uprooted, cars crushed, a trampoline suspended in the power lines and garages where wind gusts blew the garage door inward – all very horrific. Later in the day it was confirmed that three small tornadoes touched down: first in Frenchtown – 8:23 p.m.; second in Rockwood – 8:45 p.m. and finally in Gibralter at 8:55 p.m. Their statistics are here.
Mercifully the tornadic activity dissipated at the Detroit River instead of proceeding Downriver. I feel lucky and blessed … this happened between 12 to 18 miles from where I live and is the second bout of severe tornadic weather to hit this part of Southeast Michigan, the last being on July 31st.
Today.
After hearing the report on the aftermath of the tornadoes, this morning I left a little lighter in heart and on my feet. It was so soggy this morning, that I hesitated to walk to Council Point Park, plus, though no rain was predicted, the skies were a mottled shade of various grays and didn’t look too promising for a walk. I figured the many trees at the Park would be dripping down so I just stayed in the ‘hood. The winds were clipping along with gusts to 20 mph and some of the harvest décor is already sodden from the recent soakers. Thank goodness I took these pictures on a sunny morn when everything still looked good.
So, 6.4 inches of rain in September; one more inch and we’ll break a longstanding record. We don’t have to break that record on Sunday afternoon, our next rain event, but I won’t complain anymore about the rain – just please no more bouts of severe weather.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Miss Linda…………………………..I did look up the tornado report that you left……………………I guess it did do some damage in our area…………………….I heard our Southgate siren going off but didn’t see nor hear any heavy winds……………………when we went for our walk this morning I didn’t see any heavy damage nor puddles of water but there were flooded areas later in the day when I was out and about…………………………….we did feel some very light rain this morning but the dark clouds blew in another direction…………………………….thanks for the posting of the weather
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Hi Ann Marie – That is the second time this year your Southgate siren went off … first for the tornado near Heritage Park and now this. We had no siren as you read. I was aggravated with WWJ and WJR … they only popped in with reports every so often and you could not stream the news and I meant to mention that about the stream and forgot and will return and edit the post. I didn’t see any damage this morning in the neighborhood either – lots of puddles from all that rain. Looked in the backyard and all was fine. So, it did rain this morning … it looked like it would pour any minute so I didn’t venture down to Council Point Park which is one mile for me each way as you know, and I didn’t want to get soaking wet – now it is cool out again. I dwelled on that weather event all day – if it had not twisted and turned, would it have ended up here? Seeing the damage just horrified me.
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Listening for a tornado is not a calming activity!
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No, I just wrote you back on your post – I think it is akin to you waiting for the arrival of Florence. You had a lot of advance notice … I had less notice, but at least enough to worry and wonder what the heck was going on and what was going to happen.
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Well I’m glad you didn’t get a tornado! Maybe October will be less rain!
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I hope it is drier too and that tornado was scary – I didn’t like hearing a pinpointed time of arrival … I hope that is it for severe weather for awhile!
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I am so happy you are okay and no tornado came your way, Linda! 6.4 inch. of rain is a lot of water. I do like rain but that is a lot. It seems like the earth is soaking wet this year. Take care of yourself, my friend, please.
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Thanks for your well wishes Martha … this was very scary. Last time I heard about the tornado near Heritage Park the next day – nothing on the radio when it happened. This was happening and I just felt scared thinking of the devastation … there are many large and very old trees around this neighborhood, and behind my house especially. I hope this is the last bad weather episode for awhile, but we have temps in the 40s today (45 now as I get ready to go walk) and in the 80s next week. The weather worldwide is wacky for 2018.
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We had straight line winds come through a couple of years ago. One of the large limbs on our maple tree feel straight toward the house and stopped just short of hitting it. We were very blessed! Glad you are safe and all is well. Nice to see the fall decorations out again. They look very festive!
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The straight line winds are quite scary and destructive. We had a derecho back in July 1981 and it really did a lot of damage in the Downriver area, which is a cluster of cities here in SE Michigan. The sky turned a horrible shade of green – we all believed it was a tornado. I was at work and it blew out a corner office windows and papers and objects went flying out the window and rain was pouring in. I felt very blessed and decided I would whine less about rain after seeing all the horrific damage. I love the Fall decor and will probably take more pictures once more people put out pumpkins and scarecrows and the like. That may not happen as next week we will have temps in the 80s … this morning it is 45 degrees. A real weather roller coaster here.
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I’m really happy you’re ok:) I hope your October is better x
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I do too and I have to tell you that after that episode I decided no more whining about the rain … I feel very lucky. 12 to 20 miles away for the trio of tornadoes and had one earlier this year just 6 miles away … too close for comfort.
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Happy to hear that there were no injuries from the tornado. Very scary!
I am one of those crazies who loves to run in the rain. As long as there is no thunder and lightning, I will happily go out when it is raining. It’s a good thing, too, because we have been getting nothing but rain here. Our ground is saturated and it seems like it is raining All. The. Time.
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I’m going to have to change my tune about walking in the rain Laurie and a fellow blogger lives on Vancouver Island and she is like you and runs all the time in the rain. She has shown pictures of her shoes with water inching up the soles and splashing all around. Hearing about an approaching tornado was very scary – the conditions were ripe for it all day and I was on edge from mid-morning on anticipating severe weather. It suddenly made me think that whining about mere rain was petty of me.
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We rarely get tornadoes here but there was a warning last night for an area a half hour south. Many of posts this year have been occupied with the weather. It’s been wonky and unpredictable. I am grateful that we didn’t have severe weather locally although our crops have taken a beating with too much rain and dampness. I am hoping our winter is mild and not filled with ginormous snowstorms!
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We often get severe weather in the northern suburbs, or, if it happens in the southern part of the state, it is closer to Ohio. This was way too close for comfort for me. I always stay on the alert for severe weather and I don’t recall ever, even when tornadic conditions exist, that I’ve heard the projected arrival time for my city. It was nerve wracking to not know what was going to happen. This weather is too unsettled and wacky this year. We had 45 degrees when I left on my walk this morning and next week we are to 80+ again.
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I am so glad that you were not affected by the tornado and really feel for those who were bless. Rain is not the nicest to walk in unless you have too so hope October brings in better weather for you
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Thank you Zena and I know I’m not going to whine about the rain as much after that tornado scare. I am grateful to be unscathed. October is the most beautiful month as the trees are ablaze and the harvest decor looks so nice … hopefully ugly weather does not spoil our upcoming month too.
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Let’s hope so, fingers crossed 🙂
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Tornadoes are always a threat in our area too! Great that you are safe! 🙂
Like i mentioned in my posting about Gabby, parrots, like Amazons or Macaws, can live as long as human beings and never get sick (as long as you fed them right, which is easy). We live with two and i make sure that they exercise with me every day. Many talk — both of ours do with outstanding comprehension (even of abstract words) — and these days many can be obtained from parrot shelters or from very elderly or disinterested people who don’t want them any longer.
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Thank you Tom. The last tornado in our area was overnight and didn’t hear about it until the morning. This one was happening in “real time” and I was very concerned. Hearing the expected time of arrival by the minute was scary. We have a Facebook crime site in our neighborhood but no comments on there because they must be approved by the administrator first. The next day, 1/2 the people said they heard no siren; 1/2 the people said they heard a siren. I clearly hear the siren the first Saturday of the month at 1:00 p.m. – I heard nothing and had shut the radio off.
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Oh my! I can understand you worrying as that must be so scary! My mom was just telling me last night of my cousins friend in Ottawa who went down to his basement when the tornado alert went off. A while later he heard a horrible noise and when he went up to investigate, his entire house was gone, ripped off everything but the floor above the basement!!!
It must be so scary!
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Oh that’s so terrible AJ and that’s exactly what I worry about … a tornado, or severe winds causing the trees behind me to start toppling over and crushing the house. The damage for these three tornadoes was different, and in one location, the tornado pushed the garage doors in and damaged the car inside, or ripped off the siding of the garage. Whole trees going down on top of houses and cars. I can’t imagine going upstairs and having no more house. The weather events this year everywhere just seem surreal to me – the hurricane damage, the flooding, the molten lava in Hawaii … the tornadoes … all of it seems very scary, plus all the earthquakes. We had a minor one earlier this year and it is strange for us to have one. I was sitting here at the table and felt it, felt a rumbling under my feet, and I knew it was more than a big truck rumbling down the street. Turned on the radio and others were calling in to report an earthquake. Just 3.6 but still …
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It seems really weird as earthquakes are normal for us but tornadoes aren’t normal for Ottawa!
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It seems the entire world has wacky weather … we had not had an earthquake in a long time and it was more minor than this one. Earlier this year, we had a meteorite strike … I was sitting here and it was dark and thought it was someone at the door and it was the meteorite hitting the earth in this area and it made a flash of light at the same time!
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Oh that would be something. Kind of cool now to be able to say you were near one, but I’m sure scary and disconcerting at the time!
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I agree – I hope we are done for now.
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Oh my goodness what wild weather!!! Stay safe over there, Linda!
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Thanks Mackenzie – it has been a volatile Summer, as we’ve had several severe storms due to all the heat and humidity we’ve endured this Summer. Hopefully this is it for tornadic activity this year. I am ready for Fall and more stable weather!
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I really hope so- tornados can be so scary!
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I know, and AJ told me when she got together with her parents when they returned from vacation, her mom relayed a story of someone who went into the basement when a tornado was coming – tornado came and took the house off the foundation – that scares me.
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holy smokes- that is insane!! I have been in multiple warnings before- they aren’t fun. One time we could see the funnels starting and we were 40 minutes from home, we had to go for cover at a neighbors home. I then got stung by a hornet somehow. It was a rough night!
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Yikes – that is scary Mackenzie. Another blogger wrote about a similar event in Ottawa in response to this post about the tornadic weather. I hope we are done with the unpredictable weather but we have rain this morning and then warming up to 80 again this week, after a few very chilly days, so this rollercoaster weather makes the atmosphere unstable. I can’t believe it is the end of September already! .
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We had tornado warnings here too on Tuesday night, first interrupting Doc Marten twice, (the only TV show I consistently watch), then two sirens went off, then the warning twice over the phone…..by then I think it must be serious so I quickly pack everything up and drive over to my mom’s as she’s 90 and wouldn’t be able to get to the basement by herself, so I ended up staying overnight, as the winds are less howling in her one floor bungalow than in my 2 story house surrounded by giant trees that can topple over…..(and did once), but in the morning there was nothing, just a bit of torrential rain for half an hour….not even any wind. Sometimes I think they don’t know whether to warn people or not, they are in trouble either way. But we did have a horrible tornado in the Ottawa area recently with a lot of damage, so I guess it is good they did err on the side of caution. Still it’s a scary experience, knowing one might be approaching.
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A fellow blogger lives on Vancouver Island and her parents just returned from a vacation in Ottawa. Friends of theirs sought shelter in the basement, the tornado went through and their house was leveled but they were safe. I cannot imagine that and I should have mentioned in my post, but I have mentioned in the past, that the trees in the neighborhood are all large, and some are very old, with roots coming out of the ground. I don’t have any trees, except an ornamental tree in the front yard, but it is the others I worry about. There was a fear with my late mom as she could not get down the stairs to go to the basement – I worried every severe storm and potential tornadic event we had. This was scary knowing they had pinpointed the ETA.
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I don’t have any big trees on my lawn but my neighbours do, and about 5 years ago one neighbours giant tree fell on the other neighbours roof, no one was hurt, but ever since then I hate windstorms! I wish they would take them down, but it costs $4000 for one. And yes, somehow it is worse knowing the ETA…
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I worry for each windstorm and this Summer we had many of them, and several times, to compound my misery was the fact that we had a very rainy day or two days of rain preceding the windstorm so the meteorologist kept saying that there could be risk of trees toppling due to a saturated ground. So that gave me no comfort at all going into the severe weather. I am a weather worrier and it seems to intensify since we have had such wacky and unpredictable weather – we will have rain most of the week and we never had such a rainy year before – it goes along with the small earthquake we had earlier this year as well. Very unusual for Southeast Michigan.
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I am more of a weather-worrier (I love that phrase!) about winter and am glad I don’t have to drive to work anymore in snow!
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I love that term too and got it from the morning drive radio show I listen to. It is all-news station and they start at 5:00 a.m. The woman anchor drives a long distance every morning and in Winter she describes herself like that as she obsesses over the long commute when snow or ice is on the way. She lives in the beautiful and quaint rural town of Romeo, Michigan. I sure don’t blame her for worrying about the weather that early in the morning. I took the bus to work for decades and am happy to work from home now and not deal with it either..
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Hi Linda. I am finally taking time to catch up on some reading. So happy to hear that your neighborhood was not affected by the tornados. When I heard the news reports I thought of you because I know you are down river. Thank God no one was injured. We haven’t had nearly as much rain as you have and the pond is still at one of the lowest levels we have seen it. It is raining today and there is rain in the forecast for much of the week so even though it is gloomy and chilly I suppose it is a good thing.
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Thanks Ruth – I was very worried, especially after they gave an arrival time for the tornado. I had just been to Lake Erie Metropark and Grosse Ile a few days before … Gibralter is right there, and that is not that far from where I live. Luckily no one was injured but those pictures were just incredible. We have a rainy week here too, except for Wednesday but we are getting to 80 degrees again. Fingers crossed no severe weather happens as a result.
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