Sparky-Watts
Banned
RE: Building a fiberglass center console....any advice?
Wow! I'm surprised to have electricity this morning. We got hammered by Ma Nature last night....bad. Several tornadoes and 120 mph straight winds. I guess after chasing so many storms, it was about time one of them chased me. My brother and my son and I went out about 5 pm to check on a storm that was coming in from the west. The weather service had called me and couldn't find any other spotters to go out. We got as far as Cheney Lake when the first gust front hit. There was a huge shelf cloud rolling in, kicking up dust and small bits of debris in front of it, so as soon as it hit, we couldn't see anymore. We headed south to try to get below and behind it, but it was moving way too fast. We got caught in the middle of a bad rain storm, visibility was less than 20 feet. We did manage to get some good wall cloud shots on video just before losing visibility. The next 2 hours were spent trying to get out of the storm. No visibility and tornadoes are not a good combination. We were almost home when the winds hit....first about 40mph. Then 50. Then 60. Then 80. Then it was just Pucker Factor 10 after that. Back in '90 I got caught out in 115mph straightline winds, and last night was definitely stronger than that. NWS caught a 123 mph gust just south and east of town. My anemometer was snapped off at 89 mph....probably by a tree limb. There is some serious damage all over town to the trees (those that survived this winter's ice storm). It was too dark last night to see if there was any structural damage, but I'm betting there will be. In fact, there was one building downtown that had the front awning ripped off of it....the building is over 100 years old, and that awning had been there almost as long as the building, so it had withstood many, many storms. We had our front picture window blown in, lots of our windchimes and our flag were blown away. There are limbs in my yard from trees a block away (I know, because they are limbs off a river birch, and the closest one is about a block and a half away). The petunias that Sunshine planted by the front porch look like someone took a weedeater to them. Sheared off at the ground. I'll post pics later.....got a ton of cleanup to do right now.
We had bought about $500 worth of fireworks to shoot last night, and never got the chance. We always buy a bunch and put on a show for our extended family and neighbors. My brother and sister and their families are going home today, so the kids are all pretty disappointed that they didn't get to see "Uncle Sparky's fireworks show."
Wow! I'm surprised to have electricity this morning. We got hammered by Ma Nature last night....bad. Several tornadoes and 120 mph straight winds. I guess after chasing so many storms, it was about time one of them chased me. My brother and my son and I went out about 5 pm to check on a storm that was coming in from the west. The weather service had called me and couldn't find any other spotters to go out. We got as far as Cheney Lake when the first gust front hit. There was a huge shelf cloud rolling in, kicking up dust and small bits of debris in front of it, so as soon as it hit, we couldn't see anymore. We headed south to try to get below and behind it, but it was moving way too fast. We got caught in the middle of a bad rain storm, visibility was less than 20 feet. We did manage to get some good wall cloud shots on video just before losing visibility. The next 2 hours were spent trying to get out of the storm. No visibility and tornadoes are not a good combination. We were almost home when the winds hit....first about 40mph. Then 50. Then 60. Then 80. Then it was just Pucker Factor 10 after that. Back in '90 I got caught out in 115mph straightline winds, and last night was definitely stronger than that. NWS caught a 123 mph gust just south and east of town. My anemometer was snapped off at 89 mph....probably by a tree limb. There is some serious damage all over town to the trees (those that survived this winter's ice storm). It was too dark last night to see if there was any structural damage, but I'm betting there will be. In fact, there was one building downtown that had the front awning ripped off of it....the building is over 100 years old, and that awning had been there almost as long as the building, so it had withstood many, many storms. We had our front picture window blown in, lots of our windchimes and our flag were blown away. There are limbs in my yard from trees a block away (I know, because they are limbs off a river birch, and the closest one is about a block and a half away). The petunias that Sunshine planted by the front porch look like someone took a weedeater to them. Sheared off at the ground. I'll post pics later.....got a ton of cleanup to do right now.
We had bought about $500 worth of fireworks to shoot last night, and never got the chance. We always buy a bunch and put on a show for our extended family and neighbors. My brother and sister and their families are going home today, so the kids are all pretty disappointed that they didn't get to see "Uncle Sparky's fireworks show."
