Yesterday we had two major thunderstorms, each of which lasted about an hour. One just before lunch, and the other around dinner time. And each one caused a power outage.
The first storm also contained enough water to flood out an average neighborhood. Looking out the window at the water coming off the eaves was like being inside a waterfall. For about an hour. Then the power “blipped” – down for less than half a second but enough to lose the modem and drop my connection to work. I had just sent out an email to my teammates that I might be “disappearing” due to thunderstorms and power outages. So I went ahead and started shutting the computer down. It was almost finished when the power went out again, and stayed out for about half an hour.
The second storm began while I was downtown in Fairbanks. I could hear thunder, see lightening flashes, and was getting rained on a little bit. Then I started driving home, and here’s what I saw in the sky:
Raining towards Fox, in the northwest
and this:
from downtown looking north – I’m headed that direction
The closer to Haglebarger Hill I got, the hard the rain was coming down. One lightening bolt covered the stretch of sky from one side to the other in the north (wish I had a picture of that one). Going down the back side of the hill I could only do about 40 mph because I couldn’t see thru the rain if I went any faster. And major puddles were forming, increasing the risk of hydroplaning.
coming down Haglebarger Hill; windshield wipers on High
Once I got past the pipeline viewing pullout and around the corner toward Goldmine Trail, the rain eased off. (the turquoise in the picture below is the tinting on the van’s windshield)
closer to home
When I arrived at home, we were “dark” – lightening had hit the transformer on our power pole and had fried it. Rich was sitting on the front porch and saw the strike, the arc, and the sparks. No video though -too bad. Fortunately for our dinner plans the baked lasagna Mom had in the oven was just finishing its cooking time when the power went out, so leaving it in the oven with the door closed allowed it to cook the rest of the way. We ate by candle-light! It was 10:15 pm by the time the power came back on (GVEA got out pretty quick to check the transformer; it took a little longer to bring a new one out and install it). Not a big deal, since it’s still daylight outside, but the cloud cover made it more “dusky-ish” than normal.
This morning we had another thunderstorm, but I think we were just on the edge of that one. No power outage.
So on to the vegetables. And the only relationship to storms and vegetables is I didn’t have to water the garden for the last several days, and alternating days of rain and sun are very conducive to vegetable growth. The cabbage heads are starting to swell up, and the second crop of cut-and-come-again broccoli is coming on.
In the greenhouse (which I DO have to water), the tomatoes are setting and the cucumbers and peppers are growing. I picked these two on the 23rd, and they were yummy and juicy.
standard size butter dish in background for size comparison
So while the weather throws us fireworks and downpours, the greenhouse keeps the warm-weather plants happy and productive. And today in the outdoor garden, the first bush bean plant blossoms opened up. With about another month of gardening weather before first frost (hopefully), the outlook for getting a bunch of beans is pretty good. Mmmmm, fresh beans from the garden. I can hardly wait.
Steph and Rich in Alaska 