24-Hour Sky Show

Our house  perched on a  small hill and we have a great view of the sky to the east.  It has been hot and sultry lately--good tornado weather, and sure enough, today was rife with tornado warnings and sightings nearby.  None touched  down close by, but the sky has been putting on a dramatic show. All these photos are taken from approximately the same spot.

Last night, an ominous ceiling of black cloud crept over us from the west and turned a bright evening sinisterly dark.  After a temper-tantrum storm, the clouds parted enough that we got to see glimpses of a few faint meteors - the Perseid meteor shower.  (No photos of that)

Around 3 a.m., we had a house-shaking storm.  At first, lightning pulsated continuously like a strobe light, then big bolts started striking and I scurried around the house closing windows and  unplugging  computers. Rog turned on the radio and heard that a tornado had just been sighted by Pine Island, about  8 miles away, but then the power went out, so no more warnings to worry about.

This morning, the power was still out, and the air was heavy and wet.  We called the  rural electric co-op and  found out there had been a lot of damage to the power lines - many people were without power they couldn't predict  how soon it would be fixed. This put a crimp in my market baking plans, but fortunately Rog's bread  is baked in the wood-fired oven.

Our power came back on around noon, and I got to work baking. The weather was so fickle--there would be a fierce wind, then a deluge of rain, then suddenly brilliant blue sky and sunshine. Vivid rainbows stretched low across the horizon several times. The entire afternoon we were under severe storm, flash flood and tornado warnings - but we escaped the serious weather.

The rainbow above  the garden.

Tonight the weather has finally settled a bit.  We were treated to another spectacular sky before sunset.  Tomorrow is expected to be a bit less humid and mostly sunny - should be a lovely day for the Farmers Market.