Mother Nature WTF???

[ny biker]

Floods in Florida, wildfires in Colorado, record-breaking heat wave, and now a huge high-wind thunderstorm smashing through the midwest and about to hit the mid-Atlantic.

Everybody take care and be safe!!!

(If you're anywhere from Philly to Richmond, plug in your cell phone, get your flashlights ready and stay indoors!!)

[Koronin]

It's crazy, scary. We had a fire near here also. It's apparently completely contained at this point. This one was in the Croatian National Forest and was started as controlled burn that got out of control. (Investigation is being done to see exactly what happened to try to prevent it from happening again).

Everyone stay safe.

[Grits]

I know! We apparently had a high wind storm here last night, but no rain. I don't recall that ever happening before. The umbrella on the deck blew over and there were lots of branches down in the yard. And now another day of 105 degree heat to look forward to!

[Selkie]

In a word, a nightmare here in the WDC metro area.

It hit us around 10:30---husband, dogs, and I came downstairs into the living room since our house is surrounded by huge old oaks. Sounded worse than Hurricane Isobel, but thank God, it didn't last long.

We were one of the lucky ones---didn't lose power. We didn't have internet until 1pm Saturday, verizon & att wireless service is (was) out, and our landline is now down.

Many in the area are without power. There are tree branches down in my neighborhood, but we got off easy, comparatively speaking.

The pool opened on time and several of my friends there were without power in their homes. After a half hour, they closed the pool due to the lack of communications (i.e., no phone service, so they couldn't call 911 in case one of us geezers had a heart attack and needed an ambulance). I was only able to do about a quarter of my normal Saturday endurance swim, do I came home, walked the dogs before it got hot, and rowed 5,000 meters!

Possibly more storms expected today.... Praying it's not as bad as last night.

Hope all are well.

[Catrin]

I won't say that we didn't need the rain, WE DID/DO (please send more), but it would be nice if it was a bit more gentle when it came... Thankfully it looks like southern Indiana might finally get some rain this evening, crossing my fingers they do. The entire state is pretty much a tinder box right now, especially down there.

[OakLeaf]

We are fine, both person and property, but don't expect power for several days, so I'll be conserving battery. You all be safe.

[skhill]

The edge of the storm just clipped us. No rain, but a heck of a lot of wind. Dropped the temp from 100+ to 85 in no time flat. Pretty scary stuff...

We're on the 3rd day of 100F. Yuck. It's the worst heat wave I've experienced in KY. My (unairconditioned) kitchen was over 110 yesterday while the bread was in the oven. But the window AC unit is doing a good job of keeping the living room comfortable.

[Blueberry]

The edge of the storm just clipped us. No rain, but a heck of a lot of wind. Dropped the temp from 100+ to 85 in no time flat. Pretty scary stuff...

We're on the 3rd day of 100F. Yuck. It's the worst heat wave I've experienced in KY. My (unairconditioned) kitchen was over 110 yesterday while the bread was in the oven. But the window AC unit is doing a good job of keeping the living room comfortable.

We just got crazy wind last night - very suddenly - and then it was gone as quickly as it came. No rain. We are following the no oven and no burner (gas) rule in our house until the temp is less than 100 outside. So...sometime about Tuesday we can cook again (though probably not bake). Our central air is kinda sorta keeping up.

[Owlie]

We are fine, both person and property, but don't expect power for several days, so I'll be conserving battery. You all be safe.

Ugh. I didn't lose power, but my sister and her boyfriend did. I really don't expect them to get power back until at least Monday. Hopefully her boyfriend's fish (he has a fairly large tank) are okay.

[ny biker]

I still have no power at home. Am at my office now - power is on but my key card won't open the office door -security system must need to be reset. So I'm sitting on the floor in the hall next to an outlet, charging my phone. My butt is already sore and I'm going to be here a while.

It was a scary storm - so sudden - I'm glad I knew it was coming. Otherwise I would have totally freaked out when it came roaring in.

[tulip]

I spent some quality time in my basement with my bike helmet on. More fun going on right now but Williamsburg is getting the worst of it with 2.5" hail and tornado warnings. I have not lost power.

[zoom-zoom]

And the best part is that we are semi-parched here in MI and we have new, lax fireworks regulations--thanks, Gov. Snyder (not!)...I can't wait for wildfires a la CO!

[salsabike]

You guys, it sounds really tough out there. Please know we are thinking of you and wishing you well.

[ny biker]

I spent some quality time in my basement with my bike helmet on. More fun going on right now but Williamsburg is getting the worst of it with 2.5" hail and tornado warnings. I have not lost power.

Yes I heard about the storm down by you tonight. Glad it's not serious.

My electricity just came on at home. At first the thermostat just blinked at me, so I was worried the a/c wasn't working, but after a minute it clicked on.

The cable tv and modem are not working. Comcast's recorded message says they're working on fixing it. So I guess I'll miss the TdF again tomorrow. But I can still go for a bike ride and then come home to cool air.

[FlyingScot]

Central Ohio was hit very hard as well. We had clocked 85mph winds. 200,000+ people are without power and the heat wave continues. They've called out the National Guard to go house by house in the "economically challenged" neighborhoods to make sure the elderly and sick are okay. We were out power for only 6 hours (my small city has their own power company that rocks. AEP not so much). The worst thing is that most of the gas stations and grocery stores are still out of power. Gas lines at the only open stations were approaching a 3 hour wait...as long as the gas lasted. Ice is getting hard to find. I don't have AC at all (hate it) so I'm better prepared to handle the heat and I'm acclimated to it. Power is not likely to be completely restored until the 6th. They are saying this is worse than when Hurricane Ike blew through in 2008.