Before the Storms

Oh how I love my storms!
Spring is the perfect time to watch the atmosphere change in the blink of an eye. One minute it's unseasonably warm and the next buckets of rain are released from a saturated sky. Blink again and the air circulates in cool currents, carrying fresh aromas.
Thunder sounds and excitement overcomes you....well it does for me!

Today was great for beautiful threatening skies and a surprise storm or two.
This was a picture I took today about one hour before thy sky opened and a super soaker drenched the earth. I love watching sheets of rain attack the ground during high winds. One after the other. Trying harder than the one before.

I don't know why I love them so. It probably started when I was a little storm watcher with my Dad. Sitting outside we would watch the storms get closer and closer, feeling the rumble in the ground before finding safety inside. Too bad he lives in the desert now where they get about a drop of rain a year! Too bad, that's gotta suck.

There's nothing like a Midwest storm!

Major Winter Storm

Well, here in Chicago we continue to ride the weather pattern roller coaster that has been the main attraction for several weeks. Tickets are free. Nobody can chicken out and exit the line, you're stuck!
This week alone we experienced a 50ºF drop in the period of three hours and then a continuous snow fall for over 24 hours dumping 6" in my part of town.
Whew!!!
Remember just a few months ago I was crabbing that we never get any good snow storms in the winter anymore?
Surprise!

I still love it, even though I shoveled for an hour and was super late to work, slipping and sliding all the way there. Makes for great pictures though! This picture shows snow on every limb and every twig. Just lovely!

Mysterious Sky

This is what the sky looked like before all the rain. Several layers of clouds quickly whipping by, the lowest layer being the fastest. Something is coming.


How spooky and wonderful all in the same frame.
What wasn't wonderful however, was the area of the Illinois and Wisconsin border which was hit by a tornado the next day that had traveled 13 miles on it's January trek. A tornado in January in Illinois is unheard of.

The further south of the city you are, the more rain you received. Many low areas are still flooded, but thankfully I didn't need a boat and the streets were pretty much clear with only the ditches flooded in my area.

Record breaking temperatures are passing and a cool front is on the way with, get this......snow flurries tonight!?! Tornado yesterday, snow today?
Would this imply Global Warming or the Apocalypse?
Just kidding...

After the Storm

Here is the beautiful evidence of a last night's magical winter storm. ohhhh.....ahhhh. This photo was taken at 8:30am, by 4:00pm all of the snow on this shrub melted. Why does it have to go away so soon?
I was happy to wake up to a winter wonderland. Don't you love it when you go to sleep and wake up to a different world? One of the things about the morning after a snow storm is how the snow lands on every branch and every twig. Just amazing! Enjoy it in the morning because by noon it's probably half melted.


And that's exactly what I tried to do. This picture was taken at 45mph with the "sports" setting set on my camera so it wouldn't be a blur. Don't worry, I'm facing the road watching traffic, but blindly taking pictures with my camera. If you take about ten of them, one is surely to be a gem without being crooked. Do not try this at home if you're a 10 and 2 driver!


This is an inverted image of the one before. I love it. Winter is just the perfect time to make one of these. I suggest everyone experiment with invertedness. Photoshop makes it easy, after you open your image go to image> adjust> invert. Piece of cake. If you don't have photoshop, I'm sure any Walgreen's can do it for you.
Have fun!

Calm Before the Storm

This is a picture I took today at about 3:30pm. I was in the middle of nowhere in Frankfort, IL. This picture represents the calm before the snow storm. Oh how I love snow storms!
All night tonight and during the day tomorrow, we are to expect snow showers in the amounts of 3-6 inches. Now to my Northern friends that may seem like a dusting, but us Chicagoans have been snow deprived for many, many winters. Sure last year we had a few storms, but they're becoming few and far between. I remember as a child HUGE amounts of snow. I played in it all the time. My Dad use to bring home thick poster board for me to use as a sled and I would make my own hills in the front yard....aaahhhhhh....being a kid in the snow. What am I talking about, being a big person in the snow is fun too, you just get hurt more often!

www.weather.com radar at 10:15pm

As we speak it is snowing right now. I look outside the window and I see a white blanket over everything. The white of the snow seems to bring peace and cleans everything it touches. Tomorrow's pictures should be wonderful.

My Weather Field Trip

OH BOY! Today, the National Weather Service Office in Romeoville, IL had an open house! I LOVE, love, love weather. I love rain storms, snow storms, wind storms, cloudy days, drizzly days, and an occasional nice day. Most of all, I love the radar. I don't know why. There's something about that lit up screen of oncoming storms that makes me skip a beat. Call me a nerd, go ahead I don't mind! So, when I heard that the National Weather Center of Chicago was having an open house, I was all over it!



This center services 10 million people, that's right I said million, and 23 counties of the Chicago Land area! It is located in Romeoville which is about 45 minutes southwest of downtown Chicago. Today, they had us in groups of about 20 and gave us an hour tour of the inside and outside.


Holy Shmoly! There it is. This meteorologist is reading radar from 4 screens at one time. Can you see Lake Michigan on 2 of the screens? This is the very point at which he determines whether or not to issue a warning that interrupts our TV program with that loud, "beeep, beeeep, beeeep..." He does so with the touch of an enter key on the computer, such power! I love the fact that they can dress casual here, with such stress, they need to be in comfort.


Beautiful RADAR. Radar on all three screens! Radar!
Strangely enough, I wasn't allowed to bring my purse in here for security purposes but I can take whatever pictures I want. Huh? I was sooo glad cameras were allowed. And where do they get all of this wonderful radar information?


Here it is, the mother radar. It looks like a big soccer ball in the sky. If you look close, you can see it is pieced in sections. I wouldn't want to be the guy that has to climb those stairs everyday! It is constantly pulling information down and the delay time to what actually is happening is only 5 minutes.


In front, they had some information signs on notable weather we have had in the past. This one describes the Chicago Heatwave of 1995. In July, the temperature reached 106 degrees at Midway Airport. They don't have to remind me, I was 8 months pregnant and in misery! I know I just gained sympathy from all the Mamas out there! We had scorching temperatures for many weeks. Sadly, many people lost their lives.



Here we will conclude with a show stopper. This really cool demo model is showing us how they control too much rain water from flooding the town. The right side is controlled by the computer and a trained professional, the left side it controlled by children in three stages: first rain water from the clouds, second water collecting by the dam, lastly, the levy before the town gets it. Needless to say, whenever the children took over the controls, the town was wiped out and a national disaster was declared! It was too cute.

When I was in high school I had two interests, science and art. As an adult I have two interests, art and science. For some reason, I always thought something like this was out of my reach. I was forever intimidated by science and math thinking I would never be smart enough to go further, so don't waist my energy. Boy what a mistake! We need to throw out all our negative thinking before it hold you down!

Hope you enjoyed the field trip!