"Zlelch" wrote in message ...
: The worst severe weather season in the history of Louisville Kentucky may
: not be over yet. The storm prediction center indicates that August could be
: another stormy month for the Ohio Valley, which has seen the worst weather
: in over a hundred years of record keeping.
:
: The bad weather started on Memorial Day Weekend when the area was racked by
: tornados, powerful straight line winds and very heavy rainfall, some areas
: picked up over 6 inches of rain in one day. Unfortunately, it was just get
: started. 50,000 people were left without power, some for as many as 6 days
: in wake of the storms. Oddly enough, spring was very quiet, there were no
: widespread severe weather outbreaks.
:
: Over the next several weeks into late June, the area would experience
: countless severe thunderstrom and tornado warnings, very heavy rainfall and
: millions of dollars worth of property damage, but the worst storm didn't
: come until July 13th. Up until this point, the worst weather has been in
: Southern Indiana where a small town was wiped off the map by a powerful
: tornado.
:
: On the afternoon of July 13th, a strong cold front made it's way through
: Illinois and Indiana toword the southeast. Out ahead of the front, a
: powerful line of thunderstorms developed prompting the national weather
: service to issue a tornado and severe thunderstorm watch for the Indiana and
: Kentucky.
:
: As the storms made there way through Indiana, the left widespread damage and
: destruction in their wake. Leaving thousands without power, mowing trees
: down and taking off roofs. As the storms crossed the Ohio River around 8:00
: pm eastern daylight time, they intensified and radar showed a very
: pronounced bow echo. The strorms ripped through Louisville and points south
: and west producing winds of close to 100 mph (not tornadic), torrential
: rainfall and deadly lightning.
:
: As I stood out on my front porch watching the storms approach, the sky was
: as black as I'd ever seen it. There was a gust front that moved through
: initially with winds clocked at near 70 mph for several minutes, followed by
: the heaviest rain I've ever seen. After about 5 minutes, the wind
: intensified and topped out at what I believe was about 90 mph, ripping trees
: up and taking roofs of houses. Very powerful winds considering this was not
: a hurricane or a tornado. The power went out during the storm and stayed
: out for 6 days, 140,000 people lost power in Louisville alone (population
: 300,000). I have never seen lightning as vivid as that evening, so much so
: that I was terrified that my house would be struck, several trees nearby
: where hit by lightning, snapping them in half like twigs.
:
: Since the terrible storm on July 13th, there have been countless days of
: heavy rain, strong winds and very vivid lighting and yes, more widespread
: power outages. Fortunately, there has been nothing as bad as the storm we
: had on the night of the 13th but none-the-less, it's made for a record
: breaking year and cost homeowners and insurance companies, millions and
: millions of dollars.
:
:
:
Live in the northeast, I remember hearing about those early
storms and worried about relatives but they were east of there.
Mostly comfortable here in NE, some nights cool and some start
out muggy. No real hot streak, alot of clouds, low bugs (good)
beautiful moon last eve.
Hang in there,
Mke