Weather Stuff

It's been a wild weekend weather-wise here in central North Carolina.  

Weather stuff started on Friday. I was working in my office downtown when a loud rumble of thunder heralded a sudden torrent of rain which was followed by a rush of wind. From the 7th floor of the building I work in, I have a view of the street below and as the wind picked up speed and strength, the flags on the poles affixed to buildings across the street rippled in the gale force gusts that tore down the man-made canyon. Sheets of water were pushed up against the side of the taller buildings across from my even as the rain pummeled the side of my bullding with a constant and driving roar. 

After raging for several minutes, the storm was spent as the flags hung wet, limp and still. Thankfully, there was no damage to our building or to anything on the street below or to the buildings across the street.

Other areas were not so lucky. A quick perusal of the news uncovered several stories of trees down and building damaged by this quick and devastating meteorological 
attack.  

I was relieved when I arrived home at the Fortress of Ineptitude to find we had been fortunate and spares damage from the storm.  

Saturday morning saw another wave of stormy weather hit our area  of North Carolina. Less wind but a heavy torrent of rain. Things ebbed enough for me to actually mow the front yard here at the Fortress. 

Then Sunday came and the weather was making news with the county where we live under a tornado watch.  Over a bit to the north and west from here, the tornado watch became warning, as clouds spin low and ominously in the swirling grey sky. 

The local NBC affiliate cut away from ice skating to cover this impending tornadic apocalypse. The local Fox affiliate pulled away from stock car racing to keep an eye on the wind. 

The local CBS affiliate kept the coming storm to a crawl on the bottom of the screen because no way in hell were they going to interrupt the Masters. Hey, look: Tiger Woods won!  

By early evening, the rush of graphics and color radar vanished as the tornado terror pushed onward and outward to our north.

But we were not done yet.  

Adding to the worry: my daughter Randie was due to fly in late Sunday evening, returning home from her trip to Louisiana, possibly during another bout of bad weather.  There's another tornado watch over the area, just as her flight was expected to come in.  

Thankfully, there was only a brisk and quite pleasant breeze as Andrea and I drove to the airport. Tracking Randie's plane on our phone app, we could see she was due to arrive on schedule; actually, her plane taxied to the gate about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Randie made her way up the concourse to be greeted by enthusiastic hugs from her mother and I. All was right with our world. 

Less than an hour later, the exterior of our home,  the Fortress of Ineptitude, were being pounded by torrential rains and gusts of wind.  Thankfully, that soon ebbed as we were eventually able to get back to sleep, all three of us under the same roof for the first time in days.