Wind Storm Tore Apart Our Stuff

We expected a high of 96 yesterday, with a possible storm in the afternoon. Out here, never got above 77.

After Hubby called at 4:15 to tell me he was on the way home, I went out to the workshop to get out the pots for the tomatoes we planned to pot-up last night. The south-side of the workshop seemed the perfect place for them, nicely sheltered from the north winds and lots of southern exposure sun. Counted 27 (just enough), and 3 with asparagus that were NOT dead, and 2 blueberries where only 1 was dead. Tidied the workshop while I was at it, and kept the big garage-style-door up to give the goaties and chicken a little fresh air.

Hubby came home shortly after I finished. Talked about driving through hail and it's coming this way. Grabbed his stuff and placed inside, used the facilities, and by the time we got outside (I really wanted to show him the plants that had survived being in the workshop with no water for months), the weather had changed. The fluffy white clouds turned a menacing dark gray.

We opened the gate from our backyard, stepped beyond the protection of our house, and were hit square in the face with a bluster beyond belief. Our garden containers started flying around, even a couple of things heavily weighted down. Hubby chased down what he could and I rescued the few things I could.

No clue what those gusts ran at but if it was strong enough to nearly knock me down and move some heavy furniture and other items, it had to have been well over 50/60 mph.

The goat house is beyond repair, and we need to start over again. Third time's the charm.

After we rescued what we could, while trying to stand upright, we retreated into the house. Hustled the Kid down to the basement with food, drink, flashlight, computer and my purse. Hubby and I secured the upstairs while we waited for the hail that never came.

The cockerels (about 200) from the people behind us lost a lot of them. Bales of hay at the house across the street look like at least half are missing. My pumpkin seedlings snapped, most probably long gone. Hay with goat manure that I'd scattered on the cornfield just yesterday morning is completely 100% gone. Trashed piled up in a corner where wind blew it and kept it down.

Hubby just told me the radio is reporting that our area got hit with microbursts. Guess that's what it was. A mini-tornado. Completely believable.

From Wikipedia: A microburst is a very localized column of sinking air, producing damaging divergent and straight-line winds at the surface that are similar to but distinguishable from tornadoes which generally have convergent damage. There are two types of microbursts: wet microbursts and dry microbursts. They go through three stages in their life cycle: the downburst, outburst, and cushion stages. The scale and suddenness of a microburst makes it a great danger to aircraft due to the low-level wind shear caused by its gust front, with several fatal crashes having been attributed to the phenomenon over the past several decades. // A microburst often has high winds that can knock over fully grown trees. They usually last for a couple of seconds. // Microbursts are recognized as capable of generating wind speeds higher than 75 m/s (168 mph). Yup. I believe it.

This weekend weather? We're expecting highs in the 50's and lows close to freezing. I think I'll pot up the tomatoes but NOT put them out until Monday or Tuesday. Meanwhile, in between the expected raindrops, we'll yet again rebuild the goat house, and make repairs. Ah man... I haven't even looked at the roof yet!

The chicken coop is still standing.

Once thing's for sure.

Life here in the eastern plains of Colorado sure isn't dull.