Thunderstorm Drops Hail, Wrecks Trees, Ruins Sleep

Thunderstorms don't usually wake me up. The thunderstorm that rolled through Sioux Falls early this morning did.

I was jolted awake at a loud clap of thunder that sounded like it was right next to my bed. I tried rolling over and going back to sleep but the noise of the wind and rain pummeling the house, along with the constant thunder, was enough of an irritant that I couldn't conk out.

I thought I heard sand being thrown at my window. Knowing it wasn't sand I thought it must be some light hail. I knocked my phone off of my nightstand in an attempt to see what the radar looked like. After fishing it out from the narrow gap in my bed frame I saw that it was a pretty gnarly hunk of red blog on the radar.

Then the hail got louder. I went to the back door to our deck and turned on the flood light. The chair I usually sit in when Crystal and I have a drink on the deck had a fair amount of hail in it. A couple of the stones were about the same diameter as a nickel, but most were the size of peas and marbles.

The National Weather Service reported 1.01 inches of rain in that storm. It certainly could have been worse.

My wife and kids attended a truck pull on Friday night in Litchfield, MN where her brother was running his truck. The grandstand was cleared because a tornado warning was issued. On her way to the lake afterward she saw multiple buildings, trees, and a trampoline were trashed.

After I snapped a couple pics of the hail on the deck, all but one of which didn't turn out, I needed to get to sleep but was wide awake. A Summer Shandy sounded good, but I was shooting a match in the morning and water and melatonin seemed to be the better plan.

See Also: