Somewhere I have read that Orlando, Florida is the lightening capital of the U. S. I am guessing that the humidity of the area causes mother nature to act that way. Many are surprised when they learn in Minneapolis we have our share of summer storms. This year we had to wait until June 17th for mother nature to hurl her anger towards us. When she did explode, she did it in a big way. We had about 39 tornadoes strike our state. We were fortunate in Minneapolis to have some wind but nothing damaging. Tragedy did strike as 3 people did lose their lives in these storms.
We are fortunate in Minneapolis to have great forecasting from our TV and radio stations. KARE 11 has a feature where they can connect to your Blackberry and notify you when it is getting life threatening. We always joke that WCCO radio has us all go to our basements too early. They are only doing their job. I would haul the kids and our dog to the basement when told to do so, and I my crazy husband, Charles, would stand out in the yard watching the storm. He never got struck, but I always thought I would become a widow.
June is one of our big months for these storms. We get hot, sticky days that start with great sunshine and heat. As the night wears on the storms roll in. That means softball games get cancelled, you get called off the golf course, you want to be off the water as soon as possible, and you madly peddle home to avoid the hail from hitting you. Last Thursday some residents had hail the size of grape fruit. I can't imagine it. I think golf ball sized hail is amazing.
Tonight as I type, I am being told that as I sleep this PM a storm will roll in from the west. I don't need to worry about closing the windows as we have the AC on. It was 90 and humidity today, so the windows are closed. I never want any property and persons to get hurt, including my gardens, but I get a thrill out of sitting on my porch and watching the sky play it out. Tomorrow we should wake up to a cooler day but still have moisture in the air.
Yes when you come to visit Minneapolis in the summer best be prepared for a thunder storm. It is what keeps our 10,000 lakes full, our streams flowing, and the crops in our fertile corn belt area growing. You'll know where to find me on my porch when the storm hits.
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