Another rough day and night for parts of Arkansas.

After nothing but weatherman chatter on the local TV stations, we had tuned the sound out.

Then, at about 7:15 P.M. our home phone started ringing. Less than two seconds after that, my cell phone was ringing — I forgot I had it in my pocket. Then we heard Karen’s cell phone ringing in the living room. Off in the distance the sirens were starting to sound.

When I answered my phone, it turned out to be the head meteorologist from the Little Rock TV station we normally watch. They offer a notification service — for a small annual fee — that will call your phones and send you an e-mail for the storm warnings that you select for your local area. We had selected to be notified for tornado warnings — and that’s what this was.

A storm cell with a possible tornado was heading our way and it was forecast to be here at 7:45.

A full 30 minutes advance warning!

I went and checked to storm shelter. It’s located inside the addition that we’ve been working on forever. We have to go outside to access it, though, as we haven’t got an opening between the house and addition, yet.

The storm shelter is in good shape and, 15 minutes before the storm cell was due, we headed to the that way. We took jackets, our laptops, the portable hard-drives with all of my photos, Karen’s purse, my wallet, our budget book and three flashlights. I had already put a couple of camp chairs down there.

About 7:45, it looked like the cell was going north of us, so I went back in the house to check what they were saying on TV. They showed the cell in our area, with the heaviest part of it to the north, but said that the part right over us was showing rotation, so I headed back to the shelter, where we waited for another ten minutes.

It turns out the cell went about 7 miles north of us and then died almost completely away over the next 30 minutes.

This is the first time that we actually used the shelter. Even though nothing came of it, it is comforting to have it available — just in case.

Especially the way things have been going this year!

I’m not looking forward to tomorrow’s news. We already know that Stuttgart, down south and east of Little Rock, was hit and that there are several fatalities from the storm system over in Oklahoma.

I’ve heard more than one person say that they ready for the hot, stagnant days of summer — something that few around here really look forward to.

Arkansas has been hit once again by bad storms. We had a lot of rain, lightning and thunder, but the really bad stuff developed after the front was past us.

Stout’s Point on Petit Jean Mountain
Petit Jean State Park, Arkansas
This part of the park is separated from the rest of the park.
It is on the east end of the mountain and
overlooks the Arkansas River and the river valley.

November 18, 2007 at 10.22am CST
Camera: Pentax K10D
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/9.5
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 100

All that stuff in the middle of the radar image below is heading straight towards us. It’s about an hour and a half out.

Tornado warnings, flash flood warnings, and severe thunder storm warnings.

The weather service is calling for the really heavy stuff to come in tomorrow during the daylight hours.

Update: April 10th, 6 A.M. — we had heavy rain during the night — bad news for the areas prone to flooding with all the precipitation we’ve had lately.

This radar image shows the front edge of the next round of storms.

.

.

.

.

.

This abandoned farmstead stands in ruin from blasting winds which
have shifted topsoil from field to cover the house and improvement.
The old turning plow in foreground was left at the end of row in the field.

Date: 1935
Photographer: B. C. McLean
Location: Bacca County, Colorado
Watershed: unknown
(see digital image source)

From early March — first of two heavy snowfalls in three days — 12 1/2 inches this time; 8 1/2 three days later.

March 4, 2008 at 12.13pm CST
Camera: Pentax K10D
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/180)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Arkansas River below Dardanelle Dam following extreme rains


(click on lower picture for larger image)

I made it out of the house yesterday for the first time in almost a week. We went into town, but I still wasn’t feeling the greatest.

I guess what I thought was a cold turned out to be the flu strain that’s been going around. Since I didn’t go to the doctor, I don’t know for sure. I was planning to go yesterday if I wasn’t significantly better.

Ran a fever for several days and was pretty much out of it round the clock. Slept a lot. Not much coughing, which is funny, because the main thing I’m left with now is a cough.

Haven’t looked at much online until yesterday.

We’ve lost power at least three times today. The generator is sitting ready just in case.

According to the National Weather Service, we’ve had somewhere between 2.5 to 4 inches of rain today and our county is in a flash flood warning. Fortunately, we live on top of a ridge so don’t have a problem with flooding. There’s still a lot more rain to come, I think.

With being sick and all of this rain, it’s hard to get some of the stuff done outside that I wanted to do during this time off.

I go back to work three weeks from today and the contract job will go until the end of August.

Today: Rain likely, mixing with snow after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 40. North northeast wind between 10 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Tonight: Rain and snow likely before 9pm, then occasional snow . Low around 31. North northeast wind around 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.

Friday: Occasional snow , mainly before 3pm. High near 32. North northwest wind between 10 and 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.

Redbreasted Nuthatch

March 4, 2008 at 1.07pm CST
Camera: Pentax K10D
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 100