Sorry To Be Gone For Two Days; Was Weatherman At Sister's Wedding

My husband, Jeff, hunkered down against the rain, tries gamely to sweep
water away from the spot in Shrewsbury where my sister, Laurie, would
marry Bennie shortly after. The heavy rain stopped just before
the ceremony. I had assured Laurie the worst of the rain would be
over by 4 p.m. and it was. Photo by David Jenne. 

Those of you who regularly read this blog thingy might have noticed I've been offline for the past two or three days.

I was down in Shrewsbury, Vermont, for my sister Laurie's wedding. Which was held outdoors.

This being Vermont, weather complicated the situation.  Because I am such a weather geek, I quickly became the de facto wedding weather crisis consultant.

It rained Saturday in Vermont. We knew it was coming, but forecasts called for showers. We were prepared to dodge the showers, and work the wedding ceremony in between any periods of rain.

The National Weather Service and other forecasters said the rain would be off and on. And they said the better atmospheric forcing would go by to our south, so any rain that fell would be quite light. We'd be OK.

Gawd, did it ever pour in Shrewsbury Saturday afternoon! The better atmospheric forcing seemed to go right overhead. I'd estimate an inch of rain fell in just three hours or so. The nearby Rutland Airport received 0.70 inches of rain in two hours during Saturday afternoon.

Plus, the temperatures plummeted during the rain. It went from 65 to 53 at Rutland as the rain moved in. Shrewsbury is at a higher elevation, so I wouldn't be surprised if the temperature dipped below 50 up there. In the middle of the afternoon in June.

The rain stopped just in time, which allowed Laurie and Bennie to say their vows

The wedding was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. or so. It was still pouring. All eyes turned to me, the weather geek.

What to do?  I kept studying National Weather Service radar. There seemed to be some hope at the end of this rainy tunnel.

It looked like the heaviest rain was moving toward the northeast awfully fast. An area of no rain, or just drizzle lurked down near Albany, New York. This relatively rain-free area was coming our way. Would it arrive in time?  

I asked the bride, Laurie, if the wedding could be postponed until 4 p.m. or so. She said yes. (It was the first of two big yesses she would say that day.) The heaviest rain bands should have moved by to our northeast by then. There might be some lingering drizzle at 4 p.m., I said, but the heavy rain would be gone.

I just prayed that I would be right.  Thank goodness I was! The downpour abruptly turned into sprinkles and drizzle right before 4 p.m. Patches of fog formed pretty lacy patterns on the scenic mountains behind us. The wedding was on!

Almost. First, we had to do something about the river that formed right where the vows would take place. My husband Jeff went out and started breaking up sod that blocked the flowing water and sweeping the water away.

A wedding guest spied Jeff, with a battered broom, hunkered down under a gray sweatshirt, forlornly sweeping the water.

"Why are you doing this?," the guest asked, confused.

My husband replied, "What, give up show business?"

Jeff got most of the water out of there, but Laurie said her vows barefoot so she wouldn't get her nice shoes soaked.   It was absolutely beautiful. The weather was no match for the love between Bennie and Laurie and the family members all gathered on that beautiful Shrewsbury hilltop for the wedding.

Sometimes, weather problems can be defeated pretty easily.

Dramatic Flood Rescue Caught On Tape

The man on the right has just pulled the woman on the
left from a submerged Louisiana car, in a still
from the dramatic video in this post. Her dog was
also saved.  

The epic flooding in Louisiana over the past few days has claimed three lives, though 1,000 or so people were rescued.

One of the most dramatic rescues was caught on video: Rescuers on a boat came to a nearly submerged car. You can hear a woman inside yelling, "I'm drowning! I'm drowning."

The rescuers frantically try to break car windows and rip the convertible top off the car as it sinks.

Finally, the car completely submerges, but at the last second one of the rescuers pulls the woman - alive -- out of the car via the convertible top, which the men have ripped apart with a knife.

Bonus: They initially tell the woman her dog had been swept away, but then you see a rescuer has actually grabbed the dog and it survives, too.

You have to see this dramatic video:

Spectacular Ice Bridge Collapse in Patagonia

An ice bridge collapses spectacularly at a
Patagonian glacier recently. 

Viral video is circulating this week of a huge ice bridge collapsing at a glacier in the Patagonia area of Argentina.

The video, which you can see below, is quite spectacular. It's worth the watch.

Collapsing glaciers really are stock footage when people want to illustrate the effects of climate change, but in this case, climate change has nothing to do with the drama.

Instead, the glacier advances over Lake Argentina, damming it. The water eventually   tunnels beneath the glacier, forming a giant ice bridge.

The water continues to erode the ice under the bridge until it can no longer support its own weight. Then it collapses in dramatic fashion as you see in the video.

The process at this particular glacier repeats itself roughly once every four years, give or take.

Here's the video:

Why Are These Truckers Driving Into A Tornado?

Two tractor trailers drive into a tornado
near Eolio, Missouri Sunday. Photo by Kholby Martin.  

Yesterday, there were severe thunderstorms and tornados in and around the St. Louis metro area.

Storm chaser Kholby Martin captured one of the tornados crossing a highway near Eolio, Missouri.

Granted, it wasn't the strongest and most visible tornado in the world, but to anyone traveling along the highway, you can tell there was trouble ahead.  

So in the video you see below, why did two tractor trailor drivers keep going down the road right into the tornado instead of stopping and letting it cross?

One of the trucks went off the road because of the tornado, and the other came THIS CLOSE to tipping over.

Somebody really could have gotten hurt, and it would have taken only a minute to stop and let the tornado cross. Another video I saw of the same tornado taken from the opposite side showed cars stopping to let the twister pass.

Anyway, here's the video:

Crazy Guy Films Mexican Tornado Amid Giant Razor Blade Sheet Metal

Aftermath of Chiapas, Mexico tornado.
Note all the sheet metal that had flown around. 

A video has emerged of a tornado that struck Chiapas State, Mexico a couple months back.

Don't try this at home, kiddies!

The guy filming inside the tornado is amid flying sheet metal.

I really don't think I'd be outside with what are essentially giant razor blades flying around at 100 mph or so.

Still, quite an incredible video. Watch:

More Big Hailers In The Year Of The Hailstorm. Wild Videos!

More videos continue to come in from all over the world of incredible, dramatic hailstorms. Such an icy spring and summer:

Here's a beach scene in Siberia. It was awfully hot for Siberia recently, drawing a big crowd to the sand and water. Then this happened, as you can see in this video which has gone totally viral:  (Ouch!)



Next, we go to Cheyenne, Wyoming, just after a HUGE hail storm that made the city look like early spring: White ground looking snow covered, with lots of street flooding from rain and melting "snow." Of course, it's an incredible amount of hail. Watch:


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In one Spanish town on July 3, there was so much hail they had to call out the snowplows and find some snow shovels to deal with inches or even feet of hail that piled up:

Dramatic Italy Tornado Video Shows Why Being Near Windows During A Tornado Is A Bad Idea

The United States isn't the only place beset by destructive tornadoes lately.

Right before the windows broke during an Italian
tornado this week.  

One tore through Italy this week, and hit an office building as a worker filmed the twister.

He and other workers got away from the windows at the last second, sparing themselves some serious injuries.

Yes, folks. Stay away from windows during a tornado.

Still, the footage is dramatic. Watch:

Forest Fire Terror: A Firenado

The Rocky Mountain states aren't the only areas on fire in the United States at the moment. There are some big forest fires going on in Alaska, too.

The big forest fire in Alaska  

Which resulted in the dramatic video in this post. It was taken from a plane flying at an elevation of about 1,900 feet above the fire.

The video shows basically a fire tornado. There are videos out there of these tight whirlwinds of fire in these conflagrations. But this fire whirl is essentially of the same scope and strength of one of those really big tornadoes you see in the Midwest every spring.

Here's a description from the Alaska Department of Forestry's Facebook page:

This footage was taken on August 16, 2013, on the Tetlin Junction Ridge Fire burning in the Tok area. The Alaska Division of Forestry firefighter that captured the footage has never seen anything like it in his 20 years of firefighting. It is the kind of fire behavior you hear about but can't really believe. "A picture probably is worth a thousand words, but there are indeed times when a picture just doesn't do it justice. I've never seen anything like it until now." - Tim Whitesell. Thanks to Tim and the pilot Doug Burts (together serving as an Aerial Supervision Module) for sharing this footage.

The type of fire tornado that you see in this video often are powerful enough to blow down trees before the fire gets to it. I imagine the winds associated with this Alaska fire tornado exceeded 100 mph.

As you can see, this fire was in a very remote area. Can you imagine if a fire tornado like this tore its way into a town?

Here's the vid: