It was kind of a strange night... the winds picked up as it got dark out. There wasn't supposed to be lightening, but my cell phone lit up again and again with new warnings.
Lightening strike 1 mile from your location.
Tornado watch until 11 PM. [Tornadoes actually happened, but not where I am]
High Winds Warning
Severe Thunderstorm Warning
I think my Weather Bug app just kept them coming. 7 notifications at one time.
I didn't really need my cell phone to tell me that something was going on. I only had to listen and look out the porch window. I could hear the howling of the wind above us and gusts of wind hitting the house.
I listened carefully. There are two tree west of our house that need to be taken down. Had the winds hit in July while they were full of leaves it would have been a different story. I'm positive the trees would have come down or portions of them would have hit the house.
At 5AM, it was 55 degrees here. Within two hours it has dropped to 30 degrees and the winds are still gusting to 45 mph. I think this is called a Flash Freeze. But at least we didn't have rain to go with it.
Finally it is just beginning to get light. I can see the mules and they are standing quietly in the shelter of the hillside. So far so good. I can see a bucket that somehow got blown up the hill to the north. Branches from the pines are scattered in random patterns across different sections of the yard. Some are scattered to the south east in complete opposition to the direction of the wind gusts.
There is a downspout that is not where it is supposed to be and a piece of sheet metal that moved from the junk pile to the outdoor hydrant.
The mules will have to wait for their breakfast until the winds die down a bit or their hay will be blown away.
I wonder how many folks lost outdoor Christmas Decorations, you know, like those blow up Santas?