National News

[deeky]

It's not often Sioux Falls, SD makes the national news. Turns out, this is the first time school has been called of two days in a row since the smallpox epidemic. The ice started building yesterday. Tonight we are supposed to get 6-10 inches of snow and then winds up to 30 mph. Here's where we sit so far:

Power lines coming into the house. You can see they are at least triple their normal size. Not sure what is happening that ice has actually rotated around the wires.

IMG_2176a by breckmiller, on Flickr

It was a good shade tree.

IMG_2199a by breckmiller, on Flickr

Between our house and the neighbors.

IMG_2215a by breckmiller, on Flickr


IMG_2223a by breckmiller, on Flickr

Our house.

IMG_2219a by breckmiller, on Flickr

Looking down the sidewalk.

IMG_2220a by breckmiller, on Flickr


The trees popping sound like gunshots in the neighborhood, so it is a little eerie. So far only a little gutter damage to our house, but not all have been so lucky. I went out to check the roof before bed last night and took a branch to the back of the head. I was literally diving for the garage, but didn't quite make it. 10 staples and a few ibuprofen later, things are relatively fine. Ironically, there were no branches even on the roof. I've been pretty gun-shy today when outside.

I was looking forward to getting some good, rare shots of the ice. Funny how a blow to the head takes the fun out of it.

Just thought I would share our excitement.

 

[mishele]

Holy hell, I'm glad you're ok!! That looks crazy! Stay safe.

 

[Derrel]

Dude--a branch to the head...wow...lucky it was just a branch and not a limb!!! Big "silver thaws" like that (that's what we call 'em out west here) are very destructive on hardwood trees...and phone lines...

Thanks for the post....I had no idea about either the pox nor the weather there. You got some good shots of the destruction.

 

[SCraig]

Yeah, I remember that situation. Tennessee doesn't often get weather like that either, however we had an ice storm back in the late 70's that was very similar. The power lines had that triple-diameter look to them, and eventually started coming down as the ice grew. My Father-in-law lived about 20 miles outside of town and his power was off for a couple of weeks until they finally got around to fixing it. Luckily his water came from a well and his heat from wood stoves.

I ran a survey crew at the time, and well remember walking through the woods and hearing the tree limbs break. It does most assuredly sound like a gunshot.

I can sympathize although the memory is from long ago. Be safe and stay warm.

 

[Ron Evers]

That is very sad to see.

A number of years ago we had something similar here @ thanksgiving which here in the great white north is in October & leaves were still on the trees. The devastation was something cruel.

 

[sm4him]

Having had a tornado (albeit an F1)rip through close to my home two years ago, I can definitely sympathize with the destruction, and the "gunfire" sound of limbs falling everywhere! Fortunately, I wasn't home (was at church, choir practice) when the tornado hit, so I didn't HEAR the sound of grapefruit-sized hail breaking every storm window on the front side of my house. I used to LOVE a good thunderstorm; now I get this weird little nervous twitch every time severe weather hits.

Glad you're relatively okay--that could have been far, far worse for you!

Gotta say: I'm a southern girl. Every year, I wonder if I'll actually make it through another winter. If I were facing weather like THAT right, I think I'd go outside and stand under whatever tree seems to be losing the most limbs and HOPE that one of them would fall and just take me out, because I couldn't take any more cold, ice or snow than I've already seen this year.

I very nearly made it through this entire post without mentioning that it was 84 degrees F here today.