QOTD: Wed Jul 09: Extreme weather.

[danger_dan]

Flash floods, freak storms, funnel clouds, hail the size of golf balls, ice storms...
Have you witnessed or been in any extreme weather events?
...do you try to help support relief efforts in any way?

[Natalka]

Not really extreme, but I sure remember major hailstorms from when I was a girl. We used to get some really fierce summer storms.

Oh, really major blizzard about six or seven years ago. Regular blizzards aren't unusual, but that one sure was.

[bargain_hunter_lola]

Just the Ice Storm (was that 1998?). We were lucky enough to not lose power so we had a few house guests during that time. lol. I was fairly young so I wasn't really helpful. Just did little things to help out.

Can't think of any other really major weather events.

[MrsSunshine]

When i was a wee lass, i remember a 'near' tornado hitting the campground we were in. our city 'swore' it wasn't one. The 'tin can' aluminum trailer across from us was demolished, behind us as well, tell me we weren't in the middle.
plus the storm of 77 where i my dad had to 'plow' his way across the street to save our neighbours. i had the best snow hill on my front lawn.
those were storms all remember forever.

my dh has predicted this type of weather was coming a few years back. he said you watch were gonna get some crazy a$$ storms etc. he was right.

[Patty Smyth]

Cripes last night I was hanging on to my awnings for dear life in torrential rains and winds. I finally got DH to come out and help me get them down before they ripped to shreds

When I was a kid we went on a cruise and were in a hurricane at mid-sea lol. I remember being one of the only people on the ship who was not seasick.

[ninna]

Haven't witnessed any...and would like to keep it that way too.

I have a terrible fear of tornadoes so the minute the sky looks foreboding, I get ready to dash for the basement.

When I was 11 a tornado hit near the town next to us. I remember the sky turning a real green colour and I was home alone at the time. So I gathered up all my dogs and cats (which were normally "outside" animals because I lived on a farm) and hauled them all down to the basement with me. LOL. I sat down in that wet disgusting basement in the dark for an hour because I was too afraid to go upstairs to check if it was done.

We didn't get a tornado, but the winds were strong enough that they took the topper from my dad's truck and sent it tumbling across the yard and a few evergreen trees were taken down near the house. My dad, on the other hand, was driving home from work in that said town and saw a smallish twister cross the road further ahead.

[Lynn49]

Wow, thank goodness you're all okay! We had very high winds here once that sent a few aluminum tool sheds toppling across lawns, but that's the extent of it.

However, on one of our drives to Florida in March, we were driving through Kentucky just after a major ice-storm had hit. We drove along the highway with huge trees bent over all along both sides of us, all covered in rime frost....it was like driving through an ice tunnel, yet lit up with sunlight...it was so incredibly beautiful...from such a damaging storm. I'll never forget how that felt and what it looked like as we all drove so slowly through it in awe of what nature is capable of producing.

[beckie.c]

I don't even want to say it for fear of jinxing myself, but I've been very very lucky **Knock Wood** the really bad stuff tends to go around us. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've been in a not-so-normal storm, even at that its usually just lots of rain or lots of snow.

Crooked Lake/Round Lake and the Melville area in Saskatchewan ended up with massive flooding, golf-ball/grapefruit sized hail and a tornado all in the last 10 days. Kind of nuts! I've only seen that craziness on friends Facebook pages who live/have cabins in that area.

[toban]

At my parents cabin there was a major windstorm one year. I was standing on the platform, near the dock, underneath a huge old evergreen. When the storm/winds rolled in I ran up the trail to the cabin. Within minutes that huge evergreen crashed down on top of the canoe right near where I was standing just minutes ago. Yikes!

The blizzard of 1997 was bad. It actually shut down the whole city. I was in a restaurant/lounge about a 1/2 mile from my residence. I was actually stuck inside because of the huge snow drifts outside the doors. I spent the night in the bar/restaurant. Everyone continued drinking, eating and laughing away. The guy who owned the place called some of his buddies the following morning, who somehow made it over, with equipment to clear the doorways. I rode home on somebody's snowmobile lol.

[xlxo]

I guess it really depends on where we live, what we are used to. In Vancouver, the great Pacific moderates many weather patterns.

There was the great wind storm of 2006. That took out many trees in Stanley Park. I think it was also the storm that turned our main water reservoir's water muddy for a few weeks. Long lines for bottle water everywhere, hoarding, and some fights at Costco. St Helen's in 1980 was the most recent event, but nearby Mt. Baker lets of some steam every few years. The mountains around Whistler are volcanos.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukka..._storm_of_2006
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_storms_in_Vancouver
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_St._Helens
• http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/baker/

Of course there's the annual classic 3mm of snow that causes transportation chaos, school closures, and many not going to work.

Meanwhile.... we are just waiting for the big earthquake to come... Many don't know it, but Vancouver is surrounded by volcanic activities from Pemberton down to the Oregon Coast.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1700_Cascadia_earthquake

If I hear there's a disaster somewhere that I'm about to vacation, I stay away for at least a month or so waiting for the infrastructure to come back to normal. I prefer Spring and Fall road trips instead of the summer that can mean I'm driving through forest fires. I don't have the skills, nor the interest in competing with the locals for food, water, and shelter. If I want to see how bad it is... just watch the news or look for internet images. I'm glad I left NYC days before Sandy arrived.

In Vancouver, there's actually a volunteer group to train residents to help one another...
http://vancouver.ca/home-property-de...ance-team.aspx

[i_forget]

Lets see, I remember a blizzard when I was like 4 years old-ish....so maybe 81/82?

I remember there being an earthquake in Lake Ontario that shook real hard...I remember my mom thinking that the gas station around the corner must have exploded because things shook THAT hard.

Minor flooding here and there, I live close to a major river, so there is always a lot of flooding around the spring thaw.

There was a really wicked storm last summer where we received downbursts one town over, that was a wild trip, lots of wind damage everywhere.

When I was a kid I was in Florida and there was a hurricane. My best gf was actually in New Orleans during Katrina...said it was pure hell trying to get out of that mess.

I saw a water spout when I was a kid on Lake Erie and a couple years ago I saw a funnel cloud out near Port Dover during a really crazy storm.

I LOVE storms. I find the natural cycle of destruction and renewal fascinating. One day I hope to go to the states and do some storm chasing.

[Shwa Girl]

...do you try to help support relief efforts in any way?

Red Cross Calgary flood, last year.
ING made it easy --> donated through them online

[vesper]

Many tornadoes, a hurricane, snow so deep you can't do anything, floods, but the worst weather condition that stands out, was humidex temps at 55C in Houston for about 10 days straight. It both good and bad. Bad because the heat was unbearable, good because I seen so many women without bras on. Wow that was hot!

[redhdlois]

I remember the night we moved into our home 52 years ago and there was a hurricane.......very unusual for West Vancouver

[spidey46x2]

I have seen a few funnel clouds, but nothing that caused much damage. When I saw the sky turn GREEN, I knew there was something up.

A few years back when we got a band windstorm, I had to take my Golden Retriever pup out to pee. He peed quickly and as I was walking up my back steps, a BBQ flew by!!!
I think I almost peed too. It was so dangerous to be out there. I have seen patio furniture fly around, but a freakin' BBQ!?! Good grief that scared me.