Friday, February 21, 2014

Today we’re experiencing a very windy, but sunny day.  The temperature has topped out in the mid 40s, cooler than yesterday’s mid 60s.  I can notice that the lane and farm lot have settled a good bit, for the soil is not as soft, nor is there as much water on the surface.

We had a big storm go through last night.   It was the day for our twice-a-month Bible study group which we call the “Grace and Peace” group.   As the evening approached, we were under a ‘tornado watch’, but the group assembled here at 7pm, and we began our time together.  Just about 20 minutes into our discussion of Chapter 4 of 1 Peter, many of our phones sounded a strong alarm.  The tornado ‘watch’ had been upgraded to a ‘tornado warning’.

Because of our collective experience with these types of warnings, we immediately offered a prayer and then everyone took off for home.  Everyone made it home safely.  Pat and I took our radio and flashlight and phones to the basement at home.  We monitored the storm’s progress from there.  We listened with great interest as the tornado moved from south of Vincennes to near Monroe City and Wheatland.  The wind had a definite ‘roar’ in it.  A brief but heavy rain brought about 0.8″ (21mm) of precipitation.  As best as I can determine, this one missed us by just a few miles to our south and east.  Later, it moved on into Daviess and then Greene counties.  The ‘all clear’  for us came about 820 pm.

Inspecting the exterior of our home this morning, I found that there were no shingles missing from the roof.  There are many small tree limbs littering our yard.  And our flag on the grain elevator is severely shredded.  It will be replaced ASAP.

See what last night’s storm did to Old Glory?

The relief is that there is no structural damage here to repair.  We are grateful to have missed the worst effects of this storm, but we share our concern and prayers for those who were not so fortunate.