$1.949

Finally, the weather is a’ churning.

After promises of storms on the coast two weeks ago, and promises of storms here this weekend, it finally looks as though we may have storms tonight. Listening to AM radio on the way home, you could hear the crackle of the lightning, and looking at the maps leads me to believe we’ve got big stuff building.

Now, the challenge may be that we are on the SW edge of the system, so our exposure may be kinda limited. Still, it’d be great to see some of God’s electrical work this evening. I really do enjoy it!

Why do I care? I wanna shoot some lightning! I’ve been skunked this year, with only one decent storm to shoot, and I can hear my 20D calling out to the lightning bolts, daring them to present themselves.

C’mon storms, c’mon lightning!

This morning, we awoke to two inches of snow. Somewhat unexpected, since there was only call for a trace overnight. I would imagine this is the last real snow of the season.

The world was beautiful with this quiet layer of heavy, wet snow shrouding everything in the silence that is winter. I grabbed my camera, grabbed some images from the house, and threw my gear in the truck, shooting images as I drove down the backroads to work.

Along the way, the trees were glistening as the sun came up, and made for such a beautiful scene. I’m glad I was up to see it, for by lunch, it had all melted, and by the evening drive, there was no sign at all that a beautiful snowfall had graced us early this morning.

Here in Saint Louis, it’s been raining. And raining. And raining. And raining.

Monday, it was 2.5″ of rain. Yesterday, 1.5″, and today it has rained another 2.5″. All with the temperature mockingly close to freezing — mostly in the mid to upper 30s, and occassional incursions into the 40s. We’ve had almost 7″ of rain here in the last three days — we average about 38″ annually — and it won’t end until sometime tonight or tomorrow.

How much snow would this have been? Four to six feet. Feet. I can’t even conceive of that much snow, having only ever seen 24″ on the ground at one time. That was 1993 or 1994 in Chattanooga — an amazing place to see that much snow! — which exceeded anything I saw in seven years in Omaha.

The drive in and back from work was nasty…. if you were in a car. My truck had no problems, and frankly, it was a lot of fun to splash about on the drowned roads. There’s lots of field flooding that crossed the roads, and there wasn’t a low valley I saw on my drive that wasn’t full of water. Daily, I have to dodge deer on my way to and from work. Today, I dodged fish! 😉

And that’s a fine sentiment….. except that it’s not happening here. Points south and east of us got a foot of snow last night, and are bearing up for another foot of snow tonight. Two feet of snow!

While I love the snow, the down side is that we may have to drive through the dregs of the storm on Friday when we go to Mom’s. I guess I’ll need to collect a snowball or two and wing them at her when we get there! 🙂

Today, Ivan hit the southern gulf coast, and once again, I am hearing the names of places I’ve lived and worked devastated by Mother Nature.

And right behind that is Jeanne, and right behind that is the makings of Karl.

I can’t help but wonder if we aren’t doing something that is tipping the scales in favor of these big, monster storms dancing from Africa to North America.

Tonight’s sunset was beautiful, though, with the northwestern most limb of Ivan in our sky. No devastation here in Missouri, but I do feel for the folks in the South who are having to live through another round of hurricane remnants.

It looks like Jamaica was spared a direct hit by Ivan, and that is good news. It’s almost as though the island put up a shield and bounced the hurricane along the southern coast, until it cleared Negril, and continued its trek toward Cuba.

So, what made it do that? Water temperatures, maybe? I’m pretty sure there’s reefs around the island, and that could make for different water temperature.

Could it be winds blowing off the Blue Mountains? Dunno, but that could influence the storm’s path.

Regardless, the island still took on 155+ mph winds, and I’m sure it’ll be a disaster, but I’m equally sure that it’ll be less harmful than a direct hit.

Last night, Beck said prayers for the folks we met down, especially Faye whom we’ve seen on both trips. Kinda looks like they were answered.

Tonight, my lovely Jamaica is going to be bashed to bits — literally — by Hurricane Ivan. This is the third monster storm to walk through the Caribbean in the last month. Like the Charlie and Frances before it, Ivan also has a taste for Florida, and will likely strike an already battered Sunshine State around Monday.

I hate to think of Jamaica taking that hit though. Ivan is carrying sustained 145 mph winds, and stuff down there just isn’t built to deal with that. I have this horrible, horrible feeling that paradise will be lost for some time.

Now, the other side of this event is that a month or two from now, it’s likely that there will be some terrific deals trying to entice travellers back to the island. I wouldn’t mind being among them — despite not planning to go back this year. If the deals are terrific, I’d hate to pass them up. I’d guess the target is under $500 for a week (airfare included) at the Riu before I’d be tempted enough to start trying to work a deal.