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WONDERFUL storm last night!
Aug. 3rd, 2005 05:22 amAt about 8:15pm, I told my mom that after we finished loading the couch that 'we are going to dinner' in no uncertain terms. We spent the day packing, so this is slightly disjointed, but that's ok.
We went to a nice little Mexican food place on Central just S of Thomas called Jordan's. Hey, it's close, and it's my last night in town! Anyway, monsoon clouds were rolling in when we went in to the restaurant. When we opened the door to leave, there was an almost solid sheet of water outside the door and wind blowing it right in to you.
It was well after closing, the manager had kindly let us in and fed us even though they were technically closed in 5 minutes. He let us exit via the kitchen (shades of Durants) and we made a run for it. I'd put my glasses in my pocket to save them a bit of streaking, I could see well enough to make it to my vehicle, and plowed through the standing puddles, thoroughly soaking my sneakers.
The curious thing was that there was almost zero wind, and though we were only two miles from my condo, no lightning flickers or thunder booms.
My mom and I had come in my Rodeo, my dad and brother in the moving van. Leaving the restaurant, mom & dad took the van to their house, I took my brother to mine so that he could get his truck. Visibility was poor, but as long as you drove slowly, around 25 mph, it wasn't bad. We crossed 7th Ave., all was reasonably well. Driving in the curb lane because I could use the sidewalk as a navigation aid. Visibility had worsened slightly and I couldn't see the striping very well. That's a bit of an overstatement, I was fine in terms of seeing vehicles around me, but I couldn't see the lane lines very well.
I don't recall if I saw the light at 11th Ave., but the power was definitely out in the area. At 15th, it was definitely gone, and a police car pulled up to direct traffic at the intersection. I drove down 18th to drop off my brother, then back up the alley into my complex. Glasses in pocket, walk to my condo. No point in running, there was more than enough cloud glow and lightning to see, no reason to risk tripping and injury.
Fortunately I knew exactly where my computer backpack was, conveniently there was almost nothing left in my condo to trip over or bark shins against. It has a Streamlight flashlight in it – these are the mega-flashlights that a lot of law enforcement uses, mine has been modified by moi to incorporate a red lens assembly that can be flipped away to give white light, very useful and friendly when wandering around an observatory in the wee small hours.
Anyway, nice red light, left clothes hanging on hand trucks, dried off, grabbed laptop and a Michelle Yeoh DVD called Butterfly Sword and started watching it after making a couple of phone calls. Only saw the first half hour before going to sleep.
Well, it's now 5:20. Woke up about an hour ago, power is back on which means bedroom and hall lights are on, ceiling fan is on, etc. Shut them down, decide to look online and see what the storm did, unfortunately the local news conglomerate is, as always, 24 hours behind on news and events. All I can get is the 4am current weather conditions: 74 degrees, 74 degree dew point, 100% humidity, winds SW13, and barometer 29,93. But since they don't indicate if the barometer is rising, falling, or steady, it doesn't really convey any useful information.
Well, I'm going back to sleep. The sky is definitely brightening, I'll have to close my blinds. I'll speak more of my Phoenix Exodus soon.
One final note -- according to news, this is the worst Arizona fire season EVAH. I'm hoping this storm did a good job on it, but I don't know how big it was yet.
We went to a nice little Mexican food place on Central just S of Thomas called Jordan's. Hey, it's close, and it's my last night in town! Anyway, monsoon clouds were rolling in when we went in to the restaurant. When we opened the door to leave, there was an almost solid sheet of water outside the door and wind blowing it right in to you.
It was well after closing, the manager had kindly let us in and fed us even though they were technically closed in 5 minutes. He let us exit via the kitchen (shades of Durants) and we made a run for it. I'd put my glasses in my pocket to save them a bit of streaking, I could see well enough to make it to my vehicle, and plowed through the standing puddles, thoroughly soaking my sneakers.
The curious thing was that there was almost zero wind, and though we were only two miles from my condo, no lightning flickers or thunder booms.
My mom and I had come in my Rodeo, my dad and brother in the moving van. Leaving the restaurant, mom & dad took the van to their house, I took my brother to mine so that he could get his truck. Visibility was poor, but as long as you drove slowly, around 25 mph, it wasn't bad. We crossed 7th Ave., all was reasonably well. Driving in the curb lane because I could use the sidewalk as a navigation aid. Visibility had worsened slightly and I couldn't see the striping very well. That's a bit of an overstatement, I was fine in terms of seeing vehicles around me, but I couldn't see the lane lines very well.
I don't recall if I saw the light at 11th Ave., but the power was definitely out in the area. At 15th, it was definitely gone, and a police car pulled up to direct traffic at the intersection. I drove down 18th to drop off my brother, then back up the alley into my complex. Glasses in pocket, walk to my condo. No point in running, there was more than enough cloud glow and lightning to see, no reason to risk tripping and injury.
Fortunately I knew exactly where my computer backpack was, conveniently there was almost nothing left in my condo to trip over or bark shins against. It has a Streamlight flashlight in it – these are the mega-flashlights that a lot of law enforcement uses, mine has been modified by moi to incorporate a red lens assembly that can be flipped away to give white light, very useful and friendly when wandering around an observatory in the wee small hours.
Anyway, nice red light, left clothes hanging on hand trucks, dried off, grabbed laptop and a Michelle Yeoh DVD called Butterfly Sword and started watching it after making a couple of phone calls. Only saw the first half hour before going to sleep.
Well, it's now 5:20. Woke up about an hour ago, power is back on which means bedroom and hall lights are on, ceiling fan is on, etc. Shut them down, decide to look online and see what the storm did, unfortunately the local news conglomerate is, as always, 24 hours behind on news and events. All I can get is the 4am current weather conditions: 74 degrees, 74 degree dew point, 100% humidity, winds SW13, and barometer 29,93. But since they don't indicate if the barometer is rising, falling, or steady, it doesn't really convey any useful information.
Well, I'm going back to sleep. The sky is definitely brightening, I'll have to close my blinds. I'll speak more of my Phoenix Exodus soon.
One final note -- according to news, this is the worst Arizona fire season EVAH. I'm hoping this storm did a good job on it, but I don't know how big it was yet.
