Here comes the next round...for the second afternoon in a row, strong thunderstorms swept through the Union County on Monday. Strong storms also happened Sunday afternoon. The storms were accompanied by strong winds, lightning, thunder and very heavy rain. Power outages were reported on both days in parts of the county. The photograph was taken Monday afternoon in Anna.News...right around the corner...a very large tree limb not far from the front porch came down in Monday’s stormy weather. Crews were on hand to take care of the damage.

'If outdoors...consider seeking shelter...'

Please Read This...

Once again...so many things to ponder...and so little time...

First up...a message to drivers from an Old Guy who gets Grumpy about such things:

PUT YOUR PHONE DOWN. PUT BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL.

That is all... 

Meanwhile...

...let’s ponder a couple of numbers...

81...81...we’ll come back to them in just a bit...

Last Sunday afternoon, at about 2 o’clock or so, the fancy high-tech doodad we have on the front porch to show such things informed me that the temperature was 91 degrees. The doodad also shows the humidity. For some reason, I did not look at the reading for humidity. I’m not sure seeing the number would have mattered. I can tell you that it pretty much was miserable outside. 

I had gone out on the porch in what proved to be an unsuccessful attempt to do some reading. I sat in our bought-it-at-an-auction wooden rocking chair for a little while. A breeze was blowing, like it always seems to do now. It didn’t long for me to figure out that reading and sitting on the front porch were not going to be complementary...

So,  I went back into our climate controlled abode and continued to do some reading. The effort was somewhat successful...in that I managed to actually read a few pages of a book in between dozing off. Hey, it was Sunday afternoon. Nice time for a nap.

At some point, it seemed like things were getting darker. And, indeed, they were. I looked outside and could what looked to be the potential for another round of stormy weather in our little corner of the world.

Since the hot sun had gone behind the clouds, I thought it might be a good time to get in a daily walk. I checked the weather radar online and the situation looked OK. So, I headed out the door.

As I started my walk, I kept an eye on the sky to the south. I had gone about a block or so and looked at the sky again. Mother Nature appeared to be offering me a bit of a hint. As in “you might want to head back home or you are going to get very, very wet.” I headed back home. 

Minutes later, our latest round of heavy rain, gusty winds, lightning and thunder arrived. I checked online for a weather update. The National Weather Service office in Paducah reported at 2:47 p.m. Sunday that “A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL IMPACT UNION COUNTY THROUGH 330 PM CDT.” Yup. 

The weather service also advised readers: “If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.” Since the message was not in capital letters, I did the only sensible thing. I went back outside, sat down on our porch swing and watched the storm, which really didn’t last all that long.

Sunday’s stormy weather caused our power to flicker. The same thing happened Monday afternoon, when some more stormy weather arrived. That seems to be the way things are going these days.  

Oh...about the numbers 81 and 81...

...those are our “magic” numbers for this week. They represent the temperature and the humidity on our front porch shortly after 5 o’clock last Sunday evening. Summer had unofficially arrived a few days early. The “official” first day of summer is Thursday, June 20...as in today. Stay cool...

 

The Gazette-Democrat

112 Lafayette St.
Anna, Illinois 62906
Office Number: (618) 833-2158
Email: news@annanews.com

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