Sunday, July 24, 2005
Caught off Guard
We experienced our second monsoon yesterday evening around 6 PM. The Bs were playing in the pool, and I was napping on a chaise. I heard Big B go "Uh. Honey?" When I opened my eyes, I saw a huge wall of dust coming for us over the top of the building. Time to go! Right away the wind was fierce. The two other families at the pool were yelling and gathering their things as fast as they could. One poor little girl was really scared. She was running around crying. As the boys got out of the pool, I was scrambling to grab our towels and flip flops before they blew into the pool. The chaise started to move across the deck. It is incredible how things can go from completely still and calm to tornado-like in a matter of seconds. You may be thinking, "Dummies! Didn't they see that coming?" Well, I was napping, but I can vouch for the others that the answer is "NO." It really comes up THAT fast.
Once we got everything gathered, we walked as quickly as we could back to our apartment. I felt like Dorothy...you know the part where she's got her little basket and the tornado is whipping up her skirt and making it difficult for her to walk? At least she had her hair in braids, because mine was acting like a blindfold. Not knowing how bad the winds were going to get or how thick the dust would be, I was shaking a little. We got back into the apartment just in time to watch a lot of the patio furniture, which is heavy and made of metal, scrape across the deck and take a dive into the pool. I went out on the balcony to take some pictures, which I later found out was a mistake because my lungs were coated with dust.
Here's the dust cloud as it made it's way over our apartment building. Pretty ominous, huh? (You'll also notice the chair near the edge of the right side of the pool.)
After the dust cloud came the rain cloud. At first the rain was pretty light. Like a moderate So Cal winter rain.
The sky looked nuts!
Then came the rain...the real rain. It DUMPED! (Notice how some of the patio furniture is gone?)
I walked around the front of the building to check things out. The street was flowing like a river, and the poor trees were bent over so far they were nearly at a 90º angle! I also took video of this, which is much more spectacular.
Back inside, here's my stepson watching the show. He said "I think I see a fish moving." I guess he thought that the monsoon brought so much water that it must have brought fish to Lake Villa Pallavicini.
After all the rain came a spectacular lightening storm. The monsoon ended up being nothing more than an inconvenience, as we had planned to go out to dinner. The show was worth it, though! I'm not sure when we can expect to see our next monsoon, but the weather reports show storms for the next couple of days.
Once we got everything gathered, we walked as quickly as we could back to our apartment. I felt like Dorothy...you know the part where she's got her little basket and the tornado is whipping up her skirt and making it difficult for her to walk? At least she had her hair in braids, because mine was acting like a blindfold. Not knowing how bad the winds were going to get or how thick the dust would be, I was shaking a little. We got back into the apartment just in time to watch a lot of the patio furniture, which is heavy and made of metal, scrape across the deck and take a dive into the pool. I went out on the balcony to take some pictures, which I later found out was a mistake because my lungs were coated with dust.
Here's the dust cloud as it made it's way over our apartment building. Pretty ominous, huh? (You'll also notice the chair near the edge of the right side of the pool.)
After the dust cloud came the rain cloud. At first the rain was pretty light. Like a moderate So Cal winter rain.
The sky looked nuts!
Then came the rain...the real rain. It DUMPED! (Notice how some of the patio furniture is gone?)
I walked around the front of the building to check things out. The street was flowing like a river, and the poor trees were bent over so far they were nearly at a 90º angle! I also took video of this, which is much more spectacular.
Back inside, here's my stepson watching the show. He said "I think I see a fish moving." I guess he thought that the monsoon brought so much water that it must have brought fish to Lake Villa Pallavicini.
After all the rain came a spectacular lightening storm. The monsoon ended up being nothing more than an inconvenience, as we had planned to go out to dinner. The show was worth it, though! I'm not sure when we can expect to see our next monsoon, but the weather reports show storms for the next couple of days.
# posted by Kristen–well minded @ 8:04 AM 
