“Whether the weather be fine, Whether the weather be not, Whether the weather be cold, Whether the weather be hot, We’ll weather the weather, Whatever the whether, whether we like if or not” unknown
I have not been able to find who said those wise tongue twisting words but they seemed very appropriate to me after the weather events of Friday. This quote started playing in my head Friday evening as I sat and watched the storm roll through Bruce while I was glued to my computer screen watching the radar updates from the National Weather Service and sending in my reports of rainfall amounts and wind speeds.
Meteorologists will never solve the mysteries of weather until they can gain an understanding of the mutual attraction of rain and events and weekends. Stormy weather and special events go together like hotdogs and mustard, apple pie and ice cream, summertime and NASCAR. You get the idea. Such was the case with Friday nights Relay for Life.
The ever changing unpredictability of the weather is one of the things that has always fascinated me. I have been so fascinated by it that in the last few years when I found out that I could take training with the National Weather Service and get certified to be a SkyWarn Weather Spotter, I jumped at the chance. I went and took the initial training and then the follow up classes on identifying the clouds and how to report the
co-ordinates and what types of pictures to document weather events that the NWS wants.
I don’t usually have to ‘chase’ a storm. I am usually just ambling along and the storm ‘finds’ me.
I have never been one to think that bad weather always looks worse through the window. I’m usually out in it looking up like a gawking chicken saying stupid things like, “why is that cloud moving in a circle and what are those little finger like things coming out of it?” Ask my mother about the day I was standing on the top of my van in the parking lot of our business in Tupelo looking right up the gullet of a tornado that was forming. I was totally enthralled with the ominous beauty of the cloud. I did finally heed her warning and run for cover. The damage that little whip of a tornado did was amazing.
Friday morning I was in Tupelo ‘putting out a fire’ so to speak, at a store putting together a last minute display. I ran a few errands and headed back home at 2:30. The sun was out and the sky was that pure intense Cerulean blue that usually precedes an impending storm. I checked my phone and saw the text message from the NWS that all storm spotters were activated for the evening.
The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it. I called in to tell them I had gotten the message and I asked what was going on. I had just crossed the Calhoun County line and the weather was dramatically changing before my eyes.
The sun was blocked by black roiling clouds. The cloud to ground lighting strikes were a bit too close for my comfort. When one hits and all you see is bright light and hear the sound immediately you know you are at ground zero. A tree exploded on the side of the highway where I had pulled over. The rain was blowing in sheets sideways and the tree tops were moving in a circular motion. Then the hail started. There I was, creeping on toward Bruce looking for a wide open space to stop instead of under the tree shaped lightning rods! I called into the Weather Service and reported the size of the hail. I had to yell over the sounds of the pickup getting pelted by all the hail. When I gave my approximate co-ordinates the meteorologists told me that there were micro bursts in the area and I needed to get out of there. Not wanting to be flattened by an invisible fist of air, I started creeping on home. Thankfully, I moved out of the little event back into the sunshine and made it home only to start waiting for the main event to hit the town square at 5:45.
There is a muscular energy in the sunlight that seems to go hand in hand with the spiritual energy of wind. Only those in tune with nature seem to pick up on the energy in wind. All sorts of things get swept off in the breeze: ghosts of events long past, pieces of soul, voices unsung, thoughts repressed, love uncherished, and thousands galore of spiritual ether. Wind is like an emotional rush because it blows those emotions away; along with your lawn furniture and tents and tree limbs!
Weather is a great metaphor for life - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella or in the case of Friday evenings Relay for Life, pack it up ASAP and go home and reschedule.
The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain and then wait for the rainbow.
Rainbows apologize for angry skies.
