Yes, everybody talks about the weather all year round so this is my turn, at least my late spring discussion…
Having lived here on this hill for almost 27 years I've been exposed to a wide range of spring weather and some of it quite severe. I sort of hesitate to write about it because it isn't particularly reassuring to think of the damaging consequences that weather brings or that it might bring. We've had our share of damage over the years in spring, summer, fall and winter; these fields are wind swept and numerous portable shelters have been smashed, bent and/or broken, trees have fallen damaging fences and buildings, we even had a dust devil that flipped a small turkey house! Consequences? We stay alert!
Yesterday's weather, (Saturday June 5 2010) brought the subject into focus; we stayed on alert all day! We woke up to thunder and rain. It was not really close but the patterns change and staying alert is always best. Here, modern technology steps in: we can turn on the NOAA weather radio with a setting that is silent until an alert tone is sent; then the radio alarm screams and we rush to hear the bulletin.
At about 2 PM yesterday a tornado watch was posted for our area. A watch means that conditions are right (or ripe) for whatever – in this case, tornadoes. We really aren't used to such things here in Maine but we do know they happen and they are usually spawned within severe thunderstorms.
We did what we could to prepare but, how does one prepare for an event that causes 100 foot trees to fly out of the ground and twists everything everywhere?
And so, we wait and watch. At around 5 PM severe thunderstorm warnings began, and very quickly, a tornado warning was sounded for what seemed like the South Paris and Lewiston-Auburn area. That's about 50 miles from here; not really far when storms are moving. The line predicted for these storms didn't seem as though it would cause us a problem but still…
The tornado watch was posted until 10 PM. We continued to stay on the alert. Cattle in the pasture, our donkey, 21 pigs, over 200 chickens and almost 100 turkeys; all of their lives depended on our vigilance. Sometimes spring and summer storms can cause power outages for days, can we keep the brooder warm? The incubator warm? The water supply functioning?
Will we have tree damage? Fence damage? Loose animals scared because of an event? This isn't a movie; this is real.
The system passed last night. It did not visit our Farm and we are thankful. What does today bring from mother Nature?
posting from Emma's Family Farm,
Windsor Maine;
Steve Hoad
See what we're doing on the Farm at
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