A squall blew through the Twin Cities this afternoon, dumping as much as six inches of rain in one hour — and turning the storm sewers into geysers.
On the plus side? I can probably skip watering the flowers tomorrow.
A squall blew through the Twin Cities this afternoon, dumping as much as six inches of rain in one hour — and turning the storm sewers into geysers.
On the plus side? I can probably skip watering the flowers tomorrow.
HeideBlog 
I had the same thought about my flowers.
This looks rather old faithful-ish
That was my thought exactly! I wish I’d been able to roll down my window to record the sound, too — it was really roaring. Hope you didn’t get stuck out there this evening; I really pitied all the folks I saw going into Target Field for the Twins’ game tonight!
It does help to always see the positive side of things, especially ones you cannot change. I wish it would rain here!
Well said, Patti. And i do wish i could send some rain your way, too!
Oh, dear! Nothing like that midwest madness weather-wise. But the geyser storm sewer is truly impressive! Hope the flowers enjoyed the water.
I checked on the flowers this morning and they were all floating around in inner tubes, Mel. 🙂
How are things in your corner of the world? Hopefully a bit less wild — except for the World Cup mania, of course. Keeping my fingers crossed for your adopted country!
Wow. You could send some of that rain to the DC area. We are having a dry spell. 🙂
Ah, Marie … wish I could send it your way! It kept raining all night and now we’re the Land of 1,000,000 Lakes. It’s distressing how wild our weather patterns have been.
wow. rain badly needed here too –
If the geyser is still going I’ll sneak up to it and see if I can score you a few gallons, Beth. 🙂 I really do wish there were a way to share the wealth with our drought-stricken neighbors …
I’m glad you get to rest from some work. It must have been amazing to see that geyser.
It was indeed an impressive sight! I wish I could have recorded the roaring sound of it too, but it was raining too hard to roll down my car window.
At least you got to get a photo.
Exactly! That’s my mantra, exactly. 🙂
Wow, that is one impressive geyser! I hope everyone in the affected area is OK. Too much of a good thing isn’t a good thing.
The impressive thing was that there were geysers like that all the way down this street, JP! I saw two young men (university students, presumably) who were playing in one of the lesser geysers in their swimsuits. I thought about stopping to photograph their antics — though I was a bit worried about accidentally capturing a “natural selection moment,” honestly. But as far as I know no one was injured by the flying manhole covers. As you see, it’s never boring here!
It was torrential! I thought of how I have not used the sprinkler system yet this summer.
Yessir, it has been a great year for gardening in the Land of 10 Million Lakes. 😉
Are the flowers actually still standing?? Amazing amount of water in such a short time! Does that kind of storm happen often in Minnesota summers? Weather is an endlessly interesting topic for humans world wide. Thanks for the great photo!
I am happy to report that the flowers are still standing, Lara! (Doesn’t that sound like the title of a 1960s folk-protest anthem? “The Flowers are Still Standing.” LOL.) All of the mulch got washed away, though, so we’ll need to address that over the weekend. And yes, we get some pretty spectacular summer storms in Minnesota. The worst I remember is the 1987 “superstorm” that dumped almost 10 inches of water in five hours. That was the night my mom and I became friends. 🙂 http://climateapps.dnr.state.mn.us/doc/journal/870723_24_superstorm.htm
How are things in your corner of the world? Hope you’re not back to worrying about wildfires … xx
10in of rain in 5 hours?? My god. I cannot imagine. Did you get photos of the aftermath? – There are a lot of wildfires here in CA, yes. Seems early for them “/ Usually it’s the early fall that brings them, but it’s hot and dry here now, and nature will do what it wants. Grateful to be doing well thus far! – Experiencing a trauma, hardship, or any acute experience together can certainly bring people closer, or tear them apart. I’m glad you and your mother gained in friendship from that 1987 torrent –
Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of the 1987 flood because I was too busy trying to bail out the basement, which cracked and flooded with maybe a foot of muddy water. My mom and I worked for what seemed like hours, carrying water up the steps in pots and dumping it outside. We must have been delusional from the shock of coming home to a crumbling foundation, because there was no way we were going to make a dent in that water! And THAT is how we became friends: shared hardship, as you observed.
But so sorry to have my worst fears confirmed that you’re already dealing with wildfires. I sure hope the weather pattern will shift soon and that you and yours will always be far from danger. As you say, nature will do what it wants. It’s a humbling reminder that we’re not in charge.
Yes, nature is terribly humbling. It’s too bad humans seem to need that ongoing reminder. Or we receive it even if we don’t need it 😉 I would’ve started trying to bail out the basement, too!. I’m proactive myself ; p even though retrospectively sometimes realize the action was not the most optimal, lol.
“I’m proactive myself even though retrospectively sometimes realize the action was not the most optimal, lol.” It’s as if you’ve summed up my entire life, Lara! HAHA!
Hah! Most excellent ; p
I’ve never seen anything like this – wild! Thanks for sharing.
I’d never seen one this spectacular either, V.J. In retrospect, my husband and I think it was due to major road construction down the street — where maybe the main storm sewer was blocked. Whatever the cause, it was spectacular!
Oh, my goodness. Epic shot!
Thank you! And it’s no exaggeration to say that the shot doesn’t do the moment justice.
Yea, I bet!
Lovely!
Thank you!
…assuming your flowers/garden weren’t washed away.
That’s amazing. Our sewers just block and roads flood during heavy rain. I’ve not seen a geyser like this before in response to heavy rain.
My husband figured out that the geysers were probably due to the sewers being closed off by construction down the road. It was impressive, but probably not a sight I want to see regularly. (We’ve had flooding too, as you describe — and that’s bad enough, thank you very much.)
Ha! I like your, ‘cup-half-full’ attitude about the storm. That geyser must have really been something to see ! 😮 Holy smokes, quite the storm. We’ve had a fair bit of that this week too. Thunder, lightning, pummelling hail and torrential rains. Knock-wood, so far, nothing dire in our home. What ever happened to soft rain for a couple of days? Always with the drama
xk
Always with the drama! So well said. 🙂 Although I do love some meteorological drama (inevitable in Minnesota), sometimes Mother Nature goes a wee bit overboard. Still, like you, I’m counting myself lucky that so far we’ve had nothing too dire close to home. May the odds continue to be ever in our favor! 😉 Thank you so much for stopping by … it’s always lovely to hear from you. xx
What a gorgeous shot…But also yikes! At least you don’t have to water the flowers! Lol. ❤
HAHAHAAA! Nope, I didn’t have to water anything for about *a week* after that monsoon! Now it’s getting a bit dry and the farmers could use a good soaking, though. It’s always something, isn’t it? 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by!
I mean if you are short on water I am sure New York can share the wealth ;p We have been getting soaked non stop! Anytime sweets! ❤
Very kind of you to offer — but New York should send its excess water to Arizona. If we get desperate here we can tap one of our 10,000 lakes. 🙂
Wow! Great shot but omg!
Can you imagine being the person in the car next to this thing? (OMG would be the least of my utterances!) xo
;-0
I have never seen anything like this. Quite astonishing. But then you had quite some rain, too, back then. Great photo.
I’d never seen anything like this either, Otto! Through the power of deduction my husband determined that it was probably caused by some road construction a few blocks away that temporarily closed off the sewers, giving the water no place to go but up. It gave us a whole new respect for properly engineered storm sewers!