Derecho Awareness

 I recall the moment when the word "derecho" actually became meaningful for me - and that was on August 10, 2020, when a record setting derecho blew through the state of Iowa.  Prior to that day, I may have heard the term, but it did not really have much meaning for me.  And, I think many others could say the same thing.

That storm stayed well south of our farm.  Something we are grateful for.  And, of course, at the same time we feel sadness for all who were adversely affected.  We saw damage that I have to admit we had seen before.  But, never so much of it over such a broad expanse of land.  This wasn't like the path of a tornado, which is typically fairly narrow and rarely on the ground for long.  This was like a whole heard of tornadoes marching side by side for mile after mile.

It was awe inspiring and absolutely horrible.

Since that time, we witnessed a December derecho in 2021.  December?!?  We also experienced some straight-line winds last summer that were derecho-like in our area.  The catch was that it didn't travel far enough to qualify. 

Look, I wasn't actually disappointed by that.  We did not NEED to have another go at it.  But, of course, we did just this past week.  

The good news for us is that we were at the tail end of the storm and did not experience the worst it could bring in our area.  But, South Dakota sure got blown around a bit by it!

One key difference between the 2020 derecho and the December 2021 & July 2022 derechos is simply this.  More people know what a derecho is and what it can do.  Forecasters are much more willing to call it for what it is with the confidence that at least people in Iowa are going to take it seriously.  And that is a blessing.  The number of stories we have heard told by people caught outside of shelter by the 2020 storm is enough that we can barely believe there weren't many, many injuries and deaths.

In fact, I was aware of the possibility that we were in line for this last storm HOURS before it actually got here.  Similarly, we had lots of warning for the December storm.  I could spend time on the farm preparing.  Objects that could become projectiles could be moved inside buildings, things could be tied down.  

And you could spend a good chunk of the day getting all hyped up because of the big, bad storm coming to try to blow your house down.

This time around, the Genuine Faux Farm got some wind and heavy rain, but we didn't have to do much clean-up.  Again, we are grateful.  

The hens are grateful too. 

Why?  Well, they did not want to go into their building when the farmer went out to try and get all of the critters to take shelter.  Eventually, he decided HE wanted to be in a safe place and it was THEIR problem if they wanted to be out in it all.  Once the main storm had passed, I went out to check on them and found them all in their building.  Safe and very, very wet - and maybe a bit windblown.  

Ok, I think they were all there.  I can't vouch for the fact that none of them took an extended flight with the storm as it continued south and east.  I'm just not willing to try to count the hens to find out.  I mean, have you ever tried to count hens when they are milling around?

One, two, three, four... um... fivesixseveneight... no... I counted you.  Rats.  One, two......

Here's hoping you also fared well through the storm and that your feathers, while ruffled briefly, have once again reordered themselves.