Another nasty winter storm hits my area!

The same nasty winter storm that has crawled across the southeast for days finally made it to my area of North Carolina on Monday.  The same winter storm that drove major cities like Atlanta into a frenzy this past Sunday, complete with snow and sleet and freezing rain, arrived here like a lamb on Monday afternoon.  But as soon as night fell, that gentle lamb turned into a ferocious lion and brought my area to a virtual standstill.  Hour by hour, the storm grew heavier with snow that was topped by sleet.  All of this while the temperature hovered around 27, 28 degrees.

Here's one of the pictures I made of the snow while it was pouring down later in the evening.  I just had to share it since it looked so cool.  Check out the streaks from the snow during the photo exposure.  Impressive I think.

Winter drags on.

Check out the first Spring storm of 2010!

The first spring storm of 2010 hit here on Sunday night. While most people here were expecting a rain event, that soon changed.


The day was miserable anyway, cloudy and rainly the entire day long. But as the day turned into night, severe weather watches and warnings popped up all around the area. First came the flash flood warnings. Then came thunderstorm warnings which turned into tornado watches. Then after 7 o'clock, the first tornado warning was issued for Reidsville. I hate tornado watches and warnings anyway, but they bother me more when they come after dark. Thank goodness for my severe weather alert radio.

In the picture above, you see how the creek normally looks behind my house. This picture is a good representation of how it looks year round. This is the same creek that is the primary source of water for my honey bees. The stand that holds the hive is about 15-feet from the bank of the creek so it is very easy for my colony to access water all year. I made this picture just a few months ago.

Here is the creek at 7:30 on Sunday night, March 28th. This was around the time the first tornado warning was issued for my county because a tornado was sighted on National Weather Service radar a few miles out of town. I went out and put a heavy paving stone on top of my bee hive to keep it from blowing and I snapped this picture of the creek. As you can see, the rain was falling so hard, you can see the raindrops in front of the lens as I snapped the picture. Pay attention to how close the water is to the fresh water pipe that crosses the creek. This would soon change.

Here is the creek at 8:20 on Sunday night, 50-minutes later. As you can see, the pipe is completely gone now, covered up by flood water. I snapped this picture quickly because rain was pouring down and it was lightning pretty bad. Not long after this, a second storm system made its way over my area and the National Weather Service issued a second tornado warning. But we were lucky that the warning diminished quickly. But the rain didn't diminish because at one time it was raining so hard...I had to turn the television up.

Here in my city and county, we were rather fortunate that we didn't suffer serious injuries and damages. But to the south and southwest of us, people reported minor injuries and losses of homes and cars because of an unconfirmed tornado (unconfirmed as of yet by the National Weather Service). 

We've already had an awful winter with more snow that we've had in many years, and now the first storm of the spring was a doozy too. I'm just hoping that the weather for the rest of the spring and summer won't be foretold by the weather here in the last 24-hours. If so, its going to be a rough season for the bees (and their keepers too).

The clean-up begins after the ice storm...

I feel so much more fortunate than the folks in the northeastern United States who are digging out from under the massive amounts of snow they've received for the last couple of days. While I can empathize, we still have our problems here in my area of North Carolina.

Around 20,000 people in my area are without power, and my own power has gone out twice already this morning. Its all because of a steady rain for two days straight, mixed in with some sleet and spitting snow flurries. Of course, with the ice accumulations comes downed trees and powers lines. Police, EMS, highway crews and power officials are running emergency calls everywhere -- prioritizing the calls by importance. 

The ground here is saturated because of two big snow storms, a rain storm with flooding, and now an ice storm. The wind just has to blow a little bit and down come the trees. And then the ice makes the trees brittle and the ones that don't fall just snap. Same thing with utility poles. They're snapping like twigs. 

Here's some of what I found this morning near my house.

I just happened to ride up on this while running errands. This pole was lying across a very busy residential street near the citys high school, Elk's Lodge and a swim club. An elderly man had his vehicle parked to keep people from running through the power lines in the street. He told me he had been blocking traffic for 30-minutes and no one had showed up to take care of it.

Same pole, different angle. By the time I got home to get my camera and return, city crews had blocked the street with cones. While I was talking to the elderly man blocking the street, he told me that all the utility poles on the street were cracked, but they were still standing for some reason. Whether he knew what he was talking about, I don't know.    

I'm surprised that more of these pine trees didn't fall. This is the entrance to one of the city's more popular summer attractions, the Reidsville Swim Club, and as you can see these trees blocked up the entrance. There may have been more below them, I just didn't want to walk down there to see. The club is directly across the street from the Elk's Lodge where the utility pole snapped in half.

A little closer shot with a better view of the trees at the Swim Club. The county Sheriff, who is a good friend and former co-worker, told me that between 1 o'clock and 5 o'clock on Friday afternoon, they had over 100 trees down across the area, many of them across highways and power lines. That didn't even include what was happening in the cities and towns. And there's no telling how many more there's been since in the last 24-hours, It looks like the clean-up could take weeks instead of days.

So there you have it. That's just a taste of the ice storm that followed on the heels of all the snow and rain we've had here lately. I'm trying to stay positive about all this precipitation and hope that it will make the plant life stronger in the spring and summer. But I have to admit that it is trying my patience. 

Bring on the spring!

Hunkered down honey bees! We're ready for a significant snow event...

Welcome to winter everyone! Okay, I should clarify and say that winter is here in my area now. The first official day of winter on the calendar is three days from now, but that makes no difference to old man winter who has a mind of his own. While other areas of the country have already had a taste of winter weather, my area of North Carolina is currently experiencing the first significant winter event in years. Sure its been cold, but this is the first time that wintry precipitation has hit my area of the state this year. 

Right now, the snowfall amounts vary. Some places are reporting 6 to 8, even 10 inches of snow in my area, and to the west of me in the mountains, they're reporting up to 12+ inches of snow right now. And the wintry weather is not expected to end for another 10 or so hours. The last time we has a simular snow event was back in 2002. 

People from other areas of the country always laugh that Southerners in the United States make a big deal of winter weather...that's because around here...as soon as the forecasters call for snow or ice...people rush out and buy milk and bread like they'll be stuck inside for weeks. What can I say? Its a southern thing! Plus you can always make French toast with all that left-over milk and bread. 

When I checked my hive this week, I noticed that my bees had stopped taking their winter syrup. Even though the weather has been fairly mild up until now, it is evident that my girls have all the winter feed they need, so they stopped taking the syrup. I took the feeder off, dumped the excess syrup, and shut the hive up for the rest of the winter. I looked down into the hive which is completely packed with capped honey, a dark gold color, so they have what they need for now. I'll keep a check on the hive through the rest of the winter to see how their food store is doing, and if needed, I'll start the syrup feeding again. But for now, I'm sure they're all warm and snuggly in their winter cluster deep inside the hive. When I tapped the side and listened with my ear against the lower deep, I heard the steady buzz, so I know they're doing okay.

The picture above, showing my hunkered down hive, was made just after the snow began. The picture to the right was made from my office in downtown Reidsville. As soon as I can get out later, in the daylight, I'll make some more pictures of the area, including of how my bee hive fared in this pretty significant winter weather event for this area.

Oh, and for the first time in forever, the weather forecasters are calling for another snow event here...on Christmas Eve! Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and he may find snow when he comes to the Triad area for Christmas! Gosh..I'm so excited!

More later!