Mena took a direct hit last night

Three dead, so far due to tornado

I thought of Sean (and Sean)

On storm stories, TV reporters are required to interact with the weather and become, potentially, human sacrifices to it.

This makes weather reporting different than every other kind of breaking TV news story. No one covers a house fire by rushing into the burning building, or reports on a war by doing stand-ups in the middle of a tank battle.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090102740.html?hpid=topnews

So TV guys, why do y'all insist on standing out in the rain and wind? I mean, aside from the ratings.

$3,400

Got a check from Farm Bureau for the damage to the Jeep.

Luckily, I think the whole thing can be repaired for less than $1,500 (especially with Nash and I doing some of the work). Cha-ching!

Adjuster woke us up this morning at 8:30 a.m. He said we'll need a new roof. Now we'll just have to get in line with a contractor. Hopefully they'll get to us before the end of May.

Storm window

We've been talking about replacing the old glass storm windows with some of the new impact and shatter resistant ones. Here's why ...

And some more of the Jeep

Some photos of the damage

Roof started leaking this morning. Got up there and saw the damage. The roof is pockmarked from the hail. Nothing went all the way through, but the shingles are in bad shape. Golfers, you know what a divot looks like on a really soft green? Imagine that all across the western side of our house.

Some photos ...

That sucked

Big storm hit FS tonight. Golf ball sized hail. Possible tornado. Jen, the cat and I are fine.

Jen and I were at Bella Italia with Dad. Hail ripped three holes in the Jeep's top. Driver side door looks like somebody took a hammer to it. Looks like I will be waiting around for the insurance adjuster.

Six windows at house were knocked out. I'll post photos when the sun comes up. It was probably best that we were gone. Shards of glass blew across the living room. Good thing Charles taught me how to glaze a window. Of course, finding some panes might be a pain tomorrow.

FS schools have been canceled for Friday. TV station reported 10 schools were damaged.

Snowpocalypse!

So it snowed in the Fort today. A couple of inches, though more is expected overnight. And that leads me to wonder ... why do supermarkets run out of bread and milk before winter storms in the South?

Milk I can understand. You got kids, you need milk. You make hot chocolate with milk. Some people use it in their coffee. Some of us drink it like water. But bread!?!

Are these people expecting to get snowed in for four days or something? Do they think bread will be used as currency in case our society collapses due to two inches of snow?

While I mock the Southern "Oh no, it's snowing" mindset, we did have some damage from the storm.



Yes, Nash, that's the tree we trimmed up last summer that Jennifer wanted save.

Winter Storm Team assemble again

Low 60s today. Forecast for Thursday?

Thursday
Chance of rain in the morning...then rain or snow likely in the afternoon. Snow accumulation up to 3 inches. Highs in the lower 40s. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation 70 percent.

Thursday Night
Occasional rain or snow in the evening...then occasional snow after midnight. Snow accumulation of 4 to 9 inches. Lows in the lower 30s. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Yes, that's right. Anywhere from seven to 12 inches of snow for Fort Smith is predicted.

We'll see.

Snow and ice

Yeah, it's that time again.

Rain/snow/ice mix forecast for Fort Smith starting, well, just about any time now. It'll allegedly continue until late Thursday afternoon. Maybe two inches of it.

Ugh.

UPDATE: Well, we got maybe an inch of snow last night. The streets were clear. No slipping and sliding at all. Today, it's like 50 outside, so all the snow is gone.

Honestly, it was almost a perfect snowfall for Fort Smith.

And, sadly, though the snow was wet and sticky I never found a good target for a snowball. I threw one, but it was at a tree and not a person.

Fort Smith in the news

Those are the old barracks at Fort Chaffee. Last count, 12 were burned completely down thanks to a wind-driven fire.

The area is under something called a "Wind Advisory," which I'd never heard of except in relation to "area lakes and waterways." It's been blowing at a steady 40 mph most of the day, with gusts up to 50.

Fire crews have given up trying to contain the fire, which is now a major grass fire on the Chaffee property.

Closer to home, the wooden privacy fence owned by our across-the-street neighbor has toppled. Some branches are down. I've not looked to see if any shingles have blown off our roof.