I'm Dreaming of a White....

[kluchetta]

We got the tornado warning on the TV so I went outside to look. It was amazing, like watching a war or something. There was constant lightning, with not much thunder, and it was very still out, which gave me the heebie jeebies.

I was watching that cell as well...Heidi, do you live around Kipling & 285? That's where I thought that bad one was. It was a fast moving storm too.

Oh, and we didn't even get a sprinkle.

 

[rapunzel47]

Originally Posted by Pami

That is unbelievable thats A LOT of hail there!!!

Oh. My. Glad you got off relatively unscathed, though that's a bummer about Earl's car.

 

[valanhb]

It was one of those storms where everyone around here was saying, "I don't know that I've ever seen a storm like that here!"

Someone said they hoped the critters were OK. Last night when I was looking out the front door I saw one of our squirrels scamper up the tree. I hope they were all OK. Earl did say that there was a dead bird in one of the piles of leaves.

Poor birdie.

Originally Posted by kittymonsters

I live in NE Denver and I watched that storm coming last night. I checked weather underground when I noticed the lightening and saw that huge purple hail signature just on the western side of the city. I wondered how bad you all would get hit. We had some light hail, very heavy rain and a short power outage over here.

The friday before last, we go hit on this side of the city like you did last night. Same time at night as well. The cars in the street actually got water damage from the flooding and the neighbor across the street had the water come up to their house. It was wild.

I hope no one got seriously injured last night. It was a bad storm, at an unexpected time of night.

Nice and cool today though!

We have had the strangest year for weather that I've ever seen! I can't remember this many tornados, and especially not this close to the mountains. Louisville? Wheat Ridge? Green Mountain?

Never happens!!

Haven't heard of any injuries or anything like that.

Originally Posted by kluchetta

We got the tornado warning on the TV so I went outside to look. It was amazing, like watching a war or something. There was constant lightning, with not much thunder, and it was very still out, which gave me the heebie jeebies.

I was watching that cell as well...Heidi, do you live around Kipling & 285? That's where I thought that bad one was. It was a fast moving storm too.

Oh, and we didn't even get a sprinkle.

Actually, I'm at Wadsworth & 285. My co-worker is at Kipling & 285.

The lightning was amazing, wasn't it? Once the cell had actually passed and we could see the lightning it was. It was so fast moving...that was part of the scary part of the storm. We heard one little rumble of thunder and then it was quiet. Then BOOM 1" to 1-1/2" hail and wind and rain! Just as fast, it was gone and the skies cleared.

I'm glad it moved fast, though. I can't imagine the damage if it had been a slow moving storm. I'll have to take pictures of the back of our unit to show the holes in the siding.

The force of nature truly is amazing!

 

[tierre0]

Wow that is something, glad you got through it safe and sound.

 

[valanhb]

I'm glad we didn't get any more damage than we did. Looking at it from a day away, we really were pretty lucky.

The damage was on the back side of our row of townhomes. Our neighbor's son lives on the other side of the subdivision and said that there is all kinds of windows broken and glass everywhere over there.

Here's the back of our attached little storage shed.



The back of the unit.



Our poor little window-shaker AC unit. You can really see how big the hailstones were, and how HARD they were hitting.

 

[pami]

Oh my goodness, Heidi, that is just crazy. You guys were really lucky, especially for people to have their windows broken just down the way.
We get hail here, but I have never seen that much at one time.
Look at that A/C unit!!!

 

[AbbysMom]

It's amazing to see the pictures and to realize you didn't get the brunt of it.

Glad you are all safe.

 

[ldg]

Wow Heidi - that is crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so glad you're OK and haven't heard about any injuries.

Sad about the bird.... and any other animals killed or injured.

But I'm really glad the damage you guys experienced wasn't worse. That is just freaky!

Laurie

 

[xocats]

Good Grief.

You've been bombed.

 

[trouts mom]

Whoa those pics are crazy!!

All I think of is "holy claims batman"... working in insurance and all.

 

[coolcat]

...

poor stuffs...

 

[starryeyedtiger]

Wow! That's crazy!!

 

[jcat]

Ouch! Are the meteorologists saying you can expect more of the same? Those freak summer storms are something else.

 

[valanhb]

Originally Posted by jcat

Ouch! Are the meteorologists saying you can expect more of the same? Those freak summer storms are something else.

Considering they told us to expect this one about 10 minutes AFTER it started hitting the metro-area...

Even the National Weather Service emergency alerts didn't go off until it was already underway. We were far enough south (it was moving northeast to southwest - another rarity! - until it actually hit the mountains and then started going southeast) This was really just a combination of all the wrong elements running up against each other. We'd been having warm weather, up into the 90s, and a fast-moving cool front with lots of moisture hit that warm air creating a very unstable, swirling air mass.

However, they are saying to expect thunderstorms almost every day next week. So we'll see what happens then!

 

[valanhb]

I didn't think this was such a huge deal, just a freak storm, until...

1. On the radio they said that one small (and I mean small) auto dealer not more than a mile or so away from my house has more than $1 million in damage to their inventory. And we're more than 50 city blocks from where they say the worst of the storm actually hit!

2. In talking to our insurance company about the claim on the damaged vehicle, they told Earl that right now this is considered the worst hail damage for the year in the country!

3. They also told him that they have 3000 home damage claims, and 5000 auto damage claims from individuals they insure. That's just ONE insurance company.

4. They said that they have 1/4 of all of their claims reps in the Denver area to handle all the claims.

5. For auto damage claims, they have an assembly line thing going where you just drive your car in, they look at it and determine how much damage is done and how much it will cost to repair, if you agree then they will cut a check (less your deductible) right there.

6. They are doing that by appointment only, and the soonest he can get in is TUESDAY!

Guess this really was a major storm incident!

 

[white cat lover]

As my dad always said "round these parts we call those storms the 'put your head between your legs' storms. You better put your head between your legs & kiss you behind goodbye"!

Glad you guys got through safe - and without *too* much damage. We haven't even been warm here - barely hit the 90s all summer long. But it's still freak weather here, too.

 

[pami]

That is wild, but I can imagine why. I still think thats freak of nature to have THAT MUCH hail coming down at one time.