Tornado Near Warren?

The area had severe thunderstorms on the 28th, with wind and lightning and rain...There were dozens of trees blown down in a few areas, and some roof damage, but the most striking destruction was on a ball field near Russell, a small town a couple of miles north. Certainly there were very strong gusts, because light poles at ball fields are rated to withstand over 100mph winds. Nobody was injured and chainsaws are plentiful around here,so there are already neatly stacked cords of cut logs waiting for someone's wood stove. In the 1980's tornadoes killed people in Kane, a town 20 miles south as the crow flies, so outbreaks are not unheard of, regardless of the mountainous terrain.

Snow in May

Took these pictures this morning looking out the backdoor...Snow showers and a high of 45F on May 13th...Bizarre...Beth tells me she remembers snow around here on Memorial day in the past, and I vaguely remember seeing a snow shower on May 3rd when I was a kid living near Allentown, but accumulating snow in mid May after two weeks of 70F weather? Bizarre...Walking on the mountain after I took these photos the snow had coated the brush and tops of logs, then lingered for a couple of hours in the cool air. Yet the forecast is for 73F by the 15th so this is a freak cold spell...Bizarre!

Spring?

Finally saw a cabbage butterfly on April 30th, some three weeks later than usual and as much as six weeks later than during the warmest springs back east, when I once saw them in mid March...So that signifies the cold weather we have had this season and the delayed spring generally in these mountains. I saw a mourning cloak butterfly (they overwinter as adults)about a week ago, and that too was three weeks later than back east. The spring azures (little blue butterflies) have been out for two days and today I saw the first angle wing butterfly.Only in the past week has the landscape begun to explode with plant life, with colts foot and adders tongue (trout lilies)blooming, and beginning today they share the roadside with some wild mustard blooms and more abundant dandelion. The mountaintop canopy looks as if it has been lightly brushed with green, although here in the valley the forsythia and magnolia have been blooming a week.So it's been a mixed, hesitant season,hardly reflecting global warming this year except in its bizarre extremes. The news today reports a foot of snow in Minnesota and Wisconsin,so the atmosphere is certainly erratic. The extended forecast finally indicates sunshine and warm (65-70F ) temperatures,so I finished putting new shingles on the garage roof yesterday and soon Beth and I will do some exterior painting and landscaping that the house needs.