Stormy Trip

This is the tale of a trip from Cathlamet to Olympia.

Some background. Setting the stage.

• This is May. You know, May flowers! March goes out like a lamb and then you have April showers and then you are into May and flowers! Storms that knock down trees are supposed to be back in October and November. But this year has not been a normal year.
• I have been doing this trip twice a week for two years. (One round trip a week.)
• The last few weeks I have opted to take the backroads and avoid I-5 in order to change things up a bit.
• This week's planned route back to Olympia was SR 4 to Coal Creek/Delameter Rd to West Side Hwy (411) to 506 to Winlock-Vader Rd (603) to Shorey Rd to Airport Rd to Centralia/I-5 frontage road to Harrison Ave to Old Hwy 99 to Tilley Rd (121) to Old Hwy 99 to Henderson and into my subdivision.

Highlights of the trip.

• In the first 45 minutes of the trip the radio station I was listening to played an emergency alert tone followed by an emergency weather alert 3 times.  The alert said that there were major storm cells in the area with severe thunderstorms, high winds, torrential rain, standing water on roadways, flash flooding, and extremely large potentially deadly hail.
• Okay, I understand alerts are a good thing but I didn't really need to hear that one and certainly not three times. 
• Being in the middle of it:
  • I could see the extremely dark storm cell clouds and was having to use my headlights several hours before sunset.
  • I could see the close, extremely bright and almost continuous lightning strikes.
  • I could hear and feel the loud thunder claps.
  • I could smell the electricity in the air.
  • The air was so heavy it was hard to breath.
  • Torrential rain? Yes, most of the way. I could see it but because of the torrential rain it was hard to see anything else.
  • Hail? Yes, numerous times the rain started transitioning to hail. (Fortunately I didn't get hit with any big stuff.)
  • Water on the roadway? You bet! I lost count of how many places.
  • High winds? Yes, there were branches on the roadways most of the way. In fact there were some areas that there were so many branches that you could not see the asphalt/blacktop for a hundred yards or more at a time!

As I got to Tilley Road it was blocked off. So I continued up Old Hwy 99 through Tenino. By this time it was dark.

In the stretch just North of Tenino there were numerous large branches in the roadway that you had to go around. Then, just on the other side of the low dip in the road where it goes under the railroad tracks in a tunnel like underpass (which had standing water in it), there was a tree across the road. It was probably 2 to 3 feet in diameter. The top part of the tree had snagged on something so the tree was suspended above the roadway. There was just enough clearance to drive under the suspended trunk and branches.

Just North of 93rd Ave Old Hwy 99 was totally closed as there was at least one large tree, possibly more, across the road that crews were working on clearing. So, I backtracked to 93rd Ave and ventured down that road. On 93rd there were a number of trees down on the road but each of them had just enough room to squeeze around. 

I continued my detour up Tilley Rd with more branches to dodge. This skirts around the South end of the Olympia Airport and brings one back into civilization from the country, so to speak. Which usually means more traffic. As I joined Old Hwy 99 again all of the traffic lights were not functioning due to power outages. From there I managed my way to Henderson Boulevard and into my subdivision. At home I had timers to reset and a number of tripped circuits to reset to get everything back to normal.

Here is a picture I snapped during a brief stop near Chehalis.
(Break in the Storm) (will be added back in)

Now, I certainly respect the power of nature and storms. Traveling in the middle of such a storm was unsettling and stressful in some ways. However, I also have to admit that it was an incredible drive. To see all of the impacts of the storm was amazing!

• The smell of the air.
• The almost continuous bright lightning strikes.
• The almost instantaneous, loud, rolling thunder.
• The waves of wind and torrential rain.
• The play of dark clouds and breaks in the storm.
• Sun rays piercing through the darkness.
• The blanket of blown down small branches.
• The intrigue of wondering which road would get you through.

It was, in some ways, grand and glorious!
A sight to behold!
Nature on display!
Amazing!
Fun!
An invigorating experience!
Awesome and awe inspiring!

Oh, the glorious majesty of God's creation!

So, I had to share!
Michael