September 19, 2016

What a rain!

The sky darkened and the storm hit just as class ended today. Meade picked me up at the law school and we headed very slowly home in the TT. At the top of Lathrop Drive we saw a confused racoon rousted out of his sewer. Here we are stopped at the corner of North Charter and University Avenue, with the rainwater flowing up over the curb in a wave onto the sidewalk:

IMG_1285

Look at that drain. You can see what flummoxed the racoon. Hail began hitting the windshield, and we headed for higher ground, into University Heights, where we saw a young woman running on the sidewalk with her feet plunging through ankle-deep water. What a crazy storm! It would have been better to shelter in place. As we arrived home — 1.3 miles from the school — the sun burst out and everything was fresh and pretty.

Inside, I reassured the dog and got big towels to soak up the rain that was all over the floor, and, outside, Meade took out the rake and cleaned up the leaves that had fallen. The leaves are still green here, and they mostly held tight, preserving our good hopes for bright fall-color season. But what a rain! The biggest rainstorm I've ever seen in Madison.

UPDATE: How much rain was it really? Only 0.91 inches. But it fell within about half an hour.

32 comments:

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

But what a rain! The biggest rainstorm I've ever seen in Madison.

Heat holds more water vapor in the air, which must then fall as greater rainstorms. Get ready for more of these.

At least, that's the non-Exxon-Mobil bought-and-paid-for explanation.

Tommy Duncan said...

The storm passed through my neck of the woods (northwest of you) about 1:00 PM. Very heavy rain and a brief wind storm. We've had a very wet year and this week looks like more of the same.

320Busdriver said...

You were lucky...

A friend in Madison sent me pics of the hail damage to his car about an hour ago.

Tommy Duncan said...

What is a "TT"?

320Busdriver said...

Audi TT

Ann Althouse said...

"What is a "TT"?"

I added my Audi TT tag to the post so you can go back into the archive for whatever I've said about the TT... the car I got after I wrecked "Li'l Greenie," my VW Beetle.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Wait a minute...What dog? Did y'all change your minds about canine ownership?

David Begley said...

Mary Dahlman Begley confirms Althouse report but with video of hail. But looks like nothing compared to Omaha. We have tornados.

Ann Althouse said...

"Wait a minute...What dog? Did y'all change your minds about canine ownership?"

The usual dog, the neighbor's dog, Zeus.

Birkel said...

"Rhythm and Balls":

So you go straight for "glowball warmening" and forget about The Pause and "hiding the decline" while blaming Exxon?

You are so many fun things rolled into one. Keep them coming.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

"The Usual Dog" is a great short story title.

A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall (1963)

mockturtle said...

I can see the line of strong cells on the radar images.

madAsHell said...

Audi TT??

My Boy Scout handbook says you can flip them over, and use them as a floatation device.

Germans....they think of everything.

AmPowerBlog said...

Where's the raccoon? Did you get a photo?

Kathryn51 said...

The worst ever in Madison? When we visited in July, Dr. Nephew and his wife (also Doctor) talked about how she was caught at the hospital (UW) a few days earlier and couldn't figure out how to get home - every route was flooded. While we were there, we left Brannon's (Brennan's ??) when it began to pour and - once again - had a difficult time making it to their home.

Regardless, we loved Madison (so long as we didn't focus on the Bernie yard signs that were still up everywhere).

David said...

Next: frogs, snakes and locusts.

Sign of the coming Trumpacolypse.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rhhardin said...

I had that downpour yesterday in the bike commute, without lightning. Everything is re-oiled and working today.

But I noticed this afternoon enormous static crashes on the radio, which from the lightning page was coming from Madison.

Wisconsin is the right distance for the first ionospheric bounce in the daytime.

traditionalguy said...

Looks like a routine Atlanta thunderstorm. Don't worry. You will get used to it.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Birkel's command of scientific literacy is so weak that he actually takes issue with the greater retention of water by warmer air.

Perhaps in his world freezing leads to vaporization and melting leads to solidification.

He's just that dense, folks.

Amadeus 48 said...

Famous Brit auto magazine cover from the year Audi introduced it:
"Show us your TTs!"

Even the skies in Madison weep (bawl their eyes out) at Althouse's final term in the classroom.

tim in vermont said...

At least, that's the non-Exxon-Mobil bought-and-paid-for explanation

LOL, You will believe anything you are told, won't you?

tim in vermont said...

Here R&B, why don't you read Naomi Oreskes and come back and tell us why she was wrong?

Or was that paper, before Merchants of Doubt, bought and paid for by Exxon Mobil?

Fritz said...

We got 3.9 inches of desperately needed rain in Slower Maryland yesterday. It occurred over a long enough time that a lot of it managed to sink in.

Curious George said...

"But what a rain! The biggest rainstorm I've ever seen in Madison."

I don't think so. Human nature to exaggerate the present.

tim in vermont said...

A few years ago in Vermont we got a record snowfall. I stopped in our version of the Chatterbox Cafe and a couple of old timers told me how it was nothing compared to the snowstorms we used to get...

Fritz said...

Here, if you know how much rain really fell in an hour or two, you can compare it to the NOAA Rainfall Frequency Atlas to find out how unusual it really was:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/oh/hdsc/PF_documents/TechnicalPaper_No40.pdf

MadisonMan said...

Heat holds more water vapor in the air, which must then fall as greater rainstorms. Get ready for more of these.

A very poorly written sentence, as heat can't hold anything. You could more accurately say that evaporation is enhanced in a warm (wet) region, and condensation suppressed, so that more vapor will be in the air. But it's not held there, it's constantly condensing and evaporating. Consult your saturation vapor pressure curve for maximum observed amounts.

Althouse, were you here in town for the big event in 2006? (Link). That's the heaviest I recall seeing.

MadisonMan said...

So I thought: I can check the blog archives. You were out of town, driving to San Jose.

Birkel said...

"...command of scientific literacy..."

Tell the truth, Rhythm and Balls, you were drunk when you wrote that sentence, weren't you?

madAsHell said...

Tell the truth, Rhythm and Balls

Don't feed the trolls.

JAORE said...

Next: frogs, snakes and locusts.

I actually was in a storm where small frogs fell from the sky. Only a half mile of so from the Missouri River at the time there was a reported tornado that passed through and, apparently picked up a mess of frogs (yep that's how we talked in Kansas) and dumped them where I was driving. Little buggers were comical as my wipers flung them off the windshield.