Simultaneous Thunderstorms and Drought

I woke during the night to a dreadful reality--wind-driven hail. I heard it first cracking loudly on the metal garage roof near our bedroom. Then there was a great roar of many hailstones, or was it partly the roar of wind and rain? "No no no," I said aloud, railing uselessly against the "attack." My beautiful lettuce rosettes, the irises in bloom, those flower plants I set out last week at school. . . .

Today I'm bringing my food production class here to see the garden and show them what they might do in their own garden. Maybe we'll have a lesson on recovering from hail damage. I postponed the field trip one day because of the ridiculous winds we've had for the past two days. There just "ain't no graceful way," or at least no modest way, for girls in long full skirts and teenage guys to walk around together outside on days like that, even for the benign purpose of learning gardening skills.

The internet weather site tells me that in the next county north, last night hail one and three fourths inch in diameter was driven by a 60 MPH wind. I wonder if any windows are left on the north and west sides of all the houses.

The day is just beginning to lighten outside and I haven't seen what kind of damage occurred here. I can tell there's no wind--like a teenager putting on an innocent face after a wild night.

The weather site has a bit of bright news--the announcement of a tornado drought. Kansas had no tornadoes between August 2 and April 22. It's been 20 years since we've suffered a drought of this magnitude. Even the good news sounds like bad news.