Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Wacky Weather Wedensday

Well, for all the grief I give myself about running in the rain, I *did* give it the old college try yesterday. The only problem? Closed trails!!!!

If you haven't heard, we are having a week of rather epic storms out West. You saw the video I posted Tuesday of the rain on Monday. Well, we had more of the same yesterday, along with, are you ready for this? A TORNADO warning! And the warning was real - we had a small F1 twister make it's way through these parts! I was never in danger - the closest the tornado got was about 5 miles away in Costa Mesa. But there was plenty of wind, thunder, lightning and heavy rain. Wow. Someone needs to remind Mother Nature that this isn't Kansas!

Here are a couple photos of the excitement yesterday. A tornado in Seal Beach:

A waterspout off the Balboa Pier here in Newport Beach:

(Note - I didn't take those photos. They were shown on the local news and I lifted them from various websites.)

All the excitement was over by 2:30 or so though, so I got dressed in enough clothing to stay warm and some old shoes to get soaked and headed out for the planned 9 miler. For runs that length, I basically have four options - Newport Back Bay, San Diego Creek, Newport Pier to Huntington Pier, and Corona del Mar to Crystal Cove.

So, I started my tour of Orange County looking for a good run. Off to the Back Bay. Gates were up and chained. The road was closed! What?

Next, off to San Diego Creek. To get there I had to drive through the neighborhood next to Corona del Mar High School, where my group meets on Saturday morning. I counted nine trees that had been uprooted and lying across the road. Like big trees. The ones that are a foot in diameter. I parked and walked over to the where the back bay and the San Diego Creek trail splits. Here's the way that looked:

Next - the beach. The boardwalk was covered in wet sand. The wind was blowing at least 35 miles per hour. My ankles were instantly sand blasted.

The message was clear. Three strikes and you're out! Time for Trader Joe's!

14 comments:

  1. Wow that is some crazy stuff! You are getting all the bad weather and we are having the nice stuff! Hopefully things will clear up soon! Mother nature is crazy! Wish I could watch those videos here at work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. At least you tried. Hopefully, you picked up some yummy stuff at TJ's. I am a huge fan of the Tomato Basil hummus, among other things.

    I hope you are running today because it looks like we are in for more of the same tonight and tomorrow.

    Stay safe!

    ReplyDelete
  3. WHOA..that is just CRAZY weather down there. How scary. Glad you are safe and sound. I need to call my Dad...he is in a board-and-care over near NHHS. Yikes!

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is the end of times? Who knows. It is weird when abnormal weather hits. Thanks to you and your Trader Joes, you have me craving the good stuff. Hopefully the weather will give soon, and you can get in your runs. Keep it up and the great posts with footage.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can't believe that weather! I didn't think tornadoes struck SoCal. Heading to Trader Joe's was such a good idea...yum.

    ReplyDelete
  6. WOAH, Glenn! That's insane weather! You are very brave for trying to run in it. :)

    Glad you and everyone in Cali is safe. Twisters in Cali...that's strange.

    ReplyDelete
  7. We had tornado warnings yesterday, and I thought the patio roof was going to blow off, but an official tornado never hit here. I guess round two is starting to hit us now (It's about 4:45 pm)

    Be safe!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Crazy weather! Tonight hail, tomorrow snow?? I still haven't been able to run in the rain..maybe tomorrow!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Crazy. Good try though. No treadmill?

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love this crazy weather! But then... I haven't tried running in it yet.

    I hope you got some good stuff at Trader Joe's. I'm sure you needed the pick-me-up! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I hate tornadoes! That's the one weather element that I truly can't handle about where I live. Scaring me just thinking about it..... :(

    ReplyDelete
  12. for being "master planners" california didn't do too great a job with preventing mudslides and such :-p

    i heard about the tornado(s)! crazy!! glad you were ok, though 5 miles is still too close for comfort to me.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This weather has been so wacky for us Californians! Great(and scary!) pictures of the tornados! Stay safe and dry Glenn! See you at Surf City!

    ReplyDelete