Rain, rain, go away…….

It is fall. The end of September, for Pete’s sake. We are not supposed to be dealing with flood watches here in Minnesota. We are usually preparing for snowstorms. One of the most memorable snowstorm hit us over Halloween weekend several years ago. But not September flooding.

But rain it has. Constant, cold, and heavy. Not a drizzle, nor a passing shower.  This has been the bone-chilling, quite unpleasant kind of rain.

We had 3 inches of rain over the past two days. Several areas south of us had 9-10 inches of rain during that time. Roads were closed. Major roads. The Interstate highway which crosses the southern section of the state was closed, a US highway which goes from the Twin Cities to Rochester (a road which is very important for those people who are coming into the airport in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and are then traveling to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester) has also been closed due to flooding. Many other county roads have also closed. This is an agricultural area, with many crops ready to be harvested. The farmers will be hard-pressed to get into their fields with all of the mud and roads which cannot support heavy equipment.

My daughter-in-law’s home town was one of the hardest hit. Ten inches of rain. Schools were closed. There were serious concerns about the sewage system and water supplies for the town. There is just a very small river/stream near the town which has apparently taken over many of the streets.

We live on a very large river. During the nearly ten years that we have lived here, there was only once when we had concerns about flooding. That was the very first spring, when we had no idea what to expect.  The winter had been quite snowy, and the water did get relatively high. But it never really threatened our home. So far although our river is higher than normal, we don’t have any worries of flooding here.

The weather wonks tell us that the 10 inches of rain would have been 100 inches of snow had it been cold enough to snow. Thank goodness that didn’t happen. They don’t believe it would ever happen, as winter air is drier than summer air, and there would not be nearly as much moisture available to snow that much. But really, who knows for sure?

Today it is still rainy, but it so far, just a cold drizzle. I am staying inside if at all possible. Tomorrow, we have been promised sunshine and summer like temperatures which are to last for several days.

One thing is certainly true about this place where I live: the weather is almost never boring.

Advertisement