rain

Thunder and Flood

IMG_1964No snow for the Ozarks this Christmas, just rain, rain, rain. As of this posting, between 6 inches and 10 inches have fallen almost without pause during the past two days along a band from Oklahoma to Indiana, according to the National Weather Service; for some comparison, here in Fayetteville that’s about the typical amount during November and December combined. It’s not forecast to let up until late tomorrow, either. In the meantime, we have a lot of the image above: overflowing ditches and streams and rivers, sunken roads, flooded fields and golf courses, and constantly overcast skies.

The amount of water flowing around here is almost indescribable. White-water rapids cascade from every bluff and cliff, bridges are overrun and, whether it’s in a gentle shower or a thunderstorm, the rain keeps falling, channeled by northwest Arkansas’ hills into torrents of opaque brown water.

IMG_1973Take Devil’s Den State Park, for example. The photo above shows one camping area along Lee Creek, which at this point usually spreads out placidly into a little lake as it approaches a dam built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Here’s what the dam usually looks like, as shown in a photo from April 2014:

_C1_4371Here’s what it looked like today (notice the turquoise metal spike for scale):

IMG_1980I almost wondered whether the dam was still there, the water poured over it so fast. The roar and spray drowned out anything softer than a yell. On the surrounding hillsides, newly created streams and waterfalls carved through the leaf-covered forest floor like threads of pearl through rust.

IMG_1994

IMG_2007We haven’t seen rain like this since May and June, when about a foot fell around here and led to flooding of its own (You might remember the photos of the inundated golf course). Wacky and dangerous weather has struck across the country, with record warmth and several deaths from tornadoes in the past few days. Stay safe out there, everybody. Turn around, don’t drown, the whole bit. It could take days for all of this water to calm down. Thank goodness this isn’t snow, and brace yourself: It’s supposed to drop below freezing tomorrow night.

Hope you had a good holiday! Thanks for looking.

Dan

Flood Watch

These days we’re seeing a whole lot of this:

IMG_863411The typical June brings about 5 inches of rain around here; so far we’ve gotten almost 3 inches and more are on the way, thanks to a Caribbean visitor named Bill. May was so wet that not even two weeks of sunshine was enough to dry out the earth, so keep your eyes peeled for flash flooding today and tomorrow, especially around rivers and streams.

Here in town, the rain’s effects have been beautiful, nerve-wracking and occasionally weird.

_C1_1713

_C1_1701

_C1_1704

_C1_1707This past Saturday, a woman named Meredith and her bridesmaids, family and imminent family-in-law crowded into Fayetteville’s Salon on the Square to get gussied up for an evening wedding. The place is in a beautiful old building with tin ceiling panels and honey-colored wood — I’ve wanted to get some images in there for a while. The energy of weddings (and wedding prep) is always good photo material, too. Lots of laughing, lots of color and lots of hairspray.

_C1_1522

_C1_1532

_C1_1595

_C1_1446Every few minutes one of us would glance out the front door to see what kind of rain was falling at the moment. Weather wasn’t their friend this day; 12 dry days would break Saturday with two or three fast and heavy downpours. The wedding was supposed to be outside.

_C1_1636

_C1_1672

_C1_1585

_C1_1690I don’t know where the wedding wound up, but I imagine (and hope), after agitated phone calls, a few quick changes of plans and other hallmarks of every wedding day, it turned out OK.

The rain let up the next day, so I spent some time exploring parts of Fayetteville I hadn’t seen before.

IMG_85843

IMG_85986

IMG_86097

IMG_85761That brings me to the weird. Each night, a herd of small animals ambles onto the patios and sidewalks of my apartment complex. They’ve been around all summer, but all of the water seems to have helped their numbers.

_C1_8746When I first saw them, I nicknamed them leopard slugs because of those spots; turns out that’s their real name. Anywhere from less than an inch to 6 inches long, they trundle across the pavement all night at a few inches per minute, munching on whatever organic material they encounter. Slugs seem like absurd creatures to me — they’re not going to outrun anything, and they’re nothing but soft morsels for anything large enough to try. But still they mosey through their quiet lives every night as the rain falls.

IMG_866912(I didn’t make it do this, and I really wonder why it was twisting and rearing up. It seemed fine a minute later.)

IMG_869115Stay dry out there, and thanks for looking.

Dan

Shades of Green

_C1_1125---CopyIt’s been a wet holiday weekend. We’ve gotten more than an inch of rain today, part of the almost foot of water that has fallen so far this month. The recent series of storms has swollen streams and rivers from Nebraska to Texas, including around here. Caught in the shower is this candy-apple green orchard orbweaver, suspended from a cluster of tiny droplets outside my front door.

I don’t think I’ve seen many green spiders before. I get squeamish around them, but I can’t deny they can be beautiful little things.

Just one photo for today. Tomorrow looks drier, good news for the Memorial Day event in the morning at Fayetteville’s National Cemetery. I’m hoping to make it there.

Thanks for looking,

Dan

TIL

C1_7665Out of the Internet’s entire encyclopedic array of acronyms, TIL strikes me as one of the most pleasant: Today I Learned. For example, today I learned construction companies keep blueprints and other documents inside a PVC tube that’s capped at both ends, an object that looks a lot like a pipe bomb when it inadvertently falls off of a truck near a public building. I also learned Bentonville has a bomb squad, one of six in the state. It deploys a fun robot that reminds me of a Mars rover. This minor bomb scare took place today across the street from my office.

C1_7651

C1_7666Today I learned my office has a pull-down ladder that leads to the roof, which is a challenge to climb with a camera, a notebook and an umbrella. Watch out for the big old cellar spider on the way up.

I walked around the square for a bit after the lunch-time excitement. The all-day rain was crappy, but temperatures in the 50s, 60s and maybe even 70s this week will be worth it. Plants are already reacting to the warmth.

C1_7691

C1_7685

C1_7671Finally, today I learned the texture of water under rainfall is beautiful and elegant when frozen in a photograph. I learned those little water droplets that plop up from the center of a splash move really fast — they were blurry with a shutter speed of 1/200th of a second.

C1_7804

C1_7722

C1_7790I hope to say TIL forever. Thanks for looking.

Dan