I was in Houston yesterday for work, and when we (a co-worker and me) got to the airport to go home, we found out the three flights before ours were cancelled due to weather, and ours was delayed for at least an hour, probably more.
It's an hour flight from Houston to Dallas, plus we were at the airport an hour early. Add that to the one hour delay (at least), and that's three hours. It's a 4 hour drive. So, what did I do? Rent a car.
The weather was FINE (not one single rain drop) until we were about 60 miles south of Dallas. Then, the heavens opened up! This is what the sky looked like.
It got really green and there was a wall cloud in front of us. My poor passenger is not from Texas, so she doesn't ignore storm warnings. If you grow up in Texas, you know that we have tornado warnings and thunder bumpers every other day during the spring. If you get worked up about it, you are going to be a nervous wreck for about 2 months - it's not worth it. Most of the time, it's just a little wind, just a little rain and a lot of noise - no big deal!
At one point before the big rain started, the clouds in front of us did look a bit like this. Again, I told my passenger, "it's fine, it's just a storm - it's nothing."
I never felt like the wind was blowing the car, but man-oh-man, the rain was coming down in buckets and the hail was INSANE. It was soooo loud hitting the car - the sound was probably the scariest part. I think the other drivers on the road were probably more dangerous than the storm. The person in front of me slowed down to about 20 mph - in the fast lane - and I had cars screaming up behind me.
Once we were able to pass that person, I maintained about 30 - 45 mph - in the slow lane - until we could see past the hood of the car.
The sky went from cloudy but fairly bright, to green (never a good color for the sky), to black like night, then it started to get a bit brighter, and within about 20 minutes, it looked like this.
By the time we pulled into Dallas, it was SUNNY! Are you kidding me?! They cancelled flights and it was SUNNY?! (Actually, the weather around here changes on a dime - just wait 15 minutes, and it will be different.)
My poor friend/co-worker! During the big rain and hail, I can't tell you how many times she asked if we should pull over. I just kept saying "No, we're ok." I was on a mission to get home.
Bless her heart! When I got home, and saw on the news that four tornadoes touched down in the area we were driving through - at the time we were driving through it - I felt a tiny twinge of guilt - and a whole lot of grateful to have made it through ok! After I reflected on it a bit, I felt bad that she had to ride home with this crazy girl!
But...I was really happy to be home!
(Picture Source)
