My buddy Mark just called to tell me all Hell broke loose around the Bolt Hole last night and this morning. Severe T-storms kept waking him up during the night. Every lightening strike during the night caused sparks to shoot from his electrical outlets.(I wonder if any of the appliances I had plugged in survived the power surges.) He heard tree tops snapping all night and then again this morning a fierce wind ripped through the area. An ancient cherry tree that stood next to my gate was broken off some ten feet above the ground. Four or five trees were knocked down in Mark's 100-yard long driveway, severing his power line. He said that he watched tree tops (mostly from poplars or aspens) go flying overhead: 30, 40, or 50 feet overhead.
More trees were toppled between his camp and Harry's, which sits on top of the hill a quarter mile to the east. So many trees that when Mark and Harry (who lives relatively nearby) started to walk Harry's driveway, they couldn't see the camp until they were nearly on top of it. Luckily there was no damage to any of our buildings.
Mark says there are hundreds of trees down; either snapped off or uprooted. Power is out until at least Wednesday or Thursday. Work crews will have to replace several telephone poles and clear downed trees before they can turn the juice back on again.
No official word yet as to whether this was a tornado or a "mere" downburst.
Mark will be sending me some pictures when he can get out of there tomorrow.
Meanwhile another severe storm is currently pushing its way between Elmira and Ithaca and over to Cortland, NY on I-81. And yet one more little group of T-storms is sweeping between the Aerie and Elmira.
UPDATE: News this morning was saying it was a "mesocyclone" that started near Rome, NY and "bounced" across Oneida and Herkimer counties into southern Hamilton county.
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