Ugly weather...

Tornado warnings (several sighted in western SD), hail (the size of baseballs), heavy rain, flash floods, wind... but other than that, it was a nice day.

I watched weather radar on the computer and my Droid to see if we needed to head for shelter. Nice technology... we could see the worst of the storm system slide just east of us, and stayed put.

Driving back from Rapid City, the rain was so heavy that cars were pulled over on the side of the road and hiding in underpasses. We wanted to get back before Spring Creek ran over its banks... little Izzy was in the HitchHiker by herself.

All turned out well, but the sky was as nasty looking as I've seen it. Our timing was good - hail in the northern part of town as we headed south (just a few pea size hailstones hit us). Heavy rain that we drove out of when we got to Hart Ranch. We unloaded the truck in a light rain, and the sky really opened up and poured once we were inside. Flood warnings all over the Black Hills as I write this.

I was surprised by all the thunderstorm activity with the temperature, in the low 50s... 3 to 4 inches of rain in a couple hours. Golf ball size hail in the area that we had just vacated.

We were ready to go to shelter if necessary - we brought Izzy's carrier in, had the raincoats ready, and know where the closest solid shelter is. Thank goodness we didn't have to implement that plan.

Whew!