Last updated on June 9, 2008
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It seems that today’s storm took out one of the shrubs right near my condo. It was partially dead and located at a point which funnels wind during storms. (See this drift at the same point in 2005.)
I had just left Target when I looked up and saw what appeared to be The Nothing coming from the west, so I hopped in my car and headed north on Schoenherr. Before I could make the Michigan left it started, and all through my drive along Schoenherr from M-59 to home it was as if I was driving sideways through a rainstorm. After turning east on 22 Mile and hitting 40 MPH there was still rain pelting the rear window of my car and making streaks from the top of the windshield to the bottom.
While driving down Schoenherr I kept noticing large clusters of leaves falling out of the sky, and at a few points the road was littered with 5′ – 8′ branches. I even saw an overturned trampoline in the road.
After getting home and checking the radar I noticed that everything was beginning to take on a greenish cast and the rain was lightening up. I headed outside with my camera, but beyond the strange light I didn’t see anything indicative of a tornado. No wall cloud, nothing. Oh well.
Here is a detail of the base of the shrub pictured above. Some of the decayed branches can be seen, which is likely what led to the failure.
One other thing which I’d failed to mention previously is that someone has cut down the other shrub near my condo. I’m not sure why this was done; the only thing I can guess is that it’s to allow easy access to the gas meters.
