The first storm I can remember was the 1949 category 4 hurricane that made landfall near West Palm Beach Florida. I was about 6 years at the time, but remember the tremendous and horrific winds. To this day, I don’t want to be out in the wind.

Then came the 6.6 magnitude Sylmar earthquake (while we lived in the San Fernando Valley), followed by the 1989 6.9 Bay Area quake. Things have been calm since we moved to Sacramento. While our rivers are prone to flooding, we are far enough away to be out of danger, and the area’s creeks are not allowed to overflow.

So that’s a brief stormy background of my life for Beth’s first challenge. She wants to know about various types of storms: stormy weather, stormy feelings or stormy situations.

I can tell you from experience that each leads into the other. Bad weather leads into frightful feelings which, in turn, lead into terrifying situations! Here are some bad weather situations I was able to capture with my cameras.

Let’s start with rain. While camping in Lassen National Park, it would rain every afternoon. Last month, while visiting our kids in Reno, a rain storm was heading our way. I’ve never been able to catch rain like that with my camera.

Lassen NP
Reno, NV

We’ve also seen some threatening clouds. These may have been taken during our Alaska cruise.

Last year, we experienced atmospheric rivers in Northern California. These are rains that drop about 4 to 6 inches of water in a short time. The American and Sacramento rivers did flood at Discovery Park (the confluence of both rivers).

Our local creek also crested during another storm. The water was channeled into the rivers.

We are too low in elevation to get snow, but California has mountains. On one trip down to Southern California, we ran into snow. This is on Highway 5.

Now for Highway 80 on a visit to Donner State Park.

Last but not least was our famous “getting snowed in” trip to my kids in Reno. A snow blower is helping to dig them out.

These are fond memories, but I’m glad they are just that. I was too young to capture pictures of the hurricane, but the snapshots of the aftermath are still alive in my memory. Fortunately, we didn’t have much damage from the earthquakes, but I do remember holding my son’s highchair down during the afterquakes.

Beth, I hope you’re having fun with the various responses you are getting. Thanks for taking me down memory lane and having me appreciate where I live–out of super storm’s reach. Please link to Beth’s post when you respond and use the Lens-Artists tag.

I’ll be challenging you next week, so stay tuned and look for my post. Until then, stay safe and live in gratitude.

61 thoughts on “Lens Artists Challenge #353 Stormy”

  1. Great photos and tales Anne. The “the area’s creeks are not allowed to overflow.” made me smile.
    I have tried giving the waterways on my place a good talking to but they ignore me and overflow anyway 🙄

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            1. California is a long but large state. The southern part is mostly desert and the middle, the San Joaquin Valley has the farms. So yes, the farms and desert depend on water coming from Northern California. The California Aqueduct is the system that carries the water down to the south. Each year we look for a GOOD snow pack to carry the State through the summer. It’s not that one area needs the water more, it’s that we all have a need and have to take care of each other.

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    1. Thanks Tina! They were two separate storms. The first one was the aftermath of a storm. The second was the storm we got caught in while staying with our grandkids in Reno. I heard the wind hit the house and it woke me up. After that, I couldn’t sleep. In the morning, the cars were buried under the snow, and we couldn’t get out the gate. I love living in Sacramento–no earthquakes, snow or hurricanes.

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  3. Fabulous images of weather and the various types of storms, Anne. I lived in Sacramento long enough to remember the annual flooding of the Sacramento River. Love the snowy pics from your travels. I know the Tejon pass well. On your travels did you ever see the blanket of fog as you entered into the Central Valley from the Grapevine, or perhaps from I-80? It was usually a winter phenomenon but depressing after SoCal sunshine.

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    1. Thanks Terri! Are you talking about the Tule fog? I saw it once the first year I moved to Sacramento when I was going to San Jose. It was clear then I saw a wall of fog. It’s not that way any more. Once coming back at night from Yuba City there was fog and no visibility. That wasn’t fun!

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    1. Thanks Egidio! As I wrote, Sacramento is a good retirement place. No floods, hurricanes, etc. Sometimes we get our fair share of rain, but then we don’t have drought in the summer. It’s all good.

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  8. Great tales, Anne. Your Alaskan cruise must have been amazing. Love your photos.

    I would certainly hate to be snowed-in and having to dig my way out. I think we’ve all had unseasonal or extreme weather in recent times.

    I love the snow, but that’s because I have happy holiday memories skiing in it.

    Floods and earthquakes, well, that’s a different matter indeed.

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    1. Thanks Vicki! The cruise was amazing. Fortunately, my son hired three guys and a snow blower to dig us out. It took them all morning. My son and DIL were delayed a day getting home because the highway wasn’t cleared. Floods are devastating. That area of Discovery Park is always prone to flooding. Fortunately, it’s only the parking lot.

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  10. Nice images with interesting stories behind them, Anne. Isn’t it fascinating how we remember some events from our past as vividly as if they happened yesterday while so easily forgetting what did we want to get from the room we just stepped into 🤔!

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    1. Thanks PR! Yes, it is fascinating how our brain works or doesn’t. Photography is a great brain exercise for us as we age. However, I do plenty of walking from room to room. Then there’s the writing things on the calendar and forgetting to look at the calendar! It’s just not easy getting old!!

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  12. Experiencing that hurricane and then the earthquakes must have been quite scary! I especially liked those Alaska shots and also the road to Donner State Park as we were in that area last year but in much calmer and nicer weather!

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    1. I’ll take an earthquake any time over a hurricane. A few jolts and the earthquake is over. Hurricanes take hours. It was beautiful when I took the Donner shot. I don’t go up Highway 80 if it’s snowing–if I have a choice! Once I came down from a Toastmaster conference in Reno during a snow storm. I just followed in the tracks of the big rigs since I didn’t have snow tires. It wasn’t an easy drive.

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  14. Excellent post, Anne! The images show the power of nature – The destructive power when the storm results in such flooding! I loved the snow pictures on Reno and the Donner Pass.

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  17. Funny how we remember things and how they affect us later on. I love wild weather and admittedly have done some rather stupid things, such as walking out to the end of the Ventura Pier during a really heavy rainstorm to watch the crazy high wave – just a few hours later the pier was severely damaged. I remember thunderstorms with lightning strikes hitting trees in our yard in rural Illinois along with tornado sirens and having to go huddle in the basement. There are also memories of brilliant, harsh, beautiful days of bright sun sparkling on the snow after a blizzard, as well as having to pull over, crawl into my space blanket, and wait out a white out on the Rocky Mountain Highway. And now, I always worry about fires and wild east winds. I think my time with crazy weather and storms as reached its sell-by date . . . .

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  22. Hmm. I’m glad I looked you up. I don’t think Beth has pingbacks enabled. Folks have have been pasting their own links in her post. I love your photos. Donner Pass is very photogenic. I don’t know why it makes me hungry. 🤤🤷‍♂️ See you tomorrow.

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    1. Thanks for looking me up John. I appreciate it. I think you probably like snow cones! I do. Cherry is the best. WordPress hasn’t been sending me notification either. I just go through the reader. Life isn’t perfect!

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