Ask Lemmy

blizzard of 78.

so much snow entire families were begging to get out of their homes for it.

Closest I've had is weather that starts on one block but suddenly is completely different on another. What I mean is you'll get rain on one block and then it almost magically won't continue next block over despite basically having those same exact rain clouds.

Perfect example: a couple blocks away from me a few days ago it started suddenly pouring rain like Noah was building his ark. Went a couple blocks away and there isn't a single drop to be found anywhere.

Although, there is another weird thing I am not 100% sure I hallucinated weather wise. My neck of the woods doesn't get any sort of tornadoes, twisters, whatever. But one day in 8th grade, during some cheesy "you're moving onto high school" type celebration, we were all out in a large field where all the festivities were set up. I swear some tiny, insignificant tornado or something spawned because I swear I remember blades of grass and some inflatable ball being picked up and moved around. Again, I'm not sure if that was a hallucination

Maybe hail. At least one of the times I saw hail. It was a clear and sunny day without a cloud in the sky

Or a wall of rain. Once when I was a kid it was a race to get home: a wall of rain was coming through and I tried to make it back in time to stay dry

To answer the title question... many years ago I experienced a polar vortex that caused about a 100 degree temperature drop in less than 24 hours, that was pretty fun.

To address the body of OP, I would start taking important things out of the house and storing them somewhere safe.. but I would think more storms = more damage = more likely the insurance cant deny you.

Worst: Driving through a large Midwest city in the US on the freeway. Started raining. NBD. Then it got a lot harder. The wind really picked up fast. I've been around gust fronts and the like for thunderstorms before, this was unlike anything I've been through before. It got wild, fast. Tree parts and other debris started blowing past, it looked like what you'd think a tornado would, but it was far too widespread. Then the crazy thing...along with the wind, rain, and debris, the visibility dropped to near zero with a fog or mist in the span of a minute. We had to pull over and stop with everyone else, nobody could see for a few minutes. I have never seen that happen before, the rapid and violent change to weather and visibility over such a large area.

Coolest: Driving over the western High Desert in the US. Got caught up in a snowstorm with lots of wind. Found a safe place to spend the night after some white-knuckle driving for an hour or two. Plenty of vehicles pushed by wind or slid off the road, we were some of the only stupid ones left driving. No place to park safely, not enough gas for the rest of the night to keep warm. Don't want to be the dead ones found with CO poisoning by the highway patrol the next day. Anyway, woke up the next day and it was crystal clear, literally. The air was full of fine ice crystals blowing in the wind. The bright sun had a huge halo and cross like a "+" along with some other tangential arcs that felt both close and far away to us at ground level. I'm sure folks in colder climes see these, but it was a new one to me. Pretty wild to see.

I've experienced a tropical storm in Florida, a total whiteout blizzard in Minnesota while in a vehicle, and minus 40F in Alaska.

The ice storm in Ontario back in 1998.

I don't remember really, but I jumped into a wave during a storm as a kid. It plowed my face along the sand, scraping it.

Is that not what house insurance is for?