When craaaazy weather attacks

When it comes to weather, Syracuse, NY is known for its massive yearly snow accumulation. Each year, we compete (and usually cream everyone else) for a Golden Snowball award trophy and news crews trot out a few times between the months of November/December through... well, May, some years to film pieces on our incredible, edible (jaykay--unless you want to grow a third arm from all the Onondaga Lake pollution) snow. This winter was no different, and in fact not only did we win this year's trophy by a landslide (179.0" to Rochester's 127.0") but 97 consecutive hours of snow back in December brought a staggering 44.3" of that total dropping down on us. It was a long, cold, snowy winter here in the 'Cuse -- and while I didn't outright hate it, I was SO beyond ready when spring weather came knocking.

Only so much of this a girl can take!

And it's here! Finally! Shining sun, warm breeze, the chance to wear cute sandals and sip iced coffee while reading outside on my lunch hour... I've salivated over such things since mid-February, and now the time has arrived only to bring with it massive amounts of rain. The saying goes that April showers bring May flowers, and I do hope so but it's going to be awfully difficult for those flowers to grow if the ground is too wet to plant them in the first place. This has been one of the rainiest Aprils that Syracuse has seen, and after today I can't imagine it's going to get any less wet.

The day began with a damp, foggy morning which blossomed into a muggy, sunshiny afternoon. As 3:00 neared, clouds began to roll in, dark and thick and the air felt heavy with the promise of a storm. Not going to lie, I was super excited! Thunderstorms were an integral part of the spring and summer months for me growing up in central Ohio, and I sometimes miss the spine-tingling beauty they bring. Syracuse gets thunderstorms, of course, but not nearly as many and, during my 5 years as a resident, not quite as intense. I don't miss daily tornado warnings, but I do love a good storm. Which is why I was like a kid the night before Christmas as the clouds came in and the sky grew darker. And man, oh man, we were in for something wild.

Scary.

The "view" out the window during the height of the storm.

Through the howling wind, driving rain and curious whirling of the clouds (my suspicions on funnel activity were confirmed by reports following the storm.. I moved here to get away from that stuff, damnit!) it was the hail that truly stole the show. I've seen hail before, but never like this: 

Wild. Just wild. And thus begins spring in Syracuse... it's gonna be fun.