Denver Trip: Red Wings 4, Avalanche...ZIP

On my 3rd (Ohio 1, SD 2) vacation of 2008, I took a brief two-night trip to Denver to visit with Albert (NWS Billings), Albert's wife Lorraine and Carp. The purpose was to relax, have a good time and watch the Colorado Avalanche beat the tar out of the Detroit Red Wings from the club level. Well - the Red Wings won 4-0. Ouch. But hey - club seats are great hockey viewing.

I did really enjoy myself and my visit with my good friends out West. Got to see mountains again...I never thought I'd miss them as much as I did. I also got to drink some 90 Shilling on draft, along with Fat Tire, Sunshine Wheat and Springboard from the New Belgium Brewery of Fort Collins. I did know I would miss drinking those a lot. :)

Anyways, here are a few pictures from my trip.

The view of downtown Denver from Albert's hotel balcony...

The Coors blimp in the Pepsi Center that unfortunately did not drop Coors or Coors Light to the fans below.

The Pepsi Center Empty before game time...

The view from our Club Seats...

The opening face off...

One of several fights to take place...

Close Call...

Remember that tornado outbreak February 5-6th across Kentucky that I mentioned a little bit ago? Remember how I got some damage to my home? Well I spoke with my county Emergency Manager today and he sent me an updated map of damage across the county.

So...I cropped out my portion of my county (Shelby County) and added a little information for your amusement. All those little red dots are reports of damage whether it be structural or just some trees...

Though I did take that damage...I feel 100% lucky because of what was on the ground immediately to my east/northeast. Wow. I feel very lucky.

Wintry Mix

It's only fair that we should see a little winter here in Kentucky after the three severe weather outbreaks between January 10th through February 6th. Almost 4" of snow last night, followed by a change over to rain overnight in temperatures in the mid 20s. So, I woke up to find a nice glaze of ice on everything. Fortunately I have today off, so I think I'll go get a breakfast martini or something. :)

Here are a few pictures from this morning...

From my front porch...that lighter grey stuff is basically 2.5" of almost frozen puddles

My front gutter...

The neighbors tree

Feb 5-6 Tornado Outbreak

So far - it has been determined that 25 tornadoes touched down in Kentucky with our 'little' outbreak this week. That is approximately the same number of tornadoes KY (huh-huh) saw in the 1974 Super Outbreak. Wow. Anyways, 17 of those touched down in the area of responsibility I forecast and warn for at the National Weather Service in Louisville. Yikes...

Anyways - my damage was part of a lengthy path of straight line winds that stretched in parts over a damage path of 15 miles. The last 6 miles (due east of my house) or so of that was a tornado that peaked at EF-2 strength. I consider myself very lucky.

Just for fun - this is what an EF-3 supercell tornado looks like on radar. This cell had an EF-3 (165mph winds) on the ground for about 60 miles and went very close to downtown Nashville, TN before crossing into KY (smirk). I have included one picture of the damage it caused in Monroe County, Kentucky (there were zero deaths in Monroe Co.). I hope to have more damage photos from across KY (c'mon) posted somewhere soon.