1996 Chicagoland Flood

An Illinois record was set on July 17 and 18, 1996 for rainfall in a 24 hour period. A total of 16.94 inches fell on the southwestern suburbs of Chicago, including Bolingbrook. About the only time we got lucky with our house in Bolingbrook was during this flood, our lot was actually high and dry. A part of me thinks we might have been better off if the house had flooded.

The entire area around our neighborhood flooded. Only high clearance vehicles had a chance of getting out of the flood zone. Lisa made it to work with our Isuzu Trooper. I stayed home with my Honda Civic and documented some of the flood in the pictures below.

Atmospheric River (Northern California 2017)

Miners Ravine Trail

Stone Point to Sierra College Blvd. (RT)

Roseville, CA

January 2017

Miles - 4.98

A week ago, I had never heard of an atmospheric river. After nearly a week of non-stop rain, I now know the definition of an atmospheric river, "an extended period of strong winds, heavy rain, lower elevation flooding, and epic snow in the Sierras".

While many areas near us are suffering major effects from the atmospheric river, we are very fortunate to just be a little soaked. The little creek behind and below our house has swollen to the size of a fast flowing river. In between rainstorms, Kellisa and I squeezed in a quick hike.

Chicago Blizzard of 1999

Chicago O'Hare received 21.6 inches of snow between January 2 and January 4, 1999. 

I remember it well. I flew from O'Hare early (before the snow) on the 2nd to Orlando, FL to interview for the job that would eventually move us to Florida. It was hard to enjoy the palm trees and 80 degree sunshine because I was worried about the blizzard since I left Lisa home alone and we had known she was pregnant for about 30 hours. Thankfully, Lisa was able to stay home during the blizzard.

Even though thousands of flights in and out of Chicago were cancelled, I somehow made it home on the 4th. Not thinking ahead, I had parked my little Eclipse in an outdoor lot at O'Hare. When I got off the shuttle bus, all I could see was a massive expanse of white humps. I had a general idea of where I parked, but knew it would be a monumental task to find it. I started walking through the deep snow when I noticed that people were digging down to licence plates to identify the cars. With the wind and new snow, even once cleared plates needed to be dug out again.

It took nearly 90 minutes to find my car and another 2 hours to dig it out enough by hand to be able to leave the parking spot. Did I mention the temperature outside was -20 degrees and this was before cell phones were wide spread (I didn't have one), so Lisa was sitting at home with no way of knowing what was going on.

I eventually made it home, but had to leave my car parked in the street as I had to shovel our driveway which included a pile about 6 feet high where the plows moved the street snow to the edge of the driveway.

Before I left Florida, I had a job offer to bring home to Lisa. The offer allowed me to start the job in Chicago and move to Florida shortly after the baby was born (we didn't know Lisa was carrying twins at the time). We did not hesitate to accept the offer and I can't help but think the blizzard had some influence on our decision.

Fun Fact: Almost 11 years later, Kellisa and I would find ourselves in the middle of the historic Mid-Atlantic Blizzard of 2009.

Back to Kellisa's Path Blog

Tropical Storm Beryl (2012)

Tropical Storm Beryl

Jacksonville, FL

May 27 and 28, 2012

Tracking as of 2pm on Sunday, May 27, 2012:

Satellite image of Beryl as it makes landfall:

1,345,596 people in metro Jacksonville and only four were at the south beach (accessible boardwalk) of Guana State Park as Tropical Storm Beryl (70mph sustained winds- just 5mph under hurricane strength) made landfall:

Egypt was a little hesitant, but this was her first tropical storm:

We tried to arrive just as the outer bands came ashore, butwe were a few minutes early. Kellisa was not as interested as she has been in the past (Flashback: Fay 2008):

However, after 15 minutes, the wind, rain and waves really started to meet our expectations. Egypt was done and went to the car with Lisa. As the weather deteriorated, Kellisa's enjoyment increased:

Looking south:

Three short clips of Kellisa enjoying the storm:

We lost one tree during the storm:

We were lucky, it fell within 10 feet of the house and Lisa's van:

High Point

Kellisa's 15th State Highpoint

High Point, NJ

1,803ft.

December 2009

The highpoint monument:

Summit rocks:

After New Jersey, we were hoping to close out 2009 with the highpoints of Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia. However, the North American Blizzard of 2009 altered our plans.

Shortly after leaving High Point, NJ, the snow started to fall:

The next morning we found the road to the summit of Pennsylvania impossible to drive due to snow:

We were close, so we decided to stop at the Flight 93 National Memorial:

The flag above marks the impact site.

Not able to make all the planned highpoints because we were in the middle of a historic snowstorm, we decided to buy a sled at a small hardware store to have some fun in the snow:

We drove back to Jacksonville because of all the cancelled flights (we didn't want to miss Christmas):