There has been quite a bit of severe weather in our area today but so far we have avoided the worst. We got rain overnight which cleared by mid-morning, and we were able to use our indoor arena so that all the riding classes could ride for a shortened amount of time. We stayed down the hill in the afternoon so that the Day Camp program could ride in the indoor arena. Although we were planning to go back up to the barn after the Day Campers went home for the day, the weather alerts for our area made us feel that it would be safer to stay in the cabin areas. As of right now (4:30 PM), it is not currently raining here and we do not have high winds. We are staying tuned in to weather radios and radar as there are some severe weather warnings and watching for our county and nearby counties. The campers are all doing cabin activities - playing group games, making friendship bracelets, singing songs. We'll post a few more updates this evening as the weather passes through - so far it looks like the worst will stay North of us.
UPDATE (7:20 PM): We had heavy rain for the past two hours but it looks like most of the storm cells have passed through. We did have some tornado warnings in the area; however, we did not have any high winds in camp. The radar looks like we may get a few more bursts of rain over the next half hour but nothing too serious. It sounds like the storms may redevelop in several hours but things should be clear soon. All people, horses and buildings are A-OK! :)
UPDATE (9:30 PM): We are about to head to bed. The rain has been stopped for about the past hour and the dominant sound outside is frogs croaking and chirping. We are expecting more rain overnight but the severe weather warnings have expired - we don't think there will be excessively high winds or tornadoes. (If you are wondering, we get our weather information from a few different sources: several NOAA weather radios, Channel 3000, Weather Underground, and staring up at the sky.) We have heard reports of flooding in Milwaukee and other areas but luckily camp is located on high ground - while some low spots in camp develop large puddles, we generally do not have concerns about flooding. We are also expecting more rain tomorrow, which may impair the condition of our riding arenas to the point where the footing is too slippery for us to safely hold our riding demonstrations. We'll post on here Friday evening whether or not demonstrations will be held.
UPDATE (9:30 PM): We are about to head to bed. The rain has been stopped for about the past hour and the dominant sound outside is frogs croaking and chirping. We are expecting more rain overnight but the severe weather warnings have expired - we don't think there will be excessively high winds or tornadoes. (If you are wondering, we get our weather information from a few different sources: several NOAA weather radios, Channel 3000, Weather Underground, and staring up at the sky.) We have heard reports of flooding in Milwaukee and other areas but luckily camp is located on high ground - while some low spots in camp develop large puddles, we generally do not have concerns about flooding. We are also expecting more rain tomorrow, which may impair the condition of our riding arenas to the point where the footing is too slippery for us to safely hold our riding demonstrations. We'll post on here Friday evening whether or not demonstrations will be held.
