June 19, 2012 -- At Leech Lake

I awoke this morning to the loud sound of thunder and the pelting of rain on the roof. Not a bad way to wake up. The sky was grey and a steady rain was falling, the temperature was a cool 59 degrees, but there was no wind. The lake was still and the flag hung limp against the flag pole.

All morning and into the afternoon the sky was dark and a steady rain fell; sometimes coming down quite hard. The temperature hovered around 60 degrees and the wind remained calm. Periodically there were flashes of white lightening followed by loud claps of thunder, but mostly it was the sound of falling rain that provided the only ambient noise throughout the day.

The loons, Canadian geese and Mergansers loved the weather, and all could be seen swimming in the lake off the end of our dock.

All day long the rain continued to fall. Sometimes steady, other times in torrential sheets. It was as hard a rain as I've seen fall at Leech Lake.

The storm coming in over Sucker Bay

At one point during the middle of the day hail started coming down. First just a little, then harder and harder. Pea-sized hail fell for probably 10 minutes. Throughout the day, and I mean for hour after hour after hour, the rain fell, lightening flashed across the sky, thunder rolled over Ottertail Peninsula as the severe thunderstorms continued.

Hail on our lakeside porch

We got a couple of 30-minute breaks here and there throughout the day, but for the most part the storm raged on. The National Weather Service warned of severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, damaging winds and flash flooding for our area, and while I didn't see any tornadoes, we did have all of the rest.

Needless to say, I did not get out on the water today to do any fishing. While the wind wasn't all that strong, for most of the day anyway, the heavy rain, hail and lightening were enough to keep me indoors.

I did collect the garbage at both the house and cabin and ran it down to the community center during one of the brief breaks in the weather. Kathleen used the time inside to do some cleaning in preparation for the guests we'll have later this week.

My daughter Melissa, her son Jayden and our other grandchild, Ashley, arrive in Minneapolis tomorrow. Then on Friday, they, along with Kathleen's brother Tim and his family are all coming up to the lake for a visit. Then next Monday my parents arrive for a 5-day stay. It'll be great to see everyone, even if it'll be quite a change from the peace and quiet of just me and Kathleen at the house.

As I write this just before midnight, the rain has slowed to a slow drizzle; though just minutes ago it was coming down in sheets. Lightening is filling the room with a soft white glow and the rumbling of thunder can be heard in the distance. Basically, the same sounds I heard when I awoke this morning will send me off to sleep.

Good night from Leech Lake.