Ever since the tornado that tore our neighbor’s roof off we have been on tender hooks when the weather changes. Last Saturday we were hanging out in our ger attempting to escape the heat when we heard a boom of thunder. Steppng out of our ger we were met with this sight to the west of town:
Fortunately, this tornado did not enter town and passed us by. It seemed like everyone in town was out watching it, many on their roofs. What followed the tornado did hit town, though. First, a nice layer of hail and then, a torrential downpour.
At one point the weather gods tricked us into thinking that the rain was subsiding so we went back to our ger to check on the rain damage. We had barely gotten into our home when the rain picked up again, and we made a mad dash back to Darhuu’s. In the 15 feet between our two doors we became drenched-it was that kind of rain.
Finally the rain did let up and we went out to check out the damage. Areas of town that are normally bone dry (i.e. the entire town) had become tiny rivers that kids had to be hoisted over.
What was most impressive, though, was an area of desert right outside of town that is usually a dry mini-canyon littered with trash and popular with dying camels. It had become a full fledged flash flood complete with waterfall and was an amazing display of nature’s force.
June 23, 2012 will forever be the day of our second tornado and Santiago got to swim in the Gobi desert.
P.S. Can you guess from the weather report what time the tornado rolled by?
